Kemmern

Kemmern is a community in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg.GeographyThe community of Kemmern lies at an average elevation of 236 to 250 metres some seven kilometres north of Bamberg, right on the Main and at the foot of the Haßberge’s (mountain range) outlying hills. It belongs to the Upper Franconia-West region in the upper Main Valley. Kemmern is nestled in an historic cultural landscape with a path system from the High Middle Ages. Many hiking and cycling paths connect Kemmern to places of interest to visitors (such as the Main Valley, the Haßberge, the Steigerwald, the “Franconian Switzerland” and the world heritage city of Bamberg).Although the community is not beset with heavy through traffic, the residential community of Kemmern is connected to the long-distance road network (Bundesstraßen 4 and 173).The community has one of the traditional rural land units, known in German as Gemarkungen, also named Kemmern (it is traditional for a Gemarkung to be named after a town or village lying nearby).HistoryKemmern’s settlement history is very old and reaches far back into the first millennium BC, as shown by the origins of the Helenenkapelle on the Semberg, which was a worshipping place as far back as Celtic times. In the Early Middle Ages, the border between the Germanic- and Slavic-settled areas ran through what is now known as Kemmern. Bearing witness to the Germanic-Frankish presence are the Germanic townsites – now forsaken – of Dertheim and Schiring. The earlier Bürg may have had Slavic beginnings as an important refuge and worshipping place for the Main Wends.