Ochsenhausen

Ochsenhausen is a city in the district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located between the city of Biberach and Memmingen. it has a population of 8,916. The mayor of the town is Andreas Denzel.HistoryFor many centuries, Ochsenhausen Abbey (Reichskloster Ochsenhausen), first mentioned in 1093, was a self -governing prince-abbey within the Holy Roman Empire ruled by a prince-abbot.In 1803, in the course of the German mediatisation, the abbey was secularized and erected into a secular principality that was then granted to Count Franz Georg Karl von Metternich in compensation for the loss of his immediate fiefs on the left bank of the Rhine after the whole area was annexed by revolutionary France. In 1806, the short-lived principality was annexed to the Kingdom of Württemberg, which in 1871 became part of the German Empire.The abbey still dominates the town from a hill. Ochsenhausen is called a "Baroque Kingdom of Heaven" ("Himmelreich des Barock") because of the monastic architecture.AttractionsEvery year the Öchsle-Fest takes place. It is named after a historical narrow gauge railway called Öchsle which ran from Ochsenhausen to Biberach.Notable people Joseph Ersing, politician, Member of Reichstag, Member of Landtag Josef Hecht, teacher and conservationist Hans-Karl Riedel, entrepreneur and local politician Werner Simmling, politician, member of Bundestag 2009-2013 Hanns-Friedrich Kunz, singer and choir conductor Gerhard Baur, mountaineer and camera man Hans J. Briegel, theoretical physician Matthias Dolderer, race pilot Sandro Cortese, motorcycle racer Nicole Rolser, football player