# Litzendorf
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{{Infobox German location
|image_coa = DEU Litzendorf COA.svg
|image_photo = Rathaus Litzendorf 01.JPG
|image_caption = Town hall
|coordinates = {{coord|49|54|N|11|0|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan = Litzendorf in BA.svg
|state = Bayern
|region = Oberfranken
|district = Bamberg
|elevation = 311
|area = 25.85
|postal_code = 96123
|area_code = 09505
|licence = BA
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 09 4 71 155
|divisions = 8 [Ortsteil](/source/Ortsteil)e
|website = [http://www.litzendorf.de/ www.litzendorf.de]
|mayor = Wolfgang Möhrlein[[https://www.statistik.bayern.de/wahlen/kommunalwahlen/bgm/ Liste der ersten Bürgermeister/Oberbürgermeister in kreisangehörigen Gemeinden], [Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik](/source/Bayerisches_Landesamt_f%C3%BCr_Statistik), 15 July 2021.]
|leader_term = 2020–26
|party = CSU
}}
'''Litzendorf''' is a [municipality](/source/Municipalities_of_Germany) in the [Upper Franconia](/source/Upper_Franconia)n district of [Bamberg](/source/Bamberg_(district)). Following an administrative reform it has been a unified community since 1 May 1978.
==Geography==
Litzendorf and most of its outlying centres lie in the Ellern Valley, which is surrounded by wooded heights with the Bamberg district's two highest elevations, the Geisberg (585 m) and the Stammberg (560 m).
===Constituent communities===
Litzendorf's namesake centre is not the biggest of its ''[Ortsteil](/source/Ortsteil)e''. Pödeldorf is somewhat bigger. The community has these centres, each listed here with its own population figure:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
|
| 80px
| Kunigundenruh
| 2 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Litzendorf
| 1,492 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Lohndorf
| 385 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Melkendorf
| 757 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Naisa
| 747 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Pödeldorf
| 1,753 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
|
| Schammelsdorf
| 784 inhabitants
|-
| 90px
| 80px
| Tiefenellern
| 210 inhabitants
|}
===Neighbouring communities===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
| 70px
| 70px
| 70px
| 70px
| 70px
| 70px
|-
| [Memmelsdorf](/source/Memmelsdorf)
| [Scheßlitz](/source/Sche%C3%9Flitz)
| [Königsfeld](/source/K%C3%B6nigsfeld%2C_Bavaria)
| [Heiligenstadt](/source/Heiligenstadt_(Upper_Franconia))
| [Strullendorf](/source/Strullendorf)
| Hauptsmoorwald
|}
==History==
The derivation of the name ''Litzendorf'' is unclear. It could have come from the [Slavic](/source/Slavic_languages) word ''lyko'' ("bast") or from the [Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages) word ''litzel'' ("little").
In [Merovingian](/source/Merovingian) and [Carolingian](/source/Carolingian) times, when the villages, which were likely of [Frankish](/source/Franks) and [Slavic](/source/Slavic_peoples) origin, arose, the Ellern Valley was still heavily wooded.
The name Litzendorf first cropped up in 1129 in a document from Bishop of Bamberg Otto, which mentions an ''Otgoz von Licindorf''. Otgoz belonged to the lower subservient nobility and was a court and administrative official to [Saint Otto](/source/Otto_of_Bamberg).
Litzendorf later belonged to the High [Monastery](/source/Monastery) at Bamberg, but since the ''[Reichsdeputationshauptschluss](/source/Reichsdeputationshauptschluss)'' of 1803, the community has belonged to [Bavaria](/source/Bavaria).
===Population development===
Within municipal limits, 3,507 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 4,825 in 1987 and 5,907 in 2000. In 2005 it was 6,179, and in 2007 6,106.
==Politics==
In 1999, municipal tax revenue, converted to [euro](/source/euro)s, amounted to €2,279,000 of which business taxes (net) amounted to €206,000.
===Municipal council===
{{update section|date=July 2021}}
The community council is made up of 21 members, listed here by party or voter community affiliation, and also with the number of seats that each holds:
{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee" align="center"
| || [CSU](/source/Christlich-Soziale_Union_in_Bayern) || [SPD](/source/Sozialdemokratische_Partei_Deutschlands) || [GRÜNE](/source/B%C3%BCndnis_90%2FDie_Gr%C3%BCnen) || [Christliche Wählervereinigung](/source/Freie_W%C3%A4hler) ||'''Total'''
|- align="center"
| 2002 || 9 || 5 || 3 || 3 || 20
|}
(as of election on 3 March 2002)
===Coat of arms===
Litzendorf's arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale Or and azure, Or a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules, thereover a bendlet argent, azure a helm argent with nasal dexter.
The Bamberg lion stands for the High Monastery's former overlordship in Litzendorf. The helmet stands for the [ministeriales](/source/Ministerialis) of Litzendorf, who were active in the 12th century, at a time when they bore no arms.
==Sightseeing==
===''Fränkische Straße der Skulpturen''===
The "Franconian Road of Sculptures" between the villages of Tiefenellern, Lohndorf and Litzendorf came into being in 1994 and is a [sculpture](/source/sculpture) exhibit in the middle of the Ellern Valley countryside.
===Singers’ memorial near Melkendorf===
The ''Sängerehrenmal'' for the dead and fallen of the [Franconia](/source/Franconia)n ''Sängerbund'' ("Singers’ League") was built in 1963 on a plot of higher ground above Melkendorf. The memorial consists of twelve [limestone](/source/limestone) columns set in a circle and an [altar](/source/altar)like [sarcophagus](/source/sarcophagus). In the memorial stone are memorial books with the names of the dead from the originally 12, now 13, singing circles. The [wrought iron](/source/wrought_iron) altar wing bears the [Latin](/source/Latin) inscription ''Mortui vivimus'' – "We, the dead, live".
===''Jungfernhöhle'' near Tiefenellern===
The ''Jungfernhöhle'' ("Maids’ Cave") near Tiefenellern is a Neolithic [archaeological](/source/Archaeology) site. Digs here brought to light use of the cave by four cultures in the [New Stone Age](/source/New_Stone_Age) and by almost all subsequent ones. The name ''Jungfernhöhle'' refers to the human remains found here, which were overwhelmingly female.
===Barrows near Litzendorf===
On the road from Litzendorf to Geisfeld are found early [Celtic](/source/Celtic_peoples) [barrows](/source/Tumulus). The group of mounds is completely surrounded by forest. The barrows’ diameters range from 8 to 25 metres. During digs in the 19th century, material from the [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) and the early [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age) was unearthed.
===Parish church of St. Wenceslas===
The [Baroque](/source/Baroque) ''Pfarrkirche St. Wenzeslaus'' in Litzendorf was built between 1715 and 1718 by master builder [Johann Dientzenhofer](/source/Johann_Dientzenhofer). It is built from shiny, gold-coloured iron-bearing [sandstone](/source/sandstone) blocks and can be seen far from the community.
The choice of the [Bohemia](/source/Bohemia)n duke and national [Saint Wenceslas](/source/Wenceslaus_I%2C_Duke_of_Bohemia) as the church's patron likely goes back to Prince-Bishop Lambrecht von Brun, who was a close adviser to Emperor [Karl IV](/source/Charles_IV%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor), who lived in [Prague](/source/Prague), and also chancellor to his son Wenceslas (Wenzel). After Litzendorf was raised to parish in 1406, there arose a new building whose four-storey choir tower still stands today.
When damage to the building began to show in the late 17th century, there was hesitation about repairing it. Only in 1702, after Johann Christoph Reinhard had been made the parish priest and set himself to the business at hand was something done about it. He wanted something special, and therefore he had the Bamberg court master builder Johann Dientzenhofer add a suitable nave onto the choir tower.
==Gallery==
File:Litzendorf-Wenzeslaus1-Asio.JPG|Interior of St. Wenceslaus's parish church, built 1715-1718
File:StrassederSkulpturen.jpg|Franconian Road of Sculptures
File:Juraschnecke von Harald Mueller 3.jpg|Franconian Road of Sculptures
File:Krippe Lohndorf.jpg|Nativity Scene in Lohndorf
File:Alte Muehle Poedeldorf 2.jpg|Waterwheel at old mill in Pödeldorf
File:2005-10-19 2261 Eulenwand Übersicht.jpg|Eulenfelsen, or Owl's Crags, at the Ellerer Berg
File:Jungfernhoehle (Eingang).jpg|Entrance to Jungfernhöhle
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Litzendorf}}
* [http://www.litzendorf.de Official site] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120306153455/http://www.litzendorf.de/showobject.phtml?La=1&object=tx%7C369.125.1 View over of Litzendorf] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070405005835/http://www.fraenkische-schweiz.com/gemeinden/litzendorf.html "Franconian Switzerland"] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.datenmatrix.de/projekte/hdbg/gemeinden/pdf/9471155.pdf Heraldic blazon] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928152309/http://www.fsb-online.de/geschichte/melkendorf/melkendorf.html Singers’ memorial near Melkendorf] {{in lang|de}}
{{Cities and towns in Bamberg (district)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Bamberg (district)
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Litzendorf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litzendorf) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litzendorf?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.