Andernach

City in the Land (administrative region) of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the River Rhine, 17 km/11 mi northwest of Koblenz; population (1994) 30,000. Its manufacturing industries include chemicals and cement. Pumice stone is mined in the surrounding region. Andernach is a tourist centre.

Andernach is home to the Central Rhine Theatre and Concert Hall. The ruins of the 13th-century city castle (Ruine der Stadtburg) still remain. Monuments include the late romanesque Church of Our Lady and the Chapel of St Michael, a gothic church of a former Franciscan monastery (now called Christchurch), and a Jewish mikwa (ceremonial bath) from the thirteenth century. The Round Tower (Runder Turm), at a height of 56 m/184 ft, was built between 1440 and 1452.

Evidence of settlement activity as far back as primeval times has been found in the city. The oldest prehistoric site was discovered in the district of Miesenheim, and is one of the oldest settlement sites in Europe. During the Ice Age (approximately 14,000 years ago) hunters established a base camp of tent-like huts in Martinsberg in Andernach. There have also been many other settlement and grave finds in Andernach from the Early Stone Age (5000–2000 BC) and the Bronze Age (2000–650 BC). It is believed that the settlement known as Antunnacum was originally a Celtic settlement which lasted until 12 BC. Andernach developed into a central point for the stone trade as early as Roman times. From the 8th to the 12 century AD, Andernach developed from a trading centre with a harbour into a settlement with a more urban character. In the middle of the 19th century Andernach began to develop timber and malt industries, and the population rose from about 2,000 inhabitants in 1800 to over 10,000 inhabitants in 1912.