Also on the town signs: Bad Wörishofen officially wants to become a “Kneipp town”.

Created: 09/13/2022, 09:41 am

By: Oliver Sommer

The entrance to Bad Wörishofen could soon look like this.

© Photomontage: Summer

Bad Wörishofen – As a synonym for “Bad Wörishofen”, the largest town in the Lower Allgäu is often referred to as the “Kneipp town”.

In the future, this suffix should also appear on place-name signs, such as “Hochschulstadt” in neighboring Kaufbeuren or “Lutherstadt Wittenberg”.

At Monday's city council meeting, councilors unanimously voted in favor of the application.

The triggers were "outdated" signs at the entrance to the town, which annoyed both citizens and guests.

Some of the town entrance signs that welcome guests like Wörishofer on the outskirts of town are several decades old – and inform them that this is a town, what it is called and which district it belongs to.

Even with the yellow signs that mark the outskirts, or rather the city limits, the legislator has set strict limits on what can be noted on the boards, as the head of the regulatory office, Andreas Létang, explained to the city councillors.

The title Bad has always been part of the name of Wörishofen, but the legislature also allows special features or uniqueness to be included in the name and thus on the sign.

This is how Göppingen calls itself a university town and Kaufbeuren, which is close to Wörishofen, also adorns itself with the suffix “university town”.

The most well-known is probably Wittenberg, the place where Luther worked, which is why it now bears the addition of Lutherstadt on the town sign and also, for example on the radio, always trades as Lutherstadt Wittenberg in the traffic reports.

District Attorney agrees

It is such, partly historical, features that may be noted on the place-name signs, said Létang.

And they asked the district office, which has to approve such a name suffix, whether this "title" was possible.

And in Mindelheim, Létang continues, it has been signaled that if the city council makes such a decision, the district office will go along with it and the application will be approved.

The trigger was the suggestion of a Bad Wörishofer who had complained that some of the signs at the entrance to the town were outdated and in a poor optical condition.

In addition to recognizability, it was also about whether one could expect a more dignified reception at the entrance to the Kneipp city.

And as part of the discussion about replacing the signs, some of which were around 40 years old, a discussion arose as to what other data could be placed on the sign.

The “health city” was already under discussion, a “sign” can be found on the ground floor of the town hall.

When it comes to “spa”, Wörishofen would be one of several dozen in Bavaria alone.

As the place of activity of Pastor Sebastian Kneipp, Bad Wörishofen would be unique as a "Kneipp town", Létang noted.

The name has a concrete historical reference and also points to the uniqueness of the city.

And the Kneipp therapy developed by Sebastian Kneipp is of international importance.

This is also the linchpin of all spa treatments in the spa town of Bad Wörishofen.

In addition, the term "Kneipp town" has already become so established, said Létang, "that it is regularly used in the press as a synonym for Bad Wörishofen".

The regulatory office therefore proposes to submit the topic to the city council for consultation and then to decide whether an application for a designation that is not part of the name should be submitted to the district office.

"Kneipp City" rejected

However, only the town signs of Bad Wörishofen itself are to be changed; the respective names will still be found on the districts and which city they belong to, for example Gartenstadt or Stockheim, then “Stadt Bad Wörishofen” and the district of Unterallgäu.

The campaign does not incur any extra costs, since the sign printing costs are always the same, regardless of the texts being immortalized - and the signs at the entrance to the town would have to be renewed one way or another, Létang noted.

Mayor Stefan Welzel rejected Ludwig Filser's suggestion to separate the term "Kneippstadt" with a hyphen.

With a view to the unanimously passed decision to implement the idea, the head of the town hall concluded: "Wherever Kneipp is in it, it is now on it."