The former District Court

Station 2

The present-day community centre has already served a number of different purposes: it has been a prison, a district court and also a district hospital. 

In the 8th century, the erstwhile settlement of Eberaha was developed by the Bishop of Würzburg as a central location, from where land development and forest clearances were pursued. In the process, a fortified house was built in the settlement, the "Castle" (which meant no more than a fortified place in the Middle Ages). However, the buildings were extended further over the decades and surrounded by banks and a ditch. The complex was destroyed in the Peasant War and was given additional walls after it was rebuilt.

Sentences were subsequently passed and carried out here. The Fronfeste (the public prison) and the Büttelhaus (Bailiff's house) were built in the vicinity of the castle for this purpose. The Büttelhaus was replaced by a new building in 1586. The castle was also the seat of the Steward.

The ditches were transformed into gardens, and fruit trees were planted in the 18th century. After the rear wing of the main building collapsed in 1818, the court house was rebuilt in the Greco-Egyptian style. The Fronfeste and the Büttelhaus were demolished in 1850, in order to build a new prison for the District Court. The District Court was located here until 1930 and responsible for 73 towns and villages.

Burgebrach was given an important role in the regional health service in 1947/48 when the building was converted into a district hospital. An isolation ward, nurses' accommodation, offices and apartments for chief physicians were provided in the former prison. 50 beds were available.

An annex building with a total of 125 beds and a nursing school (nurses' home) was opened in 1967. The hospital finally moved to its current location at Eichelberg in December 1997. The building was converted to a community centre as a result of an urban development ideas competition. Social facilities were built on the former site of the hospital. In addition to the construction of a retirement home and homes for assisted living, the former "Old District Court" was extensively refurbished. Today facilities for the public good, such as a library, the Archiepiscopal Youth Welfare Office, doctors' surgeries, a festival hall and club rooms can be found in the community centre