Wiesloch (, locally ; South Franconian: Wissloch), is a town in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 13 kilometres south of Heidelberg. After Weinheim, Sinsheim and Leimen it is the fourth largest town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. It shares Wiesloch-Walldorf station with its neighbouring town Walldorf. Also in the vicinity of Wiesloch are Dielheim, Malsch (bei Wiesloch), Mühlhausen, Rauenberg and Sankt Leon-Rot. Wiesloch's population grew to more than 20,000 when the administration of the area was reorganised in the 1970s. Wiesloch became a Große Kreisstadt on 1 January 1973, when Altwiesloch, Baiertal, Frauenweiler and Schatthausen were amalgamated with Wiesloch to form the present municipality. History The settlement that is now Wiesloch town centre originated during the expansion of silver mining in the vicinity in the 10th century. Fossil site The fossil remains of the oldest hummingbird found to date, Eurotrochilus inexpectatus, were found in a clay pit at Frauenweiler. This bird lived during the Early Oligocene (30 mya), when the area had a humid, subtropical climate similar to the northern Caribbean today. Emperor Henry IV In 1077, Emperor Henry IV locked more than 100 of his enemies in the early church at Wizinloch (as the place was then known) on the site of the present Protestant church (Stadtkirche) and burnt the building down. Battles There were three battles near Wiesloch, the Battle of Mingolsheim on 27 April 1622 (during the Thirty Years' War), the 1632 Battle of Wiesloch on 16 August 1632, (during the same war) and the 1799 Battle of Wiesloch on 3 December 1799 (during the War of the Second Coalition). Wiesloch was attacked on 28 January 1689 by French troops under Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, during the Nine Years' War, and was almost completely burnt down and destroyed. Bertha Benz The city pharmacy in Wiesloch was the first "filling station" in the world, because Bertha Benz stopped there on 5 August 1888, on the first long distance car trip, to refill the tank of her automobile, which her husband Karl Benz had invented. She was supplied with ligroin by the apothecary Willi Ockel. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially designated an industrial heritage route, following Bertha Benz's route on the world's first long-distance journey by automobile. It is a 194 km signposted circuit from Mannheim via Heidelberg and Wiesloch to Pforzheim in the Black Forest, and back. The Minnesinger von Wissenlo The Codex