SCHWEINFURT, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, situated on the right bank of the Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 m. N.E. of Würzburg by rail, and at the junction of lines to Kissingen, Bamberg and Gemünden. Pop. (1905) 18,416. The Renaissance town-hall in the spacious market-place dates from 1570; it contains a library and a collection of antiquities. St John's church is a Gothic edifice with a lofty tower; St Salvator's was built about 1720. Schweinfurt is well furnished with benevolent and educational institutions, including a gymnasium originally founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1631, and rebuilt in 1881. The chief manufacture is paint (“Schweinfurt green” is a well-known brand in Germany), introduced in 1809; but beer, sugar, machinery, soap and other drysalteries, straw-paper and vinegar are also produced. Cotton-spinning and bell-founding are carried on, and the Main supplies water-power for numerous saw, flour and other mills. Schweinfurt carries on an active trade in the grain, fruit and wine produced in its neighbourhood, and it is the seat of an important sheep and cattle market. A monument was erected in 1900 to Friedrich Rückert the poet (1788-1866).
Schweinfurt is mentioned in 790, and in the 10th century was the seat of a margrave. It fell later to the counts of Henneberg; but, receiving civic rights in the 13th century, it maintained its independence as a free imperial city with few interruptions until 1803, when it passed to Bavaria. Assigned to the grand duke of Würzburg in 1810, it was restored to Bavaria in 1814. In the Thirty Years' War it was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus, who erected fortifications, remains of which are still extant.
See Beck, Chronik der Stadt Schweinfurt (2 vols., Schweinfurt, 1836-1841); and Stein, Geschichte der Reichstadt Schweinfurt (2 vols., Schweinfurt, 1900).