Schweinfurt [key], city (1994 pop. 55,284), Bavaria, central Germany, on the Main River. Manufactures include beer, steel, electronics, and motor vehicles. The city is the center of a wine-growing region and has a major livestock market. Schweinfurt was known c.791. It was a free imperial city from 1282 to 1803, when it passed to Bavaria. The city was heavily bombed by the Allies during World War II, largely because it was the center of the German ball-bearing industry. Of note is the Renaissance-style town hall (1570–72). The orientalist and poet Friedrich Rückert was born there in 1788.
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