This was published 4 years ago
Gadheim, Germany will become the geographic centre of the EU after Brexit
By Oliver Smith
Gadheim is pitched among the rolling hills of Bavaria's wine country.Credit: Alamy
Britain's impending exit from the European Union is being welcomed in at least one corner of Germany.
The unassuming village of Gadheim in the southern region of Bavaria, once the UK says "auf wiedersehen", will become the unlikely heart - literally - of the EU universe.
According to the IGN institute in Paris, the settlement of just 89 people will become the geographic centre of the bloc on January 31, 2020.
A path leads to a round paved place near Gadheim. The spot marks the new geographical centre of the European Union once the UK departs.Credit: Getty Images
The wait must have been unbearable. Gadheim's coronation was supposed to have happened in March. Then it was shifted to October. Now - three-and-a-half years after the Brexit referendum - its big moment really is on the horizon.
But at least the delays have provided time to prepare. Locals reportedly set up a WhatsApp group to discuss the news and work out how best to celebrate it. One suggestion - making Theresa May an honorary citizen - didn't make the cut. But a sign reading "future centre of the EU" already greets visitors; on the edge of a nondescript field, owned by Gadheim resident Karin Kessler, a pole is waiting to hoist the EU flag; and a wooden bench and table has already been installed.
"We thought it was an April Fool's joke at first," said Juergen Goetz, mayor of nearby Veitshoechheim (Gadheim is too small to have its own). Now he's hoping for an uptick in visitors. "Of course we are counting on additional tourists coming to the region and in particular to Gadheim," he told Reuters earlier this year.
So what else is there to lure visitors? Pitched among the rolling hills of Bavaria's wine country, it's bound to appeal to oenophiles. Veitshoechheim is home to an impressive schloss, while Würzburg, the closest city, is worthy of a weekend break (trains from the UK take around seven hours).
Goetz explained: "There's a pretty saying, 'God kissed the Earth only once, and that's where Veitshoechheim is'. Gadheim is a part of that."
And what of the town set to lose its title? Westerngrund, just 37 miles to the northwest, was named the EU's geographical centre in 2013 after the admission of Croatia to the bloc (before the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania it was Meerholz).
According to Westerngrund's mayor, Brigitte Heim, the honour came with a rise in visitors (a visitor book kept beside the exact spot received signatures from 6,000 people from 93 countries between 2013 and 2015) – and increased recognition from politicians in the state capital, Munich. But it has hardly been overwhelmed by tourism. "We thought Chinese buses would be coming there every week. It didn't really turn out that way," Christoph Biebrich, a local baker, told AFP in 2017.
Gadheim's moment in the sun could, of course, be fleeting. Departure from the EU has been mulled in other quarters, while Turkey still hopes to join the bloc. Either eventuality will have IGN again reaching for its calculators.
Four more geographical centres
UK
The town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland claims the title, and has banners stating that it is the "Centre of Britain", but Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire, 71 miles to the south, disputes this. For centuries the parish of Meriden has claimed to be the geographical centre of England - a stone cross there has said so for more than 500 years.
USA
The geographical centre of the Lower 48 was located in a 1918 survey. It is in Kansas, around 2.6 miles west of Lebanon. Given that this is a country devoted to roadside attractions, it should go without saying that a stone marker, with a US flag and metal plaque, is located at the exact spot.
Europe
The Polish town of Suchowola has claimed the title since 1775. Calculations didn't take islands into account, and subsequent measurements have pinpointed Purnuškės in Lithuania, Lake Sho in Belarus, Tállya in Hungary, and the island of Saaremaa in western Estonia, as possible alternatives.
The world
The centre of the world? Greenwich was chosen as the prime meridian in 1851 but the geographic centre, if a Mercator projection is used, is close to the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Telegraph, London
See also: 'Poles of Inaccessibility': The furthest points from anywhere revealed
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