Weilburg

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen Weilburg.pnglat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 29
lon_deg = 8 |lon_min = 15
Lageplan = Limburg-Weilburg Weilburg.pngBundesland = Hesse
Regierungsbezirk = Gießen
Landkreis = Limburg-Weilburg
Höhe = 152
Fläche = 57.45
Einwohner = 13624
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 35781
Vorwahl = 06471
Kfz = LM
Website = [http://www.weilburg.de/ www.weilburg.de]
Bürgermeister = Hans-Peter Schick

Weilburg is, with just under 14,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg.

Geography

Location

The community lies in the Lahn valley between the Westerwald and the Taunus just upstream from where the Weil empties into the river Lahn and 80 km northeast of Koblenz. The Old Town, built on and around a rocky hill, is almost encircled by the Lahn.

Neighbouring communities

Weilburg borders in the north on the communities of Merenberg and Löhnberg (both in Limburg-Weilburg), in the east on the town of Braunfels (Lahn-Dill-Kreis), in the south on the communities of Weilmünster and Weinbach as well as on the town of Runkel, and in the west on the community of Beselich (all in Limburg-Weilburg).

Constituent communities

Besides the main town, in which just under 40% of the inhabitants live, the outlying centres of Ahausen, Bermbach, Drommershausen, Gaudernbach, Hasselbach, Hirschhausen, Kirschhofen, Kubach, Odersbach and Waldhausen also belong to Weilburg’s municipal area.

History

It is believed that the earliest traces of settlers in the area around Weilburg are witnessed by finds from La Tène times from the Scheuernberger Kopf (mountain) near Kirschhofen.

Weilburg was first mentioned in 906 in a chronicle by Abbot Regino of Prüm as a fortification under the name "Wilineburch". Six years later King Conrad I, whose father had been buried in the fortification after having fallen in battle while fighting the Babenbergers near Fritzlar in 906, founded a church and an abbey. In 912, the "St. Walpurgis-Chorherrenstift" (monastery) was founded. The building, which was built up high, afforded the monastery control over the Lahn as well as the "Hohe Straße" (“High Road”) running from Frankfurt to Cologne and the "Via Publica" from Flanders to Bohemia, which ran nearby.

In 918, the Wilineburg (castle) earned a special historic importance when King Conrad I, lying on his deathbed, recommended to his brother Eberhard that he deliver the Imperial insignia to his harshest rival, the Saxon duke Heinrich (Weilburger Testament).

From 993 to 1062, the town was bit by bit donated to the Bishopric of Worms. About 1225, the Bishop of Worms pledged lordship over the town to the House of Nassau, which in the end they bought up, granting the place a year later the same town rights held by Frankfurt. Count Johann I of Nassau built his residence here in 1355, renovated the castle and also built town fortifications. In 1359, he had a stone bridge built across the Lahn.

The House of Nassau shaped the town’s history for several centuries. Count Johann Ernst (1664-1719), especially, renovated and beautified his residence town by expanding the high castle, building a park and changing the town’s face. Weilburg thereby became one of the most fully preserved examples of a small German residence town from the time of absolutism. From 1806, the town was the governmental seat of the newly created Duchy of Nassau. Only in 1816 did William, Duke of Nassau move the residence to Biebrich. In 1866, the Duchy of Nassau was annexed by Prussia.

In the field of building history, Weilburg is known for its loam buildings from the time before 1800. Wilhelm Jacob Wimpf, a “government lawyer”, was instrumental in furthering the so-called "Pisee" style of building in the town and its environs, yielding what is still Germany’s tallest loam building, a six-floor house.

National Socialism and the Second World War

In 1933, as in other German cities and towns, the National Socialists seized power. Shortly before this, the Nazis in the region had had strong showings in elections. The last mayor chosen by a democratically based town council, Diffenhardt, was ousted in a no-confidence vote instigated by the Nazis in the summer of 1933.

In the Second World War, the town sustained only light damage. The middle façade of the castle’s orangery collapsed after an aerial bomb meant for the Weilburg railway station fell just before the gate and exploded. The railway station and the nearby Helbig brewery house were also affected. While United States troops were taking over the town on 27 March 1945, the fighting caused some light damage, although all the town’s bridges were blown up by retreating German troops.

Municipal centre

Weilburg was the old Oberlahnkreis’s seat from the district’s founding in 1867. Weilburg lost this function when, in the course of administrative reform in Hesse, both the Oberlahnkreis and the Limburg district were abolished and the new Limburg-Weilburg district came into being on 1 July 1974, with Limburg as its seat. To this day, however, a district administration outpost can be found at the former district administrator’s office on Limburger Straße.

Weilburg hosted the Hessentag festival from 17 to 26 June 2005.

Constituent communities’ history

Ahausen had its first documentary mention in 1320. The cluster village lies right on the Lahn where the Grundbach empties into it, which explains the three mills that once stood here.

Under the name "Berinbach", the outlying centre of Bermbach had its first documentary mention in 1253. Besides agriculture, the villagers also worked at mining. Ore was mined from pits in Bermbach’s municipal area up until 1914, when operations ceased.

The certification of an estate in 1196 by Pope Celestine III is Drommershausen’s first documentary mention. There is historical evidence of an oilmill in 1666, and also, a blast furnace for smelting ironstone mined in the area is mentioned in 1679.

In 1325, under the name "Gauderinbach", today’s outlying centre of Gaudernbach was first mentioned. At first, the place belonged to the "Amt" of Runkel and the parish of Schupbach. The chapel consecrated to Saint Peter was built in 1769. A school in the community was mentioned before 1618, although it is unknown how long it lasted. In a great fire in 1863, 68 buildings in Gaudernbach were destroyed. Besides agriculture and mining, villagers found income working in the Gaudernbach marble quarry.

In a document from 1235, the placename "Hasilibach" had its first documentary mention, later changing to Hasselbach. At the time of its first mention, the community belonged to the Trier Burgmann Johann von Schupbach, who resided in Montabaur.Hirschhausen had its first documentary mention in 1327, and can be found in writings from 1466 as "Herbishusen". In Hirschhausen’s municipal area were many hematite and limonite pits, among which the “Anna” pit was one of the richest in the Lahn area. Worth mentioning is the eight-sided Evangelical church built in 1763 by 27 families from Hirschhausen. Near Hirschhausen, from the 15th to the mid 16th century, was the pilgrimage centre of Pfannstiel.

The outlying centre of Kirschhofen had its first documentary mention in 1363 with the spelling "Kyrchschyrben". The spelling "Kirschhofen" is known from 1684. Since 1978, Kirschhofen has been linked by footbridge with the outlying centre of Odersbach on the other side of the Lahn.

The constituent community of Kubach had its first documentary mention as "parvulam cubach" in one of Otto III’s documents from 27 December 1000. It is assumed that Kubach had its own church as of 1516. The current church was finished in 1784.

Odersbach and Waldhausen are the two constituent communities whose dates of first documentary mention fall before Weilburg’s own in 906.

Waldhausen had its first documentary mention in 881 in the Prüm Abbey’s Golden Book, wherein it is known as "Mark Ualthusa" in a passage dealing with the settlement there and the Carolingian forest holdings. Until 1960, the villagers earned their livelihood mainly in agriculture and mining.

Politics

Town council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Town partnerships

* Privas, France, since 1958
* Tortona, Italy, since 1964
* Zevenaar, Netherlands, since 1966
* Kežmarok, Slovakia, since 1990
* Quattro Castella, Italy, since 2002
* Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, since 2004
* Kızılcahamam, Turkey, since 2006

Coat of arms

The town’s arms were first endowed in 1906 on the occasion of the town’s one thousandth anniversary of its first documentary mention. They show a castle in silver on a blue background. The middle tower of the three has a red roof with a golden ball on the peak. The gate, which is shut and strewn with black, is overlaid with a blue inescutcheon, which itself bears the Nassau lion in gold. The arms are modelled on the town’s seal from 1329.

Flag

Weilburg’s town flag is a horizontal tricolour in yellow, blue and white. The colours are drawn from the tinctures in the coat of arms, with yellow standing for the gold, and white for the silver. Blue was the former ruling counts’ colour.

Seal

Weilburg’s town seal is first known to have appeared on a document from 1327, although it seems likely that it was first acquired on the occasion of the granting of town rights in 1295. The seal bears the inscription “SIGILLUM CIVITATIS IN WILBURC” (“Seal of the Citizenry in Weilburg”). The design itself shows a town wall with two corner towers of the same height, between which is a taller tower with a pointed roof, and in the middle of the town wall a town gate with a coat of arms.

Along with this first seal, likely in the late 14th century, a smaller seal was also made. A replacement for this seal was brought into service by 1650.

Moreover, a further seal to these three others, which all still exist, was made in 1905, and was likewise modelled on the first seal.

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

The "Schloss Weilburg" (residential castle) has been a museum since 1935 that can only be visited by guided tour.

Housed in the castle’s former chancellery building is Weilburg’s "Bergbau- und Stadtmuseum" (“Mining and Town Museum”), which has at its disposal an exhibit area of 1 200 m². On display are exhibits on Weilburg’s town history and a wide assortment about mining in the town and the neighbouring areas. The museum, which has existed since 1972, making it Hesse’s oldest mining museum, also has installed in the castle hill a 200 m-long mining gallery exhibit in which the original mining machinery may be seen.

Since May 2008, one part of the museum has also housed roughly one hundred works of Chinese cut paper artworks. This display of Chinese cut paper outside China is thus far unique in the world.

In the outlying centre of Gaudernbach is found the "Deutsche Baumaschinen-Modellmuseum" (“German Building Machine Model Museum”). The museum was founded by the building company Walter Feickert GmbH in 1989. On display here are roughly 1,200 models of building machines and construction sites.

Regular events

The "Weilburger Schlosskonzerte" is a series of concerts with mostly classical music held since 1973 at the castle, the castle church or in the castle’s Renaissance estate. They take place yearly in the summer.

At the Freienfels castle ruins, five kilometres from Weilburg, the "Freienfelser Ritterspiele" (knightly games) are held yearly about 1 May. This “living history” event is well known countrywide.

The "Weilburger Kirmes" is known from historical records to have been held since 1569. Many customs have been observed for a long time, such as the fair’s "Anschießen", the endowment of prizes for shooting, first awarded in 1746 by the town and later through prize endowments by the citizens. The fair’s sponsor is the "Weilburger Bürgergarde", a local club devoted to traditions and founded in 1813. Also now in this club’s hands is the continued observance of the traditional Weilburg Church Consecration Festival ("Weilburger Kirchweih").

Buildings

Weilburg was for many years a residence town and governmental seat of the House of Nassau-Weilburg. Even today, the inner town is still characterized by buildings from that time. The most important buuilding is the castle, "Schloss Weilburg" from the 14th century. It was converted in the 16th and 18th centuries. The Renaissance parts, known as the "Kernschloss" (main or central castle) is counted among the best preserved Renaissance castles in Hesse. After the Baroque expansion under Johann-Ernst of Nassau-Weilburg, it takes in almost half of the Old Town. Also part of the castle is the Evangelical "Schlosskirche" (“Castle Church”) from the early 18th century.

Even the buildings on the marketplace with its "Neptunbrunnen" (a fountain from 1709) and those in the Old Town were built at the same time as the castle. However, there are also other timber-frame houses from the 16th to 19th century.

At the Old Graveyard is a Calvary Hill along with a "Heilig-Grab-Kapelle" (“Holy Sepulchre Chapel”) oriented towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

For the "Gymnasium Philippinum Weilburg", a representative building was built in the 18th century, which now houses the district and town library.

In the 19th century, the town grew noticeably beyond its mediaeval limits. On Limburger Straße, Bahnhofstraße and Frankfurter Straße, many loam buildings (or "Pisee-Bauten", after the style’s name, Pisee) were built. In particular, a row of façades in this style still stands on Bahnhofstraße. In Weilburg stands Germany’s tallest building in the Pisee style.

It is said that the "Weilburger Tunnelensemble", a set of three tunnels, is unique in the world. These three bores, set one beside the other each have a different function. One is a railway tunnel, another a highway tunnel and the third a waterway tunnel for shipping traffic. This last building work is unique in Germany. The newest tunnel in the set is the "Mühlbergtunnel" on the Weilburg bypass, opened to the public in 2004.

Near the outlying centre of Drommershausen are found the ruins of the former monastery and Church of Our Dear Lady and St. John in Pfannstiel (a pilgrimage church), which figures in the history of the Order of Saint John. The monastery’s and pilgrimage church’s first documentary mention came in 1364. The monastery was put under the Nieder-Weisel commandry near Butzbach. In the course of the Reformation, the monastery was dissolved in the 16th century.

Parks

The castle in Weilburg has at its disposal a castle park that stretches over several terraces along the Lahn.

Furthermore, in the outlying centre of Hirschhausen lies the "Tiergarten Weilburg". It was originally the Weilburg Counts’ hunting ground, but today it is a game park visited by 70,000 people every year.

Natural monuments

In the outlying centre of Kubach is found the "Kristallhöhle", or Crystal Cave. Great parts of this cleft cave’s walls are set with countless calcite crystals and calc-sinter. The crystals on the walls in this form are said to be unique in Germany. With a length of roughly 200 m, a breadth of up to 23 m and a height of up to 30 m the cave is believed to be Germany’s biggest single natural underground chamber.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The town lies on the Lahntalbahn (railway, whose route is Koblenz—Limburg—Weilburg—Wetzlar—Gießen) and belongs to the "Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund". Until 1969, Weilburg was the terminus of the Weiltalbahn coming from Grävenwiesbach. For this line’s needs a locomotive shed with a turntable was built at Weilburg’s railway station. After the line was abandoned, the buildings were torn down in the 1980s. Even the former goods and marshalling station has been converted into three sidings and a passing loop.Weilburg can be reached by "Bundesstraßen" 49 and 456, which link it to Autobahnen A 3 (Cologne–Frankfurt) from Limburg and A 45 (Dortmund–Aschaffenburg) from Wetzlar, as well as from the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

"Bundesstraße" 456 crosses the Lahn in Weilburg over the "Oberlahnbrücke" (“Upper Lahn Bridge”). This was built as part of the Weilburg bypass. Also crossing the Lahn in Weilburg are the "Steinerne Brücke" (“Stone Bridge”) and the "Ahäuser Brücke" (“Ahaus Bridge”) for motorized traffic, and the "Ernst-Dienstbach-Steg", a footbridge.

Established businesses

Weilburg is headquarters to Vistec Semiconductor Systems.

Education

Weilburg has a centuries-old tradition as a school town. As early as 1231, a "Scholaster" (monastic schoolmaster) is mentioned and in 1360 the monastery school itself. The school’s successor was the Evangelical school founded on 15 October 1540 by Count Philipp III of Nassau-Weilburg. Weilburg’s oldest school, the Gymnasium Philippinum, grew out of this forerunner school.

On schooldays, Weilburg’s educational institutions are attended by more than 8,000 young learners.

The following schools are to be found today in Weilburg:
* Christian-Spielmann-Schule (primary school); for pupils from parts of the municipal area on the Taunus side and the constituent communities of Bermbach, Hirschhausen, Kirschhofen and Kubach; named after the historian Christian Spielmann.
* Pestalozzischule (primary school); for pupils from parts of the municipal area on the Westerwald side and the constituent communities of Gaudernbach, Hasselbach, Odersbach and Waldhausen.
* Heinrich-von-Gagern-Schule (Hauptschule and Realschule); for students from Limburg-Weilburg and the Lahn-Dill-Kreis.
* Jakob-Mankel-Schule (integrated comprehensive school since 1994, and until 2008 the only one in the district); offers the Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium streams in integrated form up to the 10th class.
* Gymnasium Philippinum (Gymnasium); is the oldest school in Weilburg and is attended by students from places in the former Oberlahnkreis and from the Lahn-Dill-Kreis.
* Walderbachschule (school for practically teachable pupils); is a special school with the goal of helping pupils, independently of their individual handicaps, attain the greatest possible satisfaction from their lives.
* Windhofschule (school for children with learning difficulties and those with physical handicaps); is a special school and a special paedagogical counselling and advocacy centre. The Windhofschule offers handicapped pupils the opportunity of a school life participating together with able-bodied pupils.
* Wilhelm-Knapp-Schule (vocational schooling centre); unites ten kinds of school in the field of vocational schooling, among them the branches of the vocational Gymnasium, the "Fachoberschule" (technical college) and the Higher Trade School.
* Staatliche Technikerschule Weilburg (“State Technician School”)
* Amt für Lehrerbildung (“Office for Teacher Training”)
* Hessisches Forstliches Bildungszentrum (FBZ, “Hessian Forestry Education Centre)
* Dachdeckerzentrum Hessen (“Hesse Roofer Centre”)
* Kreisvolkshochschule Limburg-Weilburg e.V. (district folk high school)
* Weilburger Musikschule

Famous people

Honorary citizens

"Note: The listing is chronological by date of conferral."

# Wilhelm Farr (b. 8 July 1833 in Freiensen; d. 10 February 1907 in Weilburg)
#: businessman, politician, mayor
#: honoured 1903
#: Farr was a successful businessman in Weilburg. After stints on town council from 1870 and for three years in the Prussian assembly from 1876, he was elected mayor in 1885. He held the office until 1888 and bequeathed the town on his death a great sum for non-commercial purposes.
# Gustav Karthaus (b. 21 March 1859 in Grumbach; d. 8 February 1934 in Weilburg)
#: administrative official, mayor
#: honoured 1927
#: After Karthaus had already served four and a half years in Melsungen as mayor, he then reached the top job in the town of Weilburg on 1 October 1905. During his 21 years in office he more than anything else set himself the task of improving infrastructure. The waterworks were modernized, and with the building of a power station, so was the electrical system. In 1913, the new barracks were built. He had many of the town’s streets developed and introduced town expansion with building areas on the Zeppenfeld and the Karlsberg. He moreover dedicated himself to dealing with the town’s social problems by supporting its relief organizations. On the occasion of his retirement on 31 December 1926, he was made an honorary citizen.
# Friedrich Brinkmann (b. 25 August 1877 in Weilburg; d. 26 July 1960 in Weilburg)
#: butchery master
#: honoured 1953
#: Brinkmann had taken over his father’s estate butcher’s shop in the upper Langgasse in 1900. At this time, he began to involve himself in a whole series of honorary offices, serving as honorary chief master ("Ehrenobermeister") of the butchers’ guild, former master of the Wiesbaden crafts chamber and honorary member of the Weilburg volunteer fire brigade. From 1902 until his death he was a captain of the Weilburg "Bürgergarde", one of Nassau’s oldest tradition clubs.

Source: Magistrat der Stadt Weilburg (Hg.): "Weilburg-Lexikon." Weilburg 2006

Paul von Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Jakob Sprenger and Prince Philipp of Hesse (Chief President of the Province of Hesse-Nassau) were all stripped of their civic honours in 1946 by town council’s order.

Others

*Conrad I, "the Younger" (b. unknown; d. 23 December 918 in Weilburg; buried in Fulda), was from 906 Duke of Franconia and from 911 to 918 King of East Francia.
*Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (b. 13 September 1750 in Weilburg) one of the most important garden designers, founder of the “classical phase” of the landscaped English garden in Germany.
*Wilhelm Jacob Wimpf (b. 15 November 1767 in Weilburg, d. 11 April 1839 in Weilburg), entrepreneur and pioneer of loam building
*Carl Boos (b. 8 September 1806); architect; built, among other things, the "Marktkirche" (“Market Church”) in Wiesbaden
*Heinrich von Gagern (b 1798 in Bayreuth, d. 22 May 1880 in Darmstadt), grew up in Weilburg and did his "Abitur" at the "Gymnasium Philippinum" in town, 1848 President of the Frankfurt Parliament.
*Gert Fritz Unger (d. 3 August 2005 in Weilburg), writer and western author
*Ulrike Meinhof came to Weilburg in 1952, where she attended the "Gymnasium Philippinum" up to her "Abitur" in 1955.
*Heinrich Heinlein (b. 3 December 1803 in Weilburg), painter
*Erwin Schmidt (b. 20 July 1886 in Weilburg; d. 31 August 1956 in Weilburg), "Heimatforscher" (“homeland researcher”)
*Richard Hoin (b. 23 July 1879 in Odersbach; d. 14 October 1944 in Odersbach) politician and resistance fighter
*Thomas Valentin (b. 13 January 1922 in Weilburg; d. 22 November 1980 in Lippstadt) writer

Further reading

* Bernd Modrow, Claudia Gröschel: "Fürstliches Vergnügen. 400 Jahre Gartenkultur in Hessen." Verlag Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-1487-3
* Magistrat der Stadt Weilburg an der Lahn (Hg.); Weilburg an der Lahn. 700 Jahre Stadtrechte 1295-1995, Weilburg 1995, ISBN 3-926617-14-4

External links

* [http://www.weilburg.de/ Official website] de icon
* [http://www.schloesser-hessen.com/schloesser/weilburg/weilburg.htm Weilburg's castle and the castle's garden] de icon
* [http://www.weilburg-lahn.info private website about the town’s history, buildings, sights and more] de icon
* [http://www.kubacherkristallhoehle.de/ The crystal cave of Kubach, the only one in Germany.] de icon
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