Oerlinghausen

Oerlinghausen
A view of Oerlinghausen
Oerlinghausen
Location of the town of Oerlinghausen within Lippe district
Coordinates	51°58′0″N 8°40′0″E / 51.966667°N 8.666667°E / 51.966667; 8.666667Coordinates: 51°58′0″N 8°40′0″E / 51.966667°N 8.666667°E / 51.966667; 8.666667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Detmold
District	Lippe
Mayor	Ursula Herbort
Basic statistics
Area	32.7 km2 (12.6 sq mi)
Elevation	214 m  (702 ft)
Population	16,670 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	510 /km2 (1,320 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	LIP
Postal code	33813
Area code	05202
Website	www.oerlinghausen.de

Oerlinghausen is a city in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany located between Bielefeld and Detmold in the Teutoburger Wald. It has c. 17,200 inhabitants.

Geography

Geographically, Oerlinghausen is situated on top of the Teutoburger Wald hills. Oerlinghausen's highest point is the Tönsberg with 334 meters. The flatlands of northern Germany start some 40 km north of Oerlinghausen. There are beautiful hiking routes along the hill chain which stretches 80 km in east-west direction. To the south of the hills are large sand areas originating from melting glaciers during past ice ages. Although not high, the hills are steep in many places and almost completely covered by forest.

Hünenkapelle, old church in Oerlinghausen.

History and culture

First mentioned in documents in 1036, the town became a city in 1926 by authority of the Land of Lippe. In 1969 the city was expanded with the addition of Helpup, Währentrup and Lipperreihe as part of the "Gebietsreform" movement.

Oerlinghausen is home to an airfield which is one of Europe's largest gliding centres as well as the well known Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Oerlinghausen (archaeological open air museum) featuring reconstructions of a variety of dwellings spanning from 10,000 BC to 1000 AD.

The city has also been home to an unusual number of well-known sociologists. Marianne Weber (born Schnitger), who was born in Oerlinghausen and married Max Weber here in 1893, was a well-respected author herself. Niklas Luhmann and Richard Grathoff, two of the key sociologists who made the Bielefeld University one of the premier institutions for sociology in Europe, have also lived in Oerlinghausen for extended time periods.

The Altstadt (old town) has some old buildings with a number of restaurants.

References

1. ^ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. 31 December 2010. http://www.it.nrw.de/statistik/a/daten/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/index.html. 

External links

• Official website (German)
• Freilichtmuseum website (German)
• Glider Airfield Website (German)