Idstein

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen Idstein.pnglat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 13 | lat_sec = 14
lon_deg = 8 |lon_min = 16 | lon_sec = 27
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Hesse
Regierungsbezirk = Darmstadt
Landkreis = Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Höhe = 517
Fläche = 79.6
Einwohner = 25696
Stand = 2005-12-31
PLZ = 65510
Vorwahl = 06126
Kfz = RÜD
Gemeindeschlüssel = 06 4 39 008
Straße = König-Adolf-Platz 2
Website = [http://www.idstein.de/ www.idstein.de]
Bürgermeister = Gerhard Krum

Idstein is a small town with around 25,000 inhabitants, located between Limburg an der Lahn and Wiesbaden in the county Rheingau-Taunus in Hesse, Germany.

The city has direct half-hourly train connections to Frankfurt, where many of the people living in Idstein work. Frankfurt and other important cities within the Rhein-Main area can also be reached via one of Germany's busiest autobahns, the A3.

History

The Limes

In 86AD the area was cut through by the Germanic Limes, a line of frontier forts erected by the Romans which stretched from near Bonn on the Rhine to near Regensburg on the Danube. It divided the Roman Empire from the unconquered Germanic tribes. The modern township of Idstein lay on the Germanic site of the boundary.

Middle Ages

The city was first mentioned in 1102. Rudolf of Habsburg declared Idstein as a town and allowed markets to take place in Idstein in 1287. Soon after that in 1292, one count of Nassau, Adolf of Nassau, was elected as German king. He reigned in that capacity for 5 years. He was killed in battle against his rival to the throne, Albert I of Habsburg.

The Nassau Dynasty

The Nassau throne was divided amongst the heirs and later reunited as some family lines died away. As a result, between 1480 and 1509 there was an older Nassau-Idstein dynasty which was later united with the Nassau-Wiesbaden and Nassau-Weilburg lines, and from 1629 to 1721 there was a later House of Nassau-Idstein.

In the 17th century, Idstein gained an unfortunate association with the merciless witch hunts of Graf Johannes.

Idstein came under the House of Nassau-Ottweiler in 1721, and in 1728 under Nassau-Usingen. Idstein lost its status as the royal seat, but retained its position as the seat of the Nassau Archive.

Prussian rule

In 1806 the houses of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg were united to form the Duchy of Nassau. After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Prussia annexed Nassau as the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau.

The 17th-Century palace is today used as a high school (Pestalozzi-Gymnasium).

Industrial growth

From the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, Idstein had a thriving leather industry. During the Second World War slave labourers were put to work in the leather factories. The factories were closed 1959. A gap site on the edge of the old town was used as a car park until the 1980s, when retail and residential developments were erected on the site. Today, the Löherplatz serves as a market square. A leather factory remains in Ehrenbach.

The Nazi era

Kalmenhof, a private mental institution in Idstein gained notoriety through its participation in the Nazi euthanasia programme, "Action T4", serving as a transit camp for the killing centre at Hadamar. After gassing at Hadamar was brought to an end by public protests, Kalmenhof itself became an extermination camp under the [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_Brandt Action Brandt] programme, and patients were instead killed by lethal injection.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Idstein shows a round castle with two towers and two gates, in between which hangs the heraldic shield of the House of Nassau bearing a golden lion rampant in front of a blue background. On Idstein's municipal flag, the arms of the town are on an orange and blue background, the colours of the house of Oranien-Nassau.

Economy

Idstein has local industrial development. Among the most famous companies located there are Black & Decker, which has its German headquarters in Idstein, and Jack Wolfskin, a popular national outdoor brand. Other companies are involved producing supplies for the auto industry.

Regular events

Idstein has been home to the Idstein Jazz Festival (previously known as the "Hessen Jazz Festival") for over 20 years, and attracts thousands of visitors to its narrow streets every summer.

Idstein enjoys an annual wine festival, when the wines of the Rheingau region are celebrated. A medieval “Witches’ Market” also takes place near the famous Witches’ Tower, and the Monkey Jump Festival brings live bands to the town.

Places of interest

The medieval town centre, together with the Hexenturm ("witch tower") and the palace of the counts of Nassau-Idstein, attracts tourists from around the world. The palace, built in its current form in the 17th century, is now used as a high school (Pestalozzi-Gymnasium).

The Fort and the Witches’ Tower

The castle area which stretches from the archway in the city walls to the Witches’ Tower on the bridge to the palace was built between 1497 and 1588. By the 17th Century the fortifications no longer served a role in the defence of the town, and with the alterations to the palace, this area of the town was also greatly altered.

The round Witches’ Tower (Hexenturm) stands on the Burgfried hill at 42 meters high, with walls up to 12 metres thick, and it is the oldest building standing in Idstein today. It was previously thought that the tower dated from 1350, but borehole samples from the site have shown that work on the tower began about 1170. Its “butter churn” shape was built in stages around 1500. The tower has, since then, remained unchanged apart from cleaning and cement pointing on the stonework in 1963.

Witches and warlocks were not incarcerated in the tower itself, but it was used for torture during witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries. At the foot of the hill on a stone wall, a memorial was erected in 1996 to the men and women of the town who were executed as witches in the infamous witch trials of 1676.

The Unionskirche

The Unionskirche (“Unification Church”) has a deceptively simple exterior, as the interior of the church is decorated in a highly ornate manner in the Baroque style, highly unusual for a Lutheran church.

Founded in the 13th century as a church of St Martin, it was replaced in the 14th century by a building in the Gothic style. Idstein became Lutheran in 1533. In the 17th century, the nave was covered in large oil paintings of the Dutch school of Rubens. Several well-known works by Rubens form the basis of scenes from the life of Christ on the walls and ceiling; for example "the Wedding at Cana" cite news
title = Anordnung der Wand- und Deckenbilder in der Unionskirche Idstein
publisher = Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Idstein
url = http://www.ev-kirche-idstein.de/kirchengalerie19.htm
accessdate = 2007-01-13 ] on the south wall is largely based on Rubens's painting "the Feast of Herod" cite news
title = The Feast of Herod
publisher = National Galleries of Scotland Online Collections
url = http://www.nationalgalleries.org/index.php/collection/online_search/4:324/results/0/5382/
accessdate = 2007-01-13 ] which hangs today in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.

In 1817 the union of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches of Nassau into the Evangelical Church was declared in Idstein, and the name Unionskirche commemorates this historical event.

The palace

The palace standing today is a neo-Renaissance-style German "Residenzschloss", and was built 1614–1634 by Jost und Henrich Heer (Höer) on a rock massif between the two rivers which join near Idstein. The foundations are said to date from the 11th Century. The palace interior was decorated during the reign of the last Idstein Prince, Georg August Samuel (1665–1721).

Today the palace is used as a high school (Pestalozzi-Gymnasium).

The Limes

Today evidence of the Germanic Limes can be seen in the ruins of a watchtower on a hill near the village of Dasbach. The tower of Dasbach Church is said to be built on the foundations of another Roman watchtower. Similar ruins are to be found in Orlen, in the neighbouring township of Taunusstein.

In the village of Heftrich once stood the Altenburg Castle, another fortification on the Limes, but today nothing remains of the structure.

In 2005 UNESCO declared the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes as a World Heritage Site.

Other buildings of interest

The old town is a small area, and is distinguished by a high concentration of colourful, lavishly decorated half-timbered houses typical of the Hessian Fachwerk style common in the region, mostly dating from around 1600. Examples of this style include the Höerhof (1620–1626), and the Killingerhaus (1615). A tale tells, that the building was originally built in Strassbourg (France). At one time the owner moved to Idstein and took the house with him. Since 1987 the house has been used as a museum and tourist office for the town. Another historic house, the Stockheimer Hof, was built at the end of the 16th Century as the seat of the Lords of Stockheim; it later passed to the Calm family (1768–1776) and the grounds are today known as Kalmenhof, named after the family. On the way from the Killingerhaus to the hoerhof, one house have a humorous Dog Latin inscription. "Sita vsvilate inis taberce inis" (which is decoded as "Sieht aus wie Latein, ist aber keines"- "Looks like Latin, but it isn’t").

The town hall (1698) stands by the castle gate overlooking the main square, König-Adolf-Platz. The peal of bells in the roof was destroyed in a rock fall in 1928, and was restored 1932–1934. Next to the town hall is the “Crooked House”, built in "1527" by Major Nicolay of the town militia.

The last remnant of the erstwhile Idstein leather industry is the Gerberhaus, a house which was formerly used as a dry store on the bank of the Wörsbach river. It is situated on the Löherplatz, which had been the site of tanners and leather works since the Middle Ages, due to its proximity to the water supply needed for the leather industry. The restored Gerberhaus is today used for art exhibitions.

References

ee also

* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idstein Idstein (German Wikipedia entry)]

External links

* [http://www.idstein.de/ Idstein Town Council website] de icon
* [http://www.alt-idstein.info/ Historical Idstein] de icon
* [http://www.ev-kirche-idstein.de/ Unionskirche website] de icon