Großalmerode (; or ''Grossalmerode'') is a town in the

Werra-Meißner-Kreis Werra-Meißner is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Göttingen, Eichsfeld, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Wartburgkreis, district-free Eisenach, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Kassel. History The di ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

Location

The small town, which has had town rights since 1775, lies 21 km east of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

in the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park on the river Gelster. Here the constituent community of Laudenbach can also be found, in the Kaufunger Wald (range) between the Steinberg or Bilstein in the northwest and the Hirschberg in the southwest. Not far to the southeast stands the highest mountain in northeast Hesse, the Hoher Meißner.

Neighbouring communities

These are

Witzenhausen Witzenhausen () is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany. It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974 was a district seat. The University of Kassel maintains a satellite campus in Witzenhausen, which offer ...

, Hessisch Lichtenau, Helsa,

Bad Sooden-Allendorf Bad Sooden-Allendorf () is a spa town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The spa town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf lies in the Werra valley near the Hoher Meißner, right on the boundary with Thuringia, almost at German ...

and Berkatal.

Constituent communities

Großalmerode’s '' Ortsteile'' are Weißenbach, Trubenhausen, Uengsterode, Rommerode, Laudenbach and Epterode. Also within town limits are Bransrode, Gut Giesenhagen and Faulbach, although these are not outlying centres, but rather officially parts of the main town.

History

In 1386, today’s Großalmerode had its first documentary mention as ''Almerode''. Town rights, though, only came in 1775.

Ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s manufacture in mediaeval Großalmerode was very advanced. The products ( Hessian crucible) were exported worldwide for their high resistance to heat (1 100 to 1 200 °C).MITTELALTER-HIGHTECH http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,450242,00.html SPIEGEL ONLINE - 23. November 2006, 14:32 At a gathering of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

''Gemeinschaftsbewegung'' (“Fellowship Movement”) in 1907 there were ecstatic phenomena, the condemnation of which led to a rift between the ''Gemeinschaftsbewegung'' and the Pentecostal movement in 1909, through the so-called Berlin Declaration.

Politics

Town council

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

Mayor

From 2000 to 2017, Andreas Nickel (SPD) has been the town’s mayor. In 2017 Finn Thomsen was elected mayor.

Coat of arms

The town’s

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might be described thus: Argent a mound vert, thereon three crucibles gules, one on top of the others, between two piles of ''Üller'' azure. ''Üller'' which are made of Almerode

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, like the

crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

s, are somewhat like

marbles A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. These toys can be used for a variety of games called marbles, as well being placed in marble runs or races, or created as a form of art. They are ofte ...

, but often much bigger.

Town partnerships

* Royston,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

Glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

and Ceramics Museum

Buildings

* ''Bilsteinturm'' (tower) on the Bilstein * The

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

parish church represents an architectural mixture of Baroque Revival,

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

and later style elements. The nave was added in 1913 and 1914 to a Late Gothic quire.

Sport

With regard to sport, Großalmerode is well known for the 58 km-long

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

trail running across the Kaufunger Wald. Each year, with a few variations on the course, the so-called Bilstein Bike Marathon is held here, which draws mountain bikers from all over Germany and the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

countries to town. On the Schwarzenberg lies the TC Großalmerode

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

complex, with four courts. Furthermore, the active members of the Turngemeinde 1863 Großalmerode e.V. (

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

club) and the FC Großalmerode 1920 ''Bezirksoberliga'' footballers have made names for themselves in past years. Between the main town and the outlying centre of Epterode lies the ''Männerspielplatz'' (“men’s playground”), where unusual sporting activities are on offer, such as digger driving,

jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

driving and

quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

driving.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Through the main town runs ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

'' 451, which leads to ''Bundesstraße'' 7 near Helsa and ''Bundesstraße'' 27 near Witzenhausen. The

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line from Walburg to the Großalmerode Ost end-of-line station was opened on 15 December 1915. Passenger service was ended on 2 June 1973. After conversion, the trains ran farther along the ''Gelstertalbahn'' to

Süd and Eichenberg. There was one other railway line that branched off at Velmeden from this line; it led to the Großalmerode West end-of-line station.

Famous people

* Wilhelm Grimm, one of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

, was confirmed on 13 April 1800 in Großalmerode. * Heinrich Pforr was a painter. He was born on 26 October 1880 in Laudenbach. A street in Laudenbach has been named after him, on which his house still stands today. * The poet Wilhelm Speck is an honorary citizen of the town and Wilhelm-Speck-Platz was named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossalmerode Werra-Meißner-Kreis