Kriftel is a municipality in the Main-Taunus district, in

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 ...

. It is situated 16 km west of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(centre). It has about 11,000 inhabitants. Kriftel is also commonly known as "Fruit Orchard of the

Anterior Taunus The Anterior Taunus ( or ''Vortaunus'') is a natural region within the Hesse, Hessian Central Upland range of the Taunus (major unit group 30) in Germany that lies south of the High Taunus (301). The region lies below the main ridge of the Taunus. ...

" (''Obstgarten des Vordertaunus''), because of the fields around it which are mainly used for producing

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

History

In July AD 754, the track which carried the dead Saint

Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church i ...

rested in the village over night. To the honour of the saint, the Bonifatiuskapelle (chapel of Boniface) was built. Kriftel was first mentioned documentary in 790. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

damaged Kriftel including the chapel, which was not rebuilt until 1755. It took so long because a big fire destroyed almost the entire village (34 houses out of 38) in 1661. From 1945 up until the oil crisis in 1973, Kriftel experienced a population explosion due to massive immigration from urban sprawl and workers of the Hoechst-AG, who were offered cheap land to build their housing units. In 1959, the chapel had to be relocated due to community growth. During the mid-1970s, Kriftel fought for independence because Hofheim, the capital of the Main-Taunus district, wanted it to belong to it. Airaines has been Kriftel's French sister city since 1981. The "Platz von Airaines" (Place of Airaines) at the train station was named after this partnership.

Today

Kriftel has two churches, the catholic "St. Vitus" and the protestant "Auferstehungskirche". There are three schools, an elementary school (Lindenschule inden School, a comprehensive school (Weingartenschule ineyard School and a vocational training school ( Konrad-Adenauer-Schule). Kriftel lies at the federal motorway A 66 and the regional train line S 2 (From Niedernhausen over Frankfurt to Dietzenbach). Kriftel is known for its good leisure facilities. In addition to multiple playgrounds, Kriftel has a large play park (Freizeitpark). This sports an outdoor swimming pool, sports fields including for football and volleyball, a miniature/crazy golf course, a quarter pipe for skating and extensive playgrounds. The village is also hosts various club activities. The most important clubs are the SV 07 Kriftel (

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

) and the Turn- und Sportverein Kriftel (sports in general especially

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and trick cycling). There are also large community festivals. The most prominent are the Lindenblütenfest (Feast of the blossom of the linden) in summer and the Krifteler Kerb (Kriftel's Kermesse) in autumn.

Town partnerships

Kriftel is twinned to the following town:Website Kriftel (in German)
/ref> * Airaines,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

External links

www.kriftel.de
Official homepage of the administration (German)
www.feuerwehr-kriftel.de
Homepage of the volunteer fire department (German) * Municipalities in Hesse Main-Taunus-Kreis 8th-century establishments in Europe {{Hesse-geo-stub