Biedenkopf () is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

in western

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 ...

with a population of 13,491 (2020).

Geography

Location

The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of

Marburg-Biedenkopf Marburg-Biedenkopf is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein. History The district was created in 1974 when t ...

district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to above sea level – the Sackpfeife in the

Rothaargebirge The Rothaar Mountains (, , also ''Rotlagergebirge''), or Rothaar, is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany. It is believed that its name must once have been ''Rod-Hard-Gebirge'', ...

reaches this height – the town lies on the upper reaches of the river

Lahn The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the States of Germany, federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). ...

. Together with 18 other municipalities, it belongs to the Lahn-Dill-Bergland region.

Neighbouring communities

Clockwise from the north, the following towns and communities border on Biedenkopf: the towns of Hatzfeld and Battenberg in

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by mergin ...

district, in Marburg-Biedenkopf district the towns of

Münchhausen am Christenberg The municipality of Münchhausen is found north of Marburg on the northern edge of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. It has 3,286 inhabitants (2020) and has had its current boundaries since 1974. The municipality's area is roughly 41 km². Geogr ...

and Wetter and the communities of

Dautphetal Dautphetal is a municipality in Hesse, Germany, and is among the six larger municipalities of the 22 in Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Geography The municipality lies in the western part of the district about 37 km east of Siegen and about 15 ...

and

Breidenbach Breidenbach is a municipality in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf 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 Fra ...

as well as the towns of

Bad Laasphe Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of Wittgenstein Castle (de) (nowadays a boarding ...

and

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

Siegen-Wittgenstein Siegen-Wittgenstein is a Kreis (district) in the southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Olpe (district), Olpe, Hochsauerlandkreis, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill, Westerwaldkreis, and Altenkirche ...

district.

Divisions within the town

* Biedenkopf * Breidenstein * Dexbach * Eckelshausen * Engelbach * Katzenbach * Kombach * Wallau * Weifenbach 2007-05-18 Ansicht Biedenkopf IMG 8105

Christian communities

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 ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

congregation of Biedenkopf * Parish of St. Josef Biedenkopf (

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

) * Free Evangelical Congregation of Biedenkopf *

New Apostolic The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian church of the Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Germany. The church has existed since 1863 in Germany ...

Congregation of Biedenkopf

Politics

Town council

Biedenkopf's town council consists of 37 seats. At the last election in 2011, the seats were apportioned thus: * CDU: 10 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

: 14 seats * FDP: 1 seat * Bürgerblock Biedenkopf: 7 seats * UBL Wallau: 5 seats The CDU and SPD form a grand coalition.

Town partnerships

La Charité-sur-Loire La Charité-sur-Loire, known simply as La Charité until 1961, is a riverside commune in the western part of the French department of Nièvre. It is located on the departmental border with Cher, which is also the regional border with Centre-Val ...

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 ...

Oostduinkerke Oostduinkerke (; ; ) is a place on the southern west coast of Belgium, located in the province of West Flanders. Once a municipality of its own, Oostduinkerke now is a sub-municipality in the municipality of Koksijde. The name ''Oostduinkerke'' ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

* Wépion-sur-Meuse, Belgium *

Neustadt an der Orla Neustadt an der Orla is a town in Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia. It is situated at the small river Orla (Saale), Orla, 17 km north of Schleiz, and 25 km southeast of Jena. The former municipality Stanau was merged into Neustadt ...

Cogoleto Cogoleto () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about west of Genova. Its territory extends from the sea to the Ligurian Apennines; it is part of the Natural Regional Park of Mon ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Kecskéd Kecskéd () is a village in Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, R ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

* Schloss Biedenkopf (stately home) with Hinterlandmuseum * Schartenhof Eckelshausen * Wallau village museum * Dorfstube Engelbach * Private ''Holder'' tractor museum in Engelbach * Schenkbarsches Haus

Sport

* Indoor swimming pool at the community centre * Lahnauenbad (outdoor swimming pool) * Indoor and outdoor swimming pool in Wallau community * 4 sports halls in the main community (Großsporthalle, Stadtschule, Lahntalschule, Jahn-Halle) * Großsporthalle (sports hall) in Wallau, gymnasium in Weifenbach * Aue-Tenniscenter * Franz-Josef-Müller-Stadion (stadium) * Sports field in Wallau, football pitches in most communities * Riding hall * Shooting range * Trimm-Dich-Pfad ("Trim-Yourself-Path") * Perfstausee (reservoir) with bathing beach

Regular events

* Every seven years, the town holds a ''Grenzgang'' in which people walk around the borders of the town's forest. https://www.grenzgangsverein.de/?page_id=816

Culinary specialities

The ''Kartoffelbraten'' – or popularly the ''Brott'' – is a typical Biedenkopf culinary custom which has grown out of the autumn

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

harvest. In many places in the forest, traditionally in early autumn, the tasty tuber is cooked in the glow of a heap of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

made from freshly felled

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

wood. The unpeeled potato tastes best with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

liverwurst Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver (food), liver. It is eaten throughout Europe, as well as North and South America, notably in Argentina and Chile. Some liverwurst varieties are spreadable. Liverwurst ...

and

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables. They are typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments called '' salad dressings'', which exist in a variety of flavors, a ...

. For the ''Biedenkopfer Kartoffelbraten'', only three kinds of salad are traditionally served:

radish The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...

salad,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

salad and

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

salad.

Economy and infrastructure

Planning

In the 2001

Middle Hesse The region of Middle Hesse (, ) is one of three planning regions in the German state of Hesse, alongside North Hesse, North and South Hesse. Its territory is identical with that of the Regierungsbezirk Gießen, administrative province of Gießen (' ...

Regional Plan, the former district seat (''Kreisstadt'') Biedenkopf is designated the middle centre in the rural area. The town is part of the ''Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe)'' development belt. This belt's job is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport is thus given special importance. Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, ''Dillenburg - Steffenberg - Breidenbach – Biedenkopf'', with a regional connective function. Together with Dautphetal and Breidenbach, Biedenkopf is described as a commercial hub.

Transport

Highways

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 ...

62 * Bundesstraße 253 * Bundesstraße 453 Alongside the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), other local buses serve the town.

Railway

The ''Obere Lahntalbahn'' is the only railway line that serves the town. In May 1987, passenger traffic towards

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German- Dutch holiday roa ...

on the ''Scheldetalbahn'' was discontinued. Minor freight services persisted for a few years serving the Buderus firm until December 2002. Biedenkopf is joined by the ''Obere Lahntalbahn'' (a

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

line) to

Erndtebrück Erndtebrück is a municipality in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Erndtebrück situated on the river Eder in the Rothaargebirge, approx. 20 km northeast of Siegen. Neighbouring com ...

district and the town of

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

by way of Bad Laasphe, Dautphetal and Lahntal. The railway serves three stations in Biedenkopf: Wallau, Biedenkopf-Schulzentrum and Biedenkopf.

Established enterprises

In Biedenkopf and its outlying communities, machine manufacture and mould making have always been strongly represented. Among the companies in this business are Meissner AG (model- and toolmaking), Banss Schlacht- und Fördertechnik GmbH and CFS (packing systems, formerly Krämer & Grebe Tiromat). Furthermore, processing synthetic products is another of the town's industries, represented by, among others, the firm Elkamet.

Media

The daily newspaper with the greatest market share in Biedenkopf is the ''Hinterländer Anzeiger'' owned by the Lahn-Dill newspaper group (flagship paper: the ''Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung''). A local section can also be found for the old district of Biedenkopf in Marburg's ''

Oberhessische Presse The ''Oberhessische Presse'' is a regional, daily newspaper published by the ''Hitzeroth Druck + Medien GmbH & Co. KG'' for the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf in Hesse, Germany. The newspaper was created in 1951 by the merger Mergers and ac ...

'', itself a regional paper.

Public institutions

* Police station * Branch of the Marburg-Biedenkopf State Council Office (with vehicle licensing, job centre,

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

, building and youth office as well as the authority responsible for foreigners) * Financial office (branch of the Marburg-Biedenkopf financial office) * Employment agency (branch of the

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

office) * Kreishandwerkerschaft Biedenkopf (district craftsmen's association) * Branch of the Dillenburg ''Industrie- und Handelskammer'' (IHK, Chamber of Industry and Commerce) * Medienzentrum Biedenkopf – one of three places in Marburg-Biedenkopf where educational media can be rented * Pension office of the Biedenkopf Evangelical Deaconate. Biedenkopf also has a DRK hospital with 110 beds. Alongside

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

, the areas of specialization include

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

and

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a su ...

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

, and

urology Urology (from Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:οὖρον, οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of t ...

Education

* Gymnasium (Lahntalschule Biedenkopf) * Real- and

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

(Stadtschule Biedenkopf) * Professional schools * Biedenkopf

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

* Primary school and Hauptschule (Mittelpunktschule Wallau) *

Folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

State institutions

Since 1953, Biedenkopf has been host to a ''

Hessischer Rundfunk (; "Hesse Broadcasting"), shortened to HR (; stylized as hr), is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, A ...

'' VHF and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

transmission facility on the ''Sackpfeife''. The antenna are borne by a 210-m guyed steel-lattice mast with a diagonal cross-section measure of 1.8 m. Its position is 50°57'8"N, 8°32'1"E.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town

* Karl-Heinz Schneider, bearer of the "Verdienstkreuzes am Bande" (bestowed 28 April 2004) * Wilhelm Henkel, bearer of the "Verdienstkreuzes am Bande" (bestowed 9 January 2004) * Gretel Henkel, bearer of the "Verdienstmedaille" (bestowed 9 January 2004)

References

External links

*
Wallau/Lahn community
* further links
Official ''Grenzgang'' page
{{Authority control Marburg-Biedenkopf Spa towns in Germany