Bromskirchen is a village and a former municipality 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 ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2023, it was merged into the municipality of Allendorf (Eder).Bromskirchen wird Ortsteil von Allendorf
''Hessenschau'', 14 March 2021.

Geography

Location

Bromskirchen lies at the edge of the Rothaargebirge in southwest Waldeck-Frankenberg, right on the boundary with

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

's district of Hochsauerlandkreis. More than 70% of the community's area is wooded.

Neighbouring communities

Bromskirchen borders in the north on the town of Hallenberg (Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia), in the east on the town of Frankenberg, in the south on the community of Allendorf and the town of Battenberg (all three in Waldeck-Frankenberg), and in the west on the town of

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 ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia).

Constituent communities

*Bromskirchen *Dachsloch *Neuludwigsdorf *Seibelsbach *Somplar

History

Bromskirchen had its first documentary mention in 1238 in an account from the Archbishopric of Mainz. After 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 ...

, the village passed to Hesse-Darmstadt, and in 1866 to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. For centuries, the village's livelihood was based on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

on scant land, and the forest.

Population development

Coat of arms

Bromskirchen's civic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale, dexter in sable a sword Or with hilt per cross pattée Or, sinister in argent a lattice per lozengy sable, thereover a fess Or. These arms were conferred on 12 November 1982. The sword stands for the local patron saint, Saint Martin of Tours, who is actually depicted in some Hessian civic coats of arms (see Amöneburg and Neustadt (Hesse)). The cross stands for the church, thereby making it a canting element for the ''—kirchen'' name ending (which means "church"). The other half of the arms comes from those borne by the Lords of Winter, the local rulers from the 15th to 18th century. The black and silver (or white, or indeed grey, as it appears in this article) were the old County of Battenberg colour

Partnerships

Bromskirchen maintains partnership links with: * Arrou, ''département'' of

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.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 ...

, since 1978

Culture and sightseeing

Bromskirchen's town hall was built between 1619 and 1621. It is a

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

house with ornamental carvings.

Economy and infrastructure

Bromskirchen is an economic centre and offers more than 900 jobs in its working trades, the greatest share of which is held by the firm Hoppe AG, a leading manufacturer of door and window fittings.

References

External links

Bromskirchen
{{Authority control Waldeck-Frankenberg Former municipalities in Hesse