Kirchhain () is a town in

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 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 ...

Geography

Kirchhain is located in the heart of the state of

district. Geographically, it is surrounded by the Amöneburg Basin on the southeast edge of the ''Burgwald'' (a low mountain range) about 15 km east 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 ...

on the rivers

Ohm Ohm (symbol Ω) is a unit of electrical resistance named after Georg Ohm. Ohm or OHM may also refer to: People * Georg Ohm (1789–1854), German physicist and namesake of the term ''ohm'' * Germán Ohm (born 1936), Mexican boxer * Jörg Ohm (1 ...

and Wohra.

Neighbouring communities

In the north, Kirchhain borders on the town of Rauschenberg, in the east on the town of

Stadtallendorf Stadtallendorf is a town in the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf, Hesse, Germany. It lies about east of Marburg. In 2010, the town hosted the 50th Hessentag state festival. Geography Location Under the German system of ''Naturräume'', Stadta ...

, in the south on the town of Amöneburg and the community of Cölbe.

Town divisions

Besides the main centre of Kirchhain with about 8,300 inhabitants, 12 further constituent communities share another 8,900 people:

History

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times a network of long-distance and connecting trails crossed back and forth over the area where the town of Kirchhain was later to be founded. Since the early New Stone Age, there is evidence of almost continuous settlement in the area through various epochs. The high point of the expansion of settlement was in the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(5th century BC). The first territorial development however began only in the 12th century; in 1146 the settlement was first mentioned in a document under the name "Werphloh". The region belonged at that time to the landgravates of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

and

, whereas the neighbouring Amöneburg and vast parts of the surrounding lands belonged to the Archbishops of Mainz. Time and again, the Hessians and Mainzers came to blows over who had ascendancy over these lands. As of the 13th century, the

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s of Hesse further upgraded Kirchhain as a Hessian bulwark against Mainz's centre of Amöneburg so that they could control the region. Kirchhain then developed into the economic centre of the Amöneburg Basin. Kirchhain was presumably given town rights before 1348, but without any earlier documentary proof, the year 1352 has come to be seen as the official year of the town's founding. From the 15th century, the important ''Lange Hessen'' and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

trade roads made of Kirchhain a road hub and thereby spurred on the town's further economic development. Its good traffic connections, however, led to Kirchhain's being occupied a few times during 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 ...

, becoming for a time the headquarters of various armies, and thereby having to suffer as troops were billeted in the town. In 1636, about 12,000 to 14,000 soldiers were being housed in and around the town. For the 1,000 or so townsfolk at that time, this was a tremendous burden. Kirchhain likewise had to put up with such troubles in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

as its good traffic connections once again led troops to the town. From 1821 on, Kirchhain was the district seat (''Kreisstadt'') of the newly created Kirchhain administrative district, until this was combined with the Marburg district in 1932.

Politics

Town council

As of municipal elections held on 26 March 2006, seats on town council are apportioned thus: Elections in March 2016: *CDU: 13 seats *SPD: 17 seats *Greens: 3 seats *The LEFT: 2 seats *FDP: 2 seats *Total: 37 seats

Transportation

Kirchhain has a train station and lies on the Main-Weser Railway.

Town partnerships

* Plomelin, Brittany, France (since 1966) * Doberlug-Kirchhain, Brandenburg (since 1989)

Buildings

* Town Hall (''Rathaus''), the town's landmark, built about 1450 with

timber framing 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 ...

. * The ''Haus „Zum blauen Löwen“'', built 1612, birth house of the poet Eberhard Werner Happel * ''Evangelische Stadtkirche St. Michael'', a 15th-century church * Transformatorenhäuschen in the borough Anzefahr

Notable people

Leo Strauss, Political Philosopher

Personalities

Personalities born in Kirchhain

* Heinrich von Langenstein (1325-1397), theologian, church politician and astronomer * Heinrich Kornmann (1570-1627), jurist, Kurmainzischer Rat and chronicler * Eberhard Werner Happel (1657-1690), poet * Hennoch Wolf, also known as Elchanan Henle Kirchhain (1666-1757), rabbi and author of the Yiddish moral book '' Simchat ha-Nefesch '' *

Heinrich Joseph Wetzer Heinrich Joseph Wetzer ( Anzefahr, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), 19 March 1801 – Freiburg, Baden, 5 November 1853) was a German Orientalist. His greatest achievement was the part he took in the production of the first edition of the ''Ki ...

(1801-1853), Orientalist * Benedict Stilling (1810-1879), physician and anatomist * Albert Henze (1894-1979), general lieutenant in the Second World War *

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was an American scholar of political philosophy. He spent much of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of students an ...

(1899-1973), philosopher * Fritz Cron (born 1925), motorcycle racing driver, list of world champions in the motorcycle road race#world champions 1954 and 1956 * (1926-2017), motorcycle-

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...

world champion

Personalities who have lived or worked in Kirchhain

* Ludwig Vogel (1920-2014), Roman Catholic priest, chaplain in Kirchhain-Anzefahr * Friedrich Bohl (born 1945), politician (CDU), from 1991 to 1998 Federal Minister for special tasks Head of the Federal Chancellery, living in Kirchhain * Gabriela Lesch (born 1964), medium-haul, living in Kirchhain

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Marburg-Biedenkopf