The municipality of Lahntal is found in the
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 northwest
Middle Hesse,
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
Lahntal lies on the upper
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).
...
about 83 km north of
Frankfurt am Main
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 ...
and about 7 km northwest 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 ...
. In the north, it borders on the town of
Wetter, in the east on the community of
Cölbe, in the south on Marburg, and in the west on the community 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 ...
.
West of the community rises the 498 m-high ''Rimberg''.
Constituent communities
* Brungershausen
* Caldern
* Göttingen
* Goßfelden
* Kernbach
* Sarnau
* Sterzhausen
Population
As of December 31 2022, Lahntal has a population of 7,102 of which 49.6% are male ad 50.4% are female. 91.5% of the total population are Germans (49.3% male and 50.7% female) and 8.5% are "not Germans" (52.4% male and 47.6% female)
Population of each village (as of 30 June 2022)
* Brungershausen: 91
* Caldern: 1.315
* Göttingen: 297
* Goßfelden: 2.360
* Kernbach: 218
* Sarnau: 997
* Sterzhausen: 2.339
Politics
Municipal representation
(last municipal election: 14 March 2021)
Coat of arms
Lahntal's civic coat of arms might be described thus: In gules an inescutcheon showing the shield of the
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...
(in argent a cross sable), laid over a fess wavy argent; behind the inescutcheon tilted dexter and turned sinister an abbess's staff Or with velum argent; spangled with seven trefoils, three above the fess and four below.
The coat of arms was adopted as part of the municipal reform in Hesse, and the wavy fess represents the community's namesake river. The
clover
Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversit ...
s represent the seven constituent communities within Lahntal's bounds; moreover, the abbess's staff stands for Caldern, where there was once a
convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
, and the Teutonic Knights' shield stands for Goßfelden, which lies south of the river Lahn.
Municipal partnerships
*
Stara Kiszewa,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
*
Sussargues
Sussargues (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Hérault department
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună ...
,
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 ...
Lahntal has been partnered since 6 April 1986 with the community of Sussargues, which lies in the department of
Hérault
Hérault (; , ) is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault (river), Hérault River, its Prefectures in France, prefecture is M ...
in southern France, right near
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
(about 17 km) and the Mediterranean Sea. Lahntal and Sussargues lie about 1 050 km apart.
Between the Polish community of
Stara Kiszewa and Lahntal, a community partnership was ceremoniously sealed in Poland on 10 January 2005. The underwriting of the intercommunal deal in Lahntal took place on 26 May 2006. Stara Kiszewa has about 6,200 inhabitants in some 20 centres, some quite small, and is in the
powiat of Kościerzyna, about 80 km south of
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
and 80 km west of
Malbork
Malbork (German: ''Marienburg'') is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It is the seat of Malbork County and has a population of 36,709 people as of 2024. The town is located on the Nogat river, in the historical region of Pomerelia.
Fo ...
in the tourist region of
Kashubia
Kashubia or Cassubia ( or ; ; or ) is an ethnocultural region in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region of northern Poland. It is inhabited by the Kashubian people, and many in the region have historically spoken the Kashubian langua ...
.
Culture and Sightseeing
Buildings
* Rimberg Tower near Caldern
* Defensive church tower in Sterzhausen from the 12th or 13th century.
* Old Lahn Bridge in Goßfelden
*
Otto-Ubbelohde-Haus in Goßfelden
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Running west–east through the municipal area is the Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 62 coming from
Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf () is a spa town in western Hesse, Germany with a population of 13,491 (2020).
Geography
Location
The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to above sea level – the ...
and going on towards
Cölbe and farther to
Alsfeld
Alsfeld () is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany.
Located about north of Frankfurt, Alsfeld is part of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, with nearby Lauterbach, Hesse, Lauterbach (about ...
. In Lahntal-Göttingen, the B 252 from
Diemelstadt and
Korbach
Korbach (), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German language, German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Timber-Frame Ro ...
to the north comes to an end.
The ''Obere Lahntalbahn'', a single-track
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 ...
unelectrified secondary
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 run by DB's ''Kurhessenbahn'' subsidiary, joins Marburg by way of
Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf () is a spa town in western Hesse, Germany with a population of 13,491 (2020).
Geography
Location
The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to above sea level – the ...
and
Bad Laasphe with
Erndtebrück. Stops on the line may be found at Sarnau (full station), Goßfelden, Sterzhausen and Caldern.
Tourism
The community of Lahntal belongs, along with parts of its environs to the ''Burgwald'' region, the Lahn
tourism region and the Lahn-Dill Nature Park; it also lies on the Lahntal bicycle trail.
Established enterprises
Lauf&Masche
Personalities
Sons and daughters of the town
*
Otto Ubbelohde,
drawer
A drawer ( ) is a box-shaped container inside a piece of furniture that can be pulled out horizontally to access its contents. Drawers are built into numerous types of furniture, including cabinets, chests of drawers (bureaus), desks, and ...
and
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
*
Christean Wagner, Hessian politician
* Dr.
Richard Munz, awarded the
Bundesverdienstkreuz on ribbon on 17 January 2003
Others associated with the community
*
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 ...
References
External links
Lahntal's official websiteBrungershausen's unofficial websitewww.gossfelden.de Goßfelden's unofficial websitewww.sterzhausen.de Sterzhausen's unofficial website
{{Authority control
Marburg-Biedenkopf