Bad Marienberg
Encyclopedia
Westerwaldkreis
The Westerwaldkreis is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and also the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
Bad Marienberg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Bad Marienberg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Westerwaldkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Bad Marienberg....
, a kind of collective municipality.
Geography
The community lies in the WesterwaldWesterwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
between Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
and Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
. From east to west through the town flows the river Nister, which is part of the Sieg
Sieg
The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany named after the Sigambrer. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and 153 kilometres in length....
drainage basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
.
Bad Marienberg’s Stadtteile are Eichenstruth, Langenbach and Zinhain.
Middle Ages
In 1048, Bad Marienberg had its first documentary mention. It is likely that this same source gave rise to the name Westerwald, since the area around Bad Marienberg lies directly west of HerbornHerborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
. In 1258, Marienberg was described as Mons sanctae Mariae. In the 18th century, the formerly separate communities of Obermarienberg, still an easily recognizable ring-shaped settlement around the parish church today, and Untermarienberg grew together.
Marienberg was part of the lordly domain in the Westerwald that was formed out of the three Gerichte (official regions) of Marienberg, Emmerichenhain and Neukirch, and which Count Otto I of Nassau
Otto I of Nassau
Otto I of Nassau , Count of Nassau was the younger son of Count Henry II of Nassau and Matilda of Geldern. Otto I became the count of Dillenburg, Hadamar, Siegen, Herborn and Beilstein after many years of quarrel with his brother Count Walram II. In the division of 17 December 1255 he received...
won in 1255 in the Ottonian-Walramian
Walram II of Nassau
-Biography:Walram was the elder son of Count Henry II of Nassau and Matilda of Guelders. He was chief cavalry officer in the service of Emperor Rudolf I.In about 1247, Henry II abdicated, passing the reign to Walram's younger brother, Otto...
hereditary division. After a further division in 1303, the area passed to Otto’s son Henry III of Nassau-Siegen, making it part of Nassau-Dillenburg. From 1343 to 1561, the overlordship in the Westerwald was then held by the Nassau-Dillenburg-Beilstein branch of the family. After they died out, Count Johann VI of Nassau-Dillenburg (“the Elder”) received the inheritance, thereby uniting these German lands – albeit only for a short time.
Modern times
After further territorial exchanges within the Nassau dynasty through inheritances, Marienberg ended up, as part of the Beilstein lordly domain, under Prince William IV’sWilliam IV, Prince of Orange
William IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau , born Willem Karel Hendrik Friso, was the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands.-Early life:...
governance. Once again, in 1742-1743, he succeeded in uniting all Ottonian lands within the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. Within the Orange
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
German possessions now ruled from Dillenburg, Marienberg was at the latest by 1783 put under the Amt of Beilstein. The parish of Marienberg counted roughly 450 souls in 1580 and included the villages of Bach, Bölsberg, Eichenstruth, Fehl, Großseifen, Illfurth, Langenbach, Marienberg, Hof, Pfuhl, Ritzhausen, Stockhausen, Unnau and Zinhain. The Counties of Sayn-Hachenburg and Sayn-Altenkirchen
Sayn-Altenkirchen
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen was a German county located in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate, near the Sieg River....
both lay only a few kilometres away to the northwest.
Along with the lordly domain of Beilstein, the village fell in 1806 to the Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Berg, in which, in 1808, it was grouped into the Arrondissement of Dillenburg within the Département of Sieg. In 1815, Marienberg went to the Duchy of Nassau. The Amt of Marienberg, which was newly organized in 1816, comprised 43 villages and 20 estates with 1,805 families and 7,085 persons. At the same time, the Amt of Marienberg lay under the jurisdiction of the Dillenburg Criminal Court. In the course of a short-lived administrative reform, Marienberg was annexed in 1849 to the newly founded Landkreis (rural district) of Hachenburg, before the old arrangement was brought back into force in 1854.
In 1866 the Duchy of Nassau passed to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and became, as the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Wiesbaden, part of the province of Hesse-Nassau. With the institution of rural districts after the Prussian model, Marienberg became in 1867 seat of the Oberwesterwaldkreis with the Ämter of Hachenburg, Marienberg and Rennerod. The last went to the newly created Westerburg district (which also got the Amt of Wallmerod as well as a few places from the Amt of Selters from the Unterwesterwaldkreis) in 1885-1886 on the occasion of administrative reform.
Although in 1890 Marienberg had only 707 (mostly Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
) inhabitants and was officially said to be a village, it already had a considerable infrastructure at its disposal: the village had a provincial council office (Landratsamt), a court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
(Landgericht Limburg an der Lahn), a taxation and land registry office, a post
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
and telegraph office, a credit union
Credit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
and an agency for the Nassauische Landesbank. Moreover, there was a tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
in the village, and nearby were brown coal
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
and ironstone
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
mines along with clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
pits.
When the district of Westerburg was united with the old Oberwesterwaldkreis to form the new, bigger Oberwesterwaldkreis in 1932, Marienberg lost its function as an administrative seat to Westerburg. Having had town rights conferred on 1 April 1939, Marienberg then belonged to the French occupation zone
Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
and was part of the Upper Presidium of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau.
Since 1947, the town has been part of the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate. On 10 August 1967 the town had the title Bad (literally “bath” – the title means that the town is a recognized spa) bestowed upon it, after already having received the title of Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp was a Bavarian priest and one of the founders of the Naturopathic medicine movement...
resort in 1961.
In 1972, Bad Marienberg, along with 17 other Ortsgemeinden was grouped into a Verbandsgemeinde, which today is home to just under 20,000 inhabitants (as of 2007).
Community council
The council is made up of 23 council members, including the honorary and presiding mayor (Bürgermeister), who were elected in a municipal election on 7 June 2009.| CDU | SPD | Grüne | Total | |
| 2009 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 22 Seats |
| 2004 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 22 Seats |
Town partnerships
The town maintains partnership arrangements with the district seat of MarienbergMarienberg
Marienberg can refer to:*Marienberg, Saxony, the capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis district of the German state of Saxony*Bad Marienberg, a town in the Westerwaldkreis of Rhineland-Palatinate...
in the Ore Mountains
Ore Mountains
The Ore Mountains in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for many centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest of the mountain range...
(Erzgebirge) and with Pagny-sur-Moselle
Pagny-sur-Moselle
Pagny-sur-Moselle is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department*Parc naturel régional de Lorraine...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Parks
Within Bad Marienberg’s town limits is a spa garden with a Kneipp centre and a bandshell where concerts are regularly held in the summer. Adjoining this is a new part of the park with a herb garden and a barefoot course.Between Bad Marienberg and the outlying centre of Zinhain is the Basaltpark, a disused basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
which is open to the public and laid out with hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
paths, information plaques about the geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, and a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. Right near the Basaltpark is found the Wildpark Bad Marienberg (wildlife park).
Transport
Right near the town runs BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
414 leading from Driedorf
Driedorf
-Location:Driedorf lies from 416 to 642 m above sea level on a tableland in the high Westerwald.-Mademühlen:Mademühlen has about 1000 inhabitants and lies in the "Hessischer Westerwald" protected area and in the European protected area network Natura 2000...
-Hohenroth to Altenkirchen. The nearest Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
is Haiger-Burbach on the A 45
Bundesautobahn 45
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known by its byname Sauerlandlinie, which derives from the Sauerland, the landscape which said autobahn is running through between the cities of Hagen and Siegen. Many people think of...
(Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
–Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
), roughly 22 km away. Bad Marienberg lies on the Oberwesterwaldbahn (railway) to Limburg and Au (Sieg). From there, the cities of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
may be reached directly. The nearest InterCityExpress
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
stop is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. The nearest airport is the Siegerland Airport
Siegerland Airport
Siegerland Airport is an airport in Burbach near Siegen, Germany, in the Siegerland region. The airport is largely used for general aviation and parachuting, though there is also a small number of chartered passenger flights.-External links:*...
, reachable by the A 45.
Media
Near Bad Marienberg, T-SystemsT-Systems
T-Systems is a worldwide operating ICT provider founded in October 2000. It belongs to Deutsche Telekom AG and its central office is located in Bonn, Germany. Within Deutsche Telekom AG it is responsible for multinational corporations and public-sector institutions. It operates in more than 20...
runs a transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
for VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
which has a 174-m-high freestanding tubular steel mast. Südwestrundfunk
Südwestrundfunk
The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
(SWR) sends all four of its radio programmes from here. In the summer of 2008, the switchover from analogue TV transmissions
Analog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
to DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
is to be carried out.
Also, the Deutscher Wetterdienst runs a weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
right near this transmission facility in Bad Marienberg.
Europa-Haus
In Bad Marienberg is found the main branch of Europa-Haus of 128 others that have sprung up. It is sponsored through an endowment and serves as an education and meeting place.Famous people
- Katja Burkard, moderator (come from HöhnHöhnHöhn is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
-Neuhochstein) - Frank Göbler, German Slavist
- Gerhard Roth, former Member of the LandtagLandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
- Anette RückesAnette RückesAnette Rückes is a German athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.She competed for West Germany in the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich in the 4 x 400 metres where she won the bronze medal with her teammates Inge Bödding, Hildegard Falck and Rita Wilden.-References:...
, athleteAthletics (track and field)Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...