Homberg (Ohm)
Encyclopedia
Location
The officially recognized climatic spa of Homberg lies from 203 to 350 m above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
in the valley of the Ohm, a tributary to the Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
, some 19 km southeast of Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
.
Neighbouring communities
Homberg borders in the north on the town of StadtallendorfStadtallendorf
Stadtallendorf is a town in Marburg-Biedenkopf, Hesse, Germany, which lies about east of Marburg.- Location :Under the German system of Naturräume, Stadtallendorf lies in the West Hesse Depression Zone which is divided into basins and ridges...
(Marburg-Biedenkopf
Marburg-Biedenkopf
Marburg-Biedenkopf is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein.- History :...
), in the northeast on the town of Kirtorf
Kirtorf
Kirtorf is a town in the northern Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Through the town runs the Deutsche Märchenstraße, or German Fairytale Road, a touristic route joining many of the places commonly associated with the Brothers Grimm's tales.-Geography:...
, in the southeast on the community of Gemünden
Gemünden (Felda)
-Location:Gemuenden lies on the rivers Felda and Ohm, flowing from the Vogelsberg Mountains in the region of Upper Hessen amongst Homberg Grünberg, Kirtorf, Romrod and Feldatal, or more broadly, between Gießen and Bad Hersfeld...
, in the south on the community of Mücke
Mücke
Mücke is a community in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Mücke lies from 200 to 350 m above sea level in the northwest foothills of the Vogelsberg Mountains on the upper reaches of the river Ohm, a tributary to the Lahn...
, in the southwest on the town of Grünberg and the community of Rabenau
Rabenau, Hesse
Rabenau is a municipality in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany....
(both in Gießen
Gießen (district)
Gießen is a Kreis in the middle of Hessen, Germany. Neighboring districts are Marburg-Biedenkopf, Vogelsbergkreis, Wetteraukreis, Lahn-Dill.-History:...
district), in the west on the community of Ebsdorfergrund
Ebsdorfergrund
Ebsdorfergrund is a community consisting of 11 villages in the southeast of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany.The community's municipal area extends over the Ebsdorfer Grund in the valley of the Zwester Ohm and the areas around its edges, connecting the Amöneburg Basin with the middle...
, and in the northwest on the town of Amöneburg
Amöneburg
Amöneburg is a town in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. It lies on a mountain and is built around the castle of the same name, Burg Amöneburg.- Location :...
(both in Marburg-Biedenkopf).
Constituent communities
The town of Homberg consists of not only the namesake main town, but also of the outlying centres of Appenrod, Bleidenrod, Büßfeld, Dannenrod, Deckenbach, Erbenhausen, Gontershausen, Haarhausen, Höingen, Maulbach, Nieder-Ofleiden, Ober-Ofleiden and Schadenbach.Town council
The municipal elections held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:- SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
11 seats - CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
10 seats - FWG (citizens' coalition) 5 seats
- FDPFree Democratic Party (Germany)The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
1 seats
Coat of arms
Homberg's oldest known seal dates back to 1234, even before the town was granted town rights. Until the 16th century, the town's armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
generally showed a castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
or town wall with the red-and-silver-striped Lion of Hesse, and in 1536, a new version suddenly showed the lion "sinister" – facing left (from the arms bearer's point of view). The arms in use today, which were adopted in the late 19th century, are based on this version.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/h/hombergo.htm
Town partnerships
The town of Homberg maintains partnerships with the following places: Thouaré-sur-LoireLoire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
, near Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, 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...
since 1981 Stadtroda
Stadtroda
Stadtroda is a town of 6,293 people, located in Thuringia, Germany. Stadtroda lies on the Roda river, a tributary of the Saale....
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
since 1990
Transport
Homberg lies in the area of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (Rhine-Main Transport Network). The busline 5332 of the Kurhessen Regional Transport system connects Homberg with the nearest railway stations at Burg- and Nieder GemündenGemünden (Felda)
-Location:Gemuenden lies on the rivers Felda and Ohm, flowing from the Vogelsberg Mountains in the region of Upper Hessen amongst Homberg Grünberg, Kirtorf, Romrod and Feldatal, or more broadly, between Gießen and Bad Hersfeld...
on the Vogelsbergbahn railway line and Kirchhain
Kirchhain
Kirchhain is a town in Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany.-Geography:Kirchhain is located in the heart of the state of Hesse in Marburg-Biedenkopf County...
on the Main-Weser line. The busline VB-71 run by the Verkehrsgesellschaft Oberhessen (Upper Hesse Transport Company) also goes to Gemünden, and line VB-13a offers a direct connection to Alsfeld
Alsfeld
Alsfeld is a town in the center of Hesse, somewhere in Germany. Large towns nearby are Bad Hersfeld about 33 km to the east, Fulda 36 km to the southeast, Gießen 47 km to the west and Marburg an der Lahn about 36 km to the northwest...
railway station.
The Ohmtalbahn, which runs through Homberg (Burg- and Nieder Gemünden–Kirchhain) is nowadays only partly in service beginning at Nieder-Ofleiden, and only then for goods trains that serve a 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...
.
The Homberg (Ohm) interchange on Autobahn A 5
Bundesautobahn 5
is a 445 km long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the...
lies about 10 km south of the town core, while 8 km to the north runs Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) 62.