Limburg an der Lahn
Encyclopedia
Limburg an der Lahn
(officially: Limburg a. d. Lahn) is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg
in Hesse
, Germany
.
and the Westerwald
on the river Lahn.
The town lies roughly centrally in a basin within the Rhenish Slate Mountains
which is surrounded by the low ranges of the Taunus and Westerwald and called the Limburg Basin (Limburger Becken). Owing to the favourable soil and climate, the Limburg Basin stands as one of Hesse’s richest agricultural
regions and moreover, with its convenient Lahn crossing, it has been of great importance to transport since the Middle Ages
. Within the basin, the Lahn’s otherwise rather narrow lower valley broadens out noticeably, making Limburg’s mean elevation only 117 m above sea level
.
) but with partial functions of an upper centre in western Middle Hesse.
Limburg’s residential neighbourhoods reach beyond town limits; the neighbouring centres of Elz
and Diez run seamlessly together.
Surrounding towns and communities are the community of Elz and the town of Hadamar
in the north, the community of Beselich
in the northeast, the town of Runkel
in the east, the communities of Villmar
and Brechen
in the southeast, the community of Hünfelden
in the south (all in Limburg-Weilburg), the community of Holzheim
in the southwest, and the town of Diez and the communities of Aull
and Gückingen
in the west (all in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
in Rhineland-Palatinate
).
The nearest major cities are Wetzlar
and Gießen
to the northeast, Wiesbaden
and Frankfurt to the south and Koblenz
to the west.
Likewise often called a constituent community is Blumenrod, although this is actually only a big residential neighbourhood in the main town’s south end. Its landmark is the Domäne Blumenrod, a former manor house that has been restored and remodelled by the Limburg Free Evangelical community.
Limburg’s biggest outlying centre is Lindenholzhausen (3,329 residents as of June 2006); the second biggest is Linter.
built here (Burg means “castle” in German
). In 910 the town was first mentioned as Lintpurc. Two of the popular theories are:
over the river Lahn. In the decades that followed, the town developed under the castle’s protection. Limburg is first mentioned in documents in 910 under the name of Lintpurc when Louis the Child
granted Konrad Kurzbold an estate in the community on which he was to build a church. Konrad Kurzbold laid the foundation stone for Saint George’s Monastery Church, where he was also buried. The community soon increased in importance with the monastery’s founding and profited from the lively goods trade on the Via Publica.
In 1150, a wooden bridge
was built across the Lahn. The long-distance road from Cologne
to Frankfurt am Main subsequently ran through Limburg. In the early 13th century, Limburg Castle was built in its current form. Shortly afterwards, the town passed into the ownership of the Lords of Ysenburg
. In 1214, the community was granted town rights. Remains of the fortification wall from the years 1130, 1230 and 1340 with a maxiumum length of roughly one thousand metres indicate to this day the blossoming town’s quick development in the Middle Ages. There is proof of a mint
in Limburg in 1180.
One line of the Lords of Ysenburg resided from 1258 to 1406 at Limburg Castle and took their name from their seat, Limburg. From this line came the House of Limburg-Stirum
and also Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg
, German King Adolf’s wife.
The ruling class among the mediaeval townsfolk were rich merchant families whose houses stood right near the castle tower and were surrounded by the first town wall once it was built. The area of today’s Rossmarkt (“Horse Market”), in which many simple craftsmen lived, was only brought within the fortifications once the second town wall was built. The inhabitants there, however, unlike the merchant élite, were accorded no entitlement to a voice in town affairs and were not allowed to send representatives to the town council. Nevertheless, they had to bear the main financial burden of running the town. Only in 1458 were they allowed to send two representatives to town council.
Saint George’s Cathedral (Sankt-Georgs-Dom) built on the old monastery church’s site, and also called Georgsdom, was consecrated in 1235. On 14 May 1289, a devastating fire wiped out great parts of the inner town, although these were subsequently rebuilt. One of the houses built at that time was the Römer 2-4-6
, which is today one of Germany’s oldest half-timbered houses. In 1337, Limburg’s Jews were expelled from the town. Only in 1341 were they once again able to settle in the town, by royal decree. In 1344 a half share of the town was pledged to the Electorate of Trier, and in 1420, the town passed wholly into the ownership of Trier. This event, along with another town fire in 1342, the Black Death
in 1349, 1356 and 1365, but above all the rise of the Territorial Princes, led to a gradual decline. In 1315 and 1346, the old stone Lahn Bridge was built (presumably in two sections).
Against the background of the German Peasants' War
, unrest also arose among the townsfolk in 1525. After the Elector of Trier had demanded that the townsmen turn a Lutheran
preacher out of the town, a board made up of townsmen who were ineligible for council functions handed the council a 30-point comprehensive list of demands on 24 May. It dealt mainly with financial participation and equality in taxation, trade and building issues with the merchant class. In the days that followed, these demands were reduced in negotiations between the council and the board to 16 points, which were likely also taken up with the Elector afterwards. On 5 August, however, Archbishop Richard ordered the council to overturn all concessions to the townsmen. Furthermore, a ban on assembly was decreed, and the ineligible townsmen were stripped of their right to send two representatives to council.
In 1806, Limburg came into the possession of the newly founded Duchy of Nassau. In 1818 the town wall was torn down. In 1827 the town was raised to a Catholic episcopal seat. In 1866 the Duchy and with it Limburg passed to Prussia
in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War
. As of 1862, Limburg became a railway hub and from 1886 a district seat. In 1892, the Pallottines
settled in town, but only the men; the women came in 1895.
From 1919 to 1923, Limburg was the “capital” of a short-lived state called Free State Bottleneck
(or Freistaat Flaschenhals in German) because it was the nearest unoccupied town to the Weimar Republic
.
During World War I
there was a major prisoner of war
camp at Limburg an der Lahn. Many Irish
members of the British Army
were interned there until the end of the war and at one stage they were visited by the Irish republican leader Roger Casement
in an attempt to win recruits for the forthcoming Irish rebellion
.
, Rhône
, France
Oudenburg
, West Flanders, Belgium
Lichfield
, Staffordshire
, England
, United Kingdom
in the Sternberg district.
–Cologne–Frankfurt–Nuremberg
–Passau
) and Bundesstraße
8, which both follow the Via Publica’s alignment as closely as possible, run through the town. Bundesstraße 49 links Limburg to Koblenz towards the west and Wetzlar and Gießen towards the east. The section between Limburg and Wetzlar is currently being widened to four lanes. This section as far as Obertiefenbach
is also known as Die lange Meil (“The Long Mile”). Bundesstraße 54 links Limburg on the one hand with Siegen
to the north and on the other by way of Diez with Wiesbaden, which may likewise be reached over Bundesstraße 417 (Hühnerstraße).
As early as 1248, a wooden bridge spanned the Lahn, but was replaced after the flood
ing in 1306 by a stone bridge, the Alte Lahnbrücke. Other road bridges are the Lahntalbrücke Limburg (1964) on the A 3, the Lahnbrücke near Staffel and the Neue Lahnbrücke from 1968, over which run the Bundesstraßen before they cross under the inner town through the Schiedetunnel, a bypass tunnel.
Once the Lahntalbahn had been built, Limburg was joined to the railway network in 1862. Limburg railway station
developed into a transport hub. Other railway lines are the Unterwesterwaldbahn, the Oberwesterwaldbahn and the Main-Lahn Railway. At Niedernhausen station on the Main-Lahn Railway, transfer to the Ländchesbahn to Wiesbaden is possible. With the exception of the upper section of the Lahntalbahn and express lines to Koblenz and Frankfurt, which are still served by Deutsche Bahn
, all railway lines are run by Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH, based in Limburg.
Once the InterCityExpress
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line had been built, Limburg acquired an ICE station
. It is the only railway station in Germany at which exclusively ICE trains stop. The high-speed rail line crosses the Lahn over the Lahntalbrücke and then dives into the Limburger Tunnel.
The nearest airport is Frankfurt Airport
, 63 km away on the A 3. Travel time there on the ICE is roughly 20 minutes. Cologne Bonn Airport
is 110 km away and can be reached on the ICE in 44 minutes.
The Lahn between Lahnstein
and Wetzlar is a Bundeswasserstraße (“Federal waterway”). Since the Lahntalbahn’s expansion, however, the waterway’s importance has been declining. It is used mainly by tourists
with small motorboat
s, canoe
s and rowboats. Limburg is the landing site of the tourboat Wappen von Limburg.
:
Professional training schools:
Hauptschule
n and Realschule
n:
Libraries
:
offers with its Jugendfreizeitstätte Limburg (JFS for short, meaning “Youth Leisure Place”) a meeting place for youth with many events. With table football
, Internet café and many events, this institution is not only church-based, with two staff and a Zivildienst
leistender supporting the visitors not only with their problems.
of Hesse and offers among other things a parents’ service that looks after children, a broad array of course offerings for children and adults, a miniature kindergarten
and a café
.
troupe “Thing”, founded more than 25 years ago, moved after a short time from its initial home in the outlying centre of Staffel to the Josef-Kohlmaier-Halle, a civic event hall, where its stage can now be found in the hall’s club rooms. The troupe is run by an independent acting club. On the programme are chanson
, cabaret, literature
and jazz
as well as folk
, rock
and performances by singer-songwriter
s. It makes a point of furthering young artists. Each month, three or four events are staged.
The dedication of “Thing” was recognized on 6 December 2003 when the Kulturpreis Mittelhessen (“Middle Hesse Culture Prize”) was awarded to it.
Limburg Cathedral has a famous boys’ choir, the Limburger Domsingknaben
, although they are actually based at the “Musical Boarding School” in Hadamar just outside Limburg.
) and the 600-year-old Lahn Bridge thus stands today as a whole under monumental protection.
The Altstadt (“Old Town”) boasts a fine cathedral
and is full of narrow streets with timber-frame
houses, dating mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries. That's why it is located on the German Framework Road
.
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 ....
(officially: Limburg a. d. Lahn) is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis.-History:...
in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, 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...
.
Location
Limburg lies in western Hesse between the TaunusTaunus
The Taunus is a low mountain range in Hesse, Germany that composes part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is bounded by the river valleys of Rhine, Main and Lahn. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the mountains are continued by the Hunsrück...
and the Westerwald
Westerwald
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...
on the river Lahn.
The town lies roughly centrally in a basin within the Rhenish Slate Mountains
Rheinisches Schiefergebirge
The Rhenish Massif is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France.The Rhenish Massif consists of the Belgian and French Ardennes, the German Eifel and east of the river Rhine the Sauerland and Siegerland. The Mosel and Hunsrück hills form its...
which is surrounded by the low ranges of the Taunus and Westerwald and called the Limburg Basin (Limburger Becken). Owing to the favourable soil and climate, the Limburg Basin stands as one of Hesse’s richest agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
regions and moreover, with its convenient Lahn crossing, it has been of great importance to transport since the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Within the basin, the Lahn’s otherwise rather narrow lower valley broadens out noticeably, making Limburg’s mean elevation only 117 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
.
Neighbouring communities
Limburg forms together with the town of Diez a middle centre (in terms of Central place theoryCentral Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
) but with partial functions of an upper centre in western Middle Hesse.
Limburg’s residential neighbourhoods reach beyond town limits; the neighbouring centres of Elz
Elz, Hesse
Elz is a community in Limburg-Weilburg district in western Hesse, Germany, on the boundary with Rhineland-Palatinate.- Location :Elz lies at an elevation of 110 to 291 m north of the Lahn in the Limburg Basin with the municipal area reaching into the heights on its western edge and thereby...
and Diez run seamlessly together.
Surrounding towns and communities are the community of Elz and the town of Hadamar
Hadamar
Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial...
in the north, the community of Beselich
Beselich
- Location :Beselich lies on the northeast edge of the Limburg Basin , on the edge of the Lahn valley, on the southeast slope of the Westerwald 220 m above sea level. Visible from far away is the Beselicher Kopf . The brooks Tiefenbach, Kerkerbach and Brandbach flow through the municipal area...
in the northeast, the town of Runkel
Runkel
Runkel is a town on the Lahn River in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Runkel lies in the Lahn Valley on both sides of the river between the Westerwald and the Taunus, some eight kilometres east of Limburg....
in the east, the communities of Villmar
Villmar
Villmar is a market town in the Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. The community is the centre for quarrying and processing the so-called Lahn Marble.-Location:...
and Brechen
Brechen
-Location:Brechen lies in the southeastern part of the Limburg Basin between the Taunus and the Westerwald. The sparsely wooded land of loess hills is crossed here from southeast to northwest by the Emsbach, which is fed near Niederbrechen by the Wörsbach and drains the area down to the Lahn...
in the southeast, the community of Hünfelden
Hünfelden
Hünfelden is a community in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Hünfelden lies on the Hühnerstraße, an historic part of Bundesstraße 417.- Location :...
in the south (all in Limburg-Weilburg), the community of Holzheim
Holzheim, Rhineland-Palatinate
Holzheim is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
in the southwest, and the town of Diez and the communities of Aull
Aull
Aull may refer to:*Aull, Germany, municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany*Ashley Aull , American beauty queen*Joe Aull , American politician...
and Gückingen
Gückingen
Gückingen is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
in the west (all in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
Rhein-Lahn is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Westerwaldkreis, Limburg-Weilburg, Rheingau-Taunus, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Hunsrück, Mayen-Koblenz, and the district-free city Koblenz.-History:With the Congress of Vienna the area was added to the duchy...
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 ....
).
The nearest major cities are Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
and 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...
to the northeast, 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...
and Frankfurt to the south and 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...
to the west.
Constituent communities
The town consists of eight formerly autonomous Ortsteile, listed here by population.- Limburg: 18,393
- LindenholzhausenLindenholzhausenLindenholzhausen has been a district of the Town of Limburg an der Lahn since 1972. The population on the 31st Jan. 2007 was 3,377...
: 3,377 - Linter: 3,160
- Eschhofen: 2,803
- Staffel: 2,656
- Offheim: 2,572
- DietkirchenDietkirchenDietkirchen an der Lahn is a borough of Limburg an der Lahn, seat of the district of Limburg-Weilburg in the state of Hesse, Germany. The formerly independent village was incorporated into Limburg in 1971. The town is dominated by the St...
: 1,724 - Ahlbach: 1,281
Likewise often called a constituent community is Blumenrod, although this is actually only a big residential neighbourhood in the main town’s south end. Its landmark is the Domäne Blumenrod, a former manor house that has been restored and remodelled by the Limburg Free Evangelical community.
Limburg’s biggest outlying centre is Lindenholzhausen (3,329 residents as of June 2006); the second biggest is Linter.
Etymology
The derivation of the name “Limburg” is not quite clear and may well hearken back to a castleCastle
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...
built here (Burg means “castle” in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
). In 910 the town was first mentioned as Lintpurc. Two of the popular theories are:
- The name was chosen because of the closeness to the Linterer Bach, a former brook in Linter that has now run dry and that emptied into the Lahn at the Domfelsen (crag). Linda is the Gaulish word for water.
- Rather unlikely but very popular is the connection to a dragon saga (see LindwormLindwormLindworm in British heraldry, is a technical term for a wingless bipedal dragon often with a venomous bite.-Etymology:In modern Scandinavian languages, the cognate lindorm can refer to any 'serpent' or monstrous...
) and the connection with the monasteryMonasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of Saint GeorgeSaint GeorgeSaint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
the “Dragon Slayer” founded in Limburg. However, the monastery was built after the castle and founded around the time of the first written mention of the name.
History
About 800, the first castle buildings arose on the Limburg crags. This was probably designed for the protection of a fordFord (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
over the river Lahn. In the decades that followed, the town developed under the castle’s protection. Limburg is first mentioned in documents in 910 under the name of Lintpurc when Louis the Child
Louis the Child
Louis the Child , sometimes called Louis IV or Louis III, was the last Carolingian ruler of East Francia....
granted Konrad Kurzbold an estate in the community on which he was to build a church. Konrad Kurzbold laid the foundation stone for Saint George’s Monastery Church, where he was also buried. The community soon increased in importance with the monastery’s founding and profited from the lively goods trade on the Via Publica.
In 1150, a wooden bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
was built across the Lahn. The long-distance road from 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...
to Frankfurt am Main subsequently ran through Limburg. In the early 13th century, Limburg Castle was built in its current form. Shortly afterwards, the town passed into the ownership of the Lords of Ysenburg
Isenburg
Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau , which partitioned in 1137 into Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern...
. In 1214, the community was granted town rights. Remains of the fortification wall from the years 1130, 1230 and 1340 with a maxiumum length of roughly one thousand metres indicate to this day the blossoming town’s quick development in the Middle Ages. There is proof of a mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
in Limburg in 1180.
One line of the Lords of Ysenburg resided from 1258 to 1406 at Limburg Castle and took their name from their seat, Limburg. From this line came the House of Limburg-Stirum
House of Limburg-Stirum
The house of Limburg-Stirum, which adopted its name in the 12th century from the castle of Limburg an der Lenne in what is now Germany, descends from the Ezzonen dynasty in the 9th century, making it one of the oldest families in Europe....
and also Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg
Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg
Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg was the Queen consort of Adolf of Nassau, King of Germany.-Life:Imagina was born in about 1255 to Gerlach I of Limburg and Imagina of Blieskastel. Her father, from the House of Limburg held power over Limburg an der Lahn...
, German King Adolf’s wife.
The ruling class among the mediaeval townsfolk were rich merchant families whose houses stood right near the castle tower and were surrounded by the first town wall once it was built. The area of today’s Rossmarkt (“Horse Market”), in which many simple craftsmen lived, was only brought within the fortifications once the second town wall was built. The inhabitants there, however, unlike the merchant élite, were accorded no entitlement to a voice in town affairs and were not allowed to send representatives to the town council. Nevertheless, they had to bear the main financial burden of running the town. Only in 1458 were they allowed to send two representatives to town council.
Saint George’s Cathedral (Sankt-Georgs-Dom) built on the old monastery church’s site, and also called Georgsdom, was consecrated in 1235. On 14 May 1289, a devastating fire wiped out great parts of the inner town, although these were subsequently rebuilt. One of the houses built at that time was the Römer 2-4-6
Römer 2-4-6
The Römer 2-4-6 is a Gothic timbered house constructed in 1289. It is located in the historical old German town of Limburg an der Lahn.In its garden, a mikvah was found....
, which is today one of Germany’s oldest half-timbered houses. In 1337, Limburg’s Jews were expelled from the town. Only in 1341 were they once again able to settle in the town, by royal decree. In 1344 a half share of the town was pledged to the Electorate of Trier, and in 1420, the town passed wholly into the ownership of Trier. This event, along with another town fire in 1342, the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
in 1349, 1356 and 1365, but above all the rise of the Territorial Princes, led to a gradual decline. In 1315 and 1346, the old stone Lahn Bridge was built (presumably in two sections).
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...
, unrest also arose among the townsfolk in 1525. After the Elector of Trier had demanded that the townsmen turn a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
preacher out of the town, a board made up of townsmen who were ineligible for council functions handed the council a 30-point comprehensive list of demands on 24 May. It dealt mainly with financial participation and equality in taxation, trade and building issues with the merchant class. In the days that followed, these demands were reduced in negotiations between the council and the board to 16 points, which were likely also taken up with the Elector afterwards. On 5 August, however, Archbishop Richard ordered the council to overturn all concessions to the townsmen. Furthermore, a ban on assembly was decreed, and the ineligible townsmen were stripped of their right to send two representatives to council.
In 1806, Limburg came into the possession of the newly founded Duchy of Nassau. In 1818 the town wall was torn down. In 1827 the town was raised to a Catholic episcopal seat. In 1866 the Duchy and with it Limburg 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...
in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
. As of 1862, Limburg became a railway hub and from 1886 a district seat. In 1892, the Pallottines
Pallottines
The Society of the Catholic Apostolate , better known as the Pallottines, are a Society of Apostolic Life within the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman priest Saint Vincent Pallotti. Pallottines are part of the Union of Catholic Apostolate and are present in 45 countries on six...
settled in town, but only the men; the women came in 1895.
From 1919 to 1923, Limburg was the “capital” of a short-lived state called Free State Bottleneck
Free State Bottleneck
The Free State Bottleneck was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the French and American occupation of the Rhineland following World War I...
(or Freistaat Flaschenhals in German) because it was the nearest unoccupied town to the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
there was a major prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp at Limburg an der Lahn. Many Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
members of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
were interned there until the end of the war and at one stage they were visited by the Irish republican leader Roger Casement
Roger Casement
Roger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....
in an attempt to win recruits for the forthcoming Irish rebellion
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
.
Town council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
seats 2001 |
|
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 52.6 | 23 | 49.6 | 22 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
24.5 | 11 | 28.3 | 13 |
| GRÜNE | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 9.0 | 4 | 6.2 | 3 |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Free 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... |
4.3 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 |
| FWG | Freie Wähler Gemeinschaft Limburg | 5.9 | 3 | 10.7 | 5 |
| BZL | Bürgervereinigung Zukunft Limburg | 3.7 | 2 | 3.7 | 1 |
| Total | 100.0 | 45 | 100.0 | 45 | |
| voter turnout in % | 42.6 | 49.7 | |||
Town partnerships
Sainte-Foy-lès-LyonSainte-Foy-lès-Lyon
Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, being located to the west of the city. It is thus a component of the metropolitan Urban Community of Lyon....
, Rhône
Rhône (département)
Rhône is a French department located in the central Eastern region of Rhône-Alpes. It is named after the Rhône River.- History :The Rhône department was created on August 12, 1793 when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire was split into two departments: Rhône and Loire.Originally, the eastern...
, 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...
Oudenburg
Oudenburg
Oudenburg Latin: Aldenburgensis is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenburg itself and the towns of Ettelgem, Roksem and Westkerke. On January 1, 2006 Oudenburg had a total population of 8,929...
, West Flanders, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Patenschaft
In 1956, a Patenschaft – roughly, a sponsorship – was undertaken for Sudeten Germans driven out of the town of Mährisch NeustadtUnicov
Uničov is a town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 12,400 inhabitants.Villages Benkov, Brníčko, Dětřichov, Dolní Sukolom, Horní Sukolom, Nová Dědina, Renoty, and Střelice are administrative parts of Uničov....
in the Sternberg district.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Limburg is a traditional transport hub. Already in the Middle Ages, the Via Publica crossed the navigable Lahn here. Today the A 3 (Emmerich–OberhausenOberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
–Cologne–Frankfurt–Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
–Passau
Passau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
) and Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
8, which both follow the Via Publica’s alignment as closely as possible, run through the town. Bundesstraße 49 links Limburg to Koblenz towards the west and Wetzlar and Gießen towards the east. The section between Limburg and Wetzlar is currently being widened to four lanes. This section as far as Obertiefenbach
Beselich
- Location :Beselich lies on the northeast edge of the Limburg Basin , on the edge of the Lahn valley, on the southeast slope of the Westerwald 220 m above sea level. Visible from far away is the Beselicher Kopf . The brooks Tiefenbach, Kerkerbach and Brandbach flow through the municipal area...
is also known as Die lange Meil (“The Long Mile”). Bundesstraße 54 links Limburg on the one hand with 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...
to the north and on the other by way of Diez with Wiesbaden, which may likewise be reached over Bundesstraße 417 (Hühnerstraße).
As early as 1248, a wooden bridge spanned the Lahn, but was replaced after the flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing in 1306 by a stone bridge, the Alte Lahnbrücke. Other road bridges are the Lahntalbrücke Limburg (1964) on the A 3, the Lahnbrücke near Staffel and the Neue Lahnbrücke from 1968, over which run the Bundesstraßen before they cross under the inner town through the Schiedetunnel, a bypass tunnel.
Once the Lahntalbahn had been built, Limburg was joined to the railway network in 1862. Limburg railway station
Limburg (Lahn) station
Limburg station is a station of the city of Limburg an der Lahn in the German state of Hesse. It is on the Lahn Valley Railway , running between Koblenz and Gießen. The only section of this that is electrified in the Limburg area is between Limburg freight yard and Eschhofen station...
developed into a transport hub. Other railway lines are the Unterwesterwaldbahn, the Oberwesterwaldbahn and the Main-Lahn Railway. At Niedernhausen station on the Main-Lahn Railway, transfer to the Ländchesbahn to Wiesbaden is possible. With the exception of the upper section of the Lahntalbahn and express lines to Koblenz and Frankfurt, which are still served by Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
, all railway lines are run by Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH, based in Limburg.
Once the 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...
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line had been built, Limburg acquired an ICE station
Limburg Süd railway station
Limburg Süd is a railway station in Germany, connecting the town of Limburg an der Lahn to the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line...
. It is the only railway station in Germany at which exclusively ICE trains stop. The high-speed rail line crosses the Lahn over the Lahntalbrücke and then dives into the Limburger Tunnel.
The nearest airport is Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...
, 63 km away on the A 3. Travel time there on the ICE is roughly 20 minutes. Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...
is 110 km away and can be reached on the ICE in 44 minutes.
The Lahn between Lahnstein
Lahnstein
Lahnstein is a verband-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn River with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz...
and Wetzlar is a Bundeswasserstraße (“Federal waterway”). Since the Lahntalbahn’s expansion, however, the waterway’s importance has been declining. It is used mainly by tourists
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
with small motorboat
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
s, canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s and rowboats. Limburg is the landing site of the tourboat Wappen von Limburg.
Established businesses
- Blechwarenfabrik Limburg (sheet/plate metal)
- Bundesanzeiger Verlag (publishing house)
- Harmonic Drive AG
- MOBA Mobile Automation AG
- Mundipharma
- Tetra PakTetra PakTetra Pak is a multinational food processing and packaging company of Swedish origin. It was founded in 1951 in Lund, Sweden, by Ruben Rausing. It was Erik Wallenberg who invented the tetrahedral package, today known as Tetra Classic...
- Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (transport)
- Nassauische Neue Presse (newspaper)
Education
Limburg has four schools which lead to, among other qualifications, the AbiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
:
- Tilemannschule, which has existed since the late 19th century and was named after the famous Limburg chancellory head Tilemann Elhen von Wolfhagen in the 1950s
- Marienschule, a private girls’ GymnasiumGymnasium (school)A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(Grammar School), which has existed since 1895 and which belongs to the Bishopric of Limburg. - Peter-Paul-Cahensly-Schule with vocational Gymnasium (Grammar School) in the fields of economicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and administration, data processingData processingComputer data processing is any process that a computer program does to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating, disseminating and...
, electrical engineeringElectrical engineeringElectrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and machine building - Adolf-ReichweinAdolf ReichweinAdolf Reichwein was a German educator, economist, and cultural policymaker for the SPD. He was also a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.-Biography:...
-Schule with vocational Gymnasium in the fields of dietetics and health sciences
Professional training schools:
- Peter-Paul-Cahensly-Schule
- Friedrich-Dessauer-Schule
- Adolf-Reichwein-Schule
- Marienschule
Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
n and Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
n:
- Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe-Schule
- Leo-Sternberg-Schule
- Theodor-Heuss-Schule
Libraries
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
:
- Dombibliothek
- Diözesanbibliothek
St. Vincenz Hospital
The hospital perched on the Schafsberg overlooking the town has at its disposal 433 beds and 15 specialist departments.Sport and leisure
In Limburg there are various sport clubs; some are even represented in Bundesligen, and even at the world level.- Limburger Club für Wassersport 1895/1907 e.V. (training base for the Deutscher Ruderverband)
- Limburger Hockey Club
- Schwimmverein Poseidon Limburg e. V. (swimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
) - various clubs in the outlying centres such as the Turnverein Eschhofen (gymnastics club), the fistballFistballFistball is a sport which is of European origin and is similar to volleyball in that player tries to hit a ball over a net.-History:The earliest known written mention of the game is by Roman Emperor Gordian III and dates to the year 240. Rules for an Italian version of fistball were recorded by...
stronghold in Limburg-Weilburg
Youth meeting place in Limburg
The Evangelical ChurchEvangelical 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...
offers with its Jugendfreizeitstätte Limburg (JFS for short, meaning “Youth Leisure Place”) a meeting place for youth with many events. With table football
Table football
Table football, also known as gitoni or foosball, is a table-top game and sport that is loosely based on association football.-Names:...
, Internet café and many events, this institution is not only church-based, with two staff and a Zivildienst
Zivildienst
Zivildienst is the civilian branch of the national service systems in Austria and Switzerland. In Germany as well Zivildienst was the alternative service to military service until suspension of conscription in 2011...
leistender supporting the visitors not only with their problems.
Limburg Mothers’ Centre
The Mütterzentrum Limburg is a family meeting place for those with or without children on Hospitalstraße. The club is supported by the town of Limburg and the BundeslandStates of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Hesse and offers among other things a parents’ service that looks after children, a broad array of course offerings for children and adults, a miniature kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
and a café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
.
Volunteer fire brigades
- Limburg an der Lahn Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1867 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Ahlbach Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1908 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Dietkirchen Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1934 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Eschhofen Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1901 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Lindenholzhausen Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1933 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Linter Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1935 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Offheim Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1898 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
- Staffel Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1880 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
Theatre
The cabaretCabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
troupe “Thing”, founded more than 25 years ago, moved after a short time from its initial home in the outlying centre of Staffel to the Josef-Kohlmaier-Halle, a civic event hall, where its stage can now be found in the hall’s club rooms. The troupe is run by an independent acting club. On the programme are chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
, cabaret, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
as well as folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and performances by singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s. It makes a point of furthering young artists. Each month, three or four events are staged.
The dedication of “Thing” was recognized on 6 December 2003 when the Kulturpreis Mittelhessen (“Middle Hesse Culture Prize”) was awarded to it.
Limburg Cathedral has a famous boys’ choir, the Limburger Domsingknaben
Limburger Domsingknaben
Limburg Cathedral Boys' Choir is a famous boys' choir from Limburg, Germany. Their home is the musical boarding school in Hadamar, next to Limburg. The choir was founded in 1967 by the former bishop of Limburg, Dr. Wilhelm Kempf. The main task of the choir is the musical creation of the service on...
, although they are actually based at the “Musical Boarding School” in Hadamar just outside Limburg.
Museums
In Limburg there are several museums. The most important are:- Town of Limburg art collections that offer changing exhibits
- Staurothek, cathedral treasury and diocesan museum with the Limburger Staurothek (a cross reliquary)
- Museum Limburg Navy Museum
- Pallottine Mission museum
Buildings
Only a few towns, like Limburg, have been able to keep a full set of nearly unscathed mediaeval buildings. The formerly walled town core between St. George’s Cathedral, Grabenstraße (a street marking the old town moatMoat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
) and the 600-year-old Lahn Bridge thus stands today as a whole under monumental protection.
The Altstadt (“Old Town”) boasts a fine cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
and is full of narrow streets with timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
houses, dating mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries. That's why it is located on the German Framework Road
German Framework Road
The German Timber-Frame Road is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Along the road you can find nearly 100 cities and towns with remarkable timber-framed houses...
.
- Limburger Dom, one of the most complete creations of Late Romanesque architectureRomanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
. It was printed on the reverse of the 1,000 Deutsche Mark note from the second series, which was in circulation from 1960 to 1989. The cathedral was recently renovated and painted to reflect its original appearance. - Limburger Schloss, built in early 13th century by Gerlach von Ysenburg
- BurgmannBurgmannA Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
enhaus, built about 1544; serves as a museum today - St. Anna-Kirche (church), stained glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
from third fourth of 14th century with eighteen scenes from the New TestamentNew TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament.... - Old Lahn Bridge, from 1315, place where the Via Publica (road) crossed the Lahn
- In the Old Town stand many timber-frame houses from the 13th to 19th centuries. One peculiarity seen in Limburg timber-frame houses is the “hall house” from the High Middle AgesHigh Middle AgesThe High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
which has a great hall on the ground floor. When restoration work began in the Old Town in 1972, the houses were carefully restored. Among the best known timber-frame houses are:- Haus Kleine Rütsche 4, narrowest spot on the historic trade road between Frankfurt and Cologne, whose breadth is written at the Haymarket (Heumarkt) in Cologne
- Haus der sieben Laster (“House of the Seven Vices”) at Brückengasse 9, built in 1567, timber-frame house with carvings showing ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
’s seven deadly sinsSeven deadly sinsThe 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
, namely pridePridePride is an inwardly directed emotion that carries two common meanings. With a negative connotation, pride refers to an inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments, often used synonymously with hubris...
, greed, envyEnvyEnvy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
, lustLustLust is an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one's desire, usually in a sexual way.-Etymology:The word lust is phonetically similar to the ancient Roman lustrum, which literally meant "purification"...
, gluttonyGluttonyGluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste...
, wrath and slothSloth (deadly sin)In the Christian moral tradition, sloth is one of the seven capital sins, often called the seven deadly sins; these sins are called sins because they supposedly destroy the charity in a person's heart and thus may lead to eternal death.-Definition:Sloth is defined as spiritual or emotional... - Werner-Senger-Haus, very beautiful stone hall house with timber-frame façade from 13th century
- Houses at the fishmarket. The square’s name in the 13th century was still Fismart (“Yarn Market” or “Wool Market”) in the Limburg dialect, and it was the Limburg woolWoolWool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
weavers’ trading centre - Römer 2-4-6, Germany’s oldest freestanding house; in the garden a mikvahMikvahMikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
was found
- Rathaus (“Town Hall”), built in 1899
- “Huttig” (town wall tower remnant)
- Former noble estate of the Counts of Walderdorff at Fahrgasse 5
Sons and daughters of the town
- Hubert Hilf (1820–1909), entrepreneurEntrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and politicianPoliticianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, Member of the ReichstagReichstag (German Empire)The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich .... - Leo Sternberg (1876–1937), writerWriterA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
- Otfried Eberz (1878–1958), philosopher
- Josef Eberz (1880–1942), painterPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and graphic artist - Franz Häuser (b. 1945), juristJuristA jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
, professorProfessorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, rector of the University of LeipzigUniversity of LeipzigThe University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany... - Dieter Thomas (b. 1947), cabaret performer and cofounder of the Frankfurter Fronttheater
- Christoph PrégardienChristoph PrégardienChristoph Prégardien is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music...
(b. 1956), singer - Olaf Zimmermann (b. 1961), publicistPublicistA publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
and art dealer, chief executive of the German Cultural Council
Other people
- Tamara BachTamara BachTamara Bach is a German writer.-Life:Tamara Bach was born in 1976 in Limburg an der Lahn and grew up in Ludwigshöhe, Rhineland-Palatinate. She was encouraged in her writing by her former German teacher, Peter Grosz. 1993 and 1995 she took part in the prestigious meeting of young writers to whom...
(b. 1976), German youth book author - Tilemann Elhen von Wolfhagen (about 1347–after 1402), German humanist
- Frederik Hetmann (1934–2006), writer
- Walter Neuhäusser (b. 1926), architectArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
- Hendrike von Sydow (b. 1956), cabaret performer and film director, cofounder of the Frankfurter Fronttheater
Further reading
- Eugen Stille: Limburg an der Lahn und seine Geschichte, Limburger Vereinsdruckerei, Selbstverlag E. Stille, Limburg/Kassel 1971
- Heinz Maibach: Limburg an der Lahn in alten Ansichten, Siebte Auflage, Zaltbommel/Niederlande 1993
- Heinz Maibach: Dokumente zur Limburger Stadt- und Kreisgeschichte 1870-1945, Limburg 1992
- Fügen, Randolf: Highlights in Mittelhessen. 1. Auflage. Wartenberg Verlag Gudersberg-Gleichen 2003 ISBN 3-8313-1044-0