Solms
Encyclopedia
Solms is a town west of Wetzlar
in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis
, Hesse
, Germany
.
In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral castle
of the Counts and Princes of Solms, whose main lines were Solms-Braunfels, with their seat in Braunfels
, and Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, with their seat in Lich
.
valley and is nestled between the foothills of both the Taunus
and Westerwald
at heights from 140 to 400 m above sea level
. It is about 7 km west of Wetzlar
and 30 km northeast of Limburg an der Lahn
.
and the town of Aßlar
, in the east on the town of Wetzlar
, in the south on the community of Schöffengrund
, and in the west on the town of Leun
(all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
in 1815.
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the communities of Albshausen and Oberbiel voluntarily merged on 1 July 1971 to form Bielhausen, while Burgsolms and Oberndorf did the same to form Solms. By state law, these two new communities were amalgamated with Niederbiel on 1 January 1977 to make the new greater community of Solms, which in 1978 was granted town rights.
A new residential area has been being built on the western edge of Oberbiel since the 1990s.
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
.
, Styria, Austria
La Grand-Combe
, Gard
, France
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig
, Thuringia
, Germany
Oberbiel is also home to two commercial-industrial areas. A shipping company has set up shop at the newer one, while the older one, on an island in the river Lahn, was established in the early 20th century. It was originally home to a brad factory, a wireworks and a ball bearing
factory.
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...
in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Lahn-Dill is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Siegen-Wittgenstein, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Gießen, Wetteraukreis, Hochtaunuskreis, Limburg-Weilburg, Westerwaldkreis.-History:...
, 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...
.
In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral 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...
of the Counts and Princes of Solms, whose main lines were Solms-Braunfels, with their seat in Braunfels
Braunfels
Braunfels is a town in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Framework Road.- Location :The climatic spa of Braunfels lies at a height of some 100 m above the Lahn valley...
, and Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, with their seat in Lich
Lich, Germany
Lich is a town in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 12 km southeast of Gießen.-Constituent communities:Besides the main town, which bears the same name as the whole municipality, Lich is divided into the following communities:...
.
Location
Solms lies right in the LahnLahn
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 ....
valley and is nestled between the foothills of both the Taunus
Taunus
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 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...
at heights from 140 to 400 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...
. It is about 7 km west of 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 30 km northeast of Limburg an der Lahn
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....
.
Neighbouring communities
Solms borders in the north on the community of EhringshausenEhringshausen
-Location:Ehringshausen lies in the valley of the Dill between Wetzlar and Herborn.-Neighbouring communities:Ehringshausen borders in the north on the community of Mittenaar, in the east on the town of Aßlar, in the south on the towns of Solms and Leun, and in the northwest on the community of Sinn...
and the town of Aßlar
Aßlar
Aßlar is a town near Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Aßlar lies on a foothill of the Westerwald range as well as on the river Dill, which empties into the Lahn in neighbouring Wetzlar, about 5 km to the southeast...
, in the east on the town of 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...
, in the south on the community of Schöffengrund
Schöffengrund
-Location:Schöffengrund lies only a few kilometres south of Wetzlar in the Hochtaunus Nature Park.-Neighbouring communities:Schöffengrund borders in the north on the towns of Solms and Wetzlar, in the east on the community of Hüttenberg , in the southeast on the community of Langgöns , in the south...
, and in the west on the town of Leun
Leun
-Location:Leun lies some 10 km west of Wetzlar between the foothills of the northern Taunus and the Westerwald in the Lahn valley, at a height of 150 to 330 m above sea level.-Neighbouring communities:...
(all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
Constituent communities
The town consists of the following centres:- Albshausen
- Burgsolms
- Niederbiel
- Oberbiel
- Oberndorf
History
Solms had its first documentary mention in 788 in a donation document from the Lorsch Monastery. The villages that nowadays form the town of Solms belonged for centuries to the County of Solms, until this was dissolved in 1806. After a short while being part of the Duchy of Nassau, they passed to PrussiaPrussia
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 1815.
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the communities of Albshausen and Oberbiel voluntarily merged on 1 July 1971 to form Bielhausen, while Burgsolms and Oberndorf did the same to form Solms. By state law, these two new communities were amalgamated with Niederbiel on 1 January 1977 to make the new greater community of Solms, which in 1978 was granted town rights.
A new residential area has been being built on the western edge of Oberbiel since the 1990s.
Town council
The municipal elections in 2001 yielded the following results:| Party | Seats |
|---|---|
| Freie Wählergruppe (FWG) | 13 |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
11 |
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian 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... |
8 |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) 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... |
2 |
| Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
2 |
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
Town of Solms Youth Council
Since 2002 there has been a Town of Solms Youth Council serving as the town's official board representing youth's interests and needs. It is elected every two years by children and youths who either live in the town or go to the comprehensive schoolComprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
.
Partnerships
The town of Solms maintains partnerships with the following places: LiezenLiezen
Liezen is a municipality in the Austrian federal state of Styria, district capital of the district of the same name and economic center on the River Enns.Liezen covers a surface of 56.36 km2 and has a population of 6,991 people, as of the 2001 census...
, Styria, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
La Grand-Combe
La Grand-Combe
La Grand-Combe is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Geography:The town lies on the opposite bank of the River Gardon d'Alès from Les Salles-du-Gardon. It is 13 km upstream and north of Alès in the Cevennes gardoises.-Etymology:...
, Gard
Gard
Gard is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.The department is named after the River Gard, although the formerly Occitan name of the River Gard, Gardon, has been replacing the traditional French name in recent decades, even among French speakers.- History...
, 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...
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig is a municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany....
, 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....
, 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...
Economy and infrastructure
The town is headquarters to the firm Leica Camera AG which currently employs about 1,300 people worldwide.Oberbiel is also home to two commercial-industrial areas. A shipping company has set up shop at the newer one, while the older one, on an island in the river Lahn, was established in the early 20th century. It was originally home to a brad factory, a wireworks and a ball bearing
Ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and transmit...
factory.
Sightseeing
- Kloster Altenberg (Altenberg Monastery) of the blessed Gertrud von Altenberg, Saint Elisabeth'sElisabeth of HungaryElizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...
daughter (Oberbiel) - "Grube Fortuna" Visitors' Mine (Oberbiel)
- Jewish Cemetery (Burgsolms)
- Burgsolms Youth Centre (Stadionstraße 26), as well as youth areas in all constituent communities