Gelnhausen

Gelnhausen (German pronunciation: [ɡɛlnˈhaʊ̯zn̩] ⓘ) is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of the eleven towns (urban municipalities) in the district. Gelnhausen has around 22,000 inhabitants.

Gelnhausen
Town
View of Gelnhausen with the Marienkirche
View of Gelnhausen with the Marienkirche
Coat of arms of Gelnhausen
Coat of arms
Location of Gelnhausen within Main-Kinzig-Kreis district
Gelnhausen is located in Germany
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen is located in Hesse
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen
Coordinates: 50°12′N 09°10′E
CountryGermany
StateHesse
DistrictMain-Kinzig-Kreis
Subdivisions6 districts
Government
 • Mayor (2017–23) Daniel Christian Glöckner[1]
Area
 • Total45.18 km2 (17.44 sq mi)
Highest elevation
312 m (1,024 ft)
Lowest elevation
180 m (590 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[2]
 • Total23,679
 • Density520/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
63571
Dialling codes06051
Vehicle registrationMKK, GN, SLÜ
Websitewww.gelnhausen.de

Geography

Location
Constituent communities

According to the Institut Géographique National from 1 January 2007 until July 2013 the geographic centre of the European Union was located on a wheat field outside the town.

Gelnhausen is located on the German Fairy Tale Route, a tourist route.

History
Imperial City of Gelnhausen
Reichsstadt Gelnhausen
1170–1803
StatusFree Imperial City
CapitalGelnhausen
GovernmentRepublic
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Founded by Frederick Barbarossa
1170
• Pledged to Ld Hanau
1349–? 1170
• Pledged to counties of Schwarzburg and Hohnstein
26 May 1349
• Hohnstein share to Schwarzburg
22 July 1431
• Schwarzburg sold to Hanau and the Palatinate
26 May 1435
• Hanau extinct; share to Lgvt Hesse-Kassel
28 March 1736
• Palatinate share to Hesse-Kassel
1746 1803
• Hesse-Kassel raised to electorate
1803
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Lordship of Hanau
Lordship of Hanau
County of Schwarzburg
County of Hohnstein
Obermarkt
Monument to Philip Reis, an early telephone inventor

Gelnhausen was founded by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1170, it is therefore nicknamed "Barbarossastadt". The place was chosen because it was at the intersection of the Via Regia imperial road between Frankfurt and Leipzig and several other major trade routes. Frederick had three villages connected by streets and surrounded by a wall. At the same time, Gelnhausen received town privileges and a Kaiserpfalz was erected on an island of the Kinzig river. The emperor also granted trade privileges like the staple right which forced traveling merchants to offer their goods in the town for three days.

Hence Gelnhausen initially was a thriving trade town and head of a league of 16 towns of the Wetterau region. However prosperity came to an end already in 1326 when Emperor Louis IV gave the town in pawn to the counts of Hanau, redeemed shortly afterwards. In 1349 Count Günther von Schwarzburg received Gelnhausen from Emperor Charles IV for renouncing his claims as elected King of the Romans, in condominium with the counts of Hohnstein, who sold their share to Schwarzburg in 1431. Schwarzburg was acquired in 1435 by Elector Palatine Louis III and the Hanau, since raised to a county.

Repeated plundering in the Thirty Years' War as depicted by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen in his novel Simplicius Simplicissimus made it nearly uninhabitable. In 1736, the extinction of the comital line of Hanau meant the condominium share was inherited by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, who acquired the Palatinate's share ten years later.

The varying lords made continued attempts to challenge Gelnhausen's imperial immediacy, it however formally remained a Reichsstadt. During the German Mediatisation of 1803 the city became a part of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, which was raised to an electorate and, after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, was annexed by Prussia. At this time Gelnhausen had completely recovered, and with the Gründerzeit economic boom it became a centre of the German rubber industry.

The Holocaust

During the Nazi era, Gelnhausen was reported judenfrei on November 1, 1938, by propaganda newspaper Kinzigwacht after its synagogue was closed and remaining local Jews forced to leave the town.[3]

From the 1930s Gelnhausen was a garrison town of the German Wehrmacht and, after World War II, of the United States Army. The US Army closed Coleman Kaserne in 2007.

In 1996, the town hosted the 36th Hessentag state festival.

Arts and culture

Attractions

Sights include:

  • Medieval town center with historic buildings like the Romanisches Haus (ca. 1180), the Gotisches Haus (1351/52).
  • The Kaiserpfalz Gelnhausen. The castle was erected 1160-80 at the time of Gelnhausen's foundation southeast of the town on an island in the Kinzig river. The groundwork is stabilized by 12,000 logs, driven into the earth. Today it is the best preserved Kaiserpfalz from this era.
  • The Marienkirche, the most recognizable landmark of Gelnhausen. It shows both Romanesque (like the six-storey west tower) and Gothic architecture (the octagonal crossing tower and the east towers) elements. The church was built from local bunter between 1170 and 1250 by Selbold Abbey, replacing a simple chapel from ca. 1100 of which some traces remain. In 1543, Gelnhausen turned Protestant and the church became the Protestant parish church.[4]: 18 
  • The Catholic church of Saint Peter. Its origins lie in the early 13th century; rich citizens of Gelnhausen planned to erect a church within the town, causing a conflict with the Selbold Abbey that owned the clerical patronage for Gelnhausen. This conflict was escalated up to Pope Gregory IX who decided in favour of the abbey. From the 13th to the 15th century the church was used for weddings, baptisms, and funerals. After the Reformation, the building became the property of the town. It subsequently fell into ruin and was sold in 1830 to a local merchant. After the demolition of the second tower, a cigar factory was built in it. In 1920, the Catholic community of Gelnhausen bought the church and partly restored it over an 18-year period. A complete restoration took place in 1982–3.

Governance

Town twinning
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gelnhausen is twinned with:

Infrastructure

Transport

Gelnhausen lies directly on the German autobahn A66. Gelnhausen station is located on the Kinzig Valley Railway, a major line between Frankfurt and Fulda. Regional services from Frankfurt to Fulda or Wächtersbach stop in Gelnhausen.

Notable people

Like many American soldiers, in 1959 Colin Powell, then lieutenant of the 3rd Armored Division, served at Coleman Kaserne. A street was named after him. During the Second Gulf War, there was some discussion about renaming the street because of Germany's stance on the war. The mayor of Gelnhausen strongly objected.

See also

References
  1. "Ergebnisse der letzten Direktwahl aller hessischen Landkreise und Gemeinden" (XLS) (in German). Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt. 5 September 2022.
  2. "Bevölkerung in Hessen am 31.12.2022 nach Gemeinden" (XLS) (in German). Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt. June 2023.
  3. "'Gelnhausen endlich judenfrei': Zur Geschichte der Juden während der Nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung" ['Gelnhausen finally free of Jews': On the History of the Jews during the Nazi persecution] (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2007.
  4. Schumacher, Karin; Schumacher, Hans-Jürgen (2003). Zeitreise durch den Spessart (German). Wartberg Verlag. ISBN 3-8313-1075-0.
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