Alheim is a municipality in

Hersfeld-Rotenburg Hersfeld-Rotenburg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Werra-Meißner, Wartburgkreis, Fulda, Vogelsbergkreis, Schwalm-Eder. History In 1821, districts were created in Hesse, including the districts H ...

district in northeastern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is named after nearby

Alheimer The Alheimer is a hill in Hesse, Germany. The Alheimer is located in the Stölzinger Hills. The nearby village of Alheim is named after the hill. On top of the Alheimer is an observation tower, The Alheimer Tower (''Alheimer-Turm''). The tower i ...

Mountain. Alheim consist of 10 former souverain villages situated on both banks of the river

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

Geography

Location

The community lies in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district some 35 km southeast of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

and a few kilometres northwest of

Rotenburg an der Fulda Rotenburg an der Fulda (officially ''Rotenburg a.d. Fulda'') is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying, as the name says, on the river Fulda (river), Fulda. Geography Location The town lies south of the S ...

. It stretches along both banks of the

into the

Knüll The Knüllgebirge or simply Knüll is a small mountain range in the northern part of Hesse, Germany, approximately south of Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It i ...

gebirge (range) and the Stölzinger Gebirge. In this latter range the community’s landmark can be found, the 549 m-high Alheimer.

Constituent communities

Alheim’s ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...

e'' are Baumbach (founded before 1003), Erdpenhausen, Hergershausen, Licherode, Niederellenbach, Niedergude (founded before 960), Oberellenbach, Obergude (founded before 960), Sterkelshausen (founded before 1003) and Heinebach. The population is some 5,300, of whom more than 2,500 live in Heinebach, the biggest of the ten constituent communities and Alheim’s economic hub.

Neighbouring communities

Alheim borders in the north on the community of Morschen and the town of

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

(both in the

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, and Waldeck-Frankenberg. History In 1821 districts were created ...

), in the east on the town of

, in the south on the community of

Ludwigsau Ludwigsau is a municipality in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany. With an area of 112 km² it is Hesse's biggest community by land area. Geography Location The community lies on the Fulda River, Fulda in the triangle ...

(both in Hersfeld-Rotenburg) and in the west on the community of

Knüllwald Knüllwald is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Knüllwald lies in the Knüllgebirge, a low mountain range, between the rivers Efze and Beise, south of Kassel. Constituent communities The communi ...

(in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis).

Politics

Community council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Mayor

The last mayoral elections yielded the following results: In the last mayoral election on 14 September 2008, the incumbent mayor Georg Lüdtke (SPD) was reëlected with 65.6% of the vote against independent Lothar Schäfer, who got 26.0%, and Michael Werner (FDP), who got 8.4%.

Town partnerships

Zandhoven Zandhoven () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the villages of , , , and Zandhoven proper. In 2021, Zandhoven had a population of 13,124. The total area is 40.10 km2. Sports Women's volleybal ...

Antwerp province ) , native_name_lang = nl , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Antwerp.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van de provincie Antwerpen.svg , shield_size ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

since 2001 The partnership actually began in 1971 when one came into being between Heinebach, now Alheim’s biggest centre, and Pulle, which has since become part of Zandhoven.

Municipal area’s development

Establishment

Within the framework of municipal reform, the villages named above were merged into the new community of Alheim on 1 August 1972.

Culture and sightseeing

Walking loops, each based on a theme, have been built. Foremost among these are the mining history learning and adventure path (''Bergbauhistorischer Lern- und Erlebnispfad''), the water adventure path (''Wassererlebnispfad'') and the cultural history hiking loop (''kulturhistorischer Rundwanderweg'') A popular outing or hiking destination is the Alheimer-Turm (tower) on the like-named mountain in the Stölzinger Gebirge.

Buildings

*The churches in some of the community’s centres have been preserved with their

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

defensive walls. *On the Heineberg, remains of a wall are preserved stemming from fortifications built in the 8th or 10th century. During digs in 1974, an

early mediaeval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

church’s foundation was unearthed.

Famous people

* Franz Christian Gundlach, fashion photographer and curator (b. 1926 in Heinebach) *

Manfred Siebald Manfred Siebald (born 26 October 1948 at Alheim-Baumbach) is a German singer-songwriter and lecturer in American studies in Mainz. Siebald is best known as a Christian singer-songwriter, who writes and speaks on contemporary worship music. His ...

, Christian songwriter (b. 1948 in Baumbach)

References

External links

Sterkelshausen

Heinebach

Obergude
* {{Authority control Hersfeld-Rotenburg