Biedenkopf () is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

in western

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 ...

with a population of 13,491 (2020).

Geography

Location

The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of

Marburg-Biedenkopf Marburg-Biedenkopf is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein. History The district was created in 1974 when th ...

district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to above sea level – the Sackpfeife in the

Rothaargebirge The Rothaar Mountains (german: Rothaargebirge, , also ''Rotlagergebirge''), or Rothaar, is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany. It is believed that its name must once have been ...

reaches this height – the town lies on the upper reaches of the river

Lahn The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source in t ...

. Together with 18 other municipalities, it belongs to the Lahn-Dill-Bergland region.

Neighbouring communities

Clockwise from the north, the following towns and communities border on Biedenkopf: the towns of Hatzfeld and Battenberg in

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merging t ...

district, in Marburg-Biedenkopf district the towns of

Münchhausen am Christenberg The municipality of Münchhausen is found north of Marburg on the northern edge of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. It has 3,286 inhabitants (2020) and has had its current boundaries since 1974. The municipality's area is roughly 41 km². Geogr ...

and Wetter and the communities of

Dautphetal Dautphetal is a municipality in Hesse, Germany, and is among the six larger municipalities of the 22 in Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Geography The municipality lies in the western part of the district about 37 km east of Siegen and about 15 ...

and

Breidenbach Breidenbach is a municipality in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Neighbouring communities *Bad Laasphe *Biedenkopf *Dautphetal *Eschenburg *Steffenberg Community divisions The community is divided into th ...

as well as the towns of

Bad Laasphe Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of :de:Schloss Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein Castle ( ...

and

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

in Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Biedenkopf 1

Divisions within the town

* Biedenkopf * Breidenstein * Dexbach *

Eckelshausen Eckelshausen is a village in the vicinity of Biedenkopf in 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 po ...

* Engelbach * Katzenbach * Kombach * Wallau * Weifenbach 2007-05-18 Ansicht Biedenkopf IMG 8105

Christian communities

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

congregation of Biedenkopf * Parish of St. Josef Biedenkopf (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

) * Free Evangelical Congregation of Biedenkopf *

New Apostolic The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian church that split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during an 1863 schism in Hamburg, Germany. The church has existed since 1863 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands. It came abo ...

Congregation of Biedenkopf

Politics

Town council

Biedenkopf's town council consists of 37 seats. At the last election in 2011, the seats were apportioned thus: * CDU: 10 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

: 14 seats * FDP: 1 seat * Bürgerblock Biedenkopf: 7 seats * UBL Wallau: 5 seats The CDU and SPD form a grand coalition.

Town partnerships

La Charité-sur-Loire La Charité-sur-Loire (before 1961: ''La Charité'') is a commune in the Nièvre department and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Geography La Charité-sur-Loire lies on the right, eastern bank of the river Loire, about 25 km no ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Oostduinkerke Oostduinkerke (; french: Ostdunkerque ; vls, Ôostduunkerke) is a place in the Belgian province of West Flanders, where it is located on the southern west coast of Belgium. Once a municipality of its own, Oostduinkerke now is a sub-municipalit ...

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 ...

* Wépion-sur-Meuse, Belgium *

Neustadt an der Orla Neustadt an der Orla is a town in Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia. It is situated at the small river Orla (Saale), Orla, 17 km north of Schleiz, and 25 km southeast of Jena. The former municipality Stanau was merged into Neustadt ...

Cogoleto Cogoleto ( lij, Cogoeuo) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about west of Genova. Its territory extends from the sea to the Ligurian Apennines; it is part of the Natural Regiona ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

* Kecskéd,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

* Schloss Biedenkopf (stately home) with Hinterlandmuseum * Schartenhof Eckelshausen * Wallau village museum * Dorfstube Engelbach * Private ''Holder'' tractor museum in Engelbach * Schenkbarsches Haus

Sport

* Indoor swimming pool at the community centre * Lahnauenbad (outdoor swimming pool) * Indoor and outdoor swimming pool in Wallau community * 4 sports halls in the main community (Großsporthalle, Stadtschule, Lahntalschule, Jahn-Halle) * Großsporthalle (sports hall) in Wallau, gymnasium in Weifenbach * Aue-Tenniscenter * Franz-Josef-Müller-Stadion (stadium) * Sports field in Wallau, football pitches in most communities * Riding hall * Shooting range * Trimm-Dich-Pfad ("Trim-Yourself-Path") * Perfstausee (reservoir) with bathing beach

Regular events

* Every seven years, the town holds a ''Grenzgang'' in which people walk around the borders of the town's forest. https://www.grenzgangsverein.de/?page_id=816

Culinary specialities

The ''Kartoffelbraten'' – or popularly the ''Brott'' – is a typical Biedenkopf culinary custom which has grown out of the autumn

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

harvest. In many places in the forest, traditionally in early autumn, the tasty tuber is cooked in the glow of a heap of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

made from freshly felled

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

wood. The unpeeled potato tastes best with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

liverwurst Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver. It is eaten in many parts of Europe, including Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Polan ...

and

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

. For the ''Biedenkopfer Kartoffelbraten'', only three kinds of salad are traditionally served:

radish The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an Eating, edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman Empire, Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, be ...

salad,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

salad and

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

salad.

Economy and infrastructure

Planning

In the 2001

Middle Hesse The region of Middle Hesse (german: Region Mittelhessen, ) is one of three planning regions in the German state of Hesse, alongside North and South Hesse. Its territory is identical with that of the administrative province of Gießen (''Regierung ...

Regional Plan, the former district seat (''Kreisstadt'') Biedenkopf is designated the middle centre in the rural area. The town is part of the ''Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe)'' development belt. This belt's job is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport is thus given special importance. Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, ''Dillenburg - Steffenberg - Breidenbach – Biedenkopf'', with a regional connective function. Together with Dautphetal and Breidenbach, Biedenkopf is described as a commercial hub.

Transport

Highways

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

62 * Bundesstraße 253 * Bundesstraße 453 Alongside the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), other local buses serve the town.

Railway

The ''Obere Lahntalbahn'' is the only railway line that serves the town. In May 1987, passenger traffic towards

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen (region), Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-N ...

on the ''Scheldetalbahn'' was discontinued. Minor freight services persisted for a few years serving the Buderus firm until December 2002. Biedenkopf is joined by the ''Obere Lahntalbahn'' (a

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

line) to

Erndtebrück Erndtebrück is a municipality in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Erndtebrück situated on the river Eder in the Rothaargebirge, approx. 20 km northeast of Siegen. Neighbouring com ...

in Siegen-Wittgenstein district and the town of

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

by way of Bad Laasphe, Dautphetal and Lahntal. The railway serves three stations in Biedenkopf: Wallau, Biedenkopf-Schulzentrum and Biedenkopf.

Established enterprises

In Biedenkopf and its outlying communities, machine manufacture and mould making have always been strongly represented. Among the companies in this business are Meissner AG (model- and toolmaking), Banss Schlacht- und Fördertechnik GmbH and CFS (packing systems, formerly Krämer & Grebe Tiromat). Furthermore, processing synthetic products is another of the town's industries, represented by, among others, the firm Elkamet.

Media

The daily newspaper with the greatest market share in Biedenkopf is the ''Hinterländer Anzeiger'' owned by the Lahn-Dill newspaper group (flagship paper: the ''Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung''). A local section can also be found for the old district of Biedenkopf in Marburg's ''

Oberhessische Presse The ''Oberhessische Presse'' is a regional, daily newspaper published by the ''Hitzeroth Druck + Medien GmbH & Co. KG'' for the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf in Hesse, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is ...

'', itself a regional paper.

Public institutions

* Police station * Branch of the Marburg-Biedenkopf State Council Office (with vehicle licensing, job centre,

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...

, building and youth office as well as the authority responsible for foreigners) * Financial office (branch of the Marburg-Biedenkopf financial office) * Employment agency (branch of the

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

office) * Kreishandwerkerschaft Biedenkopf (district craftsmen's association) * Branch of the Dillenburg ''Industrie- und Handelskammer'' (IHK, Chamber of Industry and Commerce) * Medienzentrum Biedenkopf – one of three places in Marburg-Biedenkopf where educational media can be rented * Pension office of the Biedenkopf Evangelical Deaconate. Biedenkopf also has a DRK hospital with 110 beds. Alongside

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

, the areas of specialization include

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

and

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

, internal medicine, and

urology Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

Education

* Gymnasium (Lahntalschule Biedenkopf) * Real- and

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

(Stadtschule Biedenkopf) * Professional schools * Biedenkopf

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

* Primary school and Hauptschule (Mittelpunktschule Wallau) *

Folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...

State institutions

Since 1953, Biedenkopf has been host to a ''

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

transmission facility on the ''Sackpfeife''. The antenna are borne by a 210-m guyed steel-lattice mast with a diagonal cross-section measure of 1.8 m. Its position is 50°57'8"N, 8°32'1"E.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town

* Karl-Heinz Schneider, bearer of the "Verdienstkreuzes am Bande" (bestowed 28 April 2004) *

Wilhelm Henkel Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Moun ...

, bearer of the "Verdienstkreuzes am Bande" (bestowed 9 January 2004) * Gretel Henkel, bearer of the "Verdienstmedaille" (bestowed 9 January 2004)

References

External links

*
Wallau/Lahn community
* * further links
Official ''Grenzgang'' page
{{Authority control Marburg-Biedenkopf Spa towns in Germany