Burgwald is a municipality 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 ...
in
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 ...
.
Geography
Location
Burgwald lies east of
Battenberg and roughly 30 km north of the university 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 ...
. The community lies on the northwestern edge of the Burgwald range, Hesse's biggest contiguous woodland.
Neighbouring communities
Burgwald borders in the north on the town of
Frankenberg, in the east on the community of
Haina
Haina (Kloster) is a municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Haina lies in Waldeck-Frankenberg south of Frankenberg and east of Burgwald at the southwest slope of the Kellerwald range. It lies on the ...
, in the south on the town of
Rosenthal (all in Waldeck-Frankenberg), in the southwest on the community of
Münchhausen (
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 ...
), and in the west on the town of
Battenberg and the community of
Allendorf (both in Waldeck-Frankenberg).
Constituent communities
The community is divided into Birkenbringhausen in the northwest, Bottendorf somewhat more towards the northeast, Burgwald and Wiesenfeld towards the centre, and Ernsthausen to the south.
History
''Burgwald'' is quite a new name for the main community. Until 1996, it was known as ''Industriehof''.
Amalgamations
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms on 1 July 1971, the communities of Birkenbringhausen, Ernsthausen and Wiesenfeld merged to form the greater community. On 1 January 1974, Bottendorf was amalgamated with Burgwald as well.
Politics
Municipal council
The council's 27 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006 (each party's share of the vote is also shown, and figures in parentheses are for the 2001 election):
*
CDU: 3 seats; 12.8% (5 seats; 17.0%)
*
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 t ...
: 6 seats; 23.9% (10 seats; 31.4%)
*
Greens: 0 seats; 0.6% (0 seats; 0.0%)
*FWG - Freie Wählergemeinschaft Birkenbringhausen: 5 seats; 17.2% (5 seats; 15.5%)
*BLE - Bürgerliste Ernsthausen: 6 seats; 21.3% (5 seats; 17.4)
*BLB - Bürgerliste Burgwald: 3 seats; 10.8% (2 seats; 6.8%)
*WGBo - Wählergemeinschaft Bottendorf: 4 seats; 13.4% (4 seats; 11.9%)
Coat of arms
Burgwald's civic
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
has some unusual divisions. The crenellated wall and the line of fir trees are, as the German blazon describes them, not charges, but rather divisions of the shield, although most observers would see a castle wall and a line of trees (things, rather than dividing lines). According to the blazon, the only charge is the cross of the
Order of St. John in the shield's lowest division.
The shield's colours are blue, green and silver – blue for the sky, silver for a castle's battlements and the cross, and green for the treetops. The battlements refer to the Kesterburg (now called the Christenberg), a castle in the Burgwald range. The cross refers to local history, namely Wiesenfeld's. In 1238, this village was founded as a prospective Order of St. John centre.
Partnerships
*
Perbál, near
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
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 ...
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Through the community runs Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 252 connecting
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 ...
and
Korbach
Korbach (pronunciation: ˈkoːɐˌbax), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German language, German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located o ...
.
Birkenbringhausen, Wiesenfeld and Ernsthausen are stops on the ''Burgwaldbahn''
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line from
Frankenberg to Marburg. The stations in Burgwald are in the tariff zone of the North Hesse Transport Association (''Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund''; NVV).
Several signposted
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
paths cross the municipal area or lead right to it. West past Birkenbringhausen run the Hessian cycle path R8 and the ''Ederauenweg'' ("Eder floodplain way"), which runs alongside the Eder from its source in the Rothaargebirge to its mouth where it empties into the
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 ...
. East of Bottendorf, the Hessian cycle path R6 runs through the Burgwald range. The Lahn-Eder cycle path, running from Marburg to Frankenberg reaches the former district seat of Frankenberg from Ernsthausen in the south by way of the Bottendorf area.
Literature
* Ulrich Stöhr, Reinhold Briel, Johannes Briel (2003): Ernsthausen 1303–2003. Chronik zur 700-Jahr-Feier. Published by the community of Burgwald. Burgwald-Ernsthausen
Established businesses
OSBORN International GmbH manufacturer of technical brushes and tools for finishing surfaces.
References
External links
Burgwald*
{{Authority control
Waldeck-Frankenberg