Marienheide is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Marienheide is located about 50 km east of Cologne.

Neighbouring places

The neighbouring towns are

Gummersbach Gummersbach (; ksh, Jummersbach) is a town in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located east of Cologne. History In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in offic ...

and

Wipperfürth 310px, Map of the city 250px, Town hall Wipperfürth () is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 40 km north-east of Cologne, and the oldest town in the Bergischen Land. History The eldest d ...

as well as in Märkischer Kreis - Meinerzhagen and

Kierspe Kierspe () is a town in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the western edge of the Sauerland on Volme River. History The first mention of Kierspe was in 1003, when the castle 'Haus Rhade' was fi ...

, and the neighbouring municipalities are Engelskirchen and Lindlar.

Division of the municipality

History

The first documentary mention of the place was in 1417 " in a sales document is called Heydenreich of our dear Mrs. Knecht on the Mergenheyde " (Documentary first namings of oberbergischer places v. Klaus Pampus). The manner of writing of the first naming was: Mergenheyde. On the altar lights of the old pilgrimage church a signed coat of arms of 1601 which carries the name "Mergenheyd" is to be seen. An old brochure of the Catholic vicarage Marienheide states: " The origin of the mercy place Marienheide dates back to 1420 and to one particular man. " This person, a simple man called Heinrich, lived as a hermit in a hit rock hiding place in the " Bockelsburger Wood ", near the present-day railroad line. The hermit apparently lived from agriculture. Another

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

, not described further, is stated as a source, and thus one says further that " the mother of God appeared to this keen Heinrich in the form of a small picture and ordered to him to proceed to Cologne to purchase a similar little picture for thirty pieces of silver. " With this the foundation for the place of pilgrimage was laid. Hermit Heinrich has been found with Count Gerhard of the Mark, the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

at that time, support, so that Pope Martin V as well as the preacher's order interested. Thus was built "in the wilderness" the first little church and, a little way away, the Dominican order's cloister.

Transport

The transport connections to the national road system is good. A 15-km connecting highway to Meinerzhagen from the Autobahn A45 (the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

line,

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

- Gießen) takes about 15 minutes. The connection via Wiehl/Gummersbach from the A4 ( Cologne - Olpe) is about 17 km long and takes about 20 minutes. The town is crossed by the B 256. There consist the following bus lines: * Line 336 after

or about

after Remscheid -

Lennep Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remscheid ha ...

* Line 320 after to Meinerzhagen * Line 308 after Engelskirchen - Lindlar * High-speed bus line 36 about

after Remscheid-

Marienheide is traversed by the

Hagen–Dieringhausen railway The Hagen–Dieringhausen railway (also called the ''Volmetalbahn'': Volme Valley Railway) is a mostly single-track (continuously double track as far as Lüdenscheid-Brügge) and non-electrified railway line from Hagen Hauptbahnhof via Lüdensche ...

. The RB 25 Regionalbahn service

Oberbergische Bahn The Oberbergische Bahn (RB 25) is a Regionalbahn rail service running between Cologne Hansaring and Lüdenscheid in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). This service is operated by DB Regio NRW with Alstom Coradia LINT 54 and 81 r ...

runs every hour (with extra service during morning rush hour) via Gummersbach, Engelskirchen, Overath to Cologne. Work has been completed for the connection to Lüdenscheid. Service commenced in December 2017 and was improved to an hourly schedule by December 2019.

Places of interest

* Brucher dam * Lingese dam * The hamlet Müllenbach stands one of the so-called "colored churches", a church with medieval cover paintings. *

Historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

house Dahl (

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...

Dahl), branch station of the museum of the Oberbergischer Kreis. * The

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

of the river Wipper is located in the hamlet Börlinghausen. * The pilgrimage church Saint Mariä Heimsuchung is located in the central part of Marienheide. It is an interesting sight and the destination of an annual pilgrimage at the beginning of July. *

Castle Gimborn Gimborn Castle (german: Schloss Gimborn) is a former moated castle situated in a remote valley of the upper Leppe in the municipality of Marienheide in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History Gimborn Castle is a c ...

* House of Histories in Müllenbach

Church municipalities

* Protestant church municipality Müllenbach. * Catholic parish Gimborn Saint Johannes Baptist. * Catholic parish Marienheide Saint Mariä Heimsuchung. Wilbringhausen belongs to the parish Saint Josef in

and, as a result, to diocese

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

Sons and daughters of the municipality

* Afu Thomas (Thomas Derksen) - Social media figure in China

Born in Marienheide

* Paul Lücke Federal Minister of housing; Federal Minister of the interior

Twin town

The

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

town Biała has been the

twin town A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Marienheide since 1993. Biała is primarily rural and has in possibly also many inhabitants like Marienheide.

Further sources of information

Literature

* Hermann de Buhr / Martin Wittenberg / Volkmar Wittmütz: ''Chronik Marienheide'', Gummersbach 1986 * Werner Knabe / Friedhelm König / Werner Kühr: ''Marienheide - ein Blick in die Vergangenheit'', Gummersbach 1984

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Oberbergischer Kreis