Niedenstein () is a small town and an officially recognized climatic spa in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse,
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
Niedenstein's main settlement lies to the southeast of the Habichtswald Nature Park, right on the western slope of the Langenberge, a low mountain range reaching 557 m. The nearest city is
Kassel, about 15 km to the northeast. Niedenstein ist circled by several mountains.
Schwengeberg (55m) and the
Niedensteiner Kopf (475 m) with the Hessenturm, the
Sengelsberg (448 m) and the
Wartberg (306 m).
Neighbouring communities
In the north, Niedenstein abuts
Schauenburg
Schauenburg is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated west 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 o ...
, in the east beyond the Langenberge it adjoins
Baunatal
Baunatal is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is a comparatively young town which arose from fusion of the formerly independent municipalities ''Altenbauna'', ''Altenritte'', ''Großenritte'', ''Guntershausen'', ''Hertingshau ...
and
Edermünde
Edermünde is a municipality in northern Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Edermünde lies in the north of the Schwalm-Eder district not far southwest of Kassel. This is where the river Eder empties into the river Fulda. The constituent commu ...
, and in the southeast its constituent community of Metze on
Gudensberg
Gudensberg () is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany. Since the municipal reform in 1974, the nearby villages of Deute, Dissen, Dorla, Gleichen, Maden and Obervorschütz have become parts of the municipality.
Geography
Gudensberg is situated ...
. In the south, the constituent community of Kirchberg, through which flows the river
Ems, borders on
Fritzlar, whose main town lies about 11 km away from Niedenstein. In the west, Niedenstein borders on
Bad Emstal.
Constituent communities
The town has five centres. Besides the main town, also called Niedenstein, there are Ermetheis, Metze (about 1000 inhabitants), Kirchberg (about 900 inhabitants) and Wichdorf.
History
The area around Niedenstein has been settled in early years. Therefore, archeological excavations have found relics from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
area. Niedenstein Castle had its first documentary mentioned in 1254 as
Konrad II. von Elben held the castle for Duchess Sophie von Brabant against the troops of archbishop Gerhard von Dhaun from Mainz. The castle had been pillaged and destroyed in 1387 by the troops of archbishop Adolf I. from Mainz. The castle had been rebuilt only partially and been given up and destroyed completely in 1631. There are no remains of the original castle left to be seen.
It was Konrad von Elben, ordered by Duchess Sophie, who had built the new city in 1259 on his own land in the area of Wichdorf. This newly founded settlement was called Niedenstein ("Nydensteyne").
In 1584, the city counted 87 households with approx. 400 inhabitants. In 1578 Duke Wilhelm IV. gave the right to hold market twice a year to Niedenstein.
The thirty-year war nearly brought total destruction to Niedenstein. In 1631, Croatian riding troops under general Tilly conquered the city, pillaged it and burned it down. More than a third of all buildings burned down and the castle was completely destroyed. At the end of the war in 1648, only four people were left, living in Niedenstein. 14 of the buildings were still standing.
In the short living Napoleonic kingdom of Westphalen (1807 - 1813), Niedenstein was the smallest city. The city experienced a very late growth in population. Until 1939, there were only 630 people living there, by the end of 2020 there were 5392 people living in Niedenestein.
Politics
Town council
Niedenstein's town council is made up of 23 members.
*
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 ...
11 seats
*
CDU 5 seats
*FWG (citizens' coalition) 5 seats
*
Greens 2 seats
(as of municipal elections held on 26 March 2006)
Town partnership
Niedenstein maintains a partnership with one place:
*
Saint-Germer-de-Fly
Saint-Germer-de-Fly () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is distinguished by the remains of its former abbey, including the current parish church, dating from the 12th century.
See also
* Communes of the Oise departme ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
It lies about 80 km northwest of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in
Picardy.
Culture and sightseeing
Museums
Niedenstein is home to the ''Heimatmuseum Kirchberg'' ("Kirchberg Homeland Museum")
Buildings
*
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
Village Church
* Altenburg; a settlement built up on a
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
crag, once a pre-Germanic castle village that was forsaken even before the
Christian Era, making its earlier identification with the
Chatti
The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe
whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the va ...
's capital
Mattium
Mattium was the ancient "capital" or principal settlement (Latin: "caput gentis") of the Chatti. Its exact location is unknown, though following the description of Tacitus it is generally assumed to be somewhere in the wider neighbourhood of Fritz ...
unfounded. There are many
archaeological finds on show from the Altenburg at the Hessian State Museum in Kassel.
Natural monuments
* Niedensteiner Kopf (475 m above sea level)
* ''Tanz- und Gerichtslinde'' ("Dance and Court Linden", on the way out of town to the west)
Personalities
*
Jürgen Schweinebraden, Freiherr von Wichmann-Eichhorn, gallery owner and publisher
References
External links
Kirchberg's homepageHeimatmuseum Kirchberg
{{Authority control
Schwalm-Eder-Kreis