Philippsthal (Werra) is a market community 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 eastern
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, right at the boundary with
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
.
Geography
Location
Philippsthal lies between the outliers of the
Rhön and the
Thuringian Forest
The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...
(ranges) on the river
Werra
The Werra (), a river in central Germany, is the right-bank headwater of the Weser. "Weser" is a synonym in an old dialect of German. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After the Werra joins the river Fulda in the t ...
. The river Ulster empties into the Werra between the main centre and the outlying centre of Röhrigshof.
The nearest major towns are
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld (''Bad'' is "spa" in German; the Old High German name of the city was ''Herolfisfeld'') is the district seat of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast ...
(some 25 km to the west) and
Eisenach
Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...
(some 29 km to the northeast).
Neighbouring communities
Philippsthal borders in the north on the town of
Heringen
Heringen (Werra) is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia.
Geography
Location
The nearest major towns and cities are Bad Hersfeld (28 km to the west), Eisenach ...
(in Hersfeld-Rotenburg), in the east on the town of
Vacha, in the south on the communities of
Unterbreizbach
Unterbreizbach is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russi ...
(both in the
Wartburgkreis
Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Wer ...
in Thuringia) and
Hohenroda and in the west on the community of
Friedewald
Friedewald is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...
(both in Hersfeld-Rotenburg).
Constituent communities
The community’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 Gethsemane, Harnrode, Heimboldshausen, Philippsthal, Röhrigshof and Unterneurode. All these places were merged into a new greater community of Philippsthal (Werra) within the framework of municipal reform on 1 August 1972. The title “market community” (''Marktgemeinde'') was granted the community on 30 May 2001.
History
![Philippsthal schloss sued](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Philippsthal_schloss_sued.jpg)
In 1191, Philippsthal had its first documentary mention in a ''Schutzbrief'' (“protection letter”) from
Pope Celestine III
Pope Celestine III ( la, Caelestinus III; c. 1106 – 8 January 1198), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death in 1198. He had a tense relationship with several monarchs, ...
to the
Hersfeld Abbey
Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue.
History
H ...
. In this year, the Abbey founded a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
and named it after the living knightly family von Cruceburg, after whom the growing community of ''Kreuzberg'' was then also named.
The convent was destroyed in the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...
in 1525 and forsaken by the nuns in 1568. All that is still preserved is the former convent church from the 12th century. On the spot where the convent stood, Landgrave
Philipp of Hesse-Philippsthal (b. 14 December 1655, d. 18 June 1721) had a palatial residence built in 1685, which he named ''Schloss Philippsthal''. By the late 18th century, this had become the local placename.
After mining began at the Hattorf potash works in 1905, the craft and weaving village became an industrial community.
During the time of Germany’s division, the former Hoßfeld printing shop building earned some fame as the border between
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
ran straight through it. Only in 1976 did East and West Germany agree to a border adjustment that put the whole property in West Germany.
Politics
Community council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:
The community’s executive (''Gemeindevorstand'') is made up of ten members, with four seats allotted to the SPD, two to the CDU and four to the FWG.
Mayors
The mayoral election on 16 September 2007 brought Ralf Orth (SPD) into office with 55.1% of the vote. Since 1 January 2008 he has been Hartwig Klotzbach’s (FWG) successor after the latter had held the office since 2001. In 2019 Timo Heusner (SPD) was elected mayor.
Coat of arms
The community’s
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
might be described thus: Gules a mount of three argent, issuant therefrom a cross of Lorraine pattée of the second, upon the mound an
inescutcheon
In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the s ...
azure a lion rampant barry of nine argent and gules armed and crowned Or.
The “double cross” recalls the convent in the community and the
Hersfeld Abbey
Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue.
History
H ...
, which was a definite factor in earlier centuries. The striped lion (Hesse’s heraldic beast) stands for the Landgraves of
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...
, into whose ownership the community came in the 16th century.
Town partnerships
*
Salies-du-Salat
Salies-du-Salat (, literally ''Salies of the Salat''; oc, Salias de Salat) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Population
Economy
Salies-du-Salat is known for its therapeutic hot springs. The spa buildings, re ...
,
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's ...
, France since 1974
*
Vacha, Thuringia since 1990
*
Dorndorf, Thuringia since 1990
Culture and sightseeing
Museum
* Border Museum at the Torbogenhaus (“Gate Arch House”)
Buildings
* Schloss Philippsthal (palace)
*
Orangery
An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...
in the palace park
* Three-naved convent church from the 12th century
References
Further reading
Philippsthal in: ''
Meyers Konversationslexikon
' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '.
Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended ...
'', 4. edit. 1888-89, vol. 12, p. 1006.
Das Haus Hessen-Philippsthal in: ''
Meyers Konversationslexikon
' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '.
Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended ...
'', 4. edit. 1888-89, vol. 8, p. 486.
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Hersfeld-Rotenburg