Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of Westphalia. The name was coined by scholars of the 19th century.

History

The town Porta Westfalica was established in 1973 by merging fifteen villages surrounding the gorge. The centre of the modern town is the former village of Hausberge, which was first mentioned in 1096. The

Emperor William Monument {{no refs, date=December 2017 A large number of monuments were erected in Germany in honour of Emperor William I (known in German as ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal''). As early as 1867 the Berlin sculptor, Friedrich Drake, had created the first equestr ...

was erected near the town by the then Prussian

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...

between 1892 and 1896Information board with the titl
''Emperor William Monument''
at the northern approach to the monument at commons.wikimedia.org The monument, which is around 88 metres high, is classified as one of Germany's

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

s. From 18 March 1944 until 1 April 1945 a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

was established in the Barkhausen quarter. From 1 February 1945 until 1 April 1945 a camp was used in the Hausberge quarter. In the Lerbeck quarter also was a concentration camp in use from 1 October 1944 until 1 April 1945. In the Neesen quarter was a location for the forced labour for some of the inmates. All of these camps were subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp. On 10 January 2015, Belgian footballer

Junior Malanda Bernard Malanda-Adje (28 August 1994 – 10 January 2015), nicknamed Junior Malanda, was a Belgian professional footballer who last played for German club VfL Wolfsburg as a defensive midfielder. He was a youth team player at Brussels, Anderlech ...

died in a car accident near the town, aged 20.

Geography

Porta Westfalica is situated on the right bank of the Weser (except for the Barkhausen quarter), near the Porta Westfalica gorge, where the river runs through the passage between the mountain chains of the Wiehen Hills in the west and the Weser Uplands in the east. The gorge appears like a gate to the region Westphalia, which lies to the south of it. It is overlooked by the Jakobsberg and

Wittekindsberg The Wittekindsberg is a hill, , which forms the easternmost peak of the Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge) and is also the western guardian of the Weser gorge, the Porta Westfalica, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). The hill is well-known, e ...

hills.

Neighbouring places

* Bad Oeynhausen *

Bückeburg Bückeburg ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Population: 21 ...

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In re ...

* Vlotho

Division of the town

The town of Porta Westfalica consists of 15 districts: * Hausberge (5,064 inhabitants) * Lohfeld (1,350 inhabitants) * Barkhausen (4,253 inhabitants) * Neesen (2,319 inhabitants) * Lerbeck (3,727 inhabitants) * Nammen (2,208 inhabitants) * Wülpke (606 inhabitants) * Kleinenbremen (2,245 inhabitants) * Eisbergen (3,401 inhabitants) * Veltheim (2,539 inhabitants) * Möllbergen (1,643 inhabitants) * Holtrup (1,048 inhabitants) * Vennebeck (983 inhabitants) * Costedt (508 inhabitants) * Holzhausen (4,284 inhabitants)

Buildings and structures

* Jakobsberg Telecommunication Tower, a TV tower with an observation deck * Monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I, above the gorge, near the village ''Barkhausen'' * Wittekindsburg, remains of an Iron Age "oppidum" (3rd – 1st century BC) and Saxon-Frankish fort (8th/9th century AD), in the Wiehen Hills near ''Barkhausen''

Twin towns – sister cities

Porta Westfalica is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (Berlin), Germany *

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

, United States

References

External links

*
Official German list of concentration camps
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Neuengamme concentration camp Minden-Lübbecke Wiehen Hills