Winsen an der Aller () or Winsen (Aller) is a town in the district of

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Geography

Winsen has around 12,900 inhabitants and lies on the southern perimeter of the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

, on the banks of the

Aller Aller may refer to: Places Rivers * Aller (Germany), a major river in North Germany *Aller (Asturian river), a river in Asturias, Spain *River Aller, a small river on Exmoor in Somerset, England Inhabited places in the United Kingdom *Aller, Devo ...

, somewhat to the west of its tributary, the

Örtze Örtze () is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. The Örtze rises north of Munster in the ''Große Heide'' (in the ''Raubkammer'' federal forest) and, after , joins the Aller southeast of Winsen. Source and course The Örtze valley is an old gl ...

and about 15 km northwest of

. As well as the town itself, the borough of Winsen also includes the villages of Bannetze, Meißendorf, Stedden, Südwinsen, Thören,

Walle Walle is a surname of Norway, Norwegian and Germany, German origin, which is a variant of the surname Wall (surname), Wall. Wall in turn is a topographic name, which meant a person who lived by a defensive or stone-built wall.''Dictionary of Americ ...

and Wolthausen.

History

The name of the town is derived from ''Wynhausen'' (''Wyn'' = ''Weideland'' or meadow). Winsen's church is dedicated to John the Baptist. Because all villages with churches named after this patron saint appeared around 800 it is suspected that this was also when Winsen was founded. Today Winsen is a favourite local recreation and holiday area and, since 1975, has been recognised officially as a climatic health resort (''Luftkurort'').

Politics

Coat of Arms

The

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 ...

of the town depicts the Stechinelli Gate, one of the town’s monuments and, in between the two gateposts, the coat of arms of

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

, a gold shield with red hearts surrounding a blue

lion rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christia ...

Culture and places of interest

* The nature and bird reserve of Meißendorf Lakes and Bannetzer Moor is the largest stretch of water on the Lüneburg Heath covering a total area of including of water. * The Winsen Museum Farm (''Museumshof Winsen'') portrays a rural farmstead from the '' Südheide'' heath with buildings from the 17th – 19th century as well as ', a 1795

Low German house The Low German house or ''Fachhallenhaus'' is a type of timber-framed farmhouse found in northern Germany and the easternmost Netherlands, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof. It is built as a large hall with bays on the ...

or ''Fachhallenhaus'', today the cultural centrepiece of the community. * The earliest record of the Winsen mills is from 1589. The present-day

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

(''Bockwindmühle'') was built in 1732 and worked until it closed in 1929. It came into the possession of the town in 1938. * The church, like the town itself, is presumed to have emerged during the missionary period in Saxony during the 9th century. The Church of St. John the Baptist was built in the 14th century as a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

long house A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...

, that was extended on its north side in 1597. In 1822 a major expansion of the church building began, which effectively became a new building. * The ''Junker Gate'' (''Junkerntor'') is one of the oldest still preserved historic buildings in Winsen. It used to be the entrance to the manor house (''Rittergut''). From 1691 to 1729 the Stechinelli family was enfeoffed with the estate, which is why it is also called the Stechinelli Gate and why the family coat of arms appears on the left hand gate column. The gate itself forms part of Winsen’s coat of arms. * The Prince’s Stones (''Prinzensteine'') lie by a track between Winsen and Oldau and recall a decisive battle on 28 May 1388 during the

Lüneburg War of Succession Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

(''Lüneburger Erbfolgekrieg''). According to legend two princes wounded each other mortally at this spot before they realised they were brothers. * The present-day town hall (''Rathaus'') was initially built in 1727 as a district office (''Amtshaus'') but had to be torn down again as the underlying ground was not sufficiently secure. It was then rebuilt in the

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. On 4 May 1972 the former district office, which meanwhile had been used as a pub, was given its new purpose as a town hall. File:Bockwindmühle Winsen (Aller) IMG 5969.jpg, The post mill File:St. Johannes der Täufer-Kirche in Winsen IMG 5911.jpg, Church of Saint John the Baptist File:Junkerntor in Winsen (Aller) IMG 5916.jpg, The Junker Gate

Sons and daughters of the town

Theodor Lohmann Theodor Christian Lohmann (October 18, 1831 – August 31, 1905) was a 19th-century German administrative lawyer, civil servant and social reformer, second in importance only to Otto von Bismarck in the formation of the German social insurance syst ...

(1831–1905), administrative lawyer, civil servant and social reformer, was born in Winsen.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winsen An Der Aller Lüneburg Heath Celle (district)