Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

) in the east of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The district of Lippe is named after the Lords of Lippe, who originally lived on the river Lippe and founded Lippstadt there, and their

Principality of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...

. It was a state within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

and retained statehood until 1947, when it became a district of North Rhine-Westphalia.

History

The Lippe district nearly covers the same area as the historic county of Lippe. The first mention of this country was in 1123; it grew in power slowly in the following centuries. In 1528 it became a county, in 1789 it was elevated to a principality. Unlike many other countries of the

in the area, Lippe kept its independence in the Napoleonic era, and thus wasn't incorporated into

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

afterwards. It was one of the smaller member states of the German empire. After the death of Prince Woldemar in 1895, the two lines of the

House of Lippe The House of Lippe () is the former reigning house of a number of small Germany, German states, two of which existed until the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Principality of Lippe and the Schaumburg-Lippe, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. ...

fought over the regency for over a decade. The last prince of Lippe was forced to abdicate during the November Revolution of 1918 following the Collapse of the Imperial German Army, whilst Germany as a whole became the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. The district became a '' Freistaat'' one of the constituent parts of the new republic. In 1932 the Free State of Lippe was subdivided into two districts, Detmold and Lemgo. These continued to exist when in 1947 Lippe lost its status as a state of Germany and by order of the British military government was incorporated into the new federal state

; in 1949 this change was approved by the parliament. In 1969/70 the 168 cities and municipalities were merged to 16; and as the second part of the administrative reform in 1973 the two districts Lemgo and Detmold were merged to the district Lippe.

Geography

The Lippe district covers the northern part of the Teutoburg Forest, which also contain the highest elevation of the district, the 496 meter high ''Köterberg'' near Lügde. The lowest elevation is at the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

river with 45.5 m. The main river is the Werre, and at the northern border of the district the

. The Lippe River, which shares the district's name, does not flow through Lippe, but has its headwaters right across the district line in Bad Lippspringe, Kreis Paderborn. The small territories of Lippstadt, Lipperode, and Cappel that belonged to Lippe until the mid 19th century, do lie in the valley of the river.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the traditional symbol of the state of Lippe, the rose, as the district covers nearly the same area as the historic country. In the middle of the rose 16

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s symbolize the 16 cities and municipalities of the district. The coat of arms was granted in 1973. Despite the relatively small size of Lippe, the Lippish rose is also one of only three symbols included in the coat of arms of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Towns and municipalities

Culinary art

The most famous dish served in Lippe is the pickert. In the past it was known as a meal for poor people. The main ingredients are potatoes, flour and raisins.

References

External links

Official website

Ordinances and by-laws of the county of Lippe online

Guidelines for the integration of the Land Lippe within the territory of the federal state North-Rhine-Westphalia of 17 January 1947
* - Religious history of Lippe from the Reformation until the early twentieth century {{Authority control Districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Detmold (region)