Marienheide is a municipality in the

Oberbergischer Kreis The Oberbergischer Kreis ( ksh, Boverbärjische Kreiß) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ennepe-Ruhr, Märkischer Kreis, Olpe, Altenkirchen, Rhein-Sieg, Rheinisch-Bergischer ...

, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

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 betwee ...

Geography

Marienheide is located about 50 km east of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Neighbouring places

The neighbouring towns are

Gummersbach Gummersbach (; ksh, Jummersbach) is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located east of Cologne. History In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in official documents fo ...

and

Wipperfürth 310px, Map of the city 250px, Town hall Wipperfürth () is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 40 km north-east of Cologne, and the oldest town in the Bergischen Land. History The eldest d ...

as well as in

Märkischer Kreis The Märkischer Kreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen. History The district was creat ...

Meinerzhagen Meinerzhagen (sometimes spelled Meinertzhagen; ) is a town in the Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Meinerzhagen is located in the hills of the Sauerland. The highest elevation is the Nordhelle with 652 m above sea l ...

and

Kierspe Kierspe () is a town in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the western edge of the Sauerland on Volme River. History The first mention of Kierspe was in 1003, when the castle 'Haus Rhade' was f ...

, and the neighbouring municipalities are

Engelskirchen Engelskirchen (literally "angel’s churches") is a municipality in Oberbergischer Kreis, Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia, about east of Cologne. The neighbouring municipalities are (clockwise from the west) Overath, Lindlar, Gummersbach, Wie ...

and

Lindlar Lindlar ( ) is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located about 30 km east of Cologne. Geography Lindlar is located between latitudes 50°58' and 51°5' N. and longitudes 7°15' and 7°28' E ...

Division of the municipality

History

The first documentary mention of the place was in 1417 " in a sales document is called Heydenreich of our dear Mrs. Knecht on the Mergenheyde " (Documentary first namings of oberbergischer places v. Klaus Pampus). The manner of writing of the first naming was: Mergenheyde. On the altar lights of the old

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

age church a signed

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of 1601 which carries the name "Mergenheyd" is to be seen. An old brochure of the Catholic vicarage Marienheide states: " The origin of the mercy place Marienheide dates back to 1420 and to one particular man. " This person, a simple man called Heinrich, lived as a hermit in a hit rock hiding place in the " Bockelsburger Wood ", near the present-day railroad line. The hermit apparently lived from

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

. Another

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

, not described further, is stated as a source, and thus one says further that " the mother of God appeared to this keen Heinrich in the form of a small picture and ordered to him to proceed to

to purchase a similar little picture for thirty pieces of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

. " With this the foundation for the place of pilgrimage was laid. Hermit Heinrich has been found with

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...

Gerhard of the Mark, the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

at that time, support, so that

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Martin V as well as the preacher's order interested. Thus was built "in the wilderness" the first little church and, a little way away, the

Dominican order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

Transport

The transport connections to the national road system is good. A 15-km connecting highway to Meinerzhagen from the

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

A45 (the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

line,

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

) takes about 15 minutes. The connection via Wiehl/Gummersbach from the A4 (

- Olpe) is about 17 km long and takes about 20 minutes. The town is crossed by the B 256. There consist the following bus lines: * Line 336 after

or about

after

Remscheid Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remscheid h ...

- Lennep * Line 320 after to

* Line 308 after

* High-speed bus line 36 about

after

- Lennep Marienheide is traversed by the Hagen–Dieringhausen railway. The RB 25 Regionalbahn service Oberbergische Bahn runs every hour (with extra service during morning rush hour) via Gummersbach, Engelskirchen, Overath to Cologne. Work has been completed for the connection to

Lüdenscheid Lüdenscheid () is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region. Geography Lüdenscheid is located on the saddle of the watershed between the Lenne and Volme rivers which ...

. Service commenced in December 2017 and was improved to an hourly schedule by December 2019.

Places of interest

* Brucher dam * Lingese dam * The hamlet Müllenbach stands one of the so-called "colored churches", a church with medieval cover paintings. *

Historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

house Dahl (

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate chapters (formerly colonies) in the United State ...

Dahl),

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' twig'' usuall ...

station of the museum of the

. * The

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...

of the river Wipper is located in the hamlet Börlinghausen. * The pilgrimage church Saint Mariä Heimsuchung is located in the central part of Marienheide. It is an interesting sight and the destination of an annual pilgrimage at the beginning of July. * Castle Gimborn * House of Histories in Müllenbach

Church municipalities

* Protestant church municipality Müllenbach. * Catholic parish Gimborn Saint Johannes Baptist. * Catholic parish Marienheide Saint Mariä Heimsuchung. Wilbringhausen belongs to the parish Saint Josef in

and, as a result, to

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Do ...

Sons and daughters of the municipality

Afu Thomas Thomas Derksen (born 26 October 1988 German version/ref>), known as "Afu" Thomas (), is a German internet celebrity active in China. Biography Afu was born as Thomas Derksen, on 26 October 1988, into a Aussiedler family in Gummersbach, Germany, ...

(Thomas Derksen) - Social media figure in China

Born in Marienheide

Paul Lücke Paul Lücke (13 November 1914 – 10 August 1976) was a German politician and civil servant. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1965–1968. Lücke was a member of the Christian Democratic Union since the party's found ...

Federal Minister of housing; Federal Minister of the interior

Twin town

The Polish town Biała has been the twin town of Marienheide since 1993. Biała is primarily

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...

and has in possibly also many inhabitants like Marienheide.

Further sources of information

Literature

* Hermann de Buhr / Martin Wittenberg / Volkmar Wittmütz: ''Chronik Marienheide'', Gummersbach 1986 * Werner Knabe / Friedhelm König / Werner Kühr: ''Marienheide - ein Blick in die Vergangenheit'', Gummersbach 1984

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Oberbergischer Kreis