Grävenwiesbach is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Hochtaunuskreis The Hochtaunuskreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus-Kreis, Rheingau- ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

Grävenwiesbach lies between 300 and 600 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

north of the Taunus Ridge. The nearest big towns are

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

(20 km) to the north, Limburg (32 km) to the west and

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(40 km) to the south.

Neighbouring communities

Grävenwiesbach borders in the north on the communities of Weilmünster (

Limburg-Weilburg Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis. History *1867 the ''Oberlahnkreis'', capital Weilburg was created *1886 t ...

) and Waldsolms (

Lahn-Dill-Kreis Lahn-Dill is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Siegen-Wittgenstein, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Gießen, Wetteraukreis, Hochtaunuskreis, Limburg-Weilburg, Westerwaldkreis. History The southern district ...

), in the east on the towns of Butzbach (

Wetteraukreis The Wetteraukreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Landkreis Gießen, Vogelsbergkreis, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, district-free Stadt Frankfurt, Hochtaunuskreis and Lahn-Dill-Kreis. History The dis ...

) and

Usingen Usingen () is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen. Coat of arms The earliest seal whose appearance is known – there had been earlier ...

, and in the south and west on the community of Weilrod (both in the Hochtaunuskreis).

Constituent communities

The community consists of the centres of Grävenwiesbach, Heinzenberg, Hundstadt, Laubach, Mönstadt and Naunstadt.

History

Grävenwiesbach had its first documentary mention in 1280. As of 1326, the village belonged to the County – later Principality – of Nassau-Weilburg, with which it passed in 1806 to the newly created Duchy of Nassau. In 1866, Grävenwiesbach became

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, ...

Politics

Municipal council

The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.

Partnerships

Grävenwiesbach has maintained a partnership with Wuenheim in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

since 6 September 1980.

Coat of arms

Grävenwiesbach's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: Or a spreadeagle sable armed and langued gules, above each wing a mullet of six azure. The earliest town seals show this same composition, including one example known from 1534 but dating from the previous century. The arms have remained virtually unchanged since then, but were only officially granted in 1952, at which time the

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

azure (blue) was chosen for the mullets (stars), as that was Nassau's colour, under which Grävenwiesbach had lived for centuries. The reason for the mullets being in the arms, however, is not known. The eagle is, of course, the old Imperial eagl

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

On 1 June 1909, the Frankfurt - Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Bad Homburg -

Weilburg Weilburg () is, with just under 13,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg. Geography Location The community lies in the Lahn valley between the Wes ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line also reached Grävenwiesbach. After a spur line to Wetzlar was opened on 1 November 1912, Grävenwiesbach station became a small railway hub. This was the beginning of moderate

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

as well as the first step towards reorienting Grävenwiesbach towards the Rhine-Main economic area. Nowadays, Grävenwiesbach is an operations centre for the '' Taunusbahn'' railway, run by the ''Start Deutschland GmbH '', and running from Bad Homburg to Usingen and on to Brandoberndorf.

Education

In Grävenwiesbach there is only a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. A

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

, a

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

and a Gymnasium are available in

Literature

* ''So war es einst. Grävenwiesbach im Wandel der Zeiten.'' Publisher: Heimatverein Grävenwiesbach e.V., * ''Unsere Bahn.'' Publisher: Heimatverein Grävenwiesbach e.V.

References

External links

Website der Gemeinde Grävenwiesbach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravenwiesbach Hochtaunuskreis