Lilienthal 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 administrative district of Osterholz,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, Germany. It borders Bremen ( Free Hanseatic City of Bremen).

History

Lilienthal belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen.

Lilienthal monastery

The history of the small town (without Town privileges) of Lilienthal goes back to its founding as a nunnery by the prince-archbishop Gerhard II. In 1232 construction was begun on a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

of the Order of the Cistercians under the name of ''Vallis Liliorum'' (), and the finished building was sanctified in 1264. During the 15th century, the cloister enjoyed a time of prosperity. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and the conversion of the Cistercian nuns, it became a Lutheran Women's Convent, and until the end of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

in 1648 it remained in deplorable conditions. In 1650, the city went through

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

. The land once belonging to the convent, which had become fragmented, developed into the small town of Lilienthal.

Sweden and Hanover

In 1648, according to the terms of the peace treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War (The

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

), the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, ruled together with the Principality of Verden, which were first ruled in

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

by the Swedish Crown. Queen Christina sent one of her commanders over, Graf Friedrich von Hessen-Eschwege, to the newly created barony (Herrschaft) of Osterholz, in which the charge of both Lilienthal and Osterholz were combined. After his early death in 1655, his wife Eleonora took over the government of the barony, with her seat in Osterholz, where she took an active role in the improvement of economic and sanitary conditions for the rural population. After her death in 1692, the barony fell back into the hands of the Swedish Royalty. Lilienthal remained a part of Swedish Bremen-Verden until 1712 (which is why the coat of arms contains the blue and yellow of the Swedish Flag), at which time it came under Danish occupation, and then in 1719 it fell under the sovereignty of the

Electorate of Hanover The Electorate of Hanover ( or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an Prince-elector, electorate of the Holy Roman Empire located in northwestern Germany that arose from the Principality of Calenberg. Although formally known as the Electorate of Brun ...

, which ruled Bremen-Verden in

. In 1740, the buildings of the convent except of the church were dismantled.

Astronomy in Lilienthal

In 1782, Johann Hieronymus Schröter became chief magistrate (or bailiff, '' Amtmann''). In addition to this administrative office, he also played a large part in the advancement of

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

during his lifetime. On the grounds of his office in Lilienthal, he constructed an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

. In the following years, the Lilienthal Observatory would become the best equipped observatory in the world. One of its technological advances was the "Riesenteleskop" (''giant telescope''), a telescope with a 50.8 cm (20 inch) aperture and an 8.25 m

focal length The focal length of an Optics, optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the Multiplicative inverse, inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system Converge ...

. Due to the telescope, Lilienthal became well-known and was sought out in matters of astronomy by government and military officials. Schröter remained in contact with many of the important astronomers of the time. Together with Wilhelm Olbers and other scholars, he founded the " celestial police" in Lilienthal in 1800. The asteroid 3 Juno was discovered September 1, 1804, by Karl Ludwig Harding at the observatory. After Schröter's death in 1816, the observatory fell into disrepair. In 1850 the remaining structure was destroyed. A large part of the observatory was sent to the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

before the demolition.

19th century

The Befreiungskrieg (a series of battles fought between 1813 and 1815 that ended the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

) hit Lilienthal hard. After an incident during a retreat, French troops set the entire village on fire. Only the church, a few houses, and the observatory escaped the flames (but the observatory was looted, and important records were destroyed). After the reconstruction, the then-municipality grew steadily. In 1939 there were 3,100 inhabitants, in 1974 12,500. After the incorporation of a neighbouring town in the same year, the population grew to 17,000. In 1823 Bremen-Verden was united in a real union with the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

and its territory became part of the Stade Region. In 1866, the kingdom of Hannover lost its independence. Lilienthal 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, ...

n, in 1885 the bailiwick of Lilienthal was dissolved and combined with that in Osterholz to form the new district of Osterholz.

20th and 21st century

From 1900 to 1956, Lilienthal was connected to Bremen and to the moorland region north of the town by a narrow-gauge railway. Nowadays, its alignment is used as a bikeway. Since 1 August 2014, public transport in Lilienthal has been upgraded by a line of Bremen Tramway, passing through its main street. Today, in Lilienthal there are 6

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s, producing 6.013.246,00 kWh, annually. Abteikirche_Lilienthal_von_SW.JPG, St-Mary`s abbey church Rathaus Klosterkirche Lilienthal.JPG, Town hall and abbey church 462c Z240 Hauptstr Lilienthal.jpg, Main street with the line of Bremen Tramway, opened in 2014 File:St.Juergen-außen.JPG, St-George's church in the locality of St. Jürgen 1459d Wümmedeich St-Jürgenskirche.jpg, St-George's church, seen from the Bremish dyke of river Wümme Mühle Frankenburg Lilienthal.JPG, Tower of the windmill of the locality of Frankenburg

Schools

Primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

: **Falkenberg Primary School **Frankenburg Primary School **Schroeterschule **Seebergen Primary School **Trupermoor Primary School **Worphausen Primary School *

Secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

: **All-Day Lilienthal Haupt- and Realschule ** Gymnasium Lilienthal *

Special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

: **Christoph-Tornée-School

Localities

Today, many former independent villages have been merged into Lilienthal. Some of them had been founded as late as in the

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

cultivation of the 18th century, organized by Jürgen Christian Findorff: Lüningsee (1763), Lüninghausen (1764), Westerwede (1764), Moorende (1778), Mooringen (1778), Schrötersdorf (1805, named after J. H. Schröter) and Neu Mooringen (1808). There were several dates of merging: * In 1827, ''Lilienthal'' received Butendiek, which was given from Bremen state to the

, in exchange for some ground for the foundation of

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

. * In 1929, some small Moorland villages were merged. * In 1937, ** ''Lilienthal'' incorporated Falkenberg, Frankenburg, a part of Moorhausen, Trupe, Truperdeich and Trupermoor, ** ''Sankt Jürgen'' incorporated another part of Moorhausen, Niederende, Oberende and Wührden, ** ''Worphausen'' incorporated Moorende and Mooringen * In 1974,Statistisches Bundesamt (Hrsg.): Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Namens-, Grenz- und Schlüsselnummernänderungen bei Gemeinden, Kreisen und Regierungsbezirken vom 27. 5. 1970 bis 31. 12. 1982. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart und Mainz 1983, , S. 244. ''Lilienthal'' incorporated Heidberg, Sankt Jürgen, Seebergen and Worphausen.

Twinned cities

* Since 1970, the municipality of Lilienthal has been twinned with the Dutch municipality of Stadskanaal. * In 1993, the city of Émerainville in the vicinity of Paris was added.

References

External links

Startseite Gemeinde Lilienthal

Herzlich Wilkommen Worphausen
{{Authority control Osterholz