Melle () is a city in the district of Osnabrück,

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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The city corresponds to what used to be the district of Melle until regional territorial reform in 1972. Since then Melle is the third largest city in Lower Saxony in terms of surface area.

History

Melle was first mentioned in a document from 1169. In 1443 Heinrich von Moers, Bishop of Osnabrück, gave Melle the privilege of a ''Wigbold''.

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a populat ...

looked after Melle's interests in the Westphalian Hanseatic League. Melle belonged to the

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

until 1866 when it became part of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. In 1885 Amt Grönenberg and the municipality Melle formed the prussian district Kreis Melle. The district Melle later on became the municipality Melle. In 1972 the former district with its 56 municipalities were united to the city Melle which since then is part of Osnabrück (district).

Geography

Geographical position

Melle is situated in a valley penned between the

Wiehen Hills The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...

in the North and the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

in the South. The cities of

and

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and ...

are some away each. The

Münster Osnabrück International Airport Münster Osnabrück International Airport , ''Flughafen Münster/Osnabrück'' in German, is a minor international airport in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located near Greven, north of Münster and south of Osnabrück. ...

is located about to the southwest. Melle subdivisions

Neighbouring towns

Neighbouring towns are

Preußisch Oldendorf Preußisch Oldendorf () is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In 1905 the town name ''Oldendorf'' was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with ...

in the

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 inhab ...

Minden-Lübbecke district Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück. Geography This is the northernmost district of North ...

, Rödinghausen,

Bünde Bünde (Low German ''Buine'') is a town in the Herford district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Bünde is situated between Osnabrück (west), Hannover (east) and Bielefeld (south). Waterways The town is crossed from west to east ...

and

Spenge Spenge is a town in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Geography Spenge is situated north of Bielefeld and west of Herford. It borders Lower Saxony in the west. Subdivisions Spenge consists of 5 subdivisions (popul ...

in the North Rhine-Westphalian Herford district,

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''T ...

and Borgholzhausen in the North Rhine-Westphalian Gütersloh district, as well as Dissen, Hilter, Bissendorf, and Bad Essen in the Osnabrück district.

Municipalities

The city consists of the eight municipalities of Melle-Mitte, Buer, Bruchmühlen,

Gesmold Gesmold is a town and former municipality, now part of Melle, in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is placed between the Wiehengebirge and the Teutoburg Forest. It features Gesmold Castle, a Renaissance building. Ano ...

, Neuenkirchen, Oldendorf, Riemsloh and Wellingholzhausen. 349m241009melle

Religion

* Christian confessions: **

Evangelical Lutheran Church Evangelical Lutheran Church can refer to many different Lutheran churches in the world. Among them are the following: U.S. * Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mainline Protestant denomination in Chicago, Illinois * Evangelical Lutheran Chu ...

: 22.579 ** Evangelical Reformed Church: 244 **

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

: 15.036 **

Old Catholic Church The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the Great Chu ...

** Evangelical Free Church (Baptists) **

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian church that split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during an 1863 schism in Hamburg, Germany. The church has existed since 1863 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands. It came ab ...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

(Mormon): 9 * Muslims *

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s * none: 10.061 * not known: 91 Last updated: 31 December 2007

Politics

Mayor

Jutta Dettmann ( SPD) is mayor of Melle, elected in 2021.

City council

The city council is composed of 40 members. Additionally the city mayor is eligible to vote. (As of:

Local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

on 11 September 2011)

Further election results

(Source: Official election results of the County of Osnabrück)

Twin towns – sister cities

Melle is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Bad Dürrenberg, Germany * Cires-lès-Mello, France *

Eecke Eecke (; from Flemish; ''Eke'' in modern Dutch spelling) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is northeast of Hazebrouck. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 comm ...

, France * Eiken, Switzerland * Eke (Nazareth), Belgium *

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

, Belgium *

Jēkabpils Jēkabpils (; german: Jakobstadt; pl, Jakubów) is a state city in Jēkabpils Municipality in southeastern Latvia roughly halfway between Riga and Daugavpils and spanning the Daugava River. Historic Jēkabpils lies on the left bank, in Seloni ...

, Latvia *

Melle Melle may refer to: People * Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer * Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer * John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author * Melle Mel (born ...

, Belgium *

, France *

Niğde Niğde (; grc, Νίγδη; Hittite: Nahita, Naxita) is a city and the capital of Niğde province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey at an elevation of 1,299 m. In 2017 the city population was 141,010 people. The city is small with plent ...

, Turkey * Reinickendorf (Berlin), Germany *

Torzhok Torzhok (russian: Торжо́к) is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Tvertsa River along the federal highway M10 and a branch of the Oktyabrskaya Railway division of the Russian Railways. The town is famous for its folk craft of ...

, Russia Melle also has friendly relations with New Melle, Missouri, United States.

Economy

A substantial economic factor for Melle is the

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood ...

industry. Further important branches are metal, food, and plastics processing.

Tetra (company) Tetra or the Tetra Werke (Company) is a fish food manufacturing company founded by a young German scientist, Dr. Ulrich Baensch. History and profile In the 1950s, there were only about 50,000 fish keepers in Germany and the hobby was, at the tim ...

was founded in Melle. In recent years Melle has more and more become a logistics site along the A 30 motorway.

Culture and sights

NEW MELLE- MEETING POINT AT MELLE GERMANY

There are two astronomical observatories in the surrounding of Melle providing guided tours for the public. The

EXPO 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were exp ...

observatory in Melle-Oberholsten runs the largest

Newtonian telescope The Newtonian telescope, also called the Newtonian reflector or just a Newtonian, is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, using a concave primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Newton' ...

used for public observation.

Notable people

Hermann von der Hardt Hermann von der Hardt (November 15, 1660 – February 28, 1746) was a German historian and orientalist. He was born at Melle, in Westphalia (now in Lower Saxony). He studied oriental languages at the universities of Jena and Leipzig, and in 1690 ...

(1660 – 1746), German historian and orientalist, born at Melle * Hermann Meyer-Rabingen (1887 – 1961), German general in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

* Ilse Losa (1913—2006), Portuguese writer and translator of German-Jewish origin, born at Buer in Melle *

Axel Bulthaupt Axel Bulthaupt (born 21 February 1966) is a German journalist, entertainer and television presenter. Bulthaupt was born in Melle, Lower Saxony, West Germany. He studied history and literature in Osnabrück and Hamburg. He worked during his univ ...

(born 1966), journalist and television presenter *Perry Leenhouts (born 1972), Dutch-American musician and producer

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Osnabrück (district)