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

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 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 ...

. 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 A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, gave Melle the privilege of a ''Wigbold''.

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. 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 population of 168 ...

looked after Melle's interests in the Westphalian

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. Melle belonged to 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 ...

until 1866 when it became part of

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, ...

. 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 HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (, , 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 f ...

in the North and the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; ) 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 the ''Teutoburg Forest'' ...

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 () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

are some away each. The Münster Osnabrück Airport is located about to the southwest. Melle subdivisions

Neighbouring towns

Neighbouring towns are Preußisch Oldendorf in the

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 ...

n Minden-Lübbecke district, Rödinghausen, Bünde and Spenge 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 ''The S ...

and

Borgholzhausen Borgholzhausen () is a town in the Gütersloh (district), district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Teutoburg Forest, approx. 20 km north-west of Bielefeld. Borgholzhausen is a sister city ...

in the North Rhine-Westphalian Gütersloh district, as well as Dissen, Hilter,

Bissendorf Bissendorf () is a municipality in the Osnabrück (district), district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 9 km southeast of Osnabrück. Population 14,700 (2020). It is divided into Bissendorf proper, Schle ...

, and

Bad Essen Bad Essen is a small municipality and health resort in the Osnabrück (district), district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony. Bad Essen with its historical centre is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. Geography The town of Bad Essen is on the ...

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, Germany, Melle, in the Osnabrück (district), district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is placed between the Wiehengebirge and the Teutoburg Forest. It features Gesmold ...

, Neuenkirchen, Oldendorf, Riemsloh and Wellingholzhausen. 349m241009melle

Religion

* Christian confessions: ** Evangelical Lutheran Church: 22.579 ** Evangelical Reformed Church: 244 **

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

: 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 undiv ...

** Evangelical Free Church (Baptists) **

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(Mormon): 9 *

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s *

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

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 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

on 11 September 2011)

Further election results

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

Twin towns – sister cities

Melle is twinned with: *

Bad Dürrenberg Bad Dürrenberg is a spa town in the Saalekreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approx. 8 km southeast of Merseburg. It is known for its historic graduation tower (for extracting salt from brine), the ...

, Germany * Cires-lès-Mello, France * Eecke, France * Eiken, Switzerland * Eke (Nazareth), Belgium *

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium *

Jēkabpils Jēkabpils () is a state city in Jēkabpils Municipality in southeastern Latvia, located roughly halfway between the capital Riga and Daugavpils, and spanning the Daugava River. The name of the city literally translates into "Castle of Jacob". H ...

, Latvia * Melle, Belgium * Melle, France * Niğde, Turkey * Reinickendorf (Berlin), Germany *

Torzhok Torzhok () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Tvertsa River along the federal highway M10 highway (Russia), M10 and a branch of the Oktyabrskaya Railway division of the Russian Railways. The ...

, 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 wo ...

industry. Further important branches are metal, food, and plastics processing. Tetra (company) 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 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 surrounding of Melle providing guided tours for the public. The EXPO 2000 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. Newto ...

used for public observation.

Notable people

* Hermann von der Hardt (1660 – 1746), German historian and orientalist. * Gerhard Kohnert (1882–1962), entrepreneur, furniture manufacturer and local politician; died locally. * 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 German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* Ludwig Bäumer (1888–1928), writer and Communist activist. * Ilse Losa (1913—2006), Portuguese writer and translator of German-Jewish origin, born at Buer in Melle * Axel Bulthaupt (born 1966), journalist and television presenter * Jörg Bode (born 1969), football coach and a former player who played over 450 games *Perry Leenhouts (born 1972), Dutch-American musician and producer * Mehmet Yozgatlı (born 1979), a Turkish former footballer who played over 230 games

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Osnabrück (district)