Schlitz () is a small town in the

Vogelsbergkreis The Vogelsbergkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Schwalm-Eder, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Fulda, Main-Kinzig, Wetteraukreis, Gießen and Marburg-Biedenkopf. History The district was created in ...

in eastern

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.

Geography

Location

The town of Schlitz lies at the outlet of the small river Schlitz on the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

Neighbouring communities

Schlitz borders in the north on the communities of Breitenbach and Niederaula (both in Hersfeld-Rotenburg), in the east on the communities of

Haunetal Haunetal is a municipality in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany. Haunetal is the district's southernmost municipality. Geography Location Haunetal is located in the ''Vorderrhön'' (literally: “Anterior Rhön”) between ...

(Hersfeld-Rotenburg) and Burghaun and the town of

Hünfeld Hünfeld () is a town in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 16 km northeast of Fulda. In 2000, the town hosted the 40th Hessentag state festival. Hünfeld has a population of close to 16,000. Infrastructure Transpor ...

(both in

district), in the southeast on the city of

(Fulda district), in the south on the communities of Großenlüder and

Bad Salzschlirf Bad Salzschlirf is a municipality in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, 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 t ...

(both in Fulda district), in the southwest on the community of Wartenberg, and in the west on the town of Lauterbach.

Constituent communities

Schlitz is divided into the following communities: Bernshausen, Fraurombach, Hartershausen, Hemmen, Hutzdorf, Nieder-Stoll, Ober-Wegfurth, Pfordt, Queck, Rimbach, Sandlofs, Schlitz, Üllershausen, Ützhausen, Unter-Schwarz, Unter-Wegfurth and Willofs.

History

The name Schlitz had its first documentary mention in 812. Schlitz is known throughout Hesse for the town's five

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

s and is also called the ''Romantische Burgenstadt Schlitz'' (the Romantic Castle Town of Schlitz). One peculiarity about the town is its so-called ''Burgenring'', or Castle Ring, with the town built on a hill with its accumulated castles, towers, lords' houses, the town church and many

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

houses presenting a well preserved, compact, historic Old Town. For the Castle Ring's splendour and the town's outstanding location, Schlitz was sometimes called in earlier times the "Hessian

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town located in the district of Ansbach (district), Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved Middle Ages, medieval old town, a d ...

" The Lords of Schlitz had built up their mastery in an autonomous

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

from the Fulda Abbey. As of 1404 they were calling themselves Schlitz von Görtz (in documents also ''Gurz'' or ''Görz''). 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 ...

came in 1563, and as a result 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 ...

, however, they broke away from Fulda. In 1677, they became Imperial Barons and, in 1726, Imperial Counts. In 1806, the area passed to Hesse-Darmstadt. Schlitz was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in the early 15th century. File:Ev. Stadtkirche Schlitz.jpg, Schlitz town church first documentary mention in 812 File:Schlitz Vorderburg Westfluegel.png, Schlitz Vorderburg western wing File:Schlitz Ottoburg rueck.png, Schlitz Ottoburg File:Schlitz Hinterburg Seniorenstift.png, Schlitz Hinterburg Since 1951, the ''Fluß-Station Schlitz'' ("Schlitz River Station") has been in Schlitz. This working group from the Max Planck Institute for Limnology is researching the

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

of the tiny Breitenbach stream in the neighbouring Breitecke Nature Preserve. The Breitenbach, through many studies and publications, is one of the world's best researched and documented streams. In 2006, this research station, with the current scientific leader's retirement, is to be closed by the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

Politics

Local council

Elections were held in March 2016: The council has 31 members: *CDU: 13 *SPD: 10 *BLS: 5 *FDP: 3

Coat of arms

Schlitz's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: In argent a fess sable, within, an inescutcheon, in argent bendlets sinister embattled three points each sable. The oldest town seal dates only from the 17th century. The current arms were conferred in 1919. The embattled bendlets in the inescutcheon stand for the town's castles.

Twinned towns

Bogyiszló Bogyiszló is a village in Tolna County in Hungary. The village is famous for its hot, white-skinned peppers. Geography Bogyiszló is located from 11 km east from Szekszárd, in the southern part of Mezőföld, near the Danube river and Si� ...

Economy

Transport

Schlitz can be reached by long-distance travel by

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

A 7 (Hünfeld/Schlitz interchange). Nearby lie the towns of

and Lauterbach.

Public institutions

Educational institutions

Schlitz is home to the ''Hessische Akademie für musisch-kulturelle Bildung GmbH'' ("Hessian Academy for Artistic-Cultural Education, Limited"), the state

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

academy, at Hallenburg Castle.

Regular events

* Schlitzerländer Trachtenfest ("Schlitz-Land Costume Festival"), takes place in odd-numbered years on the second weekend in July.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town

* Cyriacus Spangenberg (1528–1604), pastor in Schlitz for ten years after losing his position at Mansfeld. * Friedrich Wilhelm von Schlitz (1647–1728), privy councillor and President of the Chamber * Gudrun Pausewang (1928–2020), writer, who lived in town for many years * Florian Illies (1971– ), writer, who grew up in Schlitz who describes German rural life as an example of his hometown in his book '' Ortsgespräch "'. * Georg Christian Dieffenbach (1822–1901), clergyman and poet * Carl Wilhelm Kern (1874–1945), composer, pianist and music theorist, active in the USA *

Jost Trier Jost Trier (15 December 1894 – 15 September 1970) was a German philologist who was Chair of German Philology at the University of Münster from 1932 to 1961. Biography Jost Trier was born in Schlitz, Hesse, Germany on 15 December 1894, the so ...

(1894–1970), Old Germanist

In fiction

The fictional town of Schewenborn, where the plot of the 1983 novel '' The Last Children of Schewenborn'' () takes place (depicting life in Germany in the aftermath of a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

) is modeled on Schlitz, as specifically stated by the writer Gudrun Pausewang, herself an inhabitant of the town.

References

External links

Official website

Offizielle Seite zum Schlitzerländer Heimat- und Trachtenfest
{{Authority control 1806 disestablishments States and territories established in 1116 Towns in Hesse Vogelsbergkreis