Schotten () is a town in the middle of 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 to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Larger towns nearby include

Alsfeld Alsfeld () is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany. Located about north of Frankfurt, Alsfeld is part of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, with nearby Lauterbach, Hesse, Lauterbach (about ...

in the north,

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 ...

in the east, Friedberg in the south and

Gießen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the German state () of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students. Th ...

in the west.

Geography

Location

The officially recognised climatic spa lies between 168 m and 773 m above sea level on the western slope of the

Vogelsberg Mountains The Vogelsberg () is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley. Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Eu ...

. Nearby are Hoherodskopf (764 m) and Taufstein (773 m), the two highest peaks in the High Vogelsberg Nature Park. Schotten is a tourist town thanks to reliably high

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

fall in the winter and

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

opportunities in the summer in the extensive

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

Watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sports activities conducted on waterbodies and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

are also possible on the Nidda Reservoir. In the outermost northwestern municipal area is the source of the river Nidda, a favourite destination for hikers.

Neighbouring communities

Schotten borders in the north on the town of

Ulrichstein Ulrichstein () is a small town in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Ulrichstein lies in the Vogelsberg Mountains 500 m above sea level and is thereby Hesse's highest town. It is a recognized state-approved climatic spa and ...

, in the northeast on the town of Herbstein, in the east on the community of

Grebenhain Grebenhain is a municipality in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The municipality of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above sea level in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains, about 30 km west of Fulda. Neighbourin ...

, in the south on the town of

Gedern Gedern () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Upper Hesse, Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg Mountains, Vogelsberg, one of the largest inactive volcanoes ...

and the community of Hirzenhain (both in the

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 in the west on the town of Nidda (Wetteraukreis) and the town of

Laubach Laubach () is a town of approximately 10,000 people in the Gießen (region), Gießen region of Hesse, Germany. Laubach is known as a ', a climatic health resort. It is situated east of Gießen. Surrounding Laubach are the towns of Hungen, Grünbe ...

(

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Constituent communities

Besides the main town, which bears the same name as the whole municipality, Schotten is divided into the following communities: Betzenrod, Breungeshain, Burkhards, Busenborn, Eichelsachsen, Einartshausen, Eschenrod, Götzen, Kaulstoß, Michelbach, Rainrod, Rudingshain, Sichenhausen and Wingershausen.

History

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

finds from the Schotten area reach back to the

New Stone Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide- ...

. Several barrows bear witness to

prehistoric times Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

as do the "Alteburg" and "Wildhauskopf" ringwalls, whose building date is unknown. Schotten had its first documentary mention in 778. The "Horstburg", a local

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 ...

near the constituent community of Rudingshain, may have stood in connection with the town's founding. There were digs at the ruins in the 1970s, and they were interpreted as having been a

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

royal court. Schotten is said to have been founded by Irish-

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

monks. The Gothic Church of Our Lady was built in the 14th century. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Schotten belonged to the Eppstein and Trimberg noble families. The Rhenish League of Towns, in a feud with these families, captured the town and destroyed the walls and the stately home. From 1403, Schotten belonged to the Hessian

Landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s. The current stately home, the Schotten Castle, dates from this time.

Municipal area development

Under the municipal reforms in the early 1970s, 15 communities were amalgamated into a greater community of Schotten.

Coat of arms

Schotten's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: In azure a falcon argent armed gules wings outstretched standing upon a hill. Or, the golden hill stands for the

. The falcon comes from a legend about the town's founding.

Twin towns – sister cities

Schotten is twinned with: *

Arco Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

, Italy (1960) * Belœil, Belgium (1963) * Crosne, France (1963) *

Rýmařov Rýmařov (; ) is a town in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones ...

, Czech Republic (1996) *

Maybole Maybole (, ) is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom (2000) Schotten also has friendly relations with Bogen, Germany and

Ozimek Ozimek (; ) is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 8,657 inhabitants (2019). History Ozimek dates back to an early modern period, early modern settlement. It was named both ''Ozimek'' and ''Małapanew'', with both names bei ...

, Poland.

Transport

Schotten - Evangelische Liebfrauenkirche

Federal highways (''Bundesstraßen'') B 455 and B 276 run through the town. The nearest

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 ...

en are the A 5 and the A 45. The B 276 from Gedern by way of Schotten to Laubach is a notorious

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road that attracts motorcyclists, not least of all for the motorcycle clubs along the road, such as the ''Falltorhaus'' ("Portcullis House"). There have been problems with street racing, which in 2005 left 12 people dead and another 129 injured. A particular problem on the highway is the "Applauskurve", a 180° bend in the road between Schotten and Laubach, known to motorcyclists all over Germany.

Sports

In motorsport, the town is known for the

Schottenring The Schottenring was a motorsport race track situated near Schotten in the Vogelsbergkreis of Hesse, between Fulda and Gießen. After Nürburgring, Schleizer Dreieck, Solituderennen and AVUS, it was one of Germany's oldest race tracks, inaugurate ...

races.

Sights

In the Old Town, there is the Church of Our Lady with its famous ''Marienaltar''. The winged altar was made about 1385 by an unknown painter. Schotten is home to the Niddastau Lake, a man-made lake suitable for recreation and water sports.

Notable people

* Samuel Schotten (1644–1719), rabbi * Wilhelm Gontrum (1910–1969), politician ( CDU), Member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

Harry H. Eckstein Harry H. Eckstein (January 26, 1924 in Schotten, Germany – June 22, 1999) was an American political scientist. He was an influential scholar of comparative politics and political culture, as well as qualitative research methods. Early life a ...

(1924-1999), political scientist

Gallery

Schotten15-001.jpg, Villa Vogelsbergstr.121 Schotten15-002.jpg, Vogelsberger Heimatmuseum Schotten15-004.jpg, Oldtown Schotten Schotten15-005.jpg, Oldtown Schotten Schotten15-006.jpg, Oldtown Schotten Schotten15-007.jpg, Oldtown Schotten, former town hall Schotten15-009.jpg, Oldtown Schotten Schotten15-010.jpg, Oldtown Schotten

References

External links

Official websiteHigh Vogelsberg Nature ParkSchottenring
{{Authority control Vogelsbergkreis