Willingen (official name: ''Willingen (Upland)'') is a municipality in

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by mergin ...

in northern

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 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 ...

, some 80 km west of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Geography

Location

Willingen is found in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in the Upland. Its main town stretches between two river valleys, the Hoppecke in the west and the Itter in the east. The ski resort Skigebiet Willingen is near. It is located 60 km west of Kassel.

Mühlenkopfschanze Mühlenkopfschanze is the largest ski jumping hill in the world located in Willingen ( Hessen), Germany with a K-point of and Hill size of . The hill is located on the north-eastern, forested slope of the Mühlenkopf peak (815 m above sea ...

ski jump is also located here.

Neighbouring communities

Willingen borders in the north on the community of

Diemelsee The Diemelsee or Diemel Reservoir () is a reservoir with a surface area of 1.65 km² and about capacity of 19.9 million m³ on the River Diemel in the counties of Waldeck-Frankenberg in North Hesse, and Hochsauerlandkreis, Westpha ...

, in the east on the town of

Korbach Korbach (), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German language, German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Timber-Frame Ro ...

, in the south on the community of

Medebach Medebach () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Medebach is situated approximately east of Winterberg, south-west of Korbach and north of Marburg. Neighbouring municipalities * Korbach * ...

, and in the west on the towns of

Winterberg Winterberg (; Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle ...

, Olsberg and

Brilon Brilon (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis. Geography Brilon is on the Brilon Heights, at an altitude of about 450m, and the upper reaches of the river Möhne. The town lies between the Ar ...

(all three in the

Hochsauerlandkreis Hochsauerlandkreis (, ) is a (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest (district), Soest, Paderborn (district), Paderborn, Höxter (district), Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe ...

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 ...

Constituent communities

Willingen consists of the following centres: * Bömighausen, 300 inhabitants (as of 1 September 2003) * Eimelrod, 582 inhabitants (as of 31. December 2006) * Hemmighausen, 100 inhabitants * Neerdar, 100 inhabitants * Rattlar, 400 inhabitants * Schwalefeld, 900 inhabitants * Usseln, 2,100 inhabitants * Welleringhausen, 100 inhabitants * Willingen, 3,500 inhabitants

History

Willingen was founded in 1874 in the second municipal reform by uniting the villages of Bömighausen, Eimelrod, Hemmighausen, Neerdar, Rattlar, Schwalefeld, Welleringhausen and the climatic spas of Usseln and Willingen. Until 1929, Willingen belonged to the

Free State of Waldeck The Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont (), later the Free State of Waldeck (), was a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It was created following the German Revolution which forced Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont along with the other Ge ...

, after which it passed to

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, ...

Politics

Municipal council

Willingen's council is made up of 31 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 6 March 2016: Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.

Coat of arms

The field is parted horizontally, below the middle, by a row of interlocking arrows between the gold above and the green below. It is meant, of course, to look like treetops, and refers to the Upland's extensive woods. There are two charges, one inside the other. The eight-pointed black star is the ubiquitous – in terms of the local civic heraldry – Star of Waldeck, borne centuries ago by the Counts of Waldeck when they held sway over the area. The snowflake is included as a charge within the star and is representative of the community's status as a winter resort. The community was granted this coat of arms on 12 June 1974.

Culture and sightseeing

Willingen's landmark is the great railway bridge, ''"Das Viadukt"'', built about 1918. The community thrives mainly on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. There were 1.3 million overnight stays in 2003, and attractions include winter sports and

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

clubs.

Regular events

Among Willingen's sports events are the

International Ski Federation The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation () until 26 May 2022 when the name was cha ...

's annual

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the world's highest level of ski jumping and the FIS Ski Flying World Cup as the subdivisional part of the competition. It was founded by Torbjørn Yggeseth for the 1979/80 season and organized by the Internationa ...

competition at the

, and the annual ''Mountainbike-Event'' at the Ettelsberg. Nearby lie the trails of ''Bike Arena Sauerland''.

Transport

Willingen lies on the ''Uplandbahn''

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line between

and

-Wald.

Gallery

Image:Willingen, kerk1 foto3 2010-08-10 12.14.JPG, Willingen, bar/restaurant in former church building Image:Willingen, spoorviadukt foto1 2010-08-10 12.22.JPG, Willingen, viaduct Image:Usseln, kerk foto4 2010-08-10 12.44.JPG, Usseln, church Image:Tussen Usseln en Dudighausen, panorama foto2 2010-08-10 12.53.JPG, Between Usseln and Düdinghausen, panorama

Notable people

Stephan Leyhe Stephan Leyhe (; born 5 January 1992) is a German Ski jumping, ski jumper and representative of the SC Willingen club. Team silver (Ski jumping at the 2018 Winter Olympics, 2018) and bronze (Ski jumping at the 2022 Winter Olympics, 2022) Olympic ...

(born 1992), ski jumper *

Jochen Behle Jochen Behle (born 7 July 1960 in Korbach, Hesse) is a former (West) German cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 1998. Competing in six Winter Olympics, he earned his best career finish of fourth in the 4 × 10 km relay at Lilleham ...

(born 1960), former cross-country skier and trainer in the cross-country skiing, lives in the district Schwalefeld and started for the SC Willingen *

Tobias Lindner Tobias Lindner (born January 11, 1982, in Karlsruhe) is a German economist and politician of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen who served as member of the Bundestag from 2011 to 2025, as a list member for Rhineland-Palatinate. Since December 8, 2021, he has ...

(born 1961), former biathlete, grew up in Willingen and started for SC Willingen *

Klaus Huber Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saaria ...

(born 1968), former

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

, ski jumping trainer at the SC Willingen *

Petra Behle Petra Behle (born Petra Schaaf on 5 January 1969 in Offenbach am Main) is a former German biathlete. Career Behle won her first gold medal in the 1988 World Championships when she was 19 and she also has three gold meda ...

(born 1969), former biathlete, started for SC Willingen * Anna Häfele (born 1989), ski jumping champion, started for SC Willingen

References

External links

* http://sites.google.com/site/photowithkalirajan/home/trip/germany/20090330 {{Authority control Waldeck-Frankenberg Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont