Melle, Germany

Melle
Melle
Location of the town of Melle within Osnabrück district
Coordinates	52°12′16″N 8°20′20″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Osnabrück
Mayor	André Berghegger (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	254.00 km2 (98.07 sq mi)
Elevation	76 m  (249 ft)
Population	46,141 (31 December 2010)
- Density	182 /km2 (470 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	OS
Postal codes	49324–49328
Area codes	05422 (Melle, Gesmold, Oldendorf); 05427 (Buer); 05428 (Neuenkirchen); 05429 (Wellingholzhausen); 05226 (Riemsloh, Bruchmühlen)
Website	www.stadt-melle.de

Melle is a city in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. 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 looked after Melle's interests in the Westphalian Hanseatic League. Melle belonged to the Kingdom of Hanover until 1866 when it became part of Prussia. 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 in the North and the Teutoburg Forest in the South. The cities of Osnabrück and Bielefeld are some 30 km away each. The Münster Osnabrück International Airport is located about 60 km to the southwest.

Administrative organisation of Melle

Neighbouring Towns

Neighbouring towns are Preußisch Oldendorf in the North Rhine-Westphalian Minden-Lübbecke district, Rödinghausen, Bünde and Spenge in the North Rhine-Westphalian Herford district, Werther and Borgholzhausen in the North Rhine-Westphalian Gütersloh district, as well as Dissen, Hilter, Bissendorf, and Bad Essen in the Osnabrück district.

Bissendorf 16 km	Bad Essen 18 km	Rödinghausen 18 km
Georgsmarienhütte 27 km		Bünde 18 km
Dissen 19 km	Borgholzhausen 12 km	Spenge 17 km

Municipalities

The city consists of the eight municipalities of Melle-Mitte, Buer, Bruchmühlen, Gesmold, Neuenkirchen, Oldendorf, Riemsloh and Wellingholzhausen.

Evangelical Lutheran St. Petri Church

Roman Catholic St. Matthäus Church

Town Hall

Religion

• Christian confessions:
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church: 22.579
  • Evangelical Reformed Church: 244
  • Roman Catholic Church: 15.036
  • Old Catholic Church
  • Evangelical Free Church (Baptists)
  • Russian Orthodox Church
  • Greek Orthodox Church
  • New Apostolic Church
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon): 9
• Muslims
• Jews
• none: 10.061
• not known: 91

Last updated: 31 December 2007

Politics

Major

André Berghegger (CDU) is mayor of Melle.

City council

The CDU, in a coalition with the FDP, has a majority in the city council, which is composed of 41 city council members.

	CDU	SPD	The Greens	FDP	Total
2006	19	15	4	3	41 seats

(As of: Local elections on 10 September 2006)

Twin towns

Melle is maintaining town twinnings with Bad Dürrenberg in Saxony-Anhalt and with Reinickendorf in Berlin. Its French twin town is Melle in the region of Poitou-Charentes. Further twin towns in Europe are Jēkabpils in Latvia, Resko in Poland, and Sint-Denijs-Westrem in Belgium. Outside Europe there are the twin towns of New Melle in the USA and Niğde in Turkey.

Economy

A substantial economic factor for Melle is the wood processing 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

Observatories

There are two astronomical observatories in the surrounding of Melle providing guided tours for the public. The EXPO 2000 observatory in Melle-Oberholsten runs the largest Newtonian telescope used for public observation.

External links

• http://www.stadt-melle.de Official website