Gelnhausen

Gelnhausen
Town
Coat of arms
Location of Gelnhausen within Main-Kinzig-Kreis district
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Main-Kinzig-Kreis
Subdivisions	6 districts
Government
• Mayor	Thorsten Stolz (SPD)
Area
• Total	45.18 km2 (17.44 sq mi)
Highest elevation	312 m (1,024 ft)
Lowest elevation	180 m (590 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	23,679
• Density	520/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	63571
Dialling codes	06051
Vehicle registration	MKK
Website	www.gelnhausen.de

Imperial City of Gelnhausen Reichsstadt Gelnhausen
1170–1803
Status	Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire
Capital	Gelnhausen
Government	Republic
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Founded by     Frederick Barbarossa	1170
• Pledged to Ld Hanau	1349–? 1170
• Pledged to counties     of Schwarzburg     and Hohnstein	26 May 1349
• Hohnstein share     to Schwarzburg	22 July 1431
• Schwarzburg sold     to Cty Hanau and     Electorate of the Palatinate	26 May 1435
• Hanau extinct; share     to Lgvt Hesse-Kassel	28 March 1736
• Palatinate share     to Hesse-Kassel	1746 1803
• Hesse-Kassel raised     to electorate	1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Lordship of Hanau Lordship of Hanau County of Schwarzburg County of Hohnstein
Today part of	Germany

Obermarkt

Gelnhausen is a town and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of the eleven towns (urban municipalities) in the district. According to the Institut Géographique National since 1 January 2007 the geographic centre of the European Union is exactly located on a wheat field outside the town at 50°10′21″N 9°9′0″E.

For a number of years, the town was home to the United States Army's Coleman Kaserne base. In 1996, the town hosted the 36th Hessentag state festival.

History

Gelnhausen was founded by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1170, it is therefore nicknamed "Barbarossastadt". The place was chosen because it was at the intersection of the Via Regia imperial road between Frankfurt and Leipzig and several other major trade routes. Frederick had three villages connected by streets and surrounded by a wall. At the same time Gelnhausen received town privileges and a Kaiserpfalz was erected on an island of the Kinzig river. The emperor also granted trade privileges like the staple right which forced traveling merchants to offer their goods in the town for three days.

Hence Gelnhausen initially was a thriving trade city and head of a league of 16 towns of the Wetterau region. However prosperity came to an end already in 1326 when Emperor Louis IV gave the town in pawn to the counts of Hanau, redeemed shortly afterwards. In 1349 Count Günther von Schwarzburg received Gelnhausen from Emperor Charles IV for renouncing his claims as elected King of the Romans, in condominium with the counts of Hohnstein, who sold their share to Schwarzburg in 1431. Schwarzburg was acquired in 1435 by Elector Palatine Louis III and the Hanau, since raised to a county.

Continued plundering in the Thirty Years' War as depicted by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen in his novel Simplicius Simplicissimus made it nearly uninhabitable. In 1736, the extinction of the comital line of Hanau meant the condominium share was inherited by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, who acquired the Palatinate's share ten years later.

The varying lords made continued attempts to challenge Gelnhausen's imperial immediacy, it however formally remained a Reichsstadt. During the German Mediatisation of 1803 the city became a part of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, which was raised to an electorate and, after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, was annexed by Prussia. At this time Gelnhausen had completely recovered and with the Gründerzeit economic boom became a centre of the German rubber industry.

From the 1930s Gelnhausen was a garrison town of the German Wehrmacht and, after World War II, of the United States Army. The US Army closed Coleman Kaserne in 2007.

Transport

Gelnhausen lies directly along the German autobahn A66. Gelnhausen station is also on the Kinzig Valley Railway a major line between Frankfurt and Fulda. Regional services from Frankfurt to Fulda or Wächtersbach stops in Gelnhausen.

Culture

Sites of interest

Barbarossa erected one castle here. There is still a medieval town center with its famous church, St. Mary Church (Marienkirche), that exhibits both romanesque and gothic architecture.

Kaiserpfalz

As a direct imperial palatinate town, Gelnhausen had a castle. It was erected at the time of Gelnhausen's foundation southeast of the town on an island in the Kinzig River. The groundwork is stabilized by 12,000 logs.

Today it is the best preserved palatinate castle from this era, with remarkable masonry.

Marienkirche

The most recognizable symbol of Gelnhausen.

Catholic Church "Saint Peter"

The church's origin lies in the early 13th century; rich citizens of Gelnhausen planned to erect a church within the town, causing a conflict with the Selbold monastery that owned the clerical patronage for Gelnhausen. This conflict was escalated up to Pope Gregory IX who decided in favour of the monastery.

From the 13th to the 15th Century the church was used for weddings, baptisms, and funerals. After the Reformation, the building became property of the town. It subsequently decayed and was sold in 1830 to a local merchant. After the demolition of the second tower, a cigar factory was built in it.

In 1920, the Catholic community of Gelnhausen bought the church and partly restored it over an 18-year period. A complete restoration took place during 1982–83.

Twin towns

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gelnhausen is twinned with:

• Clamecy, France
• Marling, Italy

Notable people

Monument to Philip Reis, an early telephone inventor

• August Brey, politician, member of the Weimar National Assembly, born August 1, 1864 at Gelnhausen, died 28 July 1937 at Ronnenberg
• Johann Heinrich Cassebeer, born 1784 at Gelnhausen, naturalist and mayor of Gelnhausen, died 21 April 1850 at Biebergemünd
• Hans Fischinger, film director, brother of Oskar, born September 15, 1909 at Gelnhausen, lost 1944 in Serbia
• Oskar Fischinger, film director, born June 22, 1900 at Gelnhausen, died January 31, 1967 in Los Angeles
• Hans Joachim Fröhlich, forestry scientist and conservationist, born December 16 at Meerholz, Gelnhausen, died December 20, 2008
• Jost Hoen, German teacher, pedagogue and statesman, born about 1500 in Gelnhausen, died 6 June 1569 in Dillenburg
• Jeremy Jones, news editor for ABC affiliate KTUL in Tulsa, Oklahoma was born November, 2nd 1981 at Gelnhausen.
• Tia and Tamera Mowry, actresses, both born July 6, 1978 at Gelnhausen
• Klaus Ploghaus, athlete (hammer throw, 3rd place in the 1984 Summer Olympics), born January 31, 1956 at Gelnhausen
• Johann Philipp Reis, inventor of one of the first telephones, born January 7, 1834 at Gelnhausen, died 14 January 1874 at Friedrichsdorf
• Friedrich Armand Strubberg (1806 –1889) Merchant, physician, colonist in North America. Direct descendant of Frederick I of Sweden. Buried in Gelnhausen.
• Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, writer, born about 1622 in Gelnhausen, died 17 August 1676 in Renchen. In his famous work Simplicissimus, the sacking of Gelnhausen during the Thirty Years' War is graphically described.
• Wolfram Weimer, chief editor of the Cicero magazine, born 1964 at Gelnhausen

Like many American soldiers, in 1959 Colin Powell, then lieutenant of the 3rd Armored Division, served at Coleman Kaserne. A street was named after him. During the Second Gulf War there was some discussion about renaming the street because of Germany's stance on the war. The mayor of Gelnhausen strongly objected. (Before and after Fotos of General-Colin-Powell-Street at bottom of display: http://www.1-33rdar.org/genpowell.htm )

External links

• Official site
• Kaiser Friedrich 1 Barbarossa Hohenstaufen/Gelnhausen
• Bob Decker's Images from Gelnhausen History page
• Decker's Postcards (and other pictures) of Gelnhausen Page
• Large aerial from town centre looking West
• Another aerial looking west, with Barbarossa Castle ruins in centre foreground
• 1st Battalion 33rd Armor Reunion Site - Gelnhausen Germany - Coleman Kaserne
• 3rd Armored Division: photos of Gelnhausen
• Stolpersteine in Gelnhausen