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Homberg (Efze)
Encyclopedia
Homberg is a small town in northern state of Hesse
in central Germany
with about 15,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Schwalm-Eder district.
Homberg lies in the transitional zone between the West Hesse Depression, a sunken area dating from the Tertiary
subera, and the Knüll
(or Knüllgebirge), a low mountain range. The town itself stretches over several hills underlain mainly with basalt
. The river Efze
flows from the Knüll through Homberg, later emptying into the river Schwalm
. There exist small coal
deposits in the immediate area.
s and had its first documentary mention as a town in 1231. The place had indeed been settled earlier, but Homberg still celebrated its 775th anniversary as a town in 2006.
The town's name comes from the Hohenburg, the castle
above Homberg. The castle well
, at 150 m deep is Germany's third deepest castle well.
In 1526, at the Marienkirche (church) under Hessian Landgrave Philip
, the Homberg Synod took place, whereby Hesse became Protestant
.
In 1809, under Colonel Wilhelm von Dörnberg
, the so-called Dörnberg Uprising went forth from Homberg against King Jérôme
, but was soundly defeated.
times (1138–1254). Peculiarities in the way that Homberg was built, not apparent at first glance, hint at something recognizable as a town plan
. Homberg is in itself a double town, consisting of the Old Town (Altstadt), first mentioned in a document in 1231, and Die Freiheit ("The Freedom"). Die Freiheit was an independent town, having been founded in 1356 and united with the Old Town in 1536. The Old Town itself consisted of three wards.
Looking at the town map, the three main ways into the town through the former gateways can be recognized: Westheimer Tor, Obertor and Holzhäuser Tor (Tor = gate).
The middle and end point of each of the street connections in the town is the marketplace
, over which rises the town church, St. Marien, once surrounded by the town's cemetery
. A regular plan is not to be seen in the town. However, in one way the town has something in common with many other towns founded in the Middle Ages
that is only noticeable at second glance: when laying out the town's streets, the mediaeval town planner deliberately made them crooked and deliberately staggered intersections of streets and alleyways. In particular, building crooked streets was a way of giving them some aesthetic appeal, as with the Untergasse. Crookedness limits the streetscape optically, and at the end of the street is a T-junction, with a view of houses opposite. In the Untergasse, this was the town's former brewhouse, standing on the corner of the Untergasse ("Lower Lane") and the Entengasse ("Duck Lane"). The Untergasse's original alignment was lost as a result of town renovations. It can now only be discerned by looking at houses' positions or by looking over the town.
The same effect was achieved when the town planner staggered the side lanes or had them meet the main streets at a slanted angle. By deftly planning the town in this way, even drafts were avoided. Another way of doing this same thing was to build houses out of alignment with their neighbours, or even whole blocks out of alignment with the rest of the street. This can still very clearly be seen around Obere Westheimer Straße. Such a thing was also done on Untere Westheimer Straße, but the ravages of time have erased the effect.
The town executive consists of 10 councillors and the mayor. Four seats are held by the SPD, three by the CDU, one by the Greens, one by the FDP and one by the Freie Waehler.
(as of municipal elections held on 27 March 2011)
might be described thus: Azure in chief a lion passant and in base two lions combattant, all Or and all armed and langued gules.
Homberg was granted town rights in 1231, and the first known seal dates from 15 years thereafter, namely 1246. Its tincture
s, however, are unknown, and it only shows one lion. Another seal used as early as 1239, but known only from later examples, bore the barry (that is, horizontally striped) Lion of Hesse. In the 14th century, another charge
in the arms’ base was a mount of three, but later on, this was somehow mistaken for a lion above two smaller ones. Furthermore, the smaller lions in base numbered three up until 1639, but ever since, there have been only two.
For a short while in the early 16th century, the town used another coat of arms. This one might be blazoned: Argent three trefoils vert – that is to say, a silver escutcheon with three green three-leafed cloverleaves on it in an inverted triangular pattern.
department of the Homberg Turnerschaft
), who are among the greats of German table tennis). They play in the 1. Bundesliga der Frauen ("First Federal Women's League"). Their biggest win thus far has been the European ETTU Cup on 31 March 2006 with the team of Wenling Tan-Monfardini, Zhenqi Barthel and Yin Na. The opponent in the final was 3B Berlin.
Zhenqi Barthel from the Homberg Turnerschaft won the singles title at the 74th National German Championships in Minden
in 2006. She also won with her doubles partner Patrick Baum in mixed doubles. In women's doubles she came third with partner Desirée Czajkowski (Watzenborn-Steinberg).
Homberg's town church, St. Mary's, holds a special place in Hessian Protestantism: in 1526, Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous convened a synod
in Homburg that sat in this church, marking the point in time when the Landgraviate of Hesse became Evangelical. Thus the church, one of the most important Gothic
monuments in North Hesse, is sometimes called the Reformationskirche Hessens – the Reformation Church of Hesse.
What follows is something of the church's history:
Kirchhofslinde ("Churchyard linden")
Before the church stands a linden
tree that is more than 730 years old. Together with the church, the tree makes for a picturesque tableau over the marketplace. The poet Heinrich Ruppel dedicated the poem "Die Kirchhofslinde in Homberg" to the tree as his way of thanking those who had made donations for the tree's preservation after it had been burnt by a fire in its hollow. Also, Erich Kaiser, a "homeland researcher" (Heimatforscher) and writer, often mentioned the veteran tree in his writings.
Stalls, furniture van and house under the Kirchhofslinde
In the spaces under the churchyard, stalls were built to serve as sales stands for butchers and bakers, as well as to serve as cookshops or meat storage.
At the former place of the so-called baker's stall, demolished in early 1820, a newer and notable building was built that Hombergers call the Möbelwagen ("Furniture Van").
The building next to the church to the right was built on the rubble of the former cookshop in 1719.
Rathaus (Town Hall)
This was built in 1704 on the foundations of a former building built in the 15th century and destroyed in the Thirty Years' War
. The tower was built after the Seven Years' War
. The weather vane
is from 1767. Since 1989, there has been a carillon
. Beside the Gothic entrance at the stairway to Obertorstraße is the Homberger Elle (Homberg Ell
), a mediaeval unit of measurement 57.4 cm long. Its importance reaches as far as Thuringia
.
Remodelled in 1875 was the Simbelschanze ("Simpleton Lair"; Simbel is a
Hessian dialect
word) before the town hall. Its name comes from a tax
levied the same year. The government had approved a tax on simpletons to cover rising expenditures.
Engel-Apotheke
This was built in 1668 on the site of a former house, and is the biggest timber-frame
house on the marketplace. Since 1701 it has been a pharmacy
.
Fünffenster-Haus ("Five-Windowed House")
In the early 19th century, a window tax
was imposed, and so windows were limited to five on each floor.
Kyffhäuser-Museum
This has permanent exhibits with the emphasis on the Kyffhäuserbund
, an old warriors' association.
Krone ("Crown")
This is a timber-frame house from 1480. Since 1721 it has been a guesthouse
. The beams and roofwork are noteworthy. The bay window
s were built in the 16th century.
Geburtshaus des Heimatdichters Ludwig Mohr (House where the homeland poet Ludwig Mohr was born)
This may be found on the south side of the marketplace. He wrote the novel Rot-Weiß ("Red-White") whose theme was the Dörnberg Uprising.
Weißer Hof
This is a Renaissance
timber-frame house. Noteworthy is the adornment with saltire
s.
Löwenhaus (Lion's House)
This was built in 1617. A stone showing a coat of arms
can be found here showing a staff, a snake and a lion's head with the inscription L.A.1664. It is known as the Ofenstein ("Oven Stone"). This site of the Löwenapotheke ("Lion's Pharmacy") also has a Renaissance porch worth seeing.
Old schoolhouse or Opfermannhaus, barracks
Built in 1750 as a residential house for the sexton (Opfermann) of the neighbouring church, the building also served as the town's first school. Right nearby is a Gothic building formerly used as barracks for the Hessian Jäger Battalion.
Hochzeitshaus (Wedding House)
Built in 1552, after the old town hall burnt down, it was used as the so-called new town hall. Later it was a rectory, a school
and an administration building, but since 1952 it has housed the Heimatmuseum der Stadt Homberg (Homeland Museum of the Town of Homberg).
Pförtchen ("Little Gateway")
This was the original pedestrian access to the castle.
Baumbachscher Burgsitz
Built in 1543 as the castle seat, it lies right on the town wall. From 1840 to 1855 it was let to the deaf-and-dumb institution, and since 1873 it has been owned by the Evangelical Lutheran parish.
Dörnbergtempel
Built on the foundations of the old Bächtenturm (tower), it was the meeting place for the plotters of the Dörnberg Uprising in 1809.
Haus Leimbach
This is a noteworthy corner house with a Gothic entrance.
Bischofsches Haus
This was the ancestral seat of the wool-trading Bischof family. It was built on the ruins of another building destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. It has Renaissance bay windows, and the Bardeleben and Bischof coat of arms
.
Haus Klüppel
Until 1891, this was the seat of Homberg's Landrat. On the side facing Bischofstraße, sandstone
figures may be found at the former entrance to a neighbouring house's cellar.
Ehemaliges Brauhaus (former brewhouse)
In the town's archives are various descriptions from the homeland researcher Kaiser for the brewhouse at the corner of Untergasse and Entengasse. In 1665, people spoke of the little brewhouse at which there was a fountain
. As of 1730, there were reports of the old or lower brewhouse, since a newer brewhouse had been built. In 1676 the house was partly destroyed by fire. With the introduction of trade freedom, brewers lost their exclusive rights to their trade. The town gave the brewhouse over to a leaseholder named Zickendraht, who was still brewing
beer
15 years later. Other owners were also named, such as wainwright
Wilhelm Ulrich. In 1918, he sold the house to a carter named Aubel, who converted it into a residential house of the form that can still be seen today.
Alter Friedhof (Old Graveyard)
This had been a burying ground since 1580, but is now parkland where some of the grave markers, belonging to various Hombergers, are well worth seeing. Among these are those belonging to Minister Julius Rhode, Mayor Winter, and Professor Wilhelm Volckmar. Also to be found there are graves containing the remains of Abbesses Marianne vom und zum Stein and Charlotte von Gilsa, and Justice of the Peace Martin, all of whom played key parts in the preparations for the Dörnberg Uprising against Jérôme Bonaparte in 1809.
Christus-Epheta-Kirche
Consecrated in 1957, it is planned in circular form with the altar
in the middle. It has a three-level dome
over the apse
. The 12 windows on the right side stand for the Twelve Apostles. The church tower is 30 m high. The mosaic
design is by Gerhard Dechant: Christus heilt zwei taubstumme Kinder –
This training centre existed in freedom for 44 years in this building. The great red-brick building was amply built and was said at the time to be the most modern building of its kind in Prussia. The building consisted of a broad middle section that housed classrooms, subject rooms, an assembly hall and the administration. InChrist
heals two deaf-and-dumb children.
Ehemaliges Lehrerseminar (Former Teachers' College)
Below Bindeweg, the Prussia
n government had the Royal Teachers' College built in 1879. the side wings lived the director and several college teachers. In 1925, the college was dissolved, and the building then served as a building school. Nowadays the whole building complex is used by the Bundespräsident-Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium
.
Die Freiheit
This part of the town was founded by Landgrave Henry II in 1356, and was separated from the rest of the town by the town wall enclosing the Old Town. It had its own mayor, town hall, church and fortifications. Its independence came to an end in 1536 with its amalgamation with Homberg.
Das Neue Tor (The New Gate)
This was built in 1536 when Die Freiheit was established to afford access between the two towns.
Wallensteinsches Stiftsgebäude
This building was built about 1550, and as of 1616 was the castle seat. In 1783 came the endowment from the Wallenstein Convent (Wallensteinscher Damenstift). In the wake of the failed Dörnberg Uprising in 1832, the convent had to move to Fulda
, whereafter the building became a residence for the pedagogues from the teachers' college.
Hospital zum Heiligen Geist
Endowed in 1368 by the priest Heinrich Bischof in aid of the poor and sick.
Pulverturm (Powder Tower)
This is the only fully preserved tower of the town's old fortifications, which were formerly some 1 200 m long with seven towers. The town wall reached a height of 6 to 8 m and was on average 2 m thick.
Gotisches Haus (Gothic House)
This is Homberg's oldest residential house, having been built about 1425.
House on Holzhäuser Str. at the corner of Webergasse
This was built in the 16th century. On the wall facing Webergasse is a sandstone sculpture of an angel with a sword. The sculpture comes from the old Amt
court.
Former Jewish prayer room
Also on Webergasse is a building that once housed a prayer room for the town's Jews.
Baumbachscher Burgsitz at the Upper Gate
Above the entranceway here is a family coat of arms with a recumbent half-moon and two stars. The building underwent alterations in bygone ages.
Windmühle (Windmill)
This is to be found at some former town fortification works near where the Holzhäusertor (gate) once was.
Stadthalle
Built in 1909-1911 as the Restaurant Stadtpark, this building underwent restoration after decades of changing uses, and since 1991 it has been used as a municipal hall. It has been awarded the Hessian Monument Protection Prize, and is known for its noteworthy Art Nouveau
architecture.
Hermann-Schafft-Schule (school)
This is a school for the deaf and hearing-impaired. The building was dedicated in 1912 and is still used now.
Hohlebach-Mühle (mill)
First mentioned in 1415, the mill was restored in 1992. The water wheel is 5 m across.
Side building from the late Middle Ages
This is a building used for agricultural or trade purposes in the late Middle Ages. The house lies on a lane between Pfarrstraße and Berggasse with the gable facing the latter. The house's framework, which has not yet been dendrochronologically dated, points to the second half of the 15th century. There once was a similar building in Marburg, but it has fallen to the wrecker's ball.
The floors were used as storerooms. The ground floor is split into two halves of the same size by a middle wall that was built much later. The upstairs and attic have no inner walls at all, and there is no evidence that they ever did. The building has three entrances: a door in the east side onto the ground floor from the garden, a door opposite that leading into the street, both on the house's "eaves" sides, and another door in the north gable side leading to the upstairs. The attic is reached by ladder.
The spaces between the beams in the upper gable still have their original clay netting forming the cores of the walls. On the outer side, three-sided holes were pressed into the still soft outer layer of clay with a pointed trowel in an artform called Schuppenputz. There is also a house, built in 1452, in Bad Hersfeld that also has this original work dating from the late Middle Ages.
Westheimer Torturm (Gate Tower)
On 18 July 2005, while building work was being done, one of the old Westheim Gate Tower's foundations was unearthed. On a base of basalt stones, smoothly hewn sandstone or tuff was fixed. That this is the old gate tower's foundation is not in doubt, and the strength of the foundation bespeaks a formidable structure.
Wells and cisterns
While Westheimer Straße was being renovated in 2006, two long lost and forgotten examples of Homberg's historical water supply were rediscovered and reconstructed. The picture shows the so-called Radbrunnen ("wheel well") in the foreground at left, and up at the Besenmarkt (Broom Market), an old water cistern can quite clearly be seen.
St. Wendel
In 1247, south of the town at the foot of the Schmückeberg (mountain) lay the Sondersiechenhaus St. Wendelin ("St. Wendelin Special Sickhouse") with a chapel and a mill. The last time when a leper is known to have been there was 1652. The building later served as a plague house and a homeless
shelter. The crumbling building complex was torn down in 1786. This leper colony
belonged to a network of all together 68 places and 71 colonies evenly scattered all over what is today Hesse.
Artworks
On 19 May 2005 on Wallstraße in Homberg, a collaborative work by Christina Fiand and Ernst Groß was put up. The artwork, called Die Stelzengänger ("The Stilt Walkers") is a commissioned work by the Town of Homberg and the Kraftstrombezugsgenossenschaft (KBG; Electrical Supply Coöperative). Three figures on stilts more than six metres high peer curiously over the town wall on Wallstraße.
The three carved figures are meant to awaken passersby's curiosity about Homberg and get them to have a look behind the town's walls. The same artist created another artwork before the Schwalm-Eder district offices above the Old Graveyard park.
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
in central Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with about 15,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Schwalm-Eder district.
Geography
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
subera, and the Knüll
Knüll
Knüllgebirge or Knüll is a small mountain range in Hesse, Germany. It is located in the Northern part of Hesse approximately 45 km South of Kassel, its highest peak is the Eisenberg having an altitude of 636 m. Its area has a rather low population density and is heavily forested...
(or Knüllgebirge), a low mountain range. The town itself stretches over several hills underlain mainly with basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. The river Efze
Efze
-See also:*List of rivers of Hesse...
flows from the Knüll through Homberg, later emptying into the river Schwalm
Schwalm
The Schwalm is a river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Eder. It rises on the north side of the Vogelsberg Mountains. It flows north through Alsfeld, Schwalmstadt and Borken...
. There exist small coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
deposits in the immediate area.
Constituent communities
Homberg consists of the following communities:
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History
Homberg was founded by the Hessian-Thuringian LandgraveLandgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
s and had its first documentary mention as a town in 1231. The place had indeed been settled earlier, but Homberg still celebrated its 775th anniversary as a town in 2006.
The town's name comes from the Hohenburg, the castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
above Homberg. The castle well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
, at 150 m deep is Germany's third deepest castle well.
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
Philip I of Hesse, , nicknamed der Großmütige was a leading champion of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany....
, the Homberg Synod took place, whereby Hesse became Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
.
In 1809, under Colonel Wilhelm von Dörnberg
Wilhelm von Dörnberg
Wilhelm Caspar Ferdinand Freiherr von Dörnberg was a German general. He was also known as 'Aufstandsdörnberg' or 'Uprising Dörnberg', for his part in the German campaign of the Napoleonic Wars...
, the so-called Dörnberg Uprising went forth from Homberg against King Jérôme
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
, but was soundly defeated.
Town planning
Like most German towns, Homberg was likely laid out according to a plan in HohenstaufenHohenstaufen
The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...
times (1138–1254). Peculiarities in the way that Homberg was built, not apparent at first glance, hint at something recognizable as a town plan
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
. Homberg is in itself a double town, consisting of the Old Town (Altstadt), first mentioned in a document in 1231, and Die Freiheit ("The Freedom"). Die Freiheit was an independent town, having been founded in 1356 and united with the Old Town in 1536. The Old Town itself consisted of three wards.
Looking at the town map, the three main ways into the town through the former gateways can be recognized: Westheimer Tor, Obertor and Holzhäuser Tor (Tor = gate).
The middle and end point of each of the street connections in the town is the marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
, over which rises the town church, St. Marien, once surrounded by the town's cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. A regular plan is not to be seen in the town. However, in one way the town has something in common with many other towns founded in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
that is only noticeable at second glance: when laying out the town's streets, the mediaeval town planner deliberately made them crooked and deliberately staggered intersections of streets and alleyways. In particular, building crooked streets was a way of giving them some aesthetic appeal, as with the Untergasse. Crookedness limits the streetscape optically, and at the end of the street is a T-junction, with a view of houses opposite. In the Untergasse, this was the town's former brewhouse, standing on the corner of the Untergasse ("Lower Lane") and the Entengasse ("Duck Lane"). The Untergasse's original alignment was lost as a result of town renovations. It can now only be discerned by looking at houses' positions or by looking over the town.
The same effect was achieved when the town planner staggered the side lanes or had them meet the main streets at a slanted angle. By deftly planning the town in this way, even drafts were avoided. Another way of doing this same thing was to build houses out of alignment with their neighbours, or even whole blocks out of alignment with the rest of the street. This can still very clearly be seen around Obere Westheimer Straße. Such a thing was also done on Untere Westheimer Straße, but the ravages of time have erased the effect.
Town council
Town council is made up of 37 members.- CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
12 seats - SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
13 seats - FDPFree Democratic Party (Germany)The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
2 seats - GreensAlliance '90/The GreensAlliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
4 seats - Freie Waehler 6 seats
The town executive consists of 10 councillors and the mayor. Four seats are held by the SPD, three by the CDU, one by the Greens, one by the FDP and one by the Freie Waehler.
(as of municipal elections held on 27 March 2011)
Town partnerships
 Belarus |
Stolin Stolin Stolin is a town in the Brest Voblast of Belarus. Nowadays, Stolin is the center of the largest district in Brest voblast. The population of Stolin is 12,500 people . The Belarusian-Ukrainian border is about away, so Stolin is now a border city that hosts many Ukrainians on the market days... , Belarus Belarus Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,... , since 1992 |
 United Kingdom |
Bridgwater Bridgwater Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
Coat of arms
The town’s armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might be described thus: Azure in chief a lion passant and in base two lions combattant, all Or and all armed and langued gules.
Homberg was granted town rights in 1231, and the first known seal dates from 15 years thereafter, namely 1246. Its tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s, however, are unknown, and it only shows one lion. Another seal used as early as 1239, but known only from later examples, bore the barry (that is, horizontally striped) Lion of Hesse. In the 14th century, another charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
in the arms’ base was a mount of three, but later on, this was somehow mistaken for a lion above two smaller ones. Furthermore, the smaller lions in base numbered three up until 1639, but ever since, there have been only two.
For a short while in the early 16th century, the town used another coat of arms. This one might be blazoned: Argent three trefoils vert – that is to say, a silver escutcheon with three green three-leafed cloverleaves on it in an inverted triangular pattern.
Sport
The most prominent sporting body in Homburg is the first team of the Tischtennisabteilung der Homberger Turnerschaft e. V. (table tennisTable tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
department of the Homberg Turnerschaft
Turnerschaft
A Turnerschaft is a kind of Studentenverbindung, a German student corporation, similar to fraternities in the US and Canada. The Turnerschaften are a sports corps, and students practice the Mensur ....
), who are among the greats of German table tennis). They play in the 1. Bundesliga der Frauen ("First Federal Women's League"). Their biggest win thus far has been the European ETTU Cup on 31 March 2006 with the team of Wenling Tan-Monfardini, Zhenqi Barthel and Yin Na. The opponent in the final was 3B Berlin.
Zhenqi Barthel from the Homberg Turnerschaft won the singles title at the 74th National German Championships in Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
in 2006. She also won with her doubles partner Patrick Baum in mixed doubles. In women's doubles she came third with partner Desirée Czajkowski (Watzenborn-Steinberg).
Buildings
Stadtkirche St. MarienHomberg's town church, St. Mary's, holds a special place in Hessian Protestantism: in 1526, Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous convened a synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in Homburg that sat in this church, marking the point in time when the Landgraviate of Hesse became Evangelical. Thus the church, one of the most important Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
monuments in North Hesse, is sometimes called the Reformationskirche Hessens – the Reformation Church of Hesse.
What follows is something of the church's history:
- A FrankishFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
chapel is believed to have been built on the site before 900. - About 1000 a RomanesqueRomanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
church or chapel was built. - In the 12th century, a Romanesque basilicaBasilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
(or early hall church) was built. - In the first half of the 14th century, the structure was remodelled or expanded in late Gothic style as a hall church of the Hessian-Westphalian form.
- In 1374, building began on the tower.
- In 1640, the tower and hall were demolished by explosion, collapse and fire after the church was occupied by Imperial troops under Piccolomini.
- From 1645 to 1746 the church was being built anew, as it says on the stone plaque on the tower above the gallery.
- In 1709 the tower watchman's dwelling was built.
- In 1893 an endowment made possible the fitting of a choir window depicting the Homberg Synod.
- Since 1965, the church has been given its current shape through the removal of building done from the 17th to 19th centuries (pews, pulpit, galleries). A cloisterCloisterA cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
has also been built.
Kirchhofslinde ("Churchyard linden")
Before the church stands a linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
tree that is more than 730 years old. Together with the church, the tree makes for a picturesque tableau over the marketplace. The poet Heinrich Ruppel dedicated the poem "Die Kirchhofslinde in Homberg" to the tree as his way of thanking those who had made donations for the tree's preservation after it had been burnt by a fire in its hollow. Also, Erich Kaiser, a "homeland researcher" (Heimatforscher) and writer, often mentioned the veteran tree in his writings.
Stalls, furniture van and house under the Kirchhofslinde
In the spaces under the churchyard, stalls were built to serve as sales stands for butchers and bakers, as well as to serve as cookshops or meat storage.
At the former place of the so-called baker's stall, demolished in early 1820, a newer and notable building was built that Hombergers call the Möbelwagen ("Furniture Van").
The building next to the church to the right was built on the rubble of the former cookshop in 1719.
Rathaus (Town Hall)
This was built in 1704 on the foundations of a former building built in the 15th century and destroyed in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
. The tower was built after the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. The weather vane
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
is from 1767. Since 1989, there has been a carillon
Carillon
A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
. Beside the Gothic entrance at the stairway to Obertorstraße is the Homberger Elle (Homberg Ell
Ell
An ell , is a unit of measurement, approximating the length of a man's arm.Several national forms existed, with different lengths, includingthe Scottish ell ,the Flemish ell ,the French ell...
), a mediaeval unit of measurement 57.4 cm long. Its importance reaches as far as Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
.
Remodelled in 1875 was the Simbelschanze ("Simpleton Lair"; Simbel is a
Hessian dialect
Hessian dialects
Hessian is a West Central German group of dialects of the German language in the central German state of Hesse. The dialect most similar to Hessian is Palatinate German of the Rhine Franconian sub-family...
word) before the town hall. Its name comes from a tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
levied the same year. The government had approved a tax on simpletons to cover rising expenditures.
Engel-Apotheke
This was built in 1668 on the site of a former house, and is the biggest timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house on the marketplace. Since 1701 it has been a pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
.
Fünffenster-Haus ("Five-Windowed House")
In the early 19th century, a window tax
Window tax
The window tax was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces , as a result of the tax.-Details:The tax was introduced in England and Wales under...
was imposed, and so windows were limited to five on each floor.
Kyffhäuser-Museum
This has permanent exhibits with the emphasis on the Kyffhäuserbund
Kyffhäuserbund
The Kyffhäuserbund is an umbrella organization for War Veterans' and Reservists' Associations in Germany. It owes its name to the Kyffhäuser Monument , a memorial built on the summit of the 473 m high Kyffhäuser Mountain near Bad Frankenhausen in the state of Thuringia in central...
, an old warriors' association.
Krone ("Crown")
This is a timber-frame house from 1480. Since 1721 it has been a guesthouse
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
. The beams and roofwork are noteworthy. The bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s were built in the 16th century.
Geburtshaus des Heimatdichters Ludwig Mohr (House where the homeland poet Ludwig Mohr was born)
This may be found on the south side of the marketplace. He wrote the novel Rot-Weiß ("Red-White") whose theme was the Dörnberg Uprising.
Weißer Hof
This is a Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
timber-frame house. Noteworthy is the adornment with saltire
Saltire
A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
s.
Löwenhaus (Lion's House)
This was built in 1617. A stone showing a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
can be found here showing a staff, a snake and a lion's head with the inscription L.A.1664. It is known as the Ofenstein ("Oven Stone"). This site of the Löwenapotheke ("Lion's Pharmacy") also has a Renaissance porch worth seeing.
Old schoolhouse or Opfermannhaus, barracks
Built in 1750 as a residential house for the sexton (Opfermann) of the neighbouring church, the building also served as the town's first school. Right nearby is a Gothic building formerly used as barracks for the Hessian Jäger Battalion.
Hochzeitshaus (Wedding House)
Built in 1552, after the old town hall burnt down, it was used as the so-called new town hall. Later it was a rectory, a school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
and an administration building, but since 1952 it has housed the Heimatmuseum der Stadt Homberg (Homeland Museum of the Town of Homberg).
Pförtchen ("Little Gateway")
This was the original pedestrian access to the castle.
Baumbachscher Burgsitz
Built in 1543 as the castle seat, it lies right on the town wall. From 1840 to 1855 it was let to the deaf-and-dumb institution, and since 1873 it has been owned by the Evangelical Lutheran parish.
Dörnbergtempel
Built on the foundations of the old Bächtenturm (tower), it was the meeting place for the plotters of the Dörnberg Uprising in 1809.
Haus Leimbach
This is a noteworthy corner house with a Gothic entrance.
Bischofsches Haus
This was the ancestral seat of the wool-trading Bischof family. It was built on the ruins of another building destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. It has Renaissance bay windows, and the Bardeleben and Bischof coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
.
Haus Klüppel
Until 1891, this was the seat of Homberg's Landrat. On the side facing Bischofstraße, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
figures may be found at the former entrance to a neighbouring house's cellar.
Ehemaliges Brauhaus (former brewhouse)
In the town's archives are various descriptions from the homeland researcher Kaiser for the brewhouse at the corner of Untergasse and Entengasse. In 1665, people spoke of the little brewhouse at which there was a fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
. As of 1730, there were reports of the old or lower brewhouse, since a newer brewhouse had been built. In 1676 the house was partly destroyed by fire. With the introduction of trade freedom, brewers lost their exclusive rights to their trade. The town gave the brewhouse over to a leaseholder named Zickendraht, who was still brewing
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...
beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
15 years later. Other owners were also named, such as wainwright
Wainwright
A wainwright is a tradesperson skilled in the making and repairing of wagons . The word is the combination of the archaic words "wain" and "wright" .In places:*Canada...
Wilhelm Ulrich. In 1918, he sold the house to a carter named Aubel, who converted it into a residential house of the form that can still be seen today.
Alter Friedhof (Old Graveyard)
This had been a burying ground since 1580, but is now parkland where some of the grave markers, belonging to various Hombergers, are well worth seeing. Among these are those belonging to Minister Julius Rhode, Mayor Winter, and Professor Wilhelm Volckmar. Also to be found there are graves containing the remains of Abbesses Marianne vom und zum Stein and Charlotte von Gilsa, and Justice of the Peace Martin, all of whom played key parts in the preparations for the Dörnberg Uprising against Jérôme Bonaparte in 1809.
Christus-Epheta-Kirche
Consecrated in 1957, it is planned in circular form with the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
in the middle. It has a three-level dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
over the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. The 12 windows on the right side stand for the Twelve Apostles. The church tower is 30 m high. The mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
design is by Gerhard Dechant: Christus heilt zwei taubstumme Kinder –
This training centre existed in freedom for 44 years in this building. The great red-brick building was amply built and was said at the time to be the most modern building of its kind in Prussia. The building consisted of a broad middle section that housed classrooms, subject rooms, an assembly hall and the administration. InChrist
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
heals two deaf-and-dumb children.
Ehemaliges Lehrerseminar (Former Teachers' College)
Below Bindeweg, the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n government had the Royal Teachers' College built in 1879. the side wings lived the director and several college teachers. In 1925, the college was dissolved, and the building then served as a building school. Nowadays the whole building complex is used by the Bundespräsident-Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
.
Die Freiheit
This part of the town was founded by Landgrave Henry II in 1356, and was separated from the rest of the town by the town wall enclosing the Old Town. It had its own mayor, town hall, church and fortifications. Its independence came to an end in 1536 with its amalgamation with Homberg.
Das Neue Tor (The New Gate)
This was built in 1536 when Die Freiheit was established to afford access between the two towns.
Wallensteinsches Stiftsgebäude
This building was built about 1550, and as of 1616 was the castle seat. In 1783 came the endowment from the Wallenstein Convent (Wallensteinscher Damenstift). In the wake of the failed Dörnberg Uprising in 1832, the convent had to move to Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
, whereafter the building became a residence for the pedagogues from the teachers' college.
Hospital zum Heiligen Geist
Endowed in 1368 by the priest Heinrich Bischof in aid of the poor and sick.
Pulverturm (Powder Tower)
This is the only fully preserved tower of the town's old fortifications, which were formerly some 1 200 m long with seven towers. The town wall reached a height of 6 to 8 m and was on average 2 m thick.
Gotisches Haus (Gothic House)
This is Homberg's oldest residential house, having been built about 1425.
House on Holzhäuser Str. at the corner of Webergasse
This was built in the 16th century. On the wall facing Webergasse is a sandstone sculpture of an angel with a sword. The sculpture comes from the old Amt
Amt (subnational entity)
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only found in Germany, but formerly also common in northern European countries. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a U.S...
court.
Former Jewish prayer room
Also on Webergasse is a building that once housed a prayer room for the town's Jews.
Baumbachscher Burgsitz at the Upper Gate
Above the entranceway here is a family coat of arms with a recumbent half-moon and two stars. The building underwent alterations in bygone ages.
Windmühle (Windmill)
This is to be found at some former town fortification works near where the Holzhäusertor (gate) once was.
Stadthalle
Built in 1909-1911 as the Restaurant Stadtpark, this building underwent restoration after decades of changing uses, and since 1991 it has been used as a municipal hall. It has been awarded the Hessian Monument Protection Prize, and is known for its noteworthy Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
architecture.
Hermann-Schafft-Schule (school)
This is a school for the deaf and hearing-impaired. The building was dedicated in 1912 and is still used now.
Hohlebach-Mühle (mill)
First mentioned in 1415, the mill was restored in 1992. The water wheel is 5 m across.
Side building from the late Middle Ages
This is a building used for agricultural or trade purposes in the late Middle Ages. The house lies on a lane between Pfarrstraße and Berggasse with the gable facing the latter. The house's framework, which has not yet been dendrochronologically dated, points to the second half of the 15th century. There once was a similar building in Marburg, but it has fallen to the wrecker's ball.
The floors were used as storerooms. The ground floor is split into two halves of the same size by a middle wall that was built much later. The upstairs and attic have no inner walls at all, and there is no evidence that they ever did. The building has three entrances: a door in the east side onto the ground floor from the garden, a door opposite that leading into the street, both on the house's "eaves" sides, and another door in the north gable side leading to the upstairs. The attic is reached by ladder.
The spaces between the beams in the upper gable still have their original clay netting forming the cores of the walls. On the outer side, three-sided holes were pressed into the still soft outer layer of clay with a pointed trowel in an artform called Schuppenputz. There is also a house, built in 1452, in Bad Hersfeld that also has this original work dating from the late Middle Ages.
Westheimer Torturm (Gate Tower)
On 18 July 2005, while building work was being done, one of the old Westheim Gate Tower's foundations was unearthed. On a base of basalt stones, smoothly hewn sandstone or tuff was fixed. That this is the old gate tower's foundation is not in doubt, and the strength of the foundation bespeaks a formidable structure.
Wells and cisterns
While Westheimer Straße was being renovated in 2006, two long lost and forgotten examples of Homberg's historical water supply were rediscovered and reconstructed. The picture shows the so-called Radbrunnen ("wheel well") in the foreground at left, and up at the Besenmarkt (Broom Market), an old water cistern can quite clearly be seen.
St. Wendel
In 1247, south of the town at the foot of the Schmückeberg (mountain) lay the Sondersiechenhaus St. Wendelin ("St. Wendelin Special Sickhouse") with a chapel and a mill. The last time when a leper is known to have been there was 1652. The building later served as a plague house and a homeless
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
shelter. The crumbling building complex was torn down in 1786. This leper colony
Leper colony
A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.-History:Leper colonies or houses became widespread in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and India, and often run by monastic orders...
belonged to a network of all together 68 places and 71 colonies evenly scattered all over what is today Hesse.
Artworks
On 19 May 2005 on Wallstraße in Homberg, a collaborative work by Christina Fiand and Ernst Groß was put up. The artwork, called Die Stelzengänger ("The Stilt Walkers") is a commissioned work by the Town of Homberg and the Kraftstrombezugsgenossenschaft (KBG; Electrical Supply Coöperative). Three figures on stilts more than six metres high peer curiously over the town wall on Wallstraße.
The three carved figures are meant to awaken passersby's curiosity about Homberg and get them to have a look behind the town's walls. The same artist created another artwork before the Schwalm-Eder district offices above the Old Graveyard park.
Transport
Homberg is said to be the only district seat in Germany that is not on the railway network. It belongs, however, to the North Hesse Transport Network.People associated with the town
- Hans StadenHans StadenHans Staden was a German soldier and mariner who voyaged to South America. On one voyage, he was captured by the Tupinambá people of Brazil whom he claimed practiced cannibalism...
, lansquenetLandsknechtLandsknechte were European, predominantly German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of Early modern Europe.-Etymology:The term is from German, Land "land, country" + Knecht...
and founder of Brazilian research - Mutianus Rufus (humanist)
- Prof. Dr. phil.Wilhelm Valentin Volckmar (organist)
- Felicitas WollFelicitas WollFelicitas Woll is a German actress best known for the ARD-Series Berlin, Berlin.-Career and personal life:...
(actress) - August Vilmar (theologian)
- Ludwig Mohr (poet)
- Max HoffmannMax HoffmannMax Hoffmann was a German officer and military strategist during World War I. He is widely regarded as one of the finest staff officers of the imperial period....
(diplomat and general) - Matthias ReimMatthias ReimMatthias Reim is a German singer-songwriter. His 1990 single "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" was a hit in several European countries, and spent sixteen consecutive weeks at the No.1 spot in the German charts.-Early life:Reim was born on 26 November 1957 in Korbach, Hesse. He grew up in Homberg...
(singer) - Heinrich Otto (painter), born in Homberg community of Wernswig
- Ulrich Holbein (writer), lives near Allmuthshausen
- Wigand Lauze (chronicler)
- Tobias DammTobias DammTobias Damm is a German football player who he plays for KSV Hessen Kassel. He spent two seasons in the Bundesliga with 1. FSV Mainz 05.-External links:* at transfermarkt.de...
(footballer) - Heinrich Ruppel (poet and writer)
- Günter AbelGünter AbelGünter Abel is a German philosopher. He was born in Homberg , Germany . Since 1987 he has been professor for theoretical philosophy at the Technical University of Berlin....
(philosopher) - Erich Kaiser (homeland researcher [Heimatforscher] and writer, born 29 January 1909 in Homberg, died 13 October 1978 in Homberg)
- Otto Vesper (Heimatforscher)