Lautertal, Hesse
Encyclopedia
Lautertal is a community in the Bergstraße district
in the Hessian
Odenwald
in Germany
that came into being with the merger of several former communities.
) begins near the source of the brook called the Lauter, which is found on the Neunkircher Höhe (“Neunkirchen Heights”). The brook then runs first along a broad streambed, but then gets quite narrow and steep as it approaches the Bergstraße
, where the brook’s name becomes the Winkelbach once it reaches Bensheim
. Furthermore, the valley includes several peaks on both sides.
and Modautal
(Darmstadt-Dieburg
), in the east on the town of Lindenfels
, in the south on the community of Fürth and the town of Heppenheim
and in the west on the town of Bensheim
.
The the community of Lautertal came into being through municipal reform on 1 January 1972. The formerly self-governing communities of Beedenkirchen, Elmshausen, Gadernheim, Lautern, Raidelbach, Reichenbach, Staffel and Wurzelbach merged voluntarily, but later the same year, the communities of Knoden and Schannenbach were forcibly merged with Lautertal, and so was Schmal-Beerbach in 1978.
Some of the individual constituent communities had their beginnings in Roman
times and the Middle Ages
(of a castle that supposedly once stood near Gadernheim, there is no trace today).
, Hertfordshire
, England
, United Kingdom
since 25 October 1980 Jarnac
, Charente
, France
since 4 September 1982
The Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald is a local recreation area for many daytrippers from the heavily populated Frankfurt Rhine Main Region and Rhine Neckar Area
. Besides the many local hiking trails, two European long-distance paths
cross in Lautertal, E1
and E8
that is easily climbed even by children. The Romans
used the Felsenmeer as a source of building material, witnessing which is, among other things, the so-called Riesensäule – “Giant’s Column”.
(Deutscher Alpenverein), the 17 m-high Hohenstein und der 8 m-high Borstein near the Naturfreundehaus
. Both cliffs can be climbed with a slight degree of difficulty and are used in many climbing courses.
town halls, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries. These are Elmshausen, Reichenbach and Gadernheim, whose old town hall now houses the local history museum. Gadernheim has also been home to a smithy
since 1608, the Lauter valley’s oldest building. Moreover, it is one of Hesse’s oldest unchanged smithies. It is, however, in a bad state and may not be preserved much longer.
The Emperor Tower
was built in memory of Emperor William I on the Neunkircher Höhe ("Neunkirchen Heights") and is the Lauter valley’s highest point. It is within Gadernheim’s limits. In its current incarnation it was designed by architects Hacker and Jaide as a lookout tower with a height of 34 m. Master builder Adam Arras from Gadernheim built the tower in 1906 and 1907. The project initiators chose the 25th anniversary of the Darmstadt chapter of the Odenwaldklub as the occasion on which to formally open the tower to the public in a dedication ceremony on 7 July 1907.
In 1982, the Kaiserturm was extensively restored.
Only a few years later, though, cracks began to appear once again in the tower due to “huge antennae” used by the post and the police. Rainwater leaked in and started processes of decay. In November 1986, thanks to financial help from the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Bergstraße as well as the city of Darmstadt, all damage was repaired.
In the Kaiserturm is found the Odenwald’s “highest pub”.
In 1912 and 1913, the well known Art Nouveau
architect Heinrich Metzendorf built this great church in the so-called Heimatstil (“Homeland style”). Standing on the village’s highest hill, it dominates the upper Lauter valley. It is a one-room church with overhanging polygonal apse and a façade tower, all topped with steep roofs. On the outside, the stone is mostly granite with sandstone elements. The upper part of the façade and tower is covered in greyish-blue-lacquered shakes.
The furnishings inside – pews and altar – are original equipment.
Kreis Bergstraße
Bergstraße is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Groß-Gerau, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Odenwaldkreis, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, the urban district Mannheim, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, and the urban district of Worms...
in the Hessian
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...
Odenwald
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
in 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...
that came into being with the merger of several former communities.
Location
The Lauter valley (also called the Lautertal in GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
) begins near the source of the brook called the Lauter, which is found on the Neunkircher Höhe (“Neunkirchen Heights”). The brook then runs first along a broad streambed, but then gets quite narrow and steep as it approaches the Bergstraße
Bergstraße
Bergstraße is the name of a mountainous theme route, and the area around it, stretching across the western edge of the Odenwald in southern Hesse and northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
, where the brook’s name becomes the Winkelbach once it reaches Bensheim
Bensheim
Bensheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hesse, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain...
. Furthermore, the valley includes several peaks on both sides.
Neighbouring communities
Lautertal borders in the north on the communities of Seeheim-JugenheimSeeheim-Jugenheim
Seeheim-Jugenheim is a municipality in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of approximately 17,000.Seeheim-Jugenheim consists of seven villages:*Balkhausen *Jugenheim...
and Modautal
Modautal
Modautal is a municipality in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. Around 5,050 inhabitants live in 11 districts on an area of 31 km2 . The first historical chronicles date back to the 13th century.-History:...
(Darmstadt-Dieburg
Darmstadt-Dieburg
Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds.-History:...
), in the east on the town of Lindenfels
Lindenfels
Lindenfels is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.- Location :The climatic spa, also known as the “Pearl of the Odenwald”, lies in the Odenwald in southern Hesse and is nestled in a mountain landscape with a great deal of woodland....
, in the south on the community of Fürth and the town of Heppenheim
Heppenheim
Heppenheim is the seat of Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, lying on the Bergstraße on the edge of the Odenwald.- Location :...
and in the west on the town of Bensheim
Bensheim
Bensheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hesse, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain...
.
History
Some of the individual constituent communities had their beginnings in Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times and 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...
(of a castle that supposedly once stood near Gadernheim, there is no trace today).
Community council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
Seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
Seats 2001 |
|
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 33.7 | 10 | 30.8 | 10 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
50.6 | 16 | 51.8 | 16 |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Free 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... |
2.2 | 1 | – | – |
| FWGL | Freie Wählergemeinschaft Lautertal | 7.0 | 2 | 10.3 | 3 |
| GLL | Grüne Liste Lautertal | 6.4 | 2 | 7.1 | 2 |
| Total | 100.0 | 31 | 100.0 | 31 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 54.3 | 59.2 | |||
Town partnerships
Parish of AldenhamAldenham
This article is about the village in Hertfordshire. For the London Transport Bus Overhaul Works, see Aldenham Works.Aldenham is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, approx. three miles north-east of Watford and two miles from Radlett. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and is one of...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 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...
since 25 October 1980 Jarnac
Jarnac
Jarnac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France.It is the site of the Battle of Jarnac in 1569.-Geography:Jarnac is situated on the right bank of the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Cognac...
, Charente
Charente
Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
since 4 September 1982
Culture and sightseeing
Rhine Neckar Area
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region , often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North and the Stuttgart Region to the South-East.Rhine-Neckar has a population of some 2.4 million...
. Besides the many local hiking trails, two European long-distance paths
European long-distance paths
The European long-distance paths are a network of long-distance footpaths that traverse Europe. While most long-distance footpaths in Europe are located in just one country or region, each of these numbered European long-distance paths passes through many different countries.The European...
cross in Lautertal, E1
European walking route E1
The E1 European long distance path, or just E1 path, is one of the European long-distance paths with a total length of some 4,960 km. It begins in Sweden, and crosses the Kattegat between Sweden and Denmark by ferry. It passes through Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to finish at Scapoli, Italy...
and E8
European walking route E8
The E8 European long distance path or E8 path is one of the European long-distance paths, leading 4700km across Europe, from Cork in Ireland to Istanbul in Turkey....
Felsenmeer
Popular with families is the nationally known Felsenmeer above the constituent community of Reichenbach. The reason is that there is a slope here with rounded blocks of graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
that is easily climbed even by children. The Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
used the Felsenmeer as a source of building material, witnessing which is, among other things, the so-called Riesensäule – “Giant’s Column”.
Hohenstein and Borstein
In the constituent community of Reichenbach lie two climbing cliffs recognized by the German Alpine ClubGerman Alpine Club
The German Alpine Club or DAV is the largest climbing association in the world and the eighth largest sports union in Germany. It is organised into 354 legally independent branches with a total of around 815,000 members...
(Deutscher Alpenverein), the 17 m-high Hohenstein und der 8 m-high Borstein near the Naturfreundehaus
Friends of Nature
Friends of Nature is an international movement with a background in the Social Democratic movement, which aims to make nature accessible to the wider community by providing appropriate recreational and travel facilities.-Background:It is a non-profit organisation which, in addition to encouraging...
. Both cliffs can be climbed with a slight degree of difficulty and are used in many climbing courses.
Historic houses
Several constituent communities have kept their old timber-frameTimber 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...
town halls, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries. These are Elmshausen, Reichenbach and Gadernheim, whose old town hall now houses the local history museum. Gadernheim has also been home to a smithy
Smithy
Smithy may refer to:* Forge, also called a smithy, the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith* Smith , sometimes referred to as a smithy, a person involved in the shaping of metal objects...
since 1608, the Lauter valley’s oldest building. Moreover, it is one of Hesse’s oldest unchanged smithies. It is, however, in a bad state and may not be preserved much longer.
Kaiserturm
This tower’s forerunner was a 24 m-tall wooden tower built in 1888 by Adam Fleischman which blew down on the stormy night of 11 February 1904.The Emperor Tower
Emperor tower
Emperor towers or Kaiser towers are monuments that were built up to 1918 in honour of the German emperors William I, Frederick III and Wilhelm II in the German Empire or for Emperor Franz Josef in Austria-Hungary....
was built in memory of Emperor William I on the Neunkircher Höhe ("Neunkirchen Heights") and is the Lauter valley’s highest point. It is within Gadernheim’s limits. In its current incarnation it was designed by architects Hacker and Jaide as a lookout tower with a height of 34 m. Master builder Adam Arras from Gadernheim built the tower in 1906 and 1907. The project initiators chose the 25th anniversary of the Darmstadt chapter of the Odenwaldklub as the occasion on which to formally open the tower to the public in a dedication ceremony on 7 July 1907.
In 1982, the Kaiserturm was extensively restored.
Only a few years later, though, cracks began to appear once again in the tower due to “huge antennae” used by the post and the police. Rainwater leaked in and started processes of decay. In November 1986, thanks to financial help from the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Bergstraße as well as the city of Darmstadt, all damage was repaired.
In the Kaiserturm is found the Odenwald’s “highest pub”.
Evangelical Parish Church in Gadernheim
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"...
architect Heinrich Metzendorf built this great church in the so-called Heimatstil (“Homeland style”). Standing on the village’s highest hill, it dominates the upper Lauter valley. It is a one-room church with overhanging polygonal apse and a façade tower, all topped with steep roofs. On the outside, the stone is mostly granite with sandstone elements. The upper part of the façade and tower is covered in greyish-blue-lacquered shakes.
The furnishings inside – pews and altar – are original equipment.