Ludwigsau
Encyclopedia
Ludwigsau is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg
district in northeastern Hesse
, Germany
. With an area of 112 km² it is Hesse’s biggest community by land area.
in the triangle defined by the towns of Bad Hersfeld
, Bebra
and Rotenburg an der Fulda
. The municipal area lies on the edge of the Seulingswald (range) and stretches along the Rohrbach and Endersbach (brooks) into the eastern Knüll
gebirge (range). The Rohrbach empties into the Fulda
near Reilos. The Rohrbach valley is also known as the Besengrund (“Broom Ground” or “Besom Ground”), a reference to basket weavers and broom makers. In centuries gone by, these were common occupations.
and town of Rotenburg an der Fulda
, in the east on the town of Bebra
and the community of Ronshausen
, in the southeast on the community of Friedewald
, in the south on the town of Bad Hersfeld
and in the west on the communities of Neuenstein
(all in Hersfeld-Rotenburg) and Knüllwald
(in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis
).
Within the framework of municipal reform in Hesse in 1972, two greater communities were founded in the Fulda valley, the Besengrund and the neighbouring valleys north of Bad Hersfeld
. After a short time, these areas, along with further villages that until now had been self-administering, were melded into the greater community of Ludwigsau. The community’s namesake is Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse
, who had two castles built within what are now municipal limits, Schloss Ludwigseck and Ludwigsaue Castle (built in 1416). Of the later, no trace is to be found today. It stood, however, at the mouth of the Rohrbach, where it empties into the Fulda
.
Since Niederthalhausen had come out against a merger with Ludwigseck, in the course of municipal reform on 1 August 1972 – after only seven months of existence – the community of Ludwigseck was dissolved and the whole municipal area, along with Niederthalhausen, was forcibly merged with the greater community of Ludwigsau.
The community’s executive (Gemeindevorstand) is made up of eight members, with five seats allotted to the SPD and three to the CDU.
might be described thus: Argent two bendlets wavy sinister azure, the chief dexter a castle embattled gules, the base sinister a waterwheel of the last.
The waterwheel’s 13 blades stand for the constituent communities (although the German blazon does not mention that there should be thirteen of them), and the castle stands for, not the community’s namesake castle, but the other one, Schloss Ludwigseck. The two wavy bendlets stand for the river Fulda
and the Rohrbach.
, Sarthe
, France
(near Le Mans
) since 1997 Struth-Helmershof, Thuringia
(now part of Floh-Seligenthal
, near Schmalkalden
) since 1990.
27. In Friedlos is a railway station on the Bebra–Fulda railway served by Cantus
(Line R5 in the Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund). Mecklar station, which also included a big goods station, was closed in the 1980s, making the community somewhat hard to reach on public transport.
with its own building. There are three long-distance gas pipelines near Mecklar-Meckbach, and in the community itself is an electrical substation
.
This convinced the electrical firm Iberdrola
to build a gas and steam power plant here. Building work is to begin in 2009.
Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Hersfeld-Rotenburg is a Kreis in the east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Werra-Meißner, Wartburgkreis, Fulda, Vogelsbergkreis, Schwalm-Eder.-History:...
district in northeastern Hesse
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...
, 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 an area of 112 km² it is Hesse’s biggest community by land area.
Location
The community lies on the FuldaFulda River
The Fulda is a river in Hesse, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser . The Fulda is 218 km in length....
in the triangle defined by the towns of Bad Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
, Bebra
Bebra
Bebra is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Bebra lies some 45 km south of Kassel on the Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the Fuldaknie...
and Rotenburg an der Fulda
Rotenburg an der Fulda
Rotenburg an der Fulda is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying, as the name says, on the river Fulda.- Geography :- Location :...
. The municipal area lies on the edge of the Seulingswald (range) and stretches along the Rohrbach and Endersbach (brooks) into the eastern 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...
gebirge (range). The Rohrbach empties into the Fulda
Fulda River
The Fulda is a river in Hesse, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser . The Fulda is 218 km in length....
near Reilos. The Rohrbach valley is also known as the Besengrund (“Broom Ground” or “Besom Ground”), a reference to basket weavers and broom makers. In centuries gone by, these were common occupations.
Neighbouring communities
Ludwigsau borders in the north on the community of AlheimAlheim
Alheim is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.- Location :The community lies in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district some 35 km southeast of Kassel and a few kilometres northwest of Rotenburg an der Fulda. It stretches along both banks of the Fulda into the...
and town of Rotenburg an der Fulda
Rotenburg an der Fulda
Rotenburg an der Fulda is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying, as the name says, on the river Fulda.- Geography :- Location :...
, in the east on the town of Bebra
Bebra
Bebra is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Bebra lies some 45 km south of Kassel on the Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the Fuldaknie...
and the community of Ronshausen
Ronshausen
Ronshausen is a community and a Luftkurort in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:The community lies in the valley of the Ulfe, which in Bebra empties into the Fulda...
, in the southeast on the community of Friedewald
Friedewald, Hesse
Friedewald is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany, directly east of Bad Hersfeld.-Location:The community lies in the boundary zone between the Kuppenrhön and the Seulingswald ranges...
, in the south on the town of Bad Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
and in the west on the communities of Neuenstein
Neuenstein, Hesse
Neuenstein is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.- Location :The community lies in the Knüllgebirge in the drainage basin of the Geisbach, which rises here and only 10 km from here, in Bad Hersfeld, empties into the Fulda.- Neighbouring communities...
(all in Hersfeld-Rotenburg) and Knüllwald
Knüllwald
-Location:Knüllwald lies in the Knüllgebirge, a low mountain range, between the rivers Efze and Beise, south of Kassel.-Constituent communities:The community consists of sixteen centres: Appenfeld, Berndshausen, Ellingshausen, Hausen, Hergetsfeld, Lichtenhagen, Nausis, Nenterode, Niederbeisheim,...
(in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis
Schwalm-Eder-Kreis
Schwalm-Eder is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsbergkreis, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Waldeck-Frankenberg.-History:...
).
Constituent communities
Ludwigsau’s 13 Ortsteile are Beenhausen, Biedebach, Ersrode, Friedlos, Gerterode, Hainrode, Meckbach, Mecklar, Niederthalhausen, Oberthalhausen, Reilos, Rohrbach and Tann.History
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
. After a short time, these areas, along with further villages that until now had been self-administering, were melded into the greater community of Ludwigsau. The community’s namesake is Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse
Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse
Louis I of Hesse , called "the Peaceful" was Landgrave of Lower Hesse from 1413-1458....
, who had two castles built within what are now municipal limits, Schloss Ludwigseck and Ludwigsaue Castle (built in 1416). Of the later, no trace is to be found today. It stood, however, at the mouth of the Rohrbach, where it empties into the Fulda
Fulda River
The Fulda is a river in Hesse, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser . The Fulda is 218 km in length....
.
Amalgamations
With effect from 31 December 1971, the community of Ludwigseck came into being through the voluntary merger of the formerly self-administering communities of Beenhausen, Ersrode, Hainrode and Oberthalhausen. At the same time, the community of Ludwigsau came into being through the voluntary merger of the formerly self-administering communities of Biedebach, Friedlos, Gerterode, Meckbach, Mecklar, Reilos, Rohrbach and Tann. Friedlos in particular was interested in a forcible merger with the district seat of Bad Hersfeld.Since Niederthalhausen had come out against a merger with Ludwigseck, in the course of municipal reform on 1 August 1972 – after only seven months of existence – the community of Ludwigseck was dissolved and the whole municipal area, along with Niederthalhausen, was forcibly merged with the greater community of Ludwigsau.
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 | 38.8 | 12 | 38.3 | 12 |
| 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... |
61.2 | 19 | 61.7 | 19 |
| Total | 100.0 | 31 | 100.0 | 31 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 61.1 | 63.6 | |||
The community’s executive (Gemeindevorstand) is made up of eight members, with five seats allotted to the SPD and three to the CDU.
Mayor
Mayor Thomas Baumann (independent) was reëlected on 26 March 2006 with 92.8% of the vote. He had no opponents and is now into his third term in office.Coat of arms
The community’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: Argent two bendlets wavy sinister azure, the chief dexter a castle embattled gules, the base sinister a waterwheel of the last.
The waterwheel’s 13 blades stand for the constituent communities (although the German blazon does not mention that there should be thirteen of them), and the castle stands for, not the community’s namesake castle, but the other one, Schloss Ludwigseck. The two wavy bendlets stand for the river Fulda
Fulda River
The Fulda is a river in Hesse, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser . The Fulda is 218 km in length....
and the Rohrbach.
Town partnerships
ChangéChangé, Sarthe
Changé is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France.-References:*...
, Sarthe
Sarthe
Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...
, 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...
(near Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
) since 1997 Struth-Helmershof, 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....
(now part of Floh-Seligenthal
Floh-Seligenthal
Floh-Seligenthal is a municipality in the district Schmalkalden-Meiningen, in Thuringia, Germany....
, near Schmalkalden
Schmalkalden
- Notable people :*Christoph Cellarius, scholar, born 22 November 1638, died 4 June 1707 in Halle*Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach, colonel, born 16 April 1758, died 21 November 1827 at Białokosz...
) since 1990.
Buildings
- Schloss Ludwigseck, between Beenhausen, Ersrode and Sterkelshausen, built about 1400, today owned by the family von und zu Gilsa
- Fliers’ Memorial “In der Nonnenrod”
Natural monuments
- Fuldaaue (“Fulda Floodplain”) conservation area with renaturalized gravel pit (near Mecklar)
- Malchustal landscape conservation area (near Ersrode)
- The Gernkopf (417 m above sea levelSea levelMean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, above Oberthalhausen)
Transport
Through the constituent communities of Mecklar, Reilos and Friedlos runs BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
27. In Friedlos is a railway station on the Bebra–Fulda railway served by Cantus
Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft
Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH , based in Kassel is a joint subsidiary of Hessische Landesbahn and Hamburger Hochbahn . The word cantus...
(Line R5 in the Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund). Mecklar station, which also included a big goods station, was closed in the 1980s, making the community somewhat hard to reach on public transport.
Established businesses
In the industrial area on the Fulda floodplain in Mecklar-Meckbach there has been since 2007 the DHL Exel Supply ChainDHL
DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
with its own building. There are three long-distance gas pipelines near Mecklar-Meckbach, and in the community itself is an electrical substation
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
.
This convinced the electrical firm Iberdrola
Iberdrola
Iberdrola , headquartered in Bilbao, is a private utility with a global footprint and over 150 years of experience...
to build a gas and steam power plant here. Building work is to begin in 2009.