Märkischer Kreis
Encyclopedia
The Märkischer Kreis is a district (Kreis
) in central North Rhine-Westphalia
, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna
, Soest
, Hochsauerland
, Olpe
, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr
, and the city of Hagen
.
n districts. The former districts of Lüdenscheid and Iserlohn, together with the City of Iserlohn
, previously an urban district, plus the area around Balve
(previously part of Arnsberg District) were amalgamated to form the new district. Lüdenscheid District itself had been created just a few years earlier, in 1968, when the city of Lüdenscheid was merged with Altena District (originally created in 1753). The name Märkischer Kreis was chosen in recognition of the fact that part of the territory formerly belonged to the county of the Mark
.
, United Kingdom) dates from 1970 and was initiated by the precursor district, Iserlohn.
In 1992 a twinning agreement was reached with the Finsterwalde District of Brandenburg
, unofficial relations between the two districts having existed since German reunification in 1990. Following Finsterwald's merger with the district of Elbe-Elster
, twinning with the new district was reconfirmed in 1996.
In 2001 a twinning agreement was officially established with the Polish
district of Racibórz
.
mountains, south of the Ruhr valley. The highest point, at 683 metres above sea level, is the Nordhelle. The district's principal river is the Lenne
, another river is the Hönne
. Although most of the district is covered by forest and is rather sparsely inhabited, the area has had a long industrial history: it was, in fact, the very abundance of timber in the area which made steel
-working possible here long before Ruhr coal became readily available.
The district is led by a Landrat. Originally the Landrat was only a representative post, while the Oberkreisdirektor was the head of the administration; however, since 1999 the two posts have been unified. The headquarters of the administration of the county are located in Lüdenscheid, but there are county halls with parts of the administration in Iserlohn and Altena, too. The police headquarters of the county are in Iserlohn.
The county council meets in the county hall in Iserlohn. Its last election was on September 26, 2004.
festival. Since 1991 the Balver Maerchenwochen are organized by the Festspiele Balver Höhle
.
The Luisenhütte is an industrial monument in Balve
.
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
) in central North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna
Unna (district)
The Unna district is a Kreis in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring authorities are the district of Coesfeld, the city of Hamm, the districts of Soest and Märkischer Kreis, the cities of Hagen and Dortmund, and the district of Recklinghausen.-History:The area of the present...
, Soest
Soest (district)
Soest is a Kreis in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Warendorf, Gütersloh, Paderborn, Hochsauerland, Märkischer Kreis, Unna and the district-free city Hamm.-History:...
, Hochsauerland
Hochsauerland
Hochsauerlandkreis is a Kreis in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, Märkischer Kreis.- History :...
, Olpe
Olpe (district)
Olpe is a Kreis in the south-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Märkischer Kreis, Hochsauerland, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Altenkirchen, Oberbergischer Kreis.- History :...
, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr
Ennepe-Ruhr
The Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis is a district in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is bounded by the district-free cities of Bochum, Dortmund and Hagen, the districts of Märkischer Kreis and Oberbergischer Kreis, the city of Wuppertal, the district of Mettmann and the city of...
, and the city of Hagen
Hagen
Hagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
.
History
The district was created in 1975 as part of the reorganization of North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
n districts. The former districts of Lüdenscheid and Iserlohn, together with the City of Iserlohn
Iserlohn
Iserlohn is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region.-Geography:...
, previously an urban district, plus the area around Balve
Balve
Balve is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in Hönnetal, a narrow valley created by the river Hönne, which is near the Sorpesee, formerly part of Balve, and at the north end of the Sauerland, near Dortmund...
(previously part of Arnsberg District) were amalgamated to form the new district. Lüdenscheid District itself had been created just a few years earlier, in 1968, when the city of Lüdenscheid was merged with Altena District (originally created in 1753). The name Märkischer Kreis was chosen in recognition of the fact that part of the territory formerly belonged to the county of the Mark
Mark (county)
The County of Mark was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr River along the Volme and Lenne Rivers....
.
Twinning
Twinning with Wrexham County Borough (WalesWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, United Kingdom) dates from 1970 and was initiated by the precursor district, Iserlohn.
In 1992 a twinning agreement was reached with the Finsterwalde District of Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, unofficial relations between the two districts having existed since German reunification in 1990. Following Finsterwald's merger with the district of Elbe-Elster
Elbe-Elster
Elbe-Elster is a Kreis in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Teltow-Fläming, Dahme-Spreewald, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Meißen,Nordsachsen and Wittenberg...
, twinning with the new district was reconfirmed in 1996.
In 2001 a twinning agreement was officially established with the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
district of Racibórz
Racibórz
Racibórz is a town in southern Poland with 60,218 inhabitants situated in the Silesian Voivodeship , previously in Katowice Voivodeship...
.
Geography
Geographically speaking, the Märkischer Kreis covers the northwestern part of the SauerlandSauerland
The Sauerland is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited...
mountains, south of the Ruhr valley. The highest point, at 683 metres above sea level, is the Nordhelle. The district's principal river is the Lenne
Lenne
The Lenne is a river in the Sauerland area in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, a left tributary of the Ruhr.Having its source on top of the Kahler Asten near Winterberg in an intermittent spring at an elevation of 2,687 feet, the Lenne ends after a course of 128 km flowing into the...
, another river is the Hönne
Hönne
The Hönne is a left tributary river to the Ruhr, flowing through the northern Sauerland hills in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The spring of the Hönne is located in the west of Neuenrade at 437m above sea level. After 33 km the river ends near the town of Fröndenberg...
. Although most of the district is covered by forest and is rather sparsely inhabited, the area has had a long industrial history: it was, in fact, the very abundance of timber in the area which made steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-working possible here long before Ruhr coal became readily available.
Coat of arms
| The lion and fess Fess In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third... chequy are taken from the old coat of arms of the district of Altena Altena Altena is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern streches of the Sauerland.-History:... , which derived from the arms of the Counts of the Mark Mark (county) The County of Mark was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr River along the Volme and Lenne Rivers.... . In the first half of the 13th century a seal with both the fess and the lion was in use, as first used by Adolf I of Altena (1199–1241). Engelbert I of the Mark (1249–1277) dropped the lion in his seal. The original colour 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... of the lion was unknown, so a black lion with red tongue and claws was chosen, as in the arms of the Dukes of Jülich Jülich Jülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle... . The black cross comes from the arms of Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the... , as the eastern part of the area historically belonged to the Archbishops of Cologne Archbishopric of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of... . The coat of arms was designed by the herald Waldemar Mallek, and was granted on May 6, 1976. |
Towns and municipalities
| Cities (population) | Municipalities (population) | |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Politics and administration
| Landrat | Oberkreisdirektor |
|---|---|
|
|
The county council meets in the county hall in Iserlohn. Its last election was on September 26, 2004.
| Party | Votes | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| CDU | 44.4% | 32 |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
30.0% | 22 |
| Greens | 7.7% | 6 |
| FDP | 7.4% | 5 |
| Independent (UWG) | 6.7% | 5 |
| NPD | 1.9% | 1 |
| Republican | 1.8% | 1 |
Culture
From 1970 to 2005 the Märkischer Kreis hosted an international Jazzfestival. Since 2002 the cave in Balve is the home of the Irish Folk & Celtic MusicIrish Folk & Celtic Music
The Irish Folk & Celtic Music is a festival in the Balver Höhle. The director is Sean Reeves and Stephan Haarmann. It was founded in 2002 and is based on an idea by former member Roland Krahl.-2005:Directors: Roland Krahl, Stephan Haarmann...
festival. Since 1991 the Balver Maerchenwochen are organized by the Festspiele Balver Höhle
Festspiele Balver Höhle
Festspiele Balver Höhle is an arts festival, featuring musical and theatrical performances, in Balve, Germany. The festival is centered around the cave of Balve...
.
The Luisenhütte is an industrial monument in Balve
Balve
Balve is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in Hönnetal, a narrow valley created by the river Hönne, which is near the Sorpesee, formerly part of Balve, and at the north end of the Sauerland, near Dortmund...
.