Location

Gemünden lies roughly 22 km northeast of Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

 on the edge of the Burgwald range to the west and near the Kellerwald

Kellerwald

The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany.Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park.- Geography :The Kellerwald lies in...

 range rising to the northeast. The river Wohra crosses the town.

Neighbouring communities

Gemünden borders in the north on the community of Haina

Haina

Haina is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany.-Location:Haina lies in Waldeck-Frankenberg south of Frankenberg and east of Burgwald at the southwest slope of the Kellerwald range...

 (Waldeck-Frankenberg), in the east on the community of Gilserberg

Gilserberg

-Location:Gilserberg lies at the foot of the Kellerwald, a low mountain range, nestled in the Kurhessen Highland on Federal Highway B 3, 60 km from Kassel and 30 km from Marburg.-Constituent communities:...

 (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:...

), in the south on the community of Wohratal

Wohratal

-Geography:Wohratal lies between the Kellerwald in the east and the Burgwald, a low mountain range, in the west, on the river Wohra....

 (Marburg-Biedenkopf

Marburg-Biedenkopf

Marburg-Biedenkopf is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein.- History :...

) and in the west on the town of Rosenthal

Rosenthal, Hesse

Rosenthal is a small town in southeast Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Rosenthal lies in the Burgwald range 11 km southeast of Frankenberg and 18 km northeast of Marburg.-Neighbouring communities:...

 (Waldeck-Frankenberg).

Constituent communities

The town consists of the centres of Ellnrode, Gemünden (Wohra), Grüsen, Herbelhausen, Lehnhausen, Schiffelbach and Sehlen.

History

Gemünden was formed out of seven villages: Holzbach, Giebelingsbach, Burghardshausen, Ernstdorf, Steigershausen, Osterbach and Katzbach

The town's first documentary mentions come from the years 750 to 779, under the name Zegemunde. The second documentary mention came in 1223. In 1253, Gemünden is first mentioned as a town. At this time, Gemünden belonged to the Counts of Ziegenhain. This historical fact is even seen in the town's 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...

, showing a black bird in a white field with red claws, a goat's head (Ziege is German

German 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....

 for goat) and a six-pointed star under each wing.

In 1450, Gemünden passed to Hesse after the Ziegenhain line had died out.

In the 16th century, the town had great wealth. In 1523, a great 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....

 was built, in 1541, the 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...

 was built, in 1564, a town hall was built on the marketplace, and in 1587, the first aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 was built using wooden ducts.

The war years in the 17th and 18th centuries not only destroyed Gemünden's emerging cultural life, but also exacted heavy sacrifices. The Plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

 claimed two thirds of the town's population. 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....

 and 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...

 asked the utmost of the townsfolk in terms of billeting and financial performance.

From 1909 to 1914, the railway was built, the aqueduct special purpose association (Wasserleitungszweckverband) was founded (Gemünden got a new, modern water supply

Water supply

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...

) and a new school in Gemünden came into being.

In 1972, passenger transport on the railway was discontinued. In the winter of 1980-1981 came the discontinuation of goods services as well, and furthermore, the tracks were torn up.

Town council

The town council's 23 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:

CDU Christian 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...	13 seats
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...	7 seats
Bürgerliste	3 seats

Note: Bürgerliste is a "citizens' list" rather than an actual party.

Coat of arms

Gemünden's civic 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...

 might heraldically be described thus: In argent a goat-headed spreadeagle sable armed and langued gules, under each wing a six-pointed star Or.

The goat-headed spreadeagle is a common heraldic charge in civic heraldry in the Ziegenhains' former domain (see also Neukirchen

Neukirchen (Knüll)

-Constituent communities:The town is made up of a main town bearing the same name as the whole town, and the centres of Asterode, Christerode, Hauptschwenda, Nausis, Wincherode, Riebelsdorf, and Seigertshausen.-History:...

's, Schwalmstadt

Schwalmstadt

Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwalmstadt.-Location:Schwalmstadt lies in the Schwalm...

's and Schwarzenborn

Schwarzenborn, Hesse

-Location:Schwarzenborn lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some 13.5 km from Homberg in the Knüll. Through the constituent community of Grebenhagen flows the river Efze.-Coat of arms:...

's coats of arms; indeed, there is even another place in Hesse called Gemünden

Gemünden (Felda)

-Location:Gemuenden lies on the rivers Felda and Ohm, flowing from the Vogelsberg Mountains in the region of Upper Hessen amongst Homberg Grünberg, Kirtorf, Romrod and Feldatal, or more broadly, between Gießen and Bad Hersfeld...

 with a similar charge in its arms), and was taken from the Counts' arms. In 1261 there appeared a seal showing this composition surmounted by a city gate. This last charge was removed in the 14th century and since then, the town's arms have hardly changed. The stars may symbolize St. Mary's Monastery, another former local ruler 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...

. The stars have changed position several times over the ages, and the colours have changed – the creature was not always "armed and langued gules" (did not always have red claws and tongue) – but as they stand now, the arms match the oldest known seal.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/g/gemundew.htm

External links