Warburg is a town in eastern
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the westernmost and—in terms of population and economic output—the largest Federal State of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia has over 18 million inhabitants, contributes about 22% of Germany's gross domestic product and comprises a land area of 34,083 km²...
on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen,
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is in
HöxterHöxter is a Kreis in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Holzminden, Northeim, Kassel, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hochsauerland, Paderborn, and Lippe.- History :...
district and
DetmoldThe Regierungsbezirk Detmold is one of the five Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the north-east of the state...
region. Warburg is the midpoint in the
Warburger Börde.
Geography
The main town, consisting of the Old Town (
Altstadt) and the New Town (
Neustadt) and bearing the same name as the whole town, is a hill town. While the Old Town lies in the Diemel Valley, the New Town rises on the heights above the Diemel. The Warburg municipal area borders in the west on the
SauerlandThe 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...
and in the northwest on the
EggegebirgeThe Eggegebirge is a range of low, forested mountains in the very east of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.-Geography:The Eggegebirge extends from the southern tip of the Teutoburger Wald range near Horn-Bad Meinberg southwards to the northern parts of the Sauerland near Marsberg...
foothills, while in the north and northeast the
Warburger Börde abuts the town and in the south stretches the Diemel Valley.
Constituent communities
Warburg consists of the following 16 centres:
- Bonenburg (1,107 inhabitants)
- Calenberg (459 inhabitants)
- Dalheim (95 inhabitants)
- Daseburg (1,354 inhabitants)
- Dössel
Dössel is a village and constituent community of the town of Warburg, in the district of Höxter in the east of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
(651 inhabitants)
- Germete (997 inhabitants)
- Herlinghausen (446 inhabitants)
- Hohenwepel (683 inhabitants)
- Menne (846 inhabitants)
- Nörde (780 inhabitants)
- Ossendorf (1,332 inhabitants)
- Rimbeck (1,603 inhabitants)
- Scherfede (3,105 inhabitants)
- Warburg (10,663 inhabitants)
- Welda
Welda is a village and constituent community of the town of Warburg, in the district of Höxter in the east of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
(889 inhabitants)
- Wormeln (652 inhabitants)
Prehistory
In the
4th millennium BCThe 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marks the beginning of the Bronze Age and of writing.The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt are established and grow to prominence. Agriculture spreads widely across Eurasia...
, there was a
megalithA megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the...
culture in the Warburg area.
Protohistory
In the first century AD, there were
GermanicThe Germanic peoples are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age...
settlers south of the Desenberg.
Middle Ages
In the 8th century, there was a Saxon noble seat west of the town. In the 8th and 9th centuries came the
ChristianizationThe historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native pagan practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due...
of the
SaxonsThe Saxons were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants in Lower Saxony and Westphalia and other German states are considered ethnic Germans ; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch; those in north...
in the Diemel area.
The name Warburg was first mentioned in a document sometime around 1010, although
archaeologicalArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
finds have established that there were already people living in what is now Warburg by
protohistoricProtohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings...
times. The first definite documentary mention came in 1036.
In the 11th century there was on the
Warburger Burgberg ("Castle Mountain") the "Wartburg", under whose protection people came and settled. The castle was at first owned by Count Dodiko, whose estate, according to documents, passed in 1020 to the Bishop of Paderborn when the Count's only son met his end in an accident. Eventually, sometime between 1021 and 1033, the Emperor further granted to the bishop the Count's rights. About 1180, the Old Town was granted town rights.
From the castle hill, there was a good view over the Diemel Valley, such that a close watch could be kept on the
fordA ford is a place in a watercourse that is shallow enough to be crossed by wading, on horseback, or in a wheeled vehicle...
that merchants had to cross going to Warburg and
PaderbornPaderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
. This ford on the Diemel was a crossroads of several ancient commercial roads and was crucial in the town's development into a central place. The Warburg New Town was founded in 1228–1229 by Bernhard IV of Lippe, Bishop of Paderborn, to bolster his political position in the Diemel area against encroachment by the Bishop of Cologne. About 1239, the New Town had been built into a complete town in its own right, and the towsfolk there had full civil rights after the
DortmundDortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 587,830 makes it the 7th-largest city in Germany, and 34th-largest in the European Union....
and
MarsbergMarsberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-History:Although its origins are obscure, Marsberg was a prospering town by the 13th century . It was a free city until 1807, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia, until 1813...
models. In 1260, the New Town was granted the right to build a town wall, not only against armies from afar, but even – expressly – against the Old Town.
In 1364, both the Old Town and the New Town became members of the
Hanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading cities and their guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period...
. By 1436, they had forgotten their differences, uniting that year into one town.
Unification of the two towns
The two towns, the Old Town and the New Town, joined in 1436 into one town. In
Der Grote Breff ("The Great Letter"), the newly united town's constitution was precisely framed and sealed. Both former towns' seals are to be seen on the Great Letter. On the cast seal (in the picture), two defensive towers with a double wall are to be seen. Under the town gate stands the Bishop of Paderborn with a staff. The circumscription reads:
"Sigillium burgensium in wartborch". The Great Letter is written in
Middle Low GermanMiddle Low German is a language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the Hanseatic League...
, the Hanseatic League's language, and stands as a substantial legal document.
Hitherto, the Old Town's and the New Town's council meetings had each been taking place in their respective town halls, each on their respective marketplaces. Now, however, there were two
mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
s. This was solved by allowing each mayor to head the unified town for half the year. Furthermore, both town halls were used for council meetings, again, each for half the year. However, the problem of having two town halls was not fully resolved until 132 years after the two former towns had merged. Only then, in 1568, was the new
Rathaus Zwischen den Städten – Town Hall Between the Towns – built.
The common Town Hall, in the form of preserved
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
buildings, was built right on the former boundary between the two former towns, with two separate entrances for
Altstädter and
Neustädter ("Old Towners" and "New Towners"). In 1902–1903, it was expanded with a
half-timberedTimber framing , or half-timbering, is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber jointed together with pegged mortise and tenon joints.- Naming :...
floor. It stands right where a gate, the
Liebfrauentor (roughly, "Gate of Our Lady"), once stood. In the Middle Ages, this was the only gateway between the two then separate towns.
The Old Town's former Town Hall, renovated in 1973, nowadays serves
gastronomicalGastronomy is the study of the relationship between culture and food. It is often thought erroneously that the term gastronomy refers exclusively to the art of cooking , but this is only a small part of this discipline; it cannot always be said that a cook is also a gourmet. Gastronomy studies...
and residential ends. The New Town's former Town Hall served various purposes ranging from Town Hall cellar to assembly hall to market hall before it had to be torn down in 1803 owing to decrepitude.
There arose yet another superfluous government building in 1975 after the communities of the old
Amt"Amt" is a type of administrative division of some northern European countries. It is generally larger than a municipality, and the term is thus roughly equivalent to a U.S. "township".-The Amt in Germany:...
of Warburg-Land were amalgamated with Warburg, namely the
Amt administration building on Kasseler Straße, which was forsaken by the district authorities in favour of the
Behördenhaus ("Authority House") on Bahnhofstraße.
Modern times
In the early 17th century, Warburg was a well known and rich trading town. Outside the town walls rose "die Hüffert" as a new part of the town. In the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
, great parts of die Hüffert and other villages in the area were sacked and destroyed, impoverishing the town. In 1622, the town was captured by
Christian the Younger of Brunswick, Bishop of HalberstadtChristian the Younger , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Bishop of Halberstadt, was a German Protestant military leader during the Thirty Years' War. During the war time time he earned a reputation as a dangerous fanatic.-Life:...
, who is sometimes called in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
der tolle Christian – "Christian the Mad". By 1628, the town was changing overlords and occupation armies repeatedly as the war dragged on, ending up in Imperial hands by the time the war ended in 1648.
On 5 June 1695, Johann Conrad Schlaun was born in Nörde near Warburg (now one of Warburg's constituent communities).
On 31 July 1760, during the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War lasted between 1754 and 1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Prussia and Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony...
, Warburg was the scene of a battle that now bears its name. Twenty-four thousand
PrussianThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
,
HanoverianThe Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
, Hessian and
BritishThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
troops fought under Prince
Ferdinand of BrunswickFerdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was a Prussian field marshal known for his participation in the Seven Years' War....
and the
Crown PrinceA Crown Prince or Crown Princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
of
Hesse-KasselThe Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a reichsfreie principality of the Holy Roman Empire that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel) against a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
army of 21,500 soldiers led by Lieutenant-General Le Chevalier du Muy and the
Duke of BroglieVictor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie was a French aristocrat and soldier and a marshal of France. He served with his father, François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, at Parma and Guastalla, and in 1734 obtained a colonelcy....
. The Prussians and their allies won, killing 8,000 French soldiers while losing only 1,500 themselves, leaving them free to sack the town. A tower on the Desenberg recalls the
Battle of WarburgThe Battle of Warburg was a battle fought on 31 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War. The Battle was a victory for the Hanoverians and the British against the French. British general John Manners achieved some fame for charging at the head of the British cavalry and losing his hat during the charge...
.
On 3 August 1802, Prussian troops came into Warburg in anticipation of the decisions of
German MediatisationThe German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany in 1795–1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
(
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss). From 1807 to 1813, in the Napoleonic Era, Warburg belonged to the
Kingdom of WestphaliaThe Kingdom of Westphalia was a historical state that existed from 1807-1813 in parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoléon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, but had little territory in common...
. After the
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
in 1815, Warburg was once again assigned to Prussia. The next year, it became a district seat.
In 1849 came the railway. In 1892 – 244 years after it had ended – Warburg at last paid off the last of the debts that it had incurred because of the Thirty Years' War.
In 1933, at the March elections, the
Centre PartyThe German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic...
won 67.2% of the vote in Warburg to the NSDAP's 21.8%.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
there was a
Prisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp
Oflag VI-BOflag VI-B Dössel was a World War II German POW camp for officers located 5 km SW of the small town Dössel in north-western Germany.- Timeline :...
in the suburb Dössel. 20 September 1943, 47 Polish officers escaped through a tunnel. 37 were recaptured and executed by the Gestapo.
On 1 April 1945, Warburg was captured by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
troops.
On 1 January 1975 came municipal reorganization, which saw 16 formerly independent municipalities merged into a new greater town of Warburg. Also, the districts of Warburg and Höxter were united, taking the latter's name. In 1983, Warburg became a founding member of the Wesphalian Hanseatic League (
Westfälischer Hansebund).
Welda
The lands around Warburg's constituent community of Welda, once a border town between
WestphaliaWestphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Bochum, Detmold, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Minden and Münster and included in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia....
,
Waldeck-Places:* Waldeck Castle, a medieval fortress/castle in Germany* Waldeck, Hesse, a town in Hesse* Waldeck or Waldeck-Pyrmont, a principality in the German Empire and German Confederation, and a state in the Weimar Republic, named after the above castle and town* Waldeck, Bavaria, a village in the...
and
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
, have yielded forth archaeological evidence of a
CeltCelts is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic language...
ic presence. It has been confirmed that the village was once visited in 1856 by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who went on to become the "Ninety-Nine-Day Emperor", Kaiser
Friedrich IIIFrederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888 during the Year of the Three Emperors...
. He presented the church with a
CommunionThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
chaliceA chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for quaffing during a ceremony.-Christian:...
. After the Second World War, in 1945, there was an American
prison campPrison camp may be:* Concentration or internment camp* Federal prison camp, low-security facility among those on list of U.S. federal prisons* Labor camp* Death or extermination camp* Prisoner-of-war camp...
at Welda holding roughly 80,000 German
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
Wormeln
Likewise, Wormeln's surrounding area has yielded archaeological finds that point to ancient settlement.
There is believed to have been a parish in Wormeln by about 780, with church patrons
Simon the ZealotThe apostle called Simon Zelotes, Simon the Zealot, in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13; and Simon Kananaios or Simon Cananeus , was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus...
and
JudahJudah/Yehuda was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Judah; however some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
. Wormeln had its first documentary mention in 1018 in a donation document from Count Dodiko to
Meinwerk, Bishop of PaderbornBlessed Meinwerk was the Bishop of Paderborn from 1009 until his death.He was a member of the aristocratic Immedinger family and was granted his see on the understanding that his property would pass to the diocese on his death...
.
About 1246, the Counts of Everstein founded the Wormeln Cistercian Convent of the Nuns of the Grey Order. On 16 September 1810,
Jérôme BonaparteJérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
, King of Westphalia in Napoleonic times, decreed the convent's dissolution.
Population
(each time at 31 December)
- 1998 – 24,130
- 1999 – 24,234
- 2000 – 24,204
- 2001 – 24,218
- 2002 – 24,273
- 2003 – 24,292
- 2004 – 24,380
Christianity
During the
Saxon WarsThe Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the more than thirty years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of disaffected tribesmen was crushed. In all, eighteen battles were fought in what is now northwestern Germany...
in the 8th century the area round the Diemel was incorprorated into the Frankish realm. Beside other places Warburg is presumed to be the location were the
IrminsulAn Irminsul was a kind of pillar which is attested as playing an important role in the Germanic paganism of the Saxon people. The oldest chronicle describing an Irminsul refers to it as a tree trunk erected in the open air...
, an old Saxon sacred pillar. The Austrian abbot Sturmius proselytized the area around the Diemel and Weser in 774. So the area around Warburg was Christianized from 774 on.
Catholic church
As most of Warburg's inhabitants are catholic it is part of the center zone of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn. Many theologians as Otto Beckmann, Anton Corvinus or Julius Dammann, office bearers of the church like Johann Conrad Schlaun or Arnold Güldenpfennig and church artists like Josef Kohlschein come from Warburg.
Syriac Orthodox
The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
's bishopric of Germany was founded in 1997 and has its episcopal seat in the former
DominicanThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France...
monastery in Warburg. After the monastery was renovated, it was used as a Syriac Orthodox centre in Westphalia.
Jewish life in Warburg
Warburg had in bygone days an important
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish community. About 1800, roughly 200 of Warburg's 2,000 towsfolk were Jewish, and about 1900, some 300 of the 5,000 people in the town were. The sharp upswing in the population as a whole was due to migration from the countryside, industries setting up shop in town, and railway operations.
In the 16th century, the Warburg family took the town's name as their own and moved in the second half of the 18th century to
AltonaAltona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937. In 2006 the population was 243,972.- History :It was founded...
(
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
), where the brothers Moses Marcus and Gerson Warburg built up the Bankinstitut M&M Warburg in 1798. From this family also came the natural scientists Otto and
Emil WarburgEmil Gabriel Warburg was a German physicist who during his career was professor of physics at the Universities of Strassburg, Freiburg and Berlin...
the art historian and cultural theorist Abraham Moritz Warburg, better known as
Aby WarburgAbraham Moritz Warburg, known as Aby Warburg, was an art historian and cultural theorist who founded the Warburg Institute. The subject of his research was the legacy of the Classical world in the most varied areas of western culture through to the Renaissance...
, who founded the Warburg Institute.
Another well known Warburg Jewish family were the Oppenheims, among whom was
Hermann OppenheimHermann Oppenheim was one of the leading neurologists in Germany. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Bonn. He started his career at the Charité-Hospital in Berlin as an assistant of Karl Westphal...
, a famous German neurologist. Yet another famous townsman was Emil Herz, a publisher at the
Ullstein-VerlagUllstein-Verlag was founded in 1877 and is one of the largest publishing companies of Germany. It published newspapers and books through its subsidiaries Ullstein and Propyläen....
(until the Nazis forced him out as the company's director in 1934, after he had worked there for 30 years), who described in his book something of Jewish life in Warburg.
There is still a Jewish
cemeteryA 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 the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Warburg today. The
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
, which stood in the Old Town, was destroyed on
KristallnachtKristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria on 9 to 10 November 1938. It is often called Novemberpogrome or Reichspogromnacht in German....
(9 November 1938).
Buildings
- Historic Old and New towns
- Town Hall "between the towns"
- Town hall was once it's castle
- Partial city wall with remainders of the medieval city walls from both towns
- Five defensive towers (Frankenturm, Chattenturm, Johannesturm, Biermannsturm and Sackturm)
- Two town gates (Johannestor and Sacktor)
- Half-timbered houses among the oldest in Nordrhein-Westfalen (for example:Hirsch-Apotheke, Corvinushaus, Eckmänneken-Haus, Haus Böttrich)
- Catholic Oldtown church 'St. Maria-Heimsuchung' (1299)
- Catholic Newtown church 'St. Johannes Baptist' (1264)
- Ev. Church 'Maria-in-vinea / Maria-im-Weinberg'.
- second neo-Gothic Dominican cloister 'St.-Maria-Himmelfahrt'; built in 1906–1915.
- Erasmuschapel on the terrain of the earlier Wartburg on the Burgberg, the current castle cemetery. In the first floor of the chapel, the oldest building monument of the city is found with the romanctic crypt of the earlier St.-Andreas-Kirche.
- Marianum School (1828)
- Railway station from the year 1849 (Royal Westfälischen Railroad Company)
- Castle ruins of Desenberg
Medieval fortification
In the Middle Ages, the castle was mostly surrounded by a double wall ring, through which the old and new city gates lead to the breachstone.The old towns citizens first erected the connection wall of the castle to the
Johannistor-Tower. Because of height of the castle mountain the
Chattenturm was constructed. The round
Sackturm (Saxon tower) next to the
Sacktor (Saxon Gate) was erected in 1443 while the
Sacktor was built around 1300. Until 1830, the town castle hadabout ten city towers and nine city gates. In the walls of the old town, there were five gates and four in the new town, of which only the
Sacktor and the
Johannistor have been preserved. Between 1801 and 1840, the other gates were taken down.
Theatre and cinema
- Theater in Warburg, Pädagogisches Zentrum
- Kino Cineplex Warburg, Oberer Hilgenstock 30
Concerts
- Warburger Meisterkonzerte, Gymnasium Marianum auditorium and inner yard
- Rock gegen Regen, Scherfede
- Art of Darkness, Scherfede
Museums
- Museum im Stern, Sternstraße 35
- Bäckerei-Museum (private bakery museum) in Warburg's Old Town, Lange Straße 6
Regular events
- Maifest ("May festival", yearly)
- Kälkenfest (old word for "Lime festival", yearly)
- Oktoberwoche ("October Week", yearly)
- Schützenfest (shooting festival, every two years)
- Christmas Market, at both marketplaces during Advent
Advent is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches...
(yearly)
Politics
The last municipal election took place on 26 September 2004. Winners with an
absolute majorityAn absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed...
were the CDU. The next election is in 2009.
Town council
Council seat distribution (as at 1 October 2004):
- CDU
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany....
22 seats
- SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is Germany's oldest political party. The party governed at the federal level in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union until conceding defeat in the federal election of September 2009...
8 seats
- Bürger-Union 4 seats
- Greens
The Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany which originated from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
3 seats
- FDP
The Free Democratic Party is a classical liberal, pro-business political party in Germany. International counterparts include the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom, Yabloko in Russia and the Democratic Alliance in South Africa. It is a member of the Liberal International...
1 seat
Factional chairmen
- CDU: Willi Vonde
- SPD: Karl-Heinz Hellmuth
- Freie Unabhängige Bürger: Wolfgang Gumm
- Greens: Franz-Josef Rose
Mayors
Warburg's mayor is Michael Stickeln, the first deputy mayor is Elisabeth Müntefering, and the second deputy mayor is Heinz Josef Bodemann, all three of whom belong to the CDU.
Coat of arms
Warburg's civic
coat of armsA coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways. Historically, they were used by knights to identify them apart from enemy...
might heraldically be described thus: In azure a fleur-de-lis argent.
Warburg's oldest town seals are from 1254 and 1257, and show a bishop – likely the Bishop of Paderborn – standing in a gateway. The
fleur-de-lisThe fleur-de-lis is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
charge seen in today's arms originally appeared on
coinA coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the...
s minted in the town, beginning in 1227. Smaller town seals in the 14th century also showed the lis, with the gateway only appearing on the greater seal.
For a time in the 20th century, Warburg used a coat of arms based on the old greater seal, showing the walls, towers and gateway, but not the bishop. His place was taken by a fleur-de-lis. The town, however, readopted the fleur-de-lis-only composition on 30 June 1977.
Town friendships
Falkenberg/ElsterFalkenberg is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated near the river Schwarze Elster, 16 km east of Torgau, and 13 km northwest of Bad Liebenwerda....
, Germany, since 1991
LuckauLuckau is a city in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. Known for its beauty, it has been dubbed "the Pearl of Lower Lusatia".- Origin of the name :...
, Germany, since 1992
WalchseeWalchsee is a municipality in Tyrol, Austria, in the Kufstein district. It is located in the lower Inn valley and belongs to the "Kaiserwinkl" and the "Untere Schranne".-Geography:...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
(through the constituent community of Scherfede)
Town partnerships
ProchowiceProchowice is a town in Legnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Prochowice. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is 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...
, since 1997
LedegemLedegem is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Ledegem proper, Rollegem-Kapelle and Sint-Eloois-Winkel. On January 1 2006 Ledegem had a total population of 9,306. The total area is 24.76 km² which gives a population density of 376...
-Sint-Eloois-Winkel,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, since 1998
Economy and infrastructure
Warburg stands as a middle centre in an area shaped by
agricultureAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
. Of the two former great food producers, the Warburg canning plant and sugar factory, only the latter remains. The biggest fields of industry nowadays are automotive technology, steel and machine building, chemicals, woodworking and packaging. Since 1721, brewing rights have been held by the Kohlschein family.
Transport
At Warburg, Federal Highways (
Bundesstraßen) 7 and 252 cross. On the latter, one may reach the Warburg interchange on
AutobahnAutobahn is the German word for a major high-speed road restricted to motor vehicles capable of driving at least 60 km/h and having full control of access, similar to a motorway or freeway in English-speaking countries.In most countries, it usually refers to the German autobahn specifically...
A 44The Bundesautobahn 44 is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main-parts and a few smaller parts. It begins in Aachen at the German-Belgian border and ends near Kassel. Before the German unification it was an unimportant provincial-motorway but after this event it became an integral part...
(
KasselKassel Kassel Kassel and of the district (Kreis) of the same name...
-
DortmundDortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 587,830 makes it the 7th-largest city in Germany, and 34th-largest in the European Union....
), which not much farther on meets the
A 7is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963 km . It splits the country almost evenly from north to south. In the north, it starts at the border to Denmark as an extension of the Danish E 45. In the south, it ends at the Austrian border...
near Kassel.
The railway station lies on the
Ruhr areaThe Ruhr is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.3 million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
-Kassel (
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
,
InterCityInterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
and
RegionalBahnThe Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.- Service :Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
trains) and
HagenHagen is the 37th-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...
-Warburg regional lines: RE17
HagenHagen is the 37th-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...
–
SchwerteSchwerte is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Schwerte is situated in the Ruhr valley, at the south-east border of the Ruhr Area...
–
BrilonBrilon is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis.- Geography :Brilon is situated on the Brilon Heights at an altitude of about 450 m on the upper reaches of the river Möhne...
-Wald –
KasselKassel Kassel Kassel and of the district (Kreis) of the same name...
-Wilhelmshöhe and RB89
RheineRheine is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.- Geography :Rheine is located on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx...
–
MünsterMünster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region and it is also capital of the local government region Regierungsbezirk Münster...
–
HammHamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...
–
PaderbornPaderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
– Warburg (Westfalen-Bahn). Furthermore, the
Regio CitadisThe Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Melbourne and Rotterdam outside France.-Citadis...
tram-trainA tram-train is a light-rail public transport system where trams are designed to run both on the tracks of an urban tramway network and on the existing railways for greater flexibility and convenience...
runs to Kassel Main Railway Station (Kassel Hauptbahnhof). The surrounding towns are served by regional buses. The town belongs to the Paderborn-Höxter Local Transport Association (
Nahverkehrsverbund Paderborn-Höxter). When travelling towards Hesse, the North Hesse Transport Association (
Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund or NVV) tariffs apply.
Also easily reached are the two regional
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
s,
Kassel-CaldenKassel Calden Airport located west of Calden, lies , as the crow flies, northwest of the German city of Kassel. Built on farmland, ASL lying NNE of the Hoher Dörnberg, the airport was opened on 11 July 1970. The airport has a single asphalt runway, 04/22 , which is . There is a parallel grass...
and
Paderborn-LippstadtPaderborn/Lippstadt Airport is an airport in Germany that serves the Ostwestfalen-Lippe area in North Rhine-Westphalia. While the name implies a location within the city of Paderborn or the town of Lippstadt, the airport is actually located in the town of Büren, around 18 km from Paderborn...
.
Established businesses
- Brauns-Heitmann GmbH
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany , Austria , Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
& Co. KGA Kommanditgesellschaft is the German name for a limited partnership business entity and is used in German, Austrian and some other European legal systems....
- Benteler Automobiltechnik GmbH, Warburg Works
- RTW Rohrtechnik GmbH
- Linnenbrink Technik Warburg GmbH
- Südzucker
Südzucker AG is a German company, the largest sugar producer in Europe with an annual production of around 4.6 million tonnes.-Sugar segment:The company has 40 sugar factories and 2 bioethanol refineries in:*Austria**2 sugar factories...
AGAktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market...
- Kobusch-Sengewald GmbH
- Warburger Brauerei GmbH
- Reposa GmbH
- Berg GmbH
- Tolges Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH & Co. KG
- PRG mbH Präzisions Rührer und Rühranlagen
- LX-3 Veranstaltungstechnik
Education
- Jugenddorf Petrus Damian, youth help institution
- Kath. Grundschule Warburg
- Johannes-Daniel-Falk
Johannes Daniel Falk was a German poet.Falk was born in Danzig in the Polish province of Royal Prussia. In 1816 he wrote the German text O du fröhliche.. to the melody of one of the most popular Christmas songs, O Sanctissima. Falk was the founder of the Falk'sche Institute, a public education...
-Schule
- Gymnasium
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...
Marianum
- Hüffertgymnasium
- Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and Russian Empire .-Germany:In the German secondary school system, the Realschule is ranked between Hauptschule and Gymnasium...
Warburg
- Hauptschule
A "Hauptschule" is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling. Any student who went to a German elementary school can go to a Hauptschule afterwards, whereas students who want to attend a Realschule or Gymnasium need to have good marks in order to do so...
Warburg
- Eisenhoitschule – special school
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
for students with learning difficulties
- St. Laurentius
Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.-History:...
-Heim, school for physically and mentally handicapped
- Petrus-Damian-Schule, special school
- Johann-Conrad-Schlaun-Berufkolleg, Höxter district vocational school
- Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik, school for social pedagogy
- Volkshochschule
Folk high schools are institutions for adult education that do not grant academic degrees. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and in Germany and Austria...
Warburg
- Musikschule Warburg
Fire brigade
The town of Warburg already had at its disposal in the Middle Ages organized fire-quenching forces from among the citizenry. With the "Prussian Fire Order" in the early 19th century, even the outlying communities were obliged to lay the groundwork for firefighting.
Beginning about 1850 in what is today Warburg's municipal area, the first structures of modern fire brigades were taking shape as "dousing and spraying teams". These were the beginnings of the Ossendorf and Scherfede fire brigades.
After the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
(1870–1871), it was
veteranA war veteran is a person who has or is serving in the armed forces, or a person who has had long service or experience in an occupation or office....
s who had the idea of setting up volunteer fire brigades after the French example of the
pompiers. Thus arose the Wormeln fire brigade.
In the main town of Warburg, the volunteer fire brigade was founded in 1889, and quickly thereafter, the same happened in communities throughout the
Warburger Land. After the fire in Hohenewepel in 1912, they were established in Dössel, Hohenwepel and Menne.
Today's Warburg volunteer fire brigade was founded in 1975 by merging the town's and all newly amalgamated centres' former volunteer fire brigades.
Famous people
The following personalities were born in Warburg:
- Antonius Corvinus, theologian
- Antonius Eisenhoit, goldsmith
- Johann Conrad Schlaun, Baroque
Baroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
building master (born in Nörde near Warburg)
- Arnold Güldenpfennig, Paderborn cathedral and diocesan building master
- Ignatz Urban
Ignatz Urban was a German botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Berlin Botanical Garden. Born the son of a brewer, Urban showed an interest in botany as an undergraduate. He pursued further study at the...
, botanist
- Hermann Oppenheim
Hermann Oppenheim was one of the leading neurologists in Germany. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Bonn. He started his career at the Charité-Hospital in Berlin as an assistant of Karl Westphal...
, CharitéThe Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the medical school for both the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe....
neurologist
- Emil Herz, Germanist and Ullstein publishing director
- Rudolf von Delius, writer, publisher
- Heinrich Emmerich, cartographic
Cartography is the study and practice of making geographical maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of cartography are to:*Set the map's...
leader in the VaticanThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
(born in Dössel near Warburg)
- Heinrich Holtgreve, painter and artistic educator
- Manfred Grothe, suffragan bishop in the Bishopric of Paderborn
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese...
The following personalities were not born in Warburg, but lived and worked in the town:
- Lorenz Humburg (1906–1994), painter, worked as an art teacher at Warburg Gymnasien
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...
- Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
Christoph Schönborn, OP is an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church and theologian. He currently serves as Archbishop of Vienna and President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference...
(born 1945), Archbishop of ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, joined the Domican Order in Warburg in 1963
- Josef Wirmer
Josef Wirmer was a German jurist and resistance fighter against the Nazi régime.- Life :Born in Paderborn, Josef Wirmer was from a Catholic family of teachers. His father was a Gymnasium headmaster. After his Abitur in Warburg he studied law in Freiburg and Berlin...
(1901–1944), jurist and Resistance fighter against National SocialismNational Socialism is a political term that is both vague and ambiguous. As the name suggests, features of nationalism and socialism are combined and interrelated to form an overall National Socialist ideology, although the combination process is neither obvious nor straightforward...
; a memorial stone is dedicated to him at the Gymnasium Marianum
- Franz-Josef Würmeling, (1900–1986), family minister, Gymnasium Marianum old boy
External links