Gelnhausen

Gelnhausen is located on the German Fairy Tale Route, a tourist route.

History

Imperial City of Gelnhausen Reichsstadt Gelnhausen
1170–1803
Status	Free Imperial City
Capital	Gelnhausen
Government	Republic
Historical era	Palatinate	26 May 1435
• Hanau extinct; share to Lgvt Hesse-Kassel	28 March 1736
• Palatinate share to Hesse-Kassel	1746 1803
• Hesse-Kassel raised to electorate	1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Lordship of Hanau Lordship of Hanau County of Schwarzburg County of Hohnstein

Gelnhausen was founded by

Repeated plundering in the Thirty Years' War as depicted by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen in his novel Simplicius Simplicissimus made it nearly uninhabitable. In 1736, the extinction of the comital line of Hanau meant the condominium share was inherited by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, who acquired the Palatinate's share ten years later.

The varying lords made continued attempts to challenge Gelnhausen's

During the Nazi era, Gelnhausen was reported judenfrei on November 1, 1938, by propaganda newspaper Kinzigwacht after its synagogue was closed and remaining local Jews forced to leave the town.^[3]

From the 1930s Gelnhausen was a garrison town of the German Wehrmacht and, after World War II, of the United States Army. The US Army closed Coleman Kaserne in 2007.

In 1996, the town hosted the 36th Hessentag state festival.

Arts and culture

Attractions

Sights include:

• Medieval town center with historic buildings like the Romanisches Haus [de] (ca. 1180), the Gotisches Haus [de] (1351/52).
• The Kaiserpfalz Gelnhausen. The castle was erected 1160-80 at the time of Gelnhausen's foundation southeast of the town on an island in the Kinzig river. The groundwork is stabilized by 12,000 logs, driven into the earth. Today it is the best preserved Kaiserpfalz from this era.
• The Marienkirche [de], the most recognizable landmark of Gelnhausen. It shows both Romanesque (like the six-storey west tower) and Gothic architecture (the octagonal crossing tower and the east towers) elements. The church was built from local bunter between 1170 and 1250 by Selbold Abbey, replacing a simple chapel from ca. 1100 of which some traces remain. In 1543, Gelnhausen turned Protestant and the church became the Protestant parish church.^[4]: 18
• The Catholic church of
  Reformation
  , the building became the property of the town. It subsequently fell into ruin and was sold in 1830 to a local merchant. After the demolition of the second tower, a cigar factory was built in it. In 1920, the Catholic community of Gelnhausen bought the church and partly restored it over an 18-year period. A complete restoration took place in 1982–3.

Governance

Town twinning

Gelnhausen is

• Clamecy, France
• Marling, Italy

Infrastructure

Transport

Gelnhausen lies directly on the German

• August Brey (1864–1937), politician, member of the Weimar National Assembly, born in Ronnenberg
• Johann Heinrich Cassebeer [de] (1784–1850), naturalist and mayor of Gelnhausen
• Hans Fischinger [de] (born 1909), film director, brother of Oskar
• Oskar Fischinger (1900–1967), film director
• Hans Joachim Fröhlich [de] (died 2008), forestry scientist and conservationist, born at Meerholz, Gelnhausen
• Jost Hoen [de] (c. 1500–1569), teacher, pedagogue and statesman
• Tia and Tamera Mowry (born 1978), actresses
• Klaus Ploghaus (born 1956), athlete (hammer throw, 3rd place in the 1984 Summer Olympics)
• Johann Philipp Reis (1834–1874), inventor of one of the first telephones
• Friedrich Armand Strubberg (1806–1889), Merchant, physician, colonist in North America. Direct descendant of Frederick I of Sweden. Buried in Gelnhausen
• Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (c. 1622–1676), writer; In his work Simplicissimus, the sacking of Gelnhausen during the Thirty Years' War is graphically described
• Wolfram Weimer [de] (born 1964), chief editor of the Cicero magazine

Like many American soldiers, in 1959 Colin Powell, then lieutenant of the 3rd Armored Division, served at Coleman Kaserne. A street was named after him. During the Second Gulf War, there was some discussion about renaming the street because of Germany's stance on the war. The mayor of Gelnhausen strongly objected.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gelnhausen.