Rathaus Melsungen, Germany
N 51° 07.881 E 009° 32.640
32U E 538063 N 5664571
The famous half-timbered city hall of Melsungen, Northern Hesse.
Waymark Code: WMPZ7J
Location: Hessen, Germany
Date Posted: 11/15/2015
Views: 11
The City hall of Melsungen is a half-timbered house, built in the 1560s, in the center of the north Hessian town Melsungen. The building stands freely in all directions and has three overhanging upper floors. There are four polygonal corner turrets at the corners of the town hall. From the roof protrudes a central tower, where twice a day, at 12 clock and 18 clock, a carved wooden figure appears, which represents a Melsunger landmark, the Bartenwetzer.
Das Rathaus von Melsungen ist ein in den 1560er Jahren errichtetes Fachwerkhaus im Zentrum der nordhessischen Kleinstadt Melsungen. Das Gebäude steht nach allen Seiten frei und hat drei vorkragende Obergeschosse. An den Ecken des Rathauses befinden sich vier polygonale Ecktürmchen. Aus dem Dach ragt ein Mittelturm, in dem sich zweimal täglich, um 12 Uhr und 18 Uhr, eine geschnitzte Holzfigur zeigt, die das Melsunger Wahrzeichen, den Bartenwetzer, darstellt.
Melsungen is a small climatic spa in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th Hessentag state festival. It lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highland. The brooks Pfieffe and Kehrenbach flow into the Fulda here. A few kilometres downstream, the river Eder also empties into the Fulda. Melsungen comprises several smaller communities. In addition the main community, which is also called Melsungen, there are seven quarters named Adelshausen, Günsterode, Kehrenbach, Kirchhof, Obermelsungen, Röhrenfurth and Schwarzenberg.
Historical record of the town dates from 802, but it was likely settled much earlier, during the Hallstatt period (9th to 4th centuries BCE). Melsungen had developed into a small town (burgus) by 1189. The town's coat of arms also originated at this time.
In the course of its history, Melsungen often changed hands. The fiercest fighting over the town was between the Archbishops of Mainz and the Landgraves of Hesse and Thuringia.
Melsungen achieved its importance from its location at the crossroads of three mediaeval trade routes, the Sälzerweg, running east-west; the Nürnberger Straße, running north-south; and Durch die langen Hessen (roughly "Through the Long Hessians").
In 1554, a fire destroyed parts of the heart of town. In 1637, during the Thirty Years' War, the constituent community of Günsterode was laid waste.
From 1821 to 1974, Melsungen was an administrative centre and an independent district seat, until the Melsungen district was combined with the neighbouring Fritzlar-Homberg and Ziegenhain districts.
The town's 14,000 or so inhabitants call themselves Bartenwetzer ("Axe whetters").
Source: Official Tourist Info and Wikipedia
Name: Rathaus Melsungen
Address:
Am Markt 1
Meslungen, Hessen Germany
34212
Date of Construction: about 1565
Web Site for City/Town/Municipality: [Web Link]
Architect: Not listed
Memorials/Commemorations/Dedications: Not listed
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