Dillenburg | |
|---|---|
 Dillenburg - View on the Wilhelmsturm and the old town | |
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Dillenburg within Lahn-Dill-Kreis district  | |
 Location of Dillenburg | |
  Dillenburg  Dillenburg | |
| Coordinates:50°44′N08°17′E / 50.733°N 8.283°E /50.733; 8.283 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Hesse |
| Admin. region | Gießen |
| District | Lahn-Dill-Kreis |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–25) | Michael Lotz[1] (CDU) |
| Area | |
• Total | 83.76 km2 (32.34 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 590 m (1,940 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 230 m (750 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 23,533 |
| • Density | 281.0/km2 (727.7/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 35661–35690 |
| Dialling codes | 02771 |
| Vehicle registration | LDK, DIL |
| Website | www.dillenburg.de |
Dillenburg (German pronunciation:[ˈdɪlənbʊʁk]ⓘ), officiallyOranienstadt Dillenburg,[3] is a town in Hesse'sGießen region inGermany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of theLahn-Dill-Kreis.
The town lies on the German-Dutch holiday road called theOrange Route, joining towns, cities and regions associated with theHouse of Orange-Nassau, as well as on theGerman Timber-Frame Road and theRothaarsteighiking trail.
Dillenburg lies on the eastern edge of theWesterwald range in the narrow valley of the riverDill, which flows from Hesse-Westphalia border toWetzlar, emptying into theLahn. TheDietzhölze flows into theDill in Dillenburg.
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Dillenburg borders in the north on the community ofEschenburg, in the east on the community ofSiegbach, in the south on the town ofHerborn, and the community ofBreitscheid, and in the west on the town ofHaiger (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
Dillenburg is divided into the centres of Donsbach, Eibach, Frohnhausen, Manderbach, Nanzenbach, Niederscheld and Oberscheld.
Donsbach lies approximately 4 km southwest of the Dillenburg main town.
Eibach has some 1,450 inhabitants.
The village, whose livelihood was once based onmining, lies among the other constituent communities of Nanzenbach, Oberscheld and Niederscheld. Its healingspring, whose water is heavy withiron, makes the village a favourite among locals. AtEastertime, it is decorated.
With roughly 3,900 inhabitants, Frohnhausen is the largest of the constituent communities after the main town of Dillenburg.
Manderbach lies on aplateau 3 km north of the main town of Dillenburg.
Nanzenbach lies approximately 6 km north of the main town of Dillenburg. The tallest mountain of Dillenburg, theEschenburg at an elevation of 589 m, is part of the Nanzenbach area.
Niederscheld is a village with about 3000 inhabitants, lying 2 km from the main town of Dillenburg. The name comes from a small brook called the Schelde that rises between Oberscheld and Tringenstein and flows into the Dill at Niederscheld. The village's greatest hallmarks are the oldblast furnace and the Adolfshütteindustrial park. Towards the end of theSecond World War, the village suffered comparatively heavy damage fromAlliedair raids.Niederscheld had been appointed a target, because parts for theV-2 rocket were built at the Adolfshütte.
Oberscheld is a village of about 2,000 inhabitants. It neighbours Niederscheld. Mining was quite important for Oberscheld until the last blast furnace was closed in 1969. Oberscheld had a station, the last train ran in Oberscheld in 1987.
Dillenburg had its first documentary mention in 1254. Dillenburg was the ancestral seat of the Orange branch of theHouse of Nassau.Dillenburg Castle was built on top of the peak now called the Schlossberg in the late 13th or early 14th century. There are no pictures of this castle, however, as it was wooden, and was destroyed in theDernbacher Feud.
From his stately home in exile,William I of Orange-Nassau, who was born in Dillenburg, organized the Dutch resistance againstSpain (1567–1572), which still occasions regular Dutch royal visits to the town to this day. The land was administered by the presidents of the House of Nassau-Dillenburg. One of the last presidents was Georg Ernst Ludwig Freiherr von Preuschen von und zu Liebenstein (born 1727 inDiethardt; died 1794 inBad Ems). In theSeven Years' War, the stately home was destroyed (1760), and Wilhelmstraße (a street) was built out of the remains.
In 1797, one of the earliest schools of forestry in Europe, founded a decade earlier atHungen byGeorg Ludwig Hartig, was moved to Dillenburg. It continued in Dillenburg until 1805, when Hartig lost his position as Inspector of Forests for the Prince ofOrange-Nassau, when the principality was dissolved byNapoleon.
In 1875, the Wilhelmsturm (tower), views from which can be seen in this article, was completed on the Schlossberg. It is today the town's landmark. The "casemates" under the former stately home are among the biggest defensive works inEurope. They have been partly excavated and may be toured.
In the 19th century came theIndustrial Revolution with the building of theDeutz–Gießen railway and the use ofiron ore found on the Lahn, Dill and Sieg. Many mines,foundries and metalworking operations came into being in the region. In this time, many railway branchlines were built from Dillenburg to, among other places, Gönnern and Ewersbach. These lines have all been abandoned now. The line to Gönnern was abandoned in 1987 and torn up. The railway depot, so useful in the time of steam traction, was shut down in 1983.
In theSecond World War, Dillenburg became a target of Allied attacks due to itsmarshalling yard. In later years that yard was closed and ore mining became ever less profitable and in 1968, the last blast furnace, in Oberscheld, ceased operations.
As of November 2017, the town's name was officially extended to "Oranienstadt Dillenburg" to reference Dillenburg's special connection to theHouse of Orange-Nassau as its ancestral seat.[4]
Eibach's history began in "Nassau times" in the 13th century. In 1313, the village had its first documentary mention. In the Second World War, it was left unscathed. In 2004, the healing spring was renovated, and a brineworks was built.
Manderbach had its first documentary mention in 1225, making it older than the main town of Dillenburg (1254). The two former villages – nowadays parts of Dillenburg – Frohnhausen and Manderbach, had much in common in their early history. Here the two noble families von Hunsbach and von Selbach both held sway. As in Frohnhausen, there was also a great fire in Manderbach – albeit 148 years before Frohnhausen's – which, having been started by alightning strike, burnt 38 houses down within an hour and a half on 29 April 1630.
The name Nanzenbach was mentioned for the first time in a document on 8 May 1325. This document mentions "die Nantzenbecher" — "the inhabitants of Nanzenbach".
(in each case on 31 December)
The oldest town seals, dating from the 15th to 19th centuries, show the same composition as Dillenburg's current civiccoat of arms. The arms were conferred officially in 1907 and confirmed in 1934. The lion inside the gateway is the Lion of Nassau.[1]
In Donsbach is a wildlife park.
The following trails go through or begin in Dillenburg:
The bypass on Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B277 opened in April 2007. It is atunnel under the Schlossberg, bypassing the historic Old Town with itstimber-frame houses and it was one of Germany's biggest tunnel projects. As a result of the bankruptcy of the contractor for the works, Walter Bau, completion of the project was delayed by more than a year.
Dillenburg station is on theDill line, part of the originalCologne-Gießen Railway. It runs fromGießen toSiegen and connects central Hesse with theRhineland and theRuhr. TheHeller Valley Railway, runs fromBetzdorf viaBurbach to Dillenburg. The Dillenburg station was once a major freight terminal for iron mining in the Schelderwald.
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