Hann. Münden

'''Hann. Münden (short for Hannoversch Münden''') is the German official name of a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. The city is located in the district of Göttingen at the confluence of the Fulda and Werra rivers, which join to form the river Weser. It has 28,000 inhabitants. It is famous for its old houses, some of them more than 600 years old.

Name
The name of the town was originally Münden. The official name was changed to Hannoversch Münden (from the former affiliation with the kingdom of Hanover) in order to distinguish Münden from Minden (which is similarly pronounced). Later, to avoid confusion with Hanover, the city's name was abbreviated to Hann. Münden. Inhabitants still generally refer to their own town as Münden.

History
The place is first mentioned in the deed of donation of Gimundi to the abbey of Fulda, in 802.

City rights might have been granted during the latter half of the 12th century.

The French inventor Denis Papin built a steam-pump powered paddlewheel boat, probably pedal-driven in 1704, and as a demonstration, used his steam paddlewheeler to navigate down the Fulda River from Kassel to Münden in 1707.

Hann. Münden was site of the Royal Prussian Academy of Forestry; the city's botanical gardens were established in relation to this academy. The Academy later was merged into the University of Göttingen, moving to a new building on the main campus in 1970.

Main sights
The large Lutheran church of St Blasius (14th-15th centuries), in Gothic style, contains the sarcophagus of Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Calenberg (d. 1540).

Other sights include:
 * Forstbotanischer Garten in Hannoversch Münden, an arboretum
 * Remains of the medieval 12th century city walls (renewed in the 15th century)
 * Tillyschanze, an observation tower built from 1881 to 1885 by citizens of the town to remember the siege of the town by Count Tilly in 1626.
 * Welfenschloss, originally built by duke Eric I in Gothic style in 1501, as both a residence and administrative center. After its destruction by a fire in 1560, duke Eric II had it rebuilt in Weser Renaissance style. The southern wing was again destroyed by a fire in 1849, but not rebuilt.
 * Old Werrabrücke, one of the oldest stone bridges in the country
 * Renaissance Town Hall, built in the 14th century (now the central Gothic hall remains) and renewed in the façade between 1603 and 1618.

Twin towns

 * 🇫🇷 Suresnes, France, since 1959
 * Hackney, United Kingdom, since 1973
 * 🇮🇱 Holon, Israel, since 1988
 * 🇵🇱 Chełmno, Poland, since 1992