Detmold

Detmold
Detmold
	The princely castle.
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Detmold Region
District	Lippe District
Founded
First mentioned
Subdivisions	26
	Government
• Mayor	Rainer Heller (SPD)
	Area
• Total	129.39 km2 (49.96 sq mi)
Elevation	134 m (440 ft)
	Population (2010-12-31)
• Total	72,758
• Density	560/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	32701–32760
Dialling codes	05231/05232
Vehicle registration	LIP
Website	www.detmold.de

Main	Births etc

This article is about the city in Germany. For other uses, see Detmold (disambiguation).

Detmold (German pronunciation: [ˈdɛtmɔlt]) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 74,000. It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of Lippe District and of Regierungsbezirk Detmold.

History[]

Middle Ages[]

Detmold was first mentioned in 783 as Theotmalli, and in 1005 a Tietmelli or Theotmalli region (Gau) is referred to in documents. In 1263, Bernard III of Lippe fortified the settlement at the crossing of the trade route from Paderborn to Lemgo over the Werre River with stone walls and granted it a municipal charter. Its population was reported in 1305 as 305. Market rights granted in 1265 led to rapid economic development. Its defenses were greatly strengthened after severe damage had been inflicted on the town during the conflict with Soest in 1447. A major fire in 1547 destroyed more than 70 houses.

Detmold-Kupferstich-Merian — Engraving of a view of the town of Detmold by Matthäus Merian, 1647

In 1550, Detmold became the permanent residence of Count Simon III of Lippe. The counts were elevated to princes in 1789, and Detmold remained the capital of the small Principality of Lippe until the end of the First World War in 1918, when all princely states in Germany were abolished.

Modern era[]

Street lighting was introduced in 1809, with oil-fired lanterns. By 1835, the town had become the most populous in Lippe, with over 4,000 residents. It grew to 12,000 in 1900 and over 30,000 in 1950.

From 1919 to 1947, Detmold was the capital of the Free State of Lippe. When Lippe was incorporated into the new German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the town became the seat of the Lippe district, and since 1972 it is the seat of the county administration of Lippe. With the administrative reform of 1970, 25 nearby villages were incorporated into the city.

Main sights[]

Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Music Academy of Detmold)
Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences)
Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold (Westphalian Open Air Museum)
Lippisches Landesmuseum (Museum)
Landestheater Detmold (Theater)
Hermannsdenkmal (Arminius Monument)
Adlerwarte Berlebeck (Falcon
Fürstliches Residenzschloß, a Renaissance castle in the center of the town park.
Donoper Teich (pond)
Hasselbachteich (pond)
Vogelpark Heiligenkirchen (bird sanctuary)

Hs-owl dt — Building on the Campus Detmold of the Hochschule OWL (2010)

Culture[]

The town supports the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie for regular symphony concerts.

Twin towns — sister cities[]

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Detmold is twinned with:

Hasselt, Belgium
Saint-Omer, France
Savonlinna, Finland
Zeitz, Germany
Kalithea, Greece

Personalities[]

Well-known personalities born in Detmold include:

Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810–1876) poet and author
Georg Weerth (1822–1856)
Christian Dietrich Grabbe (1801–1836), alongside Georg Büchner the most important innovator of German-language drama in his time
Joseph Plaut (1879–1966), actor, spieler, elocutionist, singer and regional poet
Hans Ottomeyer (b 1946), art historian, for 11 years curator of the German Historical Museum in Berlin
Iris Berben (b 1950), actress
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (b 1956), former foreign minister and chancellor candidate for the SPD
Andreas Voßkuhle (b 1963), president of the Bundesverfassungsgericht
Manfred Ostermann (1958–), German local politician (independent) and currently (2010) Landrat for Soltau-Fallingbostel
Jürgen Stroop (1895-1952) - German Nazi general of the SS, war criminal
Heinz Burt (1942-2000) British musician and member of the Tornados
Peter Lampe (b 1954), German theologian

Important people who lived and worked in Detmold for a long time include:

Albert Lortzing (1801–1851), composer
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), composer
Heinrich Drake (1881–1970), politician
Felix Fechenbach (1894–1933), government president of the resistance fighters
Thomas Quasthoff (b 1959), bass-baritone

Amongst the honorary citizens of Detmold, besides politicians are scientists and artists who have served in Detmold. The best-known are the builder of the Hermannsdenkmal, Ernst von Bandel (1871), Reich Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1895), and Reich President, Paul von Hindenburg (1917).

References[]

^ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. 31 December 2010. http://www.it.nrw.de/statistik/a/daten/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/index.html.

External links[]

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Detmold. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

[1] "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. 31 December 2010. http://www.it.nrw.de/statistik/a/daten/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/index.html.

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