Lilienthal, Lower Saxony

Infobox German Location
Art = Gemeinde
Name = Lilienthal
Wappen = Wappen Lilienthal.pnglat_deg = 53 |lat_min = 8
lon_deg = 08 |lon_min = 55
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Niedersachsen
Landkreis = Osterholz
Höhe = 0 - 12
Fläche = 72.03
Einwohner = 18190
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 28865
PLZ-alt = W-2804
Vorwahl = 04298
Kfz = OHZ
NUTS = DE936
Gemeindeschlüssel = 03 3 56 005
Straße = Klosterstr. 16
Website = [http://www.lilienthal.de/ www.lilienthal.de]
Bürgermeister = Willy Hollatz
Partei = GrüneThe municipality of Lilienthal belongs to the administrative district of Osterholz, Lower Saxony and borders Bremen.

History

The history of the city of Lilienthal goes back to its founding as a monastery by the archbishop Gerhard II. In 1232 construction was begun on a convent of the Order of the Cistercians under the name of "Vallis Liliorum" (valley of lilies), and the finished building was sanctified in 1264. During the 1400s, the cloister enjoyed a time of prosperity. After the Reformation, it became a Protestant Center for Women, and until the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 it remained in deplorable conditions. In 1650, the city went through secularization. The land once belonging to the monastery, which had become fragmented, developed into the small town of Lilienthal.

In the meantime, according to the terms of the peace treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War (The Peace of Westphalia), the land between the Weser River and the Elbe now belonged to Sweden. Queen Christina sent one of her commanders over, Graf Friedrich von Hessen-Eschwege, to the newly created sovereign state of Osterholz, in which the charge of both Lilienthal and Osterholz were combined. After his early death in 1655, his wife Eleonora took over the government of the state, with her seat in Osterholz, where she took an active role in the improvement of economic and sanitary conditions for the rural population. After her death in 1692, the lands fell back into the hands of the Swedish Royalty. Lilienthal remained a part of Sweden until 1712 (which is why the coat of arms contains the blue and yellow of the Swedish Flag), at which time it belonged to Denmark, and then in 1719 it fell under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hanover.

In 1740, the monastery was destroyed.

In 1782, Johann Hieronymus Schröter became chief magistrate. In addition to this administrative office, he also played a large part in the advancement of astronomy during his lifetime. On the grounds of his office in Lilienthal, he constructed an observatory. In the following years, the Lilienthal Observatory would become the best equipped observatory in the world. One of its technological advances was the "Riesenteleskop" ("giant telescope"), a telescope with a 50cm aperture and an 8.25 m focal length. Due to the telescope, Lilienthal became well-known and was sought out in matters of astronomy by government and military officials. Schröter remained in contact with many of the important astronomers of the time. Together with Wilhelm Olbers and other scholars, he founded the "Astronomy Association" in Lilienthal in 1800. After Schröter's death in 1816, the observatory fell into disrepair. In 1850 the remaining structure was destroyed. A large part of the observatory was sent to the University of Göttingen before the demolition.

The Befreiungskrieg (a series of battles fought between 1813 and 1815 that ended the Napoleonic Wars) hit Lilienthal hard. After an incident during a retreat, French troops set the entire town on fire. Only the church, a few houses, and the observatory escaped the flames.

After the reconstruction, the then-municipality grew steadily. In 1939 there were 3,100 inhabitants, in 1974 12,500. After the incorporation of a neighbouring town in the same year, the population grew to 17,000.

In 1866, the kingdom of Hannover lost its independence. Lilienthal became Prussian, the bureaucratic office in Lilienthal was dissolved and combined with the office in the district of Osterholz.

Schools

*Christoph-Tornée-School
*All-Day Lilienthal Haupt- and Realschule
*Falkenberg Primary School
*Frankenburg Primary School
*Seebergen Primary School
*Trupermoor Primary School
*Worphausen Primary School
*Gymnasium Lilienthal
*Schroeterschule (Primary School)

Locality

Today, many former independent towns have been merged into Lilienthal. They include: Butendiek, Falkenberg, Feldhausen, Heidberg, Klostermoor, Lilienthal, Seebergen, St. Jürgen (itself made up of ten of its own communities: Frankenburg, Höftdeich, Kleinmoor, Mittelbauer, Moorhausen, Niederende, Oberende, St. Jürgen, Vierhausen, Wührden), Trupe, Truperdeich, Trupermoor and Worphausen (together with the previously merged villages of Lüningsee (1763), Lüninghausen (1764), Westerwede (1764), Moorende (1778), Mooringen (1778), Schrötersdorf (1805) and Neu Mooringen, founded by the royal Moor Colonist Jürgen Christian Findorff, (1808)).

Twinned Cities

Since 1970, the municipality of Lilienthal has been twinned with the Dutch municipality of Stadskanaal. In 1993, the city of Emerainville in the vicinity of Paris was added.

References

Based on the German article [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lilienthal&direction=next&oldid=14150187] .

External links

*de icon http://www.lilienthal.de/
*de icon http://www.worphausen.de