| content | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alsfeld | |
| Coat of arms | Location |
 |
  |
| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| State | Hesse |
| Admin. region | Gießen |
| District | Vogelsbergkreis |
| Town subdivisions | 16 Stadtteile |
| Mayor | Ralf Becker (SPD) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 129.69 km² (50.1 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 260-290 m |
| Population | 17,310 (31/12/2006) |
| - Density | 133 /km² (346 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | VB |
| Postal code | 36304 |
| Area code | 06631 |
| Website | www.alsfeld.de |
| Location of the town of Alsfeld within Vogelsbergkreis district | |
 |
|
Alsfeld (German pronunciation: [ˈalsfεlt]) is a town in the center of Hesse. Large towns nearby are Bad Hersfeld about 33 km to the east, Fulda 36 km to the southeast, Gießen 47 km to the west and Marburg an der Lahn about 36 km to the northwest. Alsfeld is located on the upper part of the Schwalm in the northern Vogelsberg Mountains and just to the south of the Knüll Mountains at the western edge of the Alsfeld basin. Different interests group Alsfeld with different regions, but it is easy to find the town right in the heart of Germany.
Contents |
Geography
Neighboring communities
Alsfeld borders on the following towns, listed here clockwise starting in the north: Willingshausen, Schrecksbach, Ottrau (all Schwalm-Eder district), Breitenbach (Hersfeld-Rotenburg district) and Grebenau, Schwalmtal, Romrod, Kirtorf and Antrifttal (all Vogelsbergkreis).
Boroughs
In addition to Alsfeld (proper) the town includes the following boroughs: Altenburg, Angenrod, Berfa, Billertshausen, Eifa, Elbenrod, Eudorf, Fischbach, Hattendorf, Heidelbach, Leusel, Liederbach, Lingelbach, Münch-Leusel, Reibertenrod and Schwabenrod.
History
In the 5th century the Huns under Attila came through the region around Alsfeld as the higher than average occurrence of the Mongolian spot around Alsfeld evidences to this day.
Alsfeld was first mentioned in an official document in 1069. Excavations in the Walpurgiskirche have discovered that a Roman church existed here already in the 9th and 10th centuries. It is therefore estimated that the town was founded in Carolingian times. Between 1180 and 1190 the Counts of Thuringia built a castle along the historic trading route of the Kurze Hessen. That location favored the development of Alsfeld and it was subsequently documented as a town as early as 1222.
Since 1247 Alsfeld has been part of Hesse and in 1254 the town joined the Rheinischer Städtebund. Hermann II built himself a castle here in 1695 and for a time turned the town into his official residence. From 1567 Alsfeld belonged to Hesse-Marburg and from 1604 on to Hesse-Darmstadt. Until 1972 it was the seat of Alsfeld district until the district was merged with neighboring Lauterbach district and the Schotten region into the present-day Vogelsberg district. At that time, the decision to designate Lauterbach as seat of the new district led to bitterness in Alsfeld that put a damper on the relationship between the two towns for years. This went so far that because of protests in and around Alsfeld the motor vehicle registration office in Alsfeld, for instance, would not issue licence plates with the code "LAT" (for Lauterbach) and instead continued to issue plates sporting the code "ALS" for Alsfeld until 1978 when the licence plate code "VB" was agreed on for the entire district of Vogelsberg.
One of the many legends about how Alsfeld came to its name and location goes as follows: Around 1200 the Margrave of Hesse/Thuringia went riding his horse over the Vogelsberg. When he got to the Homberg (a hill near Alsfeld) a very strong wind was blowing. Supposedly at this point the Margrave said: "Als fällt mir der Hut vom Kopp." (trans. I keep losing my hat.) The "Als fällt" in that statement supposedly became the name "Alsfeld" – it has the same pronunciation.
District reform
As a result of the district reform that took effect on July 11, 1972 the villages of Berfa, Hattendorf, Liederbach and Lingelbach were merged into the town of Alsfeld.
Government
Town council and executive
After the municipal elections of June 26, 2006 the town council was made up of 37 councilmen and councilwomen, belonging to political parties as follows:
The town's executive organ has a nine members. The members of the executive belong to political parties as follows:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
