Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hessen, Germany.
It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway
junction. Hanau is famous for being the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm.
In 1963, the town hosted the third Hessentag state festival. Until 2005,
Hanau was the administrative centre of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis.
Geography The historic core of Hanau is situated
within a semicircle of the river Kinzig which flows into the river Main just
west of the town. Today, after a substantial expansion during the 19th
and 20th centuries it also extends to the river Main and after a restructuring
of municipal borders within Hessen in the 1970s a couple of nearby villages
and towns were incorporated. After this change, Hanau for the first time also
extended to the south bank of the Main river.
= Districts= Name
The name is derived of "Hagenowe" which is a composition out of "Haag" and
"Aue". History
= Old town= As a place of settlement Hanau was first
mentioned in 1143. Then it was the site of a castle which used the waters of the
river Kinzig as a defense. The castle belonged to a noble family, calling
themselves "of Hanau" since the 13th century. Starting from this castle a
village developed and became a town in 1303. As a result of this history, the
main church of Hanau stood outside its walls in the village of Kinzdorf. The
villagers moved into the town, Kinzdorf became an abandoned village leaving only
the church. Only in the 15th century was the status of the Hanau parish church
transferred to the church of Mary Magdalene within the town walls.
Shortly after the first town walls were built at the beginning of the 14th
century, the town outgrew this limit. Outside the wall, along the road to
Frankfurt am Main a settlement developed which was properly included in the
fortifications of Hanau only when Hanau received completely new fortifications
in Renaissance-style during the first half of the 16th century. These new
fortifications enclosed three elements: The medieval castle, the medieval town
of Hanau and the Vorstadt. = New town=
At the end of the 16th century, Count Philipp Ludwig II attracted Protestant
refugees from the Netherlands and France to found their own settlement south of
Hanau. This was of high economic interest for him because these Walloons
brought high-class trade, their knowledge of jewellery and other
production of luxury items and therefore taxes to his county. Out of this
tradition, goldsmiths are still trained in Hanau. Hanau also was the site of the
first workshop to produce Faience within Germany. These new citizens were granted
privileges and they formed their own community, church and administration for
the "new town of Hanau" wholly separate from the existing community. It took
more than 200 years to amalgamate both. The new town – larger than the old one –
was protected by a then very modern fortification in Baroque-style which
proved a big asset only a few years later in the Thirty Years' War. The town
survived a siege in 1637 with only minor damage.
The new citizens formed the major economic and political power within the
County of Hanau and in 1642 played a leading role in the succession of Count
Fredrik Casimir of Hanau Lichtenberg into the County of Hanau-Münzenberg of
which the town of Hanau was the capital. In 1736 Johann Reinhard III of
Hanau-Lichtenberg, the last of the Counts of Hanau, died. Those parts of
his county belonging to the County of Hanau-Münzenberg, which included Hanau,
were inherited by the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Due to dynastic troubles
within this family the County of Hanau-Münzenberg was created a separate
state from the Landgraviate until 1786. So Hanau stayed capital for another 50
years. Even after that it became – after Kassel – the town second in importance
within Hesse-Kassel. = 19th Century=
During the Napoleonic Wars the Emperor himself ordered the fortifications of
Hanau to be destroyed. This created a chance for both parts of the town to
expand across their traditional limits. In 1813, the Battle of Hanau took place
near the city between French troops and Austro-Bavarian forces. During the 1820s
the administrations of both towns of Hanau were merged. The first common
Mayor, who became Lord Mayor was Bernhard Eberhard, later to become prime
minister and minister of the interior of Kurhessen after the Revolution of 1848.
With its pre-industrial workshops Hanau became a nucleus of a heavy
industrialisation during the 19th century: From within the city as well as
from outside. This was heavily supported by its development as an important
railway interchange of six railway lines, most of them main lines:
1848: Frankfurt-Hanau Railway 1854: Main–Spessart Railway
1867: Frankfurt–Bebra Railway, eastern direction
1873: Frankfurt–Bebra Railway, western direction
1879/1881: Friedberg–Hanau Railway 1882: Odenwald Railway
In the 19th century, Hanau was a centre of the German democratic movement and
contributed significantly both in 1830 and in the Revolution of 1848. As part
of this movement the German Gymnastic League was founded here in 1848. Hanau
was finally annexed to Prussia like all of Hesse-Kassel in 1866 after its
Prince-elector took the Austrian side in the Austro-Prussian War. It remained
part of Prussia until 1945. In the late 19th century Hanau became a
major garrison town. Due to its interchange of railway lines a large
detachment of military railway-engineers as well as other military units were
stationed here. = 20th Century=
During World War II, Hanau was for the most part destroyed by British
airstrikes in March 1945 a few days before it was taken by the US Army. It
housed a large US Army garrison until 2008. The extensive US facilities
included Hanau Army Airfield, also known as Fliegerhorst Langendiebach.
In 2010, the town started a huge building project to completely redesign
the inner city. Those are the largest construction works in the city since the
reconstruction after World War II. At present, many inhabitants work in the
technological industry or commute to Frankfurt. Frankfurt International
Airport is only 30 km away. Population
Hanau is the 6th largest town in Hesse. Having lost its status as administrative
centre of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis to Gelnhausen in 2005, proposals have been
made that Hanau should form its own administrative district.
More than 20% of the inhabitants are foreign nationals, mostly Turkish
workers. International relations
Hanau is twinned with 5 other towns: Dartford, United Kingdom
Tottori, Japan Yaroslavl, Russia
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France Francheville, Rhône, France
Nilüfer, Bursa, Turkey (Doorn, Netherlands terminated in
January 2009.) In addition it is associated with two
other towns: Waltershausen, Germany
Pays de Hanau, France Sights
Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Schloss Philippsruhe
Wilhelmsbad Marienkirche
Wallonisch-Niederländische Kirche Famous residents
Louis Appia, surgeon, member of the Geneva "Committee of Five"
J. C. C. Devaranne was born in Hanau on March 8, 1784
The Brothers Grimm collected many German fairy tales and started work on the
German Glossary Ludwig Emil Grimm, painter, younger
brother of Jacob and Wilhelm Solomon Hanau, 17th century
Hebrew-language linguistic master Hans Daniel Hassenpflug, German
statesman Paul Hindemith, composer
Alois Kottmann, violinist, was born in Großauheim
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, painter, often regarded as the first Jewish painter of
the modern era. Karl Storck, Romanian sculptor, born in
Hanau on March 30, 1887 Rudi Völler, football/soccer world
champion 1990 and coach of the German national team, when it was runner-up in
2002 Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Designer
Sports Turngemeinde 1837 Hanau a.V., one of the
oldest of Germany's sports clubs Hanauer Rudergesellschaft 1879 e.V., one
of Germany's oldest rowing clubs 1.Hanauer FC 1893 e.V., Hesse's oldest
football/soccer club References
^ "Die Bevölkerung der hessischen Gemeinden". Hessisches Statistisches
Landesamt. September 2014. ^ Twinned towns
External links Official site
HanauOnline Webzine Staatliche Zeichenakademie Hanau