Breitscheid, Hesse

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Breitscheid
Coat of arms of Breitscheid
Coat of arms
Location of Breitscheid within Lahn-Dill-Kreis district
Breitscheid is located in Germany
Breitscheid
Breitscheid
Coordinates: 50°41′N 08°12′E / 50.683°N 8.200°E / 50.683; 8.200Coordinates: 50°41′N 08°12′E / 50.683°N 8.200°E / 50.683; 8.200
CountryGermany
StateHesse
Admin. regionGießen
DistrictLahn-Dill-Kreis
Government
 • Mayor (2019–25) Roland Lay[1]
Area
 • Total31.74 km2 (12.25 sq mi)
Elevation
462 m (1,516 ft)
Population
 (2020-12-31)[2]
 • Total4,672
 • Density150/km2 (380/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
35767
Dialling codes02777
Vehicle registrationLDK
Websitewww.gemeinde-breitscheid.de

Breitscheid is a community in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany.

Geography[]

Location[]

Breitscheid lies from 266 to 600 m above sea level on the eastern slope of the Westerwald range at the point shared by three German states: Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Panorama of Erdbach.

Erdbach, a constituent community, lies in an interesting place with regards to Earth's history, in the eastern part of the Westerwald, near that range's highest peak, Fuchskauten (657 m).

Geology[]

In the Erdbach area are noteworthy limestone deposits from various geological time periods. "Erdbach limestone" from Lower Carboniferous times gave an era the name "Erdbachium". The Erdbach – the village's namesake brook – disappears into a karst system, and does not appear again for 1.5 km where it can be seen in a quarry.

Not far from there, the "Homberg" fossil reserve was instituted, which serves some university institutes from Jena to the Rhine as a research area. The older limestone formation near Breitscheid (main centre) stems from a subtropical coral reef from the Devonian period (mid-Palaeozoic, 400,000,000 years ago).

In the "stone chambers" of the Rolsbach valley, some gravesites from Hallstatt times (about 550 BC) were unearthed in 1884. In archaeology, there is a special burial ornament called an "Erdbach coil torc" (Erdbacher Wendelhalsring). It is also believed that Neanderthal people once lived nearby, but this belief awaits further discovery.

Neighbouring communities[]

Breitscheid borders in the north on the community of Burbach (Siegen-Wittgenstein district in North Rhine-Westphalia), and the towns of Haiger and Dillenburg, in the east on the town of Herborn, in the south on the community of Driedorf (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis), and in the west on the communities of Willingen and Liebenscheid (both in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate).

Constituent communities[]

Aside from the main centre, which bears the same name as the whole, there are outlying centres called Erdbach, Gusternhain, Medenbach and Rabenscheid. The community came into being on 1 January 1977 as part of Hesse's municipal reforms. The constituent communities were formerly independent municipalities.

Politics[]

Municipal council[]

The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

FWG 9 seats
CDU 9 seats
SPD 5 seats

Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.

Main sights[]

  • Töpfermuseum Breitscheid (Breitscheid Pottery Museum) displays the development of pottery and has pottery products on display from the last 250 years.
  • The old Fortress church in Breitscheid.
  • Erdbacher Höhlen (caves), karst caves and a karst spring.

References[]

  1. ^ Direkt gewählte (Ober-) Bürgermeister/-innen der hessischen Städte und Gemeinden, accessed 5 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Bevölkerung in Hessen am 31.12.2020 nach Gemeinden". Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt (in German). June 2021.
  • Museum "Zeitsprünge" (English: jumps in time) - geology, archaeology, history of cave discovering

External links[]

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