DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Hessen	Hesse
Kreis: Main-Kinzig-Kreis

map →

Gelnhausen is situated at an elevation of 133 m in the Kinzig valley in eastern Hesse, about halfway between Frankfurt am Main and Fulda. Gelnhausen is the administrative seat of the Main-Kinzig district and has a population of about 21,700 (2002).

Gelnhausen was founded in 1170 by Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa) by combining three older villages which had already existed. The site was very favourable since it was located at the crossroad of the Via Regia, the old trading route from Frankfurt to Leipzig, which at this place crossed the river. Until the Thirty Years' War (1618–1848) Gelnhausen thrived as a trading town. However, the repeated lootings during the war effectively ruined the city and made it almost uninhabitable. It took until the 19th century that the industrialisation initiated a new thriving period.

With the administrative reform of 1974, Gelnhausen ceased to be a district town. The districts Hanau, Schlüchtern and Gelnhausen were combined to form the new Main-Kinzig district with Hanau as the seat of the district administration. In June, 2005, the district authorities moved back to Gelnhausen.

The Marienkirche (church of Our Lady) [top picture: background left, and bottom right picture: far right] was built between 1170 and 1250. At first only a small church with one nave was built, of which only little remains today. The present church was shaped by four further building periods, and was effectively completed in 1467.

The Barbarossaburg (Imperial palace) [bottom left] was built towards the end of the 12th century. It is the be best-preserved Imperial palace from the Hohenstaufen period in Germany. Among the best-preserved parts of the palace is the 'Palas', the living quarters of the emperor, a fascinating example of Romanesque architecture.

The Hexenturm (Witch Tower) [bottom right] was constructed between 1447 and 1478. The mighty tower was built behind the town wall as a canon base to strengthen the fortifications between two of the old town gates. The bridge towards the village of Burg was located beneath the tower and could thus be protected better. The tower received its popular name because many victims of witch trials of the 16th and early 17th century were imprisoned here. At the time the city was threatened by the Hussites, a radical group of the Taborites (see Tábor). The height of the tower is 24 m, its diameter 9 m. Its walls have a thickness of up to 2.80 m.

The best-known natives of Gelnhausen are probably Johann Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (ca.1622–1676), one of the best-known German authors of the 17th century, and Philipp Reis (1834–1874), co-inventor of the telephone.