DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Hessen	Hesse
Regierungsbezirk: Kassel
Kreis: Werra-Meißner-Kreis

map →

Witzenhausen is situated at an elevation of 147 m on the river Werra in the northeastern slopes of the Kaufunger Wald region. The municipality has a population of about 15,400 (2009).

Since medieval times, wine was grown in this times, at least at times. The oldest document referring to the payment of a yearly tithe in the form of 2 tuns of wine to the archbishops of Mainz dates from 1226. Even in 1757, wine seems to have been cultivated here. Due to rising temperatures in recent years, a new attempt to grow wine has been undertaken in 2008. On the other hand, Witzenhausen is well-known for the cultivation of cherries; the local cherry producing region is the largest contiguous are of its kind in Germany. Witzenhausen is also a campus of the university of Kassel; it is the only one in Germany offering studies in Ecologic Agricultural Sciences. The administrative district Witzenhausen was formed in 1821, then as part of the Electorate of Hesse, and remained unchanged when Hesse was annexed by Prussia in 1866. With the administrative reform of Hesse, the districts Witzenhausen and Eschwege and the town of Sontra (formerly part of the district Rotenburg) were merged into the new Werra-Meißner district with Eschwege becoming the seat of the administration of the new district.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witzenhausen, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werra-Meißner-Kreis]

The Kreishaus [left, no. 2660: top picture] was built in 1889–1891 in Historicist Gothic and Renaissance Revival style by a design by the architect Franz Heinrich Schwechten as the seat of the administration of the Witzhausen district. The domed roof of the building's tower (as depicted on the glass) was destroyed in 1945 by shelling from American troops; it was replaced by a flat roof after the war.
[http://www.imhof-multimedia-consulting.de/kdb/seiten/witzenhausen/kreishaus.htm]

The town hall [left, no. 2660: bottom left picture] was built in 1589–1590 in Renaissance style. A large fire destroyed the town hall in 1809. In 1819 the town hall was rebuilt. The façade towards Market Square is dominated by the characteristic octogonal tower.
[http://www.bildindex.de]

The Deutsche Kolonialschule für Landwirtschaft, Handel und Gewerbe (German Colonial School for Agriculture, Trade and Industry) [left, no. 2660: bottom right picture] was founded in 1898 by Prince Wilhelm Adolf Maximilian V of Wied in order to offer further education for people wanting to relocate to the colonies of the German Empire. Its patron became Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The School existed until 1956 and since then operates as German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture of the University of Kassel's Faculty of Ecological Agricultural Sciences.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Kolonialschule_f%C3%BCr_Landwirtschaft,_Handel_und_Gewerbe]