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DEUTSCHLAND GERMANY
Bundesland: Niedersachsen Lower Saxony
Landkreis: Hameln-Pyrmont  

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Hameln

en, fr, pt, ro, sl, tr: Hameln es: Hamelín lv: Hamelne
uk: Гамельн bg, mk, sr: Хамелн be, ru: Хамельн

3391 Hameln Hameln (English: Hamelin) is situated at an elevation of 68 m on the Weser river in the south of Germany's state of Lower Saxony. Hameln is the seat of the administration of the district Hameln-Pyrmont; the municipality has a population of about 56,700 (2016). Hameln is best known for the tale of the "Pied Piper of Hameln".

Hameln started with a monastery, which was founded as early as AD 851. A village grew in the neighbourhood and had become a town by the 12th century. The incident with the "Pied Piper" is said to have happened in 1284 and may be based on a true event, although somewhat different from the tale. In the 15th and 16th centuries Hameln was a minor member of the Hanseatic League of trading towns. The era of the town's greatest prosperity began in 1664, when Hameln became a fortified border town of the Principality of Calenberg. In 1705, it became part of the newly created Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, also called Hannover, when Georg Ludwig, Prince of Calenberg, later King George I of Great Britain, inherited the Principality of Lüneburg. Hameln was surrounded by four fortresses, which gave it the nickname "Gibraltar of the North". It was the most heavily fortified town in the Electorate of Hannover. In 1808, Hameln surrendered without fighting to Napoleon, after his victory at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. Napoleon's forces subsequently pulled down the town's historic walls and guard towers. In 1867 Hameln became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, which annexed Hannover in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.

The Klütturm, officially named Georgenturm [left, no. 3391: background left] is a sightseeing tower built in 1843 on the Klüt hill out of the ruins of the former Fort George (built in 1760–1763, demolished in 1808). In 1887 the tower was heightened to a height of 23 metres.

The right part of the picture on glass no. 3391 depicts the tale of the Pied Piper, a medieval story that tells of a tragedy that befell the town in the 13th century. The version written by the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm made it popular throughout the world; it is also the subject of well-known poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Robert Browning. In the summer every Sunday, the tale is performed by actors in the town centre.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hameln, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hameln; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klütturm]


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