Ahrensbök

Marienkirche

Coat of arms

Ahrensbök

Location of Ahrensbök within Ostholstein district

Coordinates: 54°1′N 10°35′E / 54.017°N 10.583°ECoordinates: 54°1′N 10°35′E / 54.017°N 10.583°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Ekkehard Schaefer

Area

• Total

95.38 km² (36.83 sq mi)

Elevation

55 m (180 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

8,297

• Density

87/km² (230/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

23620–23623

04525 04505

Website

Ahrensbök is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 17-km northwest of Lübeck, and 45-km southeast of Kiel.

Ahrensbök came into existence after the foundation here of a pilgrimage chapel in 1280. The first documentary reference to the settlement dates from 1328. In 1348 the place was devastated by the Black Death.

In 1397 the Carthusians founded a monastery here, Ahrensbök Charterhouse, which helped the place grow in prominence. In 1564 the Amt Ahrensbök, or district of Ahrensbök, was established as a civil administration unit, and between 1593 and 1601 a castle was built, Schloss Hoppenbrook, on the site and with the materials of the charterhouse, which had been secularised in the 1580s during the Protestant Reformation and subsequently demolished. In 1623 Schloss Hoppenbrook became for a few years the residence of the newly established Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, until the completion of the dukes' new castle at Plön in 1636, after which Schloss Hoppenbrook became a secondary residence. In 1746 Duke Friedrich Karl abolished serfdom in his duchy. In 1765, after the death of his widow, the castle was demolished.

A cattle and horse market was established in the town in 1791, which was replaced in 1832 by a regular weekly market. On the site of the former castle the Amtshaus, or town hall, was built in 1826. During the Second Schleswig War of 1864 Ahrensbök fell for a short time under the control of first the Austrians and then the Prussians. In 1867 a district court was established here. In the same year, after the Austro-Prussian War, the district of Ahrensbök was given to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg as compensation for their hereditary claims on the newly-Prussian territory of Holstein.

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Wikipedia