Kirchhain

Kirchhain's Town Hall.

Coat of arms

Kirchhain

Location of Kirchhain within Marburg-Biedenkopf district

Coordinates: 50°49′N 8°55′E / 50.817°N 8.917°ECoordinates: 50°49′N 8°55′E / 50.817°N 8.917°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Jochen Kirchner (Ind.)

Area

• Total

90.92 km² (35.10 sq mi)

Elevation

208 m (682 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

16,294

• Density

180/km² (460/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

35274

06422

Website

Kirchhain is a town in Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany.

Kirchhain is located in the heart of the state of Hesse in Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Geographically, it is surrounded by the Amöneburg Basin on the southeast edge of the Burgwald (a low mountain range) about 15 km east of Marburg on the rivers Ohm and Wohra.

In the north, Kirchhain borders on the town of Rauschenberg, in the east on the town of Stadtallendorf, in the south on the town of Amöneburg and the community of Cölbe.

Besides the main centre of Kirchhain with about 8,300 inhabitants, 12 further constituent communities share another 8,900 people:

In prehistoric times a network of long-distance and connecting trails crossed back and forth over the area where the town of Kirchhain was later to be founded. Since the early New Stone Age, there is evidence of almost continuous settlement in the area through various epochs. The high point of the expansion of settlement was in the early Iron Age (5th century BC). The first territorial development however began only in the 12th century; in 1146 the settlement was first mentioned in a document under the name "Werphloh". The region belonged at that time to the landgravates of Thuringia and Hesse, whereas the neighbouring Amöneburg and vast parts of the surrounding lands belonged to the Archbishops of Mainz. Time and again, the Hessians and Mainzers came to blows over who had ascendancy over these lands. As of the 13th century, the landgraves of Hesse further upgraded Kirchhain as a Hessian bulwark against Mainz's centre of Amöneburg so that they could control the region. Kirchhain then developed into the economic centre of the Amöneburg Basin. Kirchhain was presumably given town rights before 1348, but without any earlier documentary proof, the year 1352 has come to be seen as the official year of the town's founding.

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Wikipedia