Lorsch

Lorsch
Town hall
Coat of arms
Lorsch
Location of Lorsch within Bergstraße district
Coordinates: 49°39′14″N 8°34′3″E / 49.65389°N 8.56750°E / 49.65389; 8.56750Coordinates: 49°39′14″N 8°34′3″E / 49.65389°N 8.56750°E / 49.65389; 8.56750
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Bergstraße
Government
• Mayor	Christian Schönung (CDU)
Area
• Total	25.24 km2 (9.75 sq mi)
Elevation	93 m (305 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	13,515
• Density	540/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	64653
Dialling codes	06251
Vehicle registration	HP
Website	www.lorsch.de

Lorsch is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hessen, Germany, 60 km south of Frankfurt. Lorsch is well known for the Lorsch Abbey, which has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Lorsch lies about 5 km west of the Bergstraße in the Rhine rift just west of the Odenwald between Darmstadt to the north and Mannheim to the south. The town lies not far from the Weschnitz's lower reaches. To the town's southeast the Weschnitzinsel conservation area is located.

Lorsch borders in the north on the community of Einhausen and the town of Bensheim, in the east on the town of Heppenheim, in the southeast on the community of Laudenbach and the town of Hemsbach (both in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg), in the south on the town of Lampertheim and in the west on the town of Bürstadt.

Lorsch Abbey (German: Kloster Lorsch) was founded in 764 by the Frankish Count Cancor and his mother Williswinda. The abbey was one of the greatest centres of Carolingian art. Several Carolingian kings of Germany were buried there. The monastery was settled by Benedictines from Gorze Abbey near Metz. In a document from 885, the abbey is mentioned as Lauressam, from which, over the course of time, came the town’s current name. In the Early and High Middle Ages, the abbey was a powerful Imperial monastery with holdings in the nearby Odenwald, on the Bergstraße and in Rhenish Hesse, and also in Alsace and Lorraine.