Willingshausen

Willingshausen
Coat of arms
Willingshausen
Location of Willingshausen within Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district
Coordinates: 50°51′N 09°12′E / 50.850°N 9.200°E / 50.850; 9.200Coordinates: 50°51′N 09°12′E / 50.850°N 9.200°E / 50.850; 9.200
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Kassel
District	Schwalm-Eder-Kreis
Government
• Mayor	Heinrich Vesper (FDP)
Area
• Total	59.95 km2 (23.15 sq mi)
Elevation	239 m (784 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	4,872
• Density	81/km2 (210/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	34628
Dialling codes	06691 und 06697
Vehicle registration	HR
Website	www.willingshausen.de

Willingshausen is a community in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany.

The community of Willingshausen lies in the Schwalm area.

Willingshausen borders in the north on the town of Schwalmstadt, in the northeast on the community of Frielendorf, in the east on the town of Neukirchen and the community of Schrecksbach (all in Schwalm-Eder), in the south on the town of Alsfeld and the community of Antrifttal (both in the Vogelsbergkreis), and in the west on the town of Neustadt (Marburg-Biedenkopf).

Willingshausen consists of the ten centres of Gungelshausen, Leimbach, Loshausen, Merzhausen, Ransbach, Steina, Steinatal, Wasenberg (administrative seat), Willingshausen and Zella.

Willingshausen's municipal council is made up of 31 councillors.

As of the last municipal elections held on 26 March 2006, the council seats are apportioned thus:

The Willingshausen Painters' Colony is Germany's oldest artists' association. It was founded by a man from Livonia named Gerhardt Wilhelm von Reutern after he had been badly wounded in the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1814 while serving as an officer in the Russian army; as a result, he had to have his right arm amputated. He came to convalesce with his brother's inlaws at the Schwertzellsche Haus in Willingshausen, where he met and got to know the lady whom in 1820 he would wed, Charlotte von Schwertzell. He settled down in Willingshausen and began to draw and paint. He procured an honorary stipend from the Russian Imperial Family, which afforded him financial independence.

In 1825 the Kassel painter Ludwig Emil Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's brother, came to Willingshausen to study landscapes. This is said to be the time when the colony was founded. Many painters worked – and still work today – at Willingshausen. The Museum "Malerstübchen" at the Gerhardt-von-Reutern-Haus documents the artists' work.