# Medieval gems of Germany: Herborn (Dillkreis)



## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

Here is part 3 of my photo tour through smallsized old towns in Germany.
This one is about Herborn, a town of approx. 9000 inhabitants (20000 inh. including surrounding villages within the town's borders), situated at the River Dill (which flows into the River Lahn, which you may remember from my Limburg an der Lahn-Thread) between the landscapes of the Westerwald and the Lahn-Dill-Bergland in Western Hesse. You can reach the town via the A45 between Frankfurt-*Gießen-Siegen*-Lüdenscheid-Dortmund.

The town was founded in 1048 AD.

Let's begin with some photos of the old downtown, its houses and streets.











This is the town hall, located at the market square. Built in 1626.











This region between Gießen and the Ruhrarea (Dortmund) is known for cladding the houses with slate shingles. Many houses here have a shingle-side and a framework-side.



















































































I really like the narrowness of these old alleys.





























The car in the foreground is the odd one out and would better fit to some american suburb 
























































This area looks like a pretty nice neighborhood to me




















The building in the background is the train station across the Dill River.











More pictures (of the castle Herborn and the upper town) will follow later.

Enjoy


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## tonyssa (Aug 14, 2007)

Nice place!


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## edubejar (Mar 16, 2003)

I like the look of very historic, small German towns.


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## isakres (May 13, 2009)

Ok..this is a niiice town....next time i visit Germany Im gonna skip the big cities!!!


Is that a 1000-1100 AD architechture...or the town had a lift up over the years.......


Pull out those cars an put some chickens and pigs around..and we'll get a middle ages postcard lol...:lol:


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## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

isakres said:


> Is that a 1000-1100 AD architechture...or the town had a lift up over the years.......


The oldest house dates back to 1445. In 1626, there was a bigger fire which destroyed 214 houses.


Now we head to the castle Herborn, which is located west of the oldtown on a hill. It has been first mentioned in 1350 and nowadays it's home to an evangelic theological seminar.





























A view over the old town as seen from the castle





















This is the "backside" of the castle











Behind the castle, there are also some old houses






































Once, here was a wall.











Here too, a tower is left and finally we get to see the Dill River 











That's it


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## Dr.Mabuse (Jun 6, 2009)

isakres said:


> Ok..this is a niiice town....next time i visit Germany Im gonna skip the big cities!!!
> 
> 
> Is that a 1000-1100 AD architechture...or the town had a lift up over the years.......
> ...



to be honest i dont know one germany city with 1000-1100 AD architecture still alive or even older, except cathedrals, churches and castles and roman buildings like the Porta *****.

Fires, Wars (not only ww2), destruction, break ups and abridgements during centuries are reasons why aren't there houses from e.g 1000-1100 AD.

As the oldest single standing house in germany counts the Römer 2-4-6.



> The Römer 2-4-6 is a Gothic timbered house constructed in 1289. It is located in the historical old German town of Limburg an der Lahn.


ld:

With all the things mentioned above, it comes close to a wonder, that we have any buildings older than 1945.

And i dont know if timber framed houses were ever builded between 1000-1100 AD. Dunno the architecture style :dunno:

From Wikipedia
Timber framing was the most popular building technique from the 12th to the 19th century. The oldest buildings still standing are from the 13th century. 
The German Framework Road is a traveling route that links cities with picturesque half-timbered buildings. It is more than 2000km long and stretches across the states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse, Thuringia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
http://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/uk/cont.php3


*edit*
if you like older buildings please click this link
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=37916362&highlight=#post37916362

Just a random exmaple of a pre 1000 AD building, a church of course. More or less original with surley renovations done. 








First mentioned in the year 910, but possibly older.


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## isakres (May 13, 2009)

Thanks for the info Patrick and Dr Mabuse...

I have a thing with old fashioned towns...the more i see the pictures the more i like them.......it is good to preserve historical buildings and houses despite they were re-built or not...

Cheers guys! keep em coming pls


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## Dr.Seltsam (May 28, 2008)

Really nice pics! Thanks, Patrick!



Patrick said:


>


^^ What a fantastic place to deposit an electrical panel! :weird:


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## isakres (May 13, 2009)

^^:lol:.......maybe they thought it could be used as a bench next to the fountain.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Amazing photos of this beautiful town


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2009)

Thanks for such a charming thread, it is like living in a fairy tale :cheers:


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## Clay_Rock (Jun 1, 2005)

Great photos! Thanks for posting them.


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## Rohne (Feb 20, 2007)

Dr.Mabuse said:


> As the oldest single standing house in germany counts the Römer 2-4-6.


So it's only 2 years older than Schellgasse 8 in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen (the city's oldest timber frame house). But I doubt that Römer 2-4-6 is the oldest single standing house - maybe you just forgot to add the term "timber frame".



> And i dont know if timber framed houses were ever builded between 1000-1100 AD. Dunno the architecture style :dunno:


Even if there were more buildings left from this period I doubt a single one would be timber frame. Timber framing came up with gothic architecture. In the part of Frankfurt's old town (Germany's timber frame capital until 1944) that is going to be reconstructed, a romanesque 12th century building stood (hope it will be rebuilt too) and even this one was completely built of stone...


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## pixel2008 (Sep 18, 2008)

Very nice, picturesque town. :cheers:


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## Dr.Mabuse (Jun 6, 2009)

Rohne said:


> So it's only 2 years older than Schellgasse 8 in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen (the city's oldest timber frame house). But I doubt that Römer 2-4-6 is the oldest single standing house - maybe you just forgot to add the term "timber frame".
> 
> 
> 
> Even if there were more buildings left from this period I doubt a single one would be timber frame. Timber framing came up with gothic architecture. In the part of Frankfurt's old town (Germany's timber frame capital until 1944) that is going to be reconstructed, a romanesque 12th century building stood (hope it will be rebuilt too) and even this one was completely built of stone...


i did not know that, thank you. do you know more example of older houses? neither be orginal or original reconstructed in germany?


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## AJphx (Sep 13, 2002)

beautiful town, thanks for the photos.


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## Max BGF (Sep 24, 2003)

Great town/photos!

Interesting combination of clapboard and timble frame.
Beside the old town also beautiful: site, green, creek, overgrown castle.


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## Max BGF (Sep 24, 2003)

Btw: From your Signature-Trilogy 
_Medieval gems of Germany: #1 Limburg, #2 Michelstadt, #3 Herborn_
I personally like the pics from Herborn the most, @Patrick.


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## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

Max BGF said:


> Btw: From your Signature-Trilogy
> _Medieval gems of Germany: #1 Limburg, #2 Michelstadt, #3 Herborn_
> I personally like the pics from Herborn the most, @Patrick.


thx 

well, it's a chronological order, of when I took the pics


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## frank hannover (Oct 5, 2005)

Nice City ! I was sitting in my first car , with three other gang members when we heard in the radio something about a disaster in a city called Herborn.
We checked out where it is located and we visited it , roughly 1 - 2 hours from my town of Hersfeld . A gas filled truck was unable to stop from a long , steep road into the town of Herborn . He crashed full speed into a building ,
with some outdoor ice coffee bar (and guests) around it. Result: Several old style buildings were blown up , several people were killed or injured (burned),
the truck driver survived .


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## Gabe (Jul 24, 2003)

I love those villages...last summer I was in Nördlingen, Donauwörth, Harburg.....they all were really beautiful villages.


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## capricorn2000 (Nov 30, 2006)

wow a very beautiful medieval German town.
what is amazing is that it is well preserved.

___________________________
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## william of waco (Jul 13, 2008)

Wow. I will have to add yet another entry on my _'Places I want to live' _list. 

Sadly, many towns in Germany that survived the war went on to refurbish their old buildings to such an extent that the ancient feel they exuded were lost. 
Regensburg is a good example of this. 
But in Herborn the medieval atmosphere is well intact, I can feel it even looking at these pictures.

Thank you for introducing me to another beautiful little town I had no idea existed.


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## Dr.Mabuse (Jun 6, 2009)

william of waco said:


> Wow. I will have to add yet another entry on my _'Places I want to live' _list.
> 
> Sadly, many towns in Germany that survived the war went on to refurbish their old buildings to such an extent that the ancient feel they exuded were lost.
> Regensburg is a good example of this.
> ...


watch the signature of Patrick, otherwise you miss other great medieval towns


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## Nightsky (Sep 16, 2002)

Incredibly nice!


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## [email protected] (Jun 18, 2007)

Germany have always been pleased, is a country of dream, I hope soon to visit greetings from Manizales, Colombia


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## Weissenberg (Jul 31, 2014)

Nice town indeed, never been there, but it reminds me of Monschau.


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## madonnagirl (Aug 7, 2011)

splendid it's a great thing the town was not damaged during any of the wars since.


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