LaVita Wallenhorst/Osnabrück (D)

Wallenhorst

Name origin

origin of the name disputed, possibly Osenbrugge (Nordic term for "bridge of the gods")

First documented mention

780 AD

Population

165,000

Area

119.8 km²

Federal state

Niedersachsen

Vehicle registration

OS

River

Hase

The Saunaclub LaVita is located in Wallenhorst-Hollage near Osnabrück.

Osnabrück lies in Niedersachsen, right on the state border with Nordrhein-Westfalen, at the crossing point of several motorways and railway lines, which makes the city an important transport hub.

Osnabrück has a lot connecting it to the city of Münster, about 50 km further south, for example the railway connection of the Westfalenbahn under the zone tariff, which means that travellers with a NRW-Ticket heading to Osnabrück's main station — which, incidentally, has the exotic form of a tower and marshalling station — don't need to buy another ticket. Just like Münster, Osnabrück is a bishop's seat and a university town; the city shares with Münster a Westphalian past, from which Osnabrück, unlike Münster, has however distanced itself, as well as the Münster/Osnabrück airport (FMO).

Above all, though, Osnabrück and Münster are connected by the historically important date 1648, when between 15 May and 24 October 1648 the Peace of Westphalia was concluded in Münster and Osnabrück, ending the Thirty Years' War in Germany as well as the Eighty Years' War of Dutch independence. In the Friedenssaal (Hall of Peace) of Osnabrück's town hall, completed in 1512 in the late Gothic style and the city's landmark, 42 portrait paintings of the rulers and European envoys of that era still hang today.

Put simply, Münster lies in the Münsterland and Osnabrück in the Osnabrücker Land, but the city deserves a more precise geographical description, as it is surrounded by the TERRA.vita nature and geo park, making it the only German large city that lies within a nature park. Osnabrück is situated in the Osnabrücker Hügelland, bordered to the north by the Wiehengebirge and to the south by the Teutoburger Wald, which is noticeable in the cityscape through many hills. North of the Wiehengebirge, however, the North German Plain begins, and the Osnabrücker Nordland there is characterised by terminal moraines, extensive moorland and geest.

Osnabrück developed as a market around the bishop's seat founded in 780 by Charlemagne. Within the Holy Roman Empire, Osnabrück belonged until 1803 to the prince-bishopric of the same name. The oldest city constitution, the Sate, dates from the year 1348. The city joined the Hanseatic League in 1412, and Osnabrück, as a principal town (Prinzipalstadt), belonged to the Westphalian quarter of the Hanse and developed into a prosperous trading city.

In 1803 the city came under the Electorate of Hannover, but shortly afterwards it was occupied by French troops. In 1806 Osnabrück belonged briefly to Prussia, in 1807 Napoleon incorporated it into the Kingdom of Westphalia, and in 1810 into the French Empire. After Napoleon Bonaparte's abdication, the city fell to the Kingdom of Hannover, created in October 1814 in the course of the Congress of Vienna, from which, after the German War of 1866, the Prussian Province of Hannover emerged.

In the age of industrialisation, the Georgs-Marien-Bergwerks- und Hüttenverein (Georgsmarienhütte) settled near Osnabrück in 1856, and the Eisen- und Stahlwerk zu Osnabrück (later Klöckner-Stahlwerk) in 1868, establishing the city's tradition as a steel location. Today the city is in particular one of Germany's centres of paper production; the paper manufacturers and processors Felix Schoeller Gruppe, Kämmerer, Rasch Tapeten, Duni and Fislage have their headquarters here and in the surrounding area.

There is much to see in Osnabrück's tranquil city centre — besides the town hall, one could mention the baroque Osnabrück Castle, which today houses the university, the Dom St. Peter founded in 785, the Marienkirche, parts of the medieval city fortifications such as the Bucksturm, the Waterloo-Tor built in 1817 at the former Heger Tor, the Ledenhof, the Haus Tenge, the Theater am Domhof or the Akzisehaus, as well as the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus in the museum complex of the city of Osnabrück.

Thanks to its prominent location within the nature park, Osnabrück is, among other things, an excellent starting or finishing point for several long-distance hiking trails looked after by the Wiehengebirgsverband Weser-Ems, including the Handelsweg, the Hünenweg, the Pickerweg and the Wittekindsweg. The natural bathing waters Rubbenbruchsee and Attersee serve as natural oases.

Born in Osnabrück were Carl Krone, Erich Maria Remarque, Felix Nussbaum, Hartwig Piepenbrock, Olaf Scholz, Christian Wulff and Robin Schulz.

Wallenhorst:

Wallenhorst is an independent municipality in the Landkreis Osnabrück. It is located about 8 km north of Osnabrück's city centre and was first documented around 863 AD in the Latin legend De miraculis sancti Alexandri as Walonhurst. In the course of the final territorial reform in 1972, Wallenhorst was not incorporated into Osnabrück, but historically, culturally and economically it belongs to the Osnabrück region.