Witzenhausen
Fantastic things:
Charmingly situated in the romantic Werra River Valley, Witzenhausen is the centre of one of the largest and oldest cherry-growing regions in Germany.
It is for the cherry - the emblem of the city - that Witzenhausen's renown has spread far beyond state borders. This small red fruit has been cultivated for centuries in the mild climate of the Werra River Valley. During cherry blossom season, it is always a special experience to see the town encircled by approx. 150,000 cherry trees in blooming white splendour, especially when hiking on the well-marked cherry trails.
The cherry and university town of Witzenhausen has a lot to offer: you may take a stroll through the historic town centre enjoying its architecture and history, stop in at one of the cosy cafés or treat yourself to Hessian cuisine and hospitality at one of the restaurants.
The many historically valuable half-timbered houses, some of them indeed incomparable, are testimony to the highly-developed building art during the middle ages. Sights of particular interest include the Renaissance town hall, the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche), St. Michaels Chapel and remnants of the city wall with towers and the former Wilhelmiten Monastery.
Witzenhausen has succeeded in preserving tradition while being open to innovation. With a satellite campus of the University of Kassel including the Faculty of Ecological Agricultural Sciences, it is Germany's smallest university town. You will see many young people from all parts of the world giving the town a marked cosmopolitan flair.
A special Witzenhausen attraction is the cherry adventure trail, the only one of its kind in Germany. Over a distance of 4.5 km, you may join the cherry detectives trailing the track of the cherries in Witzenhausen. You will pass through 17 adventure points where you may discover a treasure, meet a ‘tall princess' and even climb into the crown of a cherry tree, among other things.
Enchanting places:
"Once upon a time..." - these three magic worlds are the introduction to the wonderful world of Grimm's Fairy Tales, which, for the most part, are known to have originated in or around Kassel. There are numerous towns in the Kassel area where the Brothers Grimm used to work, including Witzenhausen.
After the Grimms were expelled from Göttingen and the Kingdom of Hanover, the brothers and two other professors arrived in Witzenhausen where they found shelter at what nowadays is the guesthouse ‘Zur Krone'. There are numerous other buildings in the historic Witzenhausen town centre from the times of the Brothers Grimm that can be seen during a walking tour through the town.
At the Burghotel Witzenhausen, there is the consulate of Mother Hulda Land, where you will find everything worth knowing about Mother Hulda and all the legends and myths about her.
The symbolic figure of the town of Witzenhausen is the Cherry Queen. Together with her princesses, she represents the town domestically and abroad for the period of one year. Every year at ‘Kesperkirmes', as the cherry fair is known, which traditionally takes plays on the second weekend in July, the new majesties are elected and formally proclaimed. This event always attracts a large number of visitors to the town - to the election night, to the ‘2 queens ride' on the Werra River, to the inauguration of the new queen on the market square and to the cherry-pit spitting championships.
Phone: 05542 60010
Fax: 05542 600123
E-Mail: info@kirschenland.de
www.kirschenland.de
