Alfhausen

Alfhausen
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Coat of arms of Alfhausen Coat of arms
Alfhausen
Location of Alfhausen within Osnabrück district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Osnabrück
Municipal assoc.	Bersenbrück
Government
• Mayor	Klaus Wübbolding (CDU)
Area
• Total	39 km2 (15 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	3,782
• Density	97/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	49594
Dialling codes	05464
Vehicle registration	OS
Website	www.alfhausen.de

Alfhausen is a village in the collective municipality (Samtgemeinde) of Bersenbrück in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Geography

Location

Alfhausen is located just under 27 km north of Osnabrück.

Climate

The area has a mild maritime climate affected by the moist northwest wind from the North Sea. The average annual temperature in Alfhausen is 8.5° - 9.0 °C and average annual precipitation is around 700 mm. Between May and August there is an average of 20-25 "summer days" (the climatological name for days on which the maximum temperature exceeds 25 °C).

History

Alfhausen was founded in 974. The name Alfhausen comes from the Low German and means "eleven houses". Its exact history is however unknown. The majority of the population is Roman Catholic. However, there are other religious communities in the town. In Early Modern times, the town came under the rule of the Kingdom of Hanover. Quite a number of its inhabitants emigrated to Baltimore in the United States.

Sights

File:Alfsee Überlauf.JPG

The lake of Alfsee

In 1971, the Alfsee lake was created as a flood control storage basin for the River Hase; it was named after its closeness to the municipality of Alfhausen. As a popular destination for holiday makers and day trippers, the lake has gained great importance in recent years. The retention basin was extended in the 1990s by a second, in order to hold water from a larger catchment area.

The newly renovated Church of St John, built in the 13th century, is popular with couples getting married. Its interior partly dates to the Gothic era, for example the Bentheim font and the Madonna.

There are a number of 16th-century buildings in the old village centre.