Willingshausen

Willingshausen
Coat of arms of Willingshausen Coat of arms
Willingshausen
Location of Willingshausen within Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district
Coordinates:
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)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	4,905
• Density	82/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.

Geography

Location

The community of Willingshausen lies in the Schwalm area.

Neighbouring communities

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).

Constituent communities

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

Politics

Municipal council

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:

SPD	14 seats
CDU	7 seats
BGL/FWG (citizens' coalition)	6 seats
FDP	4 seats

Culture and sightseeing

Willingshäuser Malerkolonie

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.

Regular events

Two music festivals take place each year in the constituent community of Loshausen, the "World Music Festival der Klangfreunde" on the first weekend of August, and "Rock im Park" in July.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 254 (Homberg – Fulda) is about 6 km east of town. The Alsfeld-West interchange on Autobahn A 5 (Kassel – Frankfurt is about 15 km away.

The community belongs to the North Hesse Transport Network.

External links

• Willingshausen
• Painters' Colony in Willingshausen