Hann. Münden

The place is first mentioned in the deeds of donation of Gimundi to the abbey of Fulda, in 802. The town's name means "confluence" in old German; the prefix Hannoversch, or "Hanoverian", was added in the 19th century to help distinguish the town from its similarly-named Prussian neighbour, Minden.

City rights might have been granted during the latter half of the 12th century.^[3]

The French inventor Denis Papin built a steam-pump-powered paddlewheel boat, probably pedal-driven in 1704, and as a demonstration used it to navigate down the Fulda River from Kassel to Münden in 1707.^[4]

Hann. Münden was the site of the Royal Prussian Academy of Forestry: the city's botanical gardens with many different trees were primarily established for this academy. Later the academy was merged into the University of Göttingen, moving to a new building on the main campus in 1970.^[5]

Many tourists visit the city to see its some 700 well-preserved half-timbered medieval houses.

The large Lutheran church of St Blasius (14th–15th centuries), in Gothic style, contains the sarcophagus of Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Calenberg (d. 1540).^[3]

Other sights include:

• Renaissance Town Hall, built in the 14th century (now the central Gothic hall remains) with a façade renewed between 1603 and 1618.
• Old Werrabrücke, the bridge over the Werra river: one of the oldest stone bridges in the country
• Forstbotanischer Garten in Hannoversch Münden, an arboretum
• Remains of the medieval 12th century city walls (renewed in the 15th century)^[3]
• Tillyschanze, an observation tower built from 1881 to 1885 by citizens of the town^{[citation needed]} in memory of the siege of the town by Count Tilly in 1626.^[3]
• Welfenschloss, originally built by Duke Eric I in the Gothic style in 1501, as both a residence and administrative center. After its destruction by a fire in 1560, Duke Eric II had it rebuilt in Weser Renaissance style. The southern wing was again destroyed by a fire in 1849, but not rebuilt.

• Anna Maria of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen (1532–1568), duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
• Ludolph Büsinck (1600–1669), wood-engraver, local customs administrator
• Hermann Friedrich Teichmeyer (1685–1746), forensics physician and botanist
• Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775–1853), epigraphist and philologist; he deciphered cuneiform.^[6]
• Christian Kalkbrenner (1755–1806), Kapellmeister, violinist, organ and keyboard player and composer.
• Eduard Huschke (1801–1886), jurist and authority on church government.
• Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (1808–1899), orientalist and literary historian of Arabic literature
• Heinrich Christian Burckhardt (1811–1879), forest scientist and teacher of the local forest school
• Emma Jacobina Christiana Marwedel (1818–1893), a German-American educator, used the ideas of Friedrich Fröbel
• Ernst Wollweber (1898–1967), politician SED, Minister for State Security of the GDR
• Gustav Eberlein (1847–1926), sculptor, lived and worked here
• Anne-Marie von Schutzbar genannt Milchling (1903–1991), second wife of Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg
• Christa Schroeder (1908–1984), one of Adolf Hitler's personal secretaries
• Adam von Trott zu Solz (1909–1944), diplomat, resistance fighter during the Nazi period, studied here 1922–1927
• Hanne Wieder (1925–1990), cabaret artist, singer, TV and film actress.
• Alexander Strehmel (born 1968), football manager and a former player, played 414 games
• Niclas Huschenbeth (born 1992), chess grandmaster
• Felicitas Rauch (born 1996), footballer; played 36 games for the Germany women's national football team

Hann. Münden is twinned with:^[7]

•   Suresnes, France (1959)
•   Holon, Israel (1988)
•   Chełmno, Poland (1992)

• Hedemünden
• Metropolitan region Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Münden". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 4.

• Official city homepage
• Official tourist office of Hann. Münden