Weimar (Lahn)

Weimar (German pronunciation: [ˈvaɪmaʁ] ) is a municipality in the south of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Gießen administrative region, Hesse, Germany. The municipality's administrative seat is the centre of Niederweimar. The municipal area stretches south from Marburg in the Lahn valley and west with the Allna valley on into the Gladenbach Highland and comprises an area of about 47 km². Other than Marburg, the municipality also borders on Ebsdorfergrund to the east, on Fronhausen to the south, on Lohra to the southwest, and in the far west on the town of Gladenbach. The name Weimar is believed to come from the Old Germanic word wih (holy, sanctified) and the Old High German word mar (lake, swamp or moor) put together. Allna had its first documentary mention as early as 807 and is thereby the earliest named centre in the municipality. Alongside this, however, Kehna, Oberweimar and Niederweimar, simply from their names, are said to be the oldest centres in the municipal area. The founding of the Martinskirche (church) in Oberweimar is assumed to have happened before Saint Boniface's time, namely about 600, in the time when Irish-Scottish monks were undertaking missionary work in the area. Over the last few years, as the gravel quarry at Niederweimar has been expanded, great Neolithic settlements have been found, which have since been kept in protective pits. Before the current municipality was founded, the places within it belonged to court regions (Gerichtsbezirke) which also had administrative functions.