Hanau is a town in Hesse, Germany with 91,000 inhabitants. Hanau is located 10 km west of Frankfurt-am-Main

History

Hanau was first mentioned in 1143 and became a city in 1303. At the end of the 16th century count Philipp Ludwig II allowed protestant refugees from the Netherlands to found an own settlement nearby Hanau. Those Walloons brought their knowledge in jewelry production to Hanau. For this reason goldsmiths are still educated there. In the 19th century the so called Neustadt (New Town) was united with Hanau. Naming of the town was forced by litanies of presence in following the old noblemen of the "Hahns" (which means "Cocks"). They settled down in the northern shire (which is "Au" in German) so that the conjured name of the olde town was "Hahnau". Later the "h" fell apart due to spelling reasons. Hanau was a centre in the german gymnast movement and the collapsed democratic revolution of 1848. During World War II Hanau was nearly completely destroyed by britain airstrikes, because of its logistic importance.

Nowadays many inhabitants work in in the technological industrie (VAC, Heraeus ) or shuttle to Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main). The international Airport is very near - only 30km.

Facts

• Hanau, with its more than 90,000 inhabitants, is the 6th largest town in Hesse and administrativ centre of Main-Kinzig-Kreis (Main-Kinzig district).
• The population density is 1166 inhabitants/km². More than 30% of the inhabitants are foreign national.
• Governing mayor: Claus Kaminsky (SPD), since the 17th of novembre 2003

Hanau is twinned with:

• Dartford (England)
• Tottori (Japan)
• Jaroslawl (Russia)
• Neuilly-sur-Seine (France)
• Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (France)
• Francheville (France)
• Doorn (Netherlands)

and assotiated with:

• Pays de Hanau (France)
• Waltershausen (Thuringia, Germany)

Sights

• the German House of Goldsmiths (Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus)
• Philippsruhe castle
• the health establishment Wilhelmsbad
• Maria Church (Marienkirche)
• Dutch-Walloon Church (Niederländisch-Wallonische Kirche)

Famous Persons

• The Brüder Grimm (Grimm Brothers) collected many german fairy tales and started working at the German Glossary.
• Paul Hindemith: componist
• Rudi Völler: football/soccer world champion 1990 and coach of the german national team, when it placed second in 2002.

Sports

• Turngemeinde 1837 Hanau e.V. (TGH), one of Germany's oldest of any sports clubs
• Hanauer Rudergesellschaft 1879 e.V. (HRG), one of Germany's oldest rowing clubs
• 1.Hanauer FC 1893 e.V. (Hanau '93), Hesse's oldest football/soccer club

Districts

• Innenstadt
• Lamboy
• Kesselstadt
• Grossauheim
• Klein-Auheim
• Mittelbuchen
• Steinheim
• Wolfgang
• Hohe Tanne
• Wilhelmsbad

External links

• Hanau Site
• U.S. Army in Hanau