Winterberg

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This article is about the German town in North Rhine-Westphalia. For the Czech town in Southern Bohemia, see Vimperk.

Winterberg
Winterberg
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Hochsauerlandkreis
Town subdivisions	14
Mayor	Werner Eickler (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	147.86 km² (57.1 sq mi)
Elevation	667 m (2188 ft)
Population	14,361 (30/06/2006)
- Density	97 /km² (252 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	HSK
Postal code	59955
Area code	02981
Website	www.winterberg.de Coordinates: 51°12′0″N 08°31′0″E / 51.2, 8.51667

Winterberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Points of interest
4 Sport
5 Coat of arms
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Winterberg is located in the middle of the Sauerland, at the source of the Ruhr and Lenne river.

[edit] Neighbouring municipalities

[edit] Division of the town

After the local government reforms of 1975 Winterberg consists of 14 districts:

Altastenberg
Altenfeld
Elkeringhausen
Grönebach
Hildfeld

Hoheleye
Langewiese
Lenneplätze
Mollseifen
Neuastenberg

Niedersfeld
Siedlinghausen
Silbach
Winterberg
Züschen

[edit] Twin Towns

Le Touquet (France) -- since 1974
Rijssen (Netherlands) -- since 1974
Rixensart (Belgium) -- since 1989
Oberhof (Germany) -- since 1990

[edit] History

Winterberg was declared a city about 1270, and was a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th until the 17th century. As it is located in high hills with swampy ground, it always was a poor city. Only since tourism started about 200 years ago has it blossomed. In 1975 several small villages were merged into the city, increasing the population notably - the center of Winterberg only has 4,536 residents.

[edit] Points of interest

The second highest mountain of the Sauerland, the Kahler Asten in the Rothaargebirge, is located in the city area, which also contains the spring of the Lenne and Ruhr rivers.

[edit] Sport

The city is one of the winter sports centers of the Sauerland, best known probably for the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track. In 2003, there were the first official World Wok Championships, initiated by Stefan Raab.

[edit] Coat of arms

The arms show the city (the city walls only existed between 1261 and 1266) behind the patron of the city, Saint James, as Winterberg is located on one of the Ways of St. James.