Visselhövede

Visselhövede
Visselhövede
Town
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of Visselhövede within Rotenburg (Wümme) district
	Visselhövede Visselhövede
	Coordinates: 52°58′N 9°35′E / 52.967°N 9.583°E
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Rotenburg (Wümme)
Government
• Mayor (2021–26)	Gerald Lutz (Ind.)
Area
• Total	158.85 km2 (61.33 sq mi)
Elevation	70 m (230 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	9,792
• Density	62/km2 (160/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	27374
Dialling codes	04262
Vehicle registration	ROW
Website	www.visselhoevede.de

Visselhövede (German pronunciation: [fɪsəlˈhøːvədə] ^ⓘ) is a town in the district of Rotenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Nearby towns include the district capital Rotenburg, Walsrode and Verden. Larger cities within a 100 km radius are Bremen, Hanover and Hamburg. On 30 April 2024 Visselhövede had 10.116 inhabitants.^[3]

Visselhövede belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, established in 1180. In 1648 the Prince-Bishopric was transformed into the Principality of Verden, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish Crown - interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) - and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. The Kingdom of Hanover incorporated the Principality in a real union and the Princely territory, including Visselhövede, became part of the new Stade Region, established in 1823.

Sights

The most famous building is St. Johannis-Kirche, a protestant church named after John the Baptist. It was built of bricks in a gothic style and consecrated in 1358.^[4] The wooden clock tower measuring 23 metres in height was built in 1799.^[5] The church houses various masterpieces of art, e.g. a baroque altar dating from 1771 and a baroque organ from 1779, a baptismal font and wall paintings from the Middle Ages and a pulprit dating from 1641.^[6] The source of river Vissel can be visited in a small park behind the church. The Town Hall in the Market Place was built around 1796.^[7] In Burgstrasse, the oldest street in town, the Heimathaus, a half-timbered house which was renovated in 1999, is worth a visit.^[8] It is the cultural centre of Visselhövede.

Bürgerpark Visselseen is a public park with four lakes where two historical store houses, which had been dismantled at the former site, were reconstructed in 2006.