Amöneburg

Amöneburg
View of the town from the east
Coat of arms
Amöneburg
Location of Amöneburg within Marburg-Biedenkopf district
Coordinates: 50°47′52″N 8°55′23″E / 50.79778°N 8.92306°E / 50.79778; 8.92306Coordinates: 50°47′52″N 8°55′23″E / 50.79778°N 8.92306°E / 50.79778; 8.92306
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Gießen
District	Marburg-Biedenkopf
Government
• Mayor	Michael Richter-Plettenberg (Ind.)
Area
• Total	43.95 km2 (16.97 sq mi)
Elevation	365 m (1,198 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	5,125
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	35287
Dialling codes	06422
Vehicle registration	MR
Website	www.amoeneburg.de

Amöneburg (German pronun­cia­tion: [aˈmøːnəbʊʁk]) is a town in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. It lies on a mountain and is built around the castle of the same name, Burg Amöneburg.

Amöneburg lies on a basalt cone that can be seen from a great distance, below which flows the river Ohm, a tributary to the Lahn. From the Vogelsberg massif in the southeast, Amöneburg is split by the Amöneburg Basin, a hollow suspected of being a meteorite crater. [1] In the southwest rise the Lahn Mountains.

In the north, Amöneburg borders on the town of Kirchhain, in the east on the town of Stadtallendorf (both in Marburg-Biedenkopf), in the southeast on the town of Homberg (Vogelsbergkreis), and in the west on the community of Ebsdorfergrund (Marburg-Biedenkopf).

Amöneburg's coat of arms, like many throughout western Germany, depicts the Wheel of Mainz and Saint Martin of Tours patron saint of the diocese of Mainz cutting off a piece of his cloak for a poor man.

Findings from digs have suggested that the area was already settled in the New Stone Age. It is supposed that in Celtic times there was a town (or oppidum) here. In 721, Saint Boniface built a small monastery and a church below the castle.