Lippe
This article is about the district Lippe. For the like-named river see Lippe River.
Lippe is a
Kreis (
district) in the east of
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany. Neighboring districts are
Herford,
Minden-Lübbecke,
Schaumburg,
Hamelin-Pyrmont,
Holzminden,
Höxter,
Paderborn,
Gütersloh, and district-free
Bielefeld.
The Lippe district nearly covers the same area as the historic country Lippe. The first mention of this country was in
1123 and which grew in power slowly in the following centuries. In
1528 it became a county, in
1789 it was elevated to a principality.
Unlike many other countries of the
Holy Roman Empire in the area Lippe kept its independence in the Napoleonic times, and thus wasn't incorporated into
Prussia afterwards. It was one of the smaller member states of the German empire.
The last prince of Lippe was forced to abdicate in
1918 after the end of
World War I when Germany became a republic, his country became a
Freistaat in the German republic. In
1932 the state was subdivided into two districts, Detmold and Lemgo. These continued to exist when in
1947 Lippe lost its status as a state of Germany and by order of the British military government was incorporated into the new federal state
North Rhine-Westphalia; in
1949 it was approved by the parliament. In
1969/
70 the 168 cities and municipalities were merged to 16; and as the second part of the administrative reform in
1973 the two districts Lemgo and Detmold were merged to the district Lippe.
The Lippe district covers the northern part of the
Teutoburg Forest, which also contain the highest elevation of the district, the 496 meter high
Köterberg near
Lügde. The lowest elevation is at the
Weser river with 45.5 m. The main river is the Werre, and at the northern border of the district the
Weser.
{|-- valign=top |
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Coat of arms |
|The coat of arms show the traditional symbol of the state of Lippe, the rose, as the district covers nearly the same area as the historic country. In the middle of the rose 16
stamens symbolize the 16 cities and municipalities of the district. The coat of arms was granted in
1973.
Despite the relatively small size of Lippe, the Lippish rose is also one of only three symbols included in the coat of arms of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
