Discover

''For further meanings of "Nassau", see Nassau (disambiguation).''

'Nassau' is a city located in the German ''Land'' (State) of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies in the Lahn river valley between the cities of Bad Ems and Limburg an der Lahn. Nassau is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Nassau. The city sits on the German-Dutch holiday road Oranier-Route.

Contents

History

Culture and Sightseeing

Famous people

Gallery

External links

History

Nassau was mentioned for the first time in 915 and received municipal rights in 1348, together with Dausenau (close to Scheuern), from Emperor Charles IV. Despite the ancient and eventful history of this city, it currently has only slightly over 5,000 inhabitants. The city Nassau is the original namesake of the Duchy of Nassau, the royal House of Orange-Nassau, the Prussian province of Hessen Nassau. Its name has also spawned a multitude of other places in the Americas, such as Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas, and Nassau County, New York, in the United States. The name has also been used for ships, buildings, and even a type of bet used in golf.
The Counts of Nassau married also into the line of the neighbouring Counts of Arnstein (Obernhof / Attenhausen), founders of the monastery at Arnstein.
Adolf von Nassau was ''rex romanorum'' c. 1255 – 2 July 1298

Culture and Sightseeing

Located in Nassau, south of the Lahn river, is the castle ''Burg Nassau''. It is the eponymous ancestral seat of the counts of Nassau and thus the joint ancestral castle of the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg and Dutch royal house of Nassau. In the city is the ''Steinische Hof'', the seat of the ''Reichsfreiherren'' (Barons) vom und zum Stein, and birth place of the Prussian Reformers and Minister Heinrich Friedrich Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein.

Famous people

The Imperial Baron Karl Freiherr vom und zum Stein was born in Nassau in 1757 and later became the Prussian Minister and Reformer. In Nassau he wrote amongst other things his famous ''Nassauer Memorandum''. He came from the ancient aristocratic family vom und zum Stein, who had been residents of Nassau since the 12th Century. The family seat lies in the centre of the town, the so-called ''Steinische Hof'', which is still today in the possession of the descendants of the Reformer, the counts von Kanitz.

Gallery

External links

★ Nassau Homepage

★ Nassau on Google Earth