Nassau, Germany

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

Nassau seen from Burg Nassau (Nassau Castle)

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. The city sits on the German-Dutch holiday road Oranier-Route.

1 History
2 Culture and Sightseeing
3 Verbandsgemeinde Nassau
4 Famous people
5 Gallery
6 External links

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.

Burg Nassau (Nassau Castle)

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.

Nassau is also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Nassau, which consists of the following Ortsgemeinden ("local municipalities"):


Attenhausen Dessighofen Dienethal Dornholzhausen Geisig Hömberg Lollschied Misselberg Nassau Obernhof	Oberwies Pohl Schweighausen Seelbach Singhofen Sulzbach Weinähr Winden Zimmerschied

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.