Porta Westfalica

This article is about the town. For the Weser gorge, see Porta Westfalica (gorge).

Location of the town of Porta Westfalica within Minden-Lübbecke district
Porta Westfalica
View over Porta Westfalica to the Weser hills

Porta Westfalica
Coordinates	52°13′0″N 8°56′0″E / 52.21667°N 8.93333°E / 52.21667; 8.93333Coordinates: 52°13′0″N 8°56′0″E / 52.21667°N 8.93333°E / 52.21667; 8.93333
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Detmold
District	Minden-Lübbecke
Town subdivisions	15
Mayor	Stephan Böhme (SPD)

Basic statistics
Area	105 km² (41 sq mi)
Elevation	46 - 303 m
Population	34,918 (31 December 2011)^[1]
- Density	333 /km² (861 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	MI
Postal code	32457
Area codes	0571, 05706, 05722, 05731, 05751
Website	www.porta-westfalica.de

Porta Westfalica is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The name "Porta Westfalica" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of Westphalia. Despite the Latin name the term was not coined in Roman times, but by scholars of the 19th century.

History

The town Porta Westfalica was established in 1973 by merging fifteen villages surrounding the gorge. The centre of the modern town is the former village of Hausberge, which was first mentioned in 1096.

From March 18, 1944 until April 1, 1945 a concentration camp was established in the Barkhausen quarter.^[2] From February 1, 1945 until April 1, 1945 a camp was used in the Hausberge quarter.^[3] In the Lerbeck quarter also was a concentration camp in use from October 1, 1944 until April 1, 1945.^[4] In the Neesen quarter was a location for the forced labour for some of the inmates.^[5] All of these camps were subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp.

↑Jump back a section

Geography

Porta Westfalica is situated on the right bank of the Weser (except for the Barkhausen quarter), near the Porta Westfalica gorge, where the river runs through the passage between the mountain chains of the Wiehen Hills in the west and the Weser Uplands in the east. The gorge appears like a gate to the region Westphalia, which lies to the south of it. It is overlooked by the Jakobsberg and Wittekindsberg hills.

View of Porta Westfalica from a postcard dated 1904.

Neighbouring places

Division of the town

The town of Porta Westfalica consists of 15 districts:

Hausberge (5,255 inhabitants)
Lohfeld (1,487 inhabitants)
Barkhausen (4,143 inhabitants)
Neesen (2,455 inhabitants)
Lerbeck (3,724 inhabitants)
Nammen (2,398 inhabitants)
Wülpke (664 inhabitants)
Kleinenbremen (2,691 inhabitants)

Eisbergen (3,673 inhabitants)
Veltheim (2,838 inhabitants)
Möllbergen (1,706 inhabitants)
Holtrup (1,089 inhabitants)
Vennebeck (1,064 inhabitants)
Costedt (494 inhabitants)
Holzhausen (4,287 inhabitants)

Twin Towns

Hansestadt Demmin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
Waterloo, Illinois (USA)
Berlin-Kreuzberg (Berlin, Germany)

Monument of Kaiser Wilhelm I

↑Jump back a section

Buildings and structures

Jakobsberg Telecommunication Tower, a TV tower with an observation deck.
Monument of Kaiser Wilhelm I, above the gorge, near the village Barkhausen
Wittekindsburg, remains of an Iron Age "oppidum" (3rd - 1st century BC) and Saxon-Frankish fort (8th/9th century AD), in the Wiehen Hills near Barkhausen

↑Jump back a section

Notes

^ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 31 December 2011.
^ The camp is listed as No. 77 Barkhausen official German list.
^ The camp is listed as No. 585 Hausberge a.d. Porta in the official German list.
^ The camp is listed as No. 843 Lerbeck/Westfalen in the official German list.
^ The location is listed as No. 1024 Neesen, Kreis Minden, in the official German list.