Darmstadt-Arheilgen

Arheilgen is a district in the north of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany incorporated in 1937. Arheilgen borders the Darmstadt district of Wixhausen to the North, to the West is the city Weiterstadt, to the East is the Darmstadt district Kranichstein, to the South is the city center of Darmstadt.HistoryThe settlement probably began in the second half of the first millennium, when a number of Frankish settlements in the Rhine-Neckar region arose. The first records have an old spelling "Araheiligon", in a register of Abbey Seligenstadt in about 1000.The Thirty Year War hit Arheilgen hard. In January 1635, the city was burned down by French troops almost completely. Only a few houses remained standing. The surviving inhabitants fled behind the walls of the city of Darmstadt, where many of them died of the plague. By the end of the war in 1648 only about 12 families were left, who set out to rebuild the community.The chemical element Darmstadtium (atomic number 110) is named after Darmstadt, having been synthetisized in the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt-Arheilgen.Seal and coat of armsThe oldest remaining Arheilgen seal impression dates from 1636. The top half shows the half-figure of Saint Kilian, patron saint of the Franks, the original church was dedicated Arheilger. The Seal includes glasses, a Wolfsangel and two six-pointed stars shown. The origin of these symbols is unknown.