Melsungen

Melsungen is a small climatic spa town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th Hessentag state festival.GeographyMelsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highlands. The streams, Pfieffe and Kehrenbach, flow into the River Fulda in the town. A few kilometres downstream, the river Eder confluences into the Fulda.LocationThe nearest large towns are Kassel (downstream, about 22 km to the north) and Bad Hersfeld (upstream, about 32 km to the southeast).Constituent communitiesMelsungen comprises several smaller communities. In addition to the main community, which is also called Melsungen, there are seven communities named Adelshausen, Günsterode, Kehrenbach, Kirchhof, Obermelsungen, Röhrenfurth and Schwarzenberg.HistoryHistorical records of the town date from 802, but it was likely settled much earlier, during the Hallstatt period (9th to 4th Centuries BCE).Middle AgesMelsungen had developed into a small town by 1189. The town's coat of arms also originated at this time.In the course of its history, Melsungen often changed hands. The fiercest fighting over the town was between the Archbishops of Mainz and the Landgraves of Hesse and Thuringia.