Tecklenburg

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows an anchor and three seeblatts.

Geography

It is located at the foothills of the Teutoburg Forest, southwest of Osnabrück.

Division of the town

Tecklenburg consists of 4 districts (with farming communities):

Neighbouring municipalities

History

In the 12th century the county of Tecklenburg emerged in the region that is now called the "Tecklenburger Land" in the western foothills of the Teutoburg Forest. It was annexed by the neighbouring county of Bentheim in 1263, and Tecklenburg still had a count until the 19th century. Even today, some local descendents of the Bentheim / Tecklenburg families are sometimes considered as aristocrats. Much like many other European aristocrats, their family can be traced back to Charlemagne (800's) or is linked with the blood lines of old European royal families (e.g. in the case of the Bentheim-Tecklenburg there is a link with the House of Orange - the Dutch royal family).

Tecklenburg has retained some of its medieval townscape to date. Main sites include the ruined castle (now serving as open-air theatre during the summer) and the Stadtkirche (the main, old church) including tombs of the dukes of Tecklenburg and others prominent in the history of the county and city.

Today, the city of Tecklenburg (from a perspective of size really not a city but a town) is a tourist destination.

Burg Tecklenburg

Burg Tecklenburg is a castle ruin in Tecklenburg, used today as an outdoor theatre.

The castle was built around 1250. Anna von Tecklenburg-Schwerin made a lot of construction changes. Around 1700 the castle was old and the bricks were used for other buildings in Tecklenburg. Only a ruin was the result.

International relations

Tecklenburg is twinned with:

Sons and daughters of the town