View source for Solms

{{Infobox German place
|type              = Stadt
|image_coa         = DEU Solms COA.svg
|coordinates       = {{coord|50|32|23|N|08|24|26|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan        = Lahn-Dill-Kreis Solms.png
|state             = Hessen
|region            = Gießen
|district          = Lahn-Dill-Kreis
|elevation         = 144
|area              = 34.02
|postal_code       = 35606
|area_code         = 06442
|licence           = LDK
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 06 5 32 021
|website           = {{URL|https://www.solms.de/}}
|mayor             = Frank Inderthal<ref>{{cite web|url=https://statistik.hessen.de/sites/statistik.hessen.de/files/2022-10/direktwahlen_09_2022_10102022.xlsx|title=Ergebnisse der letzten Direktwahl aller hessischen Landkreise und Gemeinden|language=de|date=5 September 2022|publisher=[[Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt]]|format=XLS}}</ref>
|leader_term       = 2022&ndash;28
|party             = SPD
}}
[[File:Luftaufnahme von Burgsolms, Hessen, Deutschland.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Burgsolms]]
'''Solms''' ({{IPA|de|zɔlms|-|De-Solms.ogg}}) is a town west of [[Wetzlar]] in the [[Lahn-Dill-Kreis]], [[Hessen]], [[Germany]] with around 13,500 inhabitants. In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral [[castle]] of the Counts and Princes of [[House of Solms|Solms]].

==Geography==

===Location===
Solms lies right in the [[Lahn]] valley at the mouth of the eponymous little river [[Solmsbach]] and is nestled between the foothills of both the [[Taunus]] and [[Westerwald]] at heights from 140 to 400&nbsp;m above [[sea level]]. It is about 7&nbsp;km west of [[Wetzlar]] and 30&nbsp;km northeast of [[Limburg an der Lahn]].

===Neighbouring communities===
Solms borders in the north on the community of [[Ehringshausen]] and the town of [[Aßlar]], in the east on the town of [[Wetzlar]], in the southeast on the community of [[Schöffengrund]], in the southwest on the town of [[Braunfels]] and in the west on the town of [[Leun]] (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).

===Constituent communities===
The town consists of the following centres:
*Albshausen
* Burgsolms
* Niederbiel
* Oberbiel
* Oberndorf

'''Solms''' is a town west of [[Wetzlar]] in the [[Lahn-Dill-Kreis]], [[Hessen]], [[Germany]] with around 13,500 inhabitants. In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral [[castle]] of the Counts and Princes of [[House of Solms|Solms]].

==Politics==
===Town council===
{{update section|date=July 2021}}
The municipal elections in 2011 yielded the following results:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gruene-solms.de/archiv/kommunalwahl-2011/|website=GRÜNE SOLMS|title=Homepage der Grünen Solms: Kommunalwahl 2011}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | Party
! scope="col" | Seats
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Freie Wählergruppe (FWG)
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 23.4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party (SPD)]]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 40.3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union (CDU)]]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 23.0
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party (FDP)]]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 2.6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | [[Alliance '90/The Greens|Greens]]
| style="text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;" | 10.7
|}
<small>Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.</small>

===Town of Solms Youth Council===
Since 2002 there has been a ''Town of Solms Youth Council'' serving as the town's official board representing youth's interests and needs. It is elected every two years by children and youths who either live in the town or go to the [[comprehensive school]].

===Partnerships===
The town of Solms maintains partnerships with the following places:
* {{Flagicon|Austria}} [[Liezen]], [[Styria]], [[Austria]]
* {{Flagicon|France}}  [[La Grand-Combe]], [[Gard]], [[France]]
* {{Flagicon|Germany}} [[Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig]], [[Thuringia]], [[Germany]]

==Economy and infrastructure==
Oberbiel is home to two commercial-industrial areas. A shipping company has set up shop at the newer one, while the older one, on an island in the river Lahn, was established in the early 20th century. It was originally home to a [[Nail (fastener)|brad]] factory, a [[wireworks]] and a [[ball bearing]] factory.

{{Infobox country
|native_name            = ''Grafschaft Solms''
|conventional_long_name = County of Solms
|common_name            = Solms
|era                    = Middle Ages
|status                 = Vassal
|empire                 = Holy Roman Empire
|government_type        = Principality
|image_coat             = COA family de Grafen von Solms.svg
|year_start             = 1129
|year_end               = 1258

|event_start            = <!--- Default: "Established" --->
|date_start             = <!--- Optional: Date of establishment, as 1 January 1801--->
|event_end              = Partitioned to [[Solms-Braunfels|S-Braunfels]]<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and [[Solms-Burg-Solms|S-Burg-Solms]]
|date_end               =

|p1                     = Duchy of Franconia
|image_p1               = [[File:Frankenrechen.svg|20px|Duchy of Franconia]]
|s1                     = Solms-Braunfels
|image_s1               = [[File:COA family de Grafen von Solms.svg|20px|Solms]]
|s2                     = Solms-Burg-Solms
|image_s2               = [[File:COA family de Grafen von Solms.svg|20px|Solms]]

|capital                = Solms

|footnotes              = Full style: Count of Solms, Lord of [[Münzenberg]], [[Wildenfels]] and [[Sonnenwalde]]
}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name            = ''Grafschaft Solms-Burg-Solms''
|conventional_long_name = County of Solms: Town of Solms
|common_name            = Solms-Burg-Solms
|era                    = Middle Ages
|status                 = Vassal
|empire                 = Holy Roman Empire
|government_type        = Principality

|year_start             = 1258
|year_end               = 1415

|event_start            = Partitioned from [[County of Solms|Solms]]
|date_start             = <!--- Optional: Date of establishment, as 1 January 1801--->
|event_end              = Annexed to [[Solms-Braunfels|S-Braunfels]]
|date_end               = <!--- Optional: Date of disestablishment --->

|p1                     = County of Solms
|image_p1               = [[File:COA family de Grafen von Solms.svg|20px|Solms]]
|s1                     = Solms-Braunfels
|image_s1               = [[File:COA family de Grafen von Solms.svg|20px|Solms]]

|capital                = Solms

|footnotes              = <!--- Accepts wikilinks --->
}}

==History==
Solms had its first documentary mention in 788 in a donation document from the Lorsch Monastery. The villages that nowadays form the town of Solms belonged for centuries to the County of Solms, an independent state within the [[Holy Roman Empire]], elevated to a county in 1223, until it was dissolved in 1806. Early branches of the [[House of Solms]]<ref>See German article ''[[:de:Solms (Adelsgeschlecht)|House of Solms]]'' or French article ''[[:fr:Maison de Solms|Maison de Solms]].</ref> were Burgsolms (extinguished 1415), Konigsberg (near [[Biebertal]], extinguished 1364), Old and New Hohensolms (at [[Hohenahr]], extinguished in the 14th century) and [[Braunfels]]. The still existing lines are the princely branches of [[Solms-Braunfels]], [[Solms-Hohensolms-Lich]] with their seat in [[Lich, Germany|Lich]] and [[Solms-Baruth]], furthermore the Counts of [[Solms-Laubach]] with their [[Schloss Laubach|seat]] in [[Laubach]], [[Solms-Rödelheim-Assenheim]] with their seat in Assenheim, [[Solms-Sonnewalde]] and [[Solms-Wildenfels]]. The Burgsolms castle at Solms, ancestral seat of the family since around 1100, was destroyed in 1384 by a coalition of nearby towns under the leadership of [[Wetzlar]], forcing count John to move to [[Greifenstein]] castle.
 
After a short while being part of the [[Duchy of Nassau]], Solms passed to [[Prussia]] in 1815.

As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the communities of Albshausen and Oberbiel voluntarily merged on 1 July 1971 to form ''Bielhausen'', while Burgsolms and [[Oberndorf (Solms)|Oberndorf]] did the same to form ''Solms''. By state law, these two new communities were amalgamated with Niederbiel on 1 January 1977 to make the new greater community of Solms, which in 1978 was granted town rights.

A new residential area has been being built on the western edge of Oberbiel since the 1990s.

==Sightseeing==

* '''Kloster Altenberg''' (Altenberg Monastery) - ''Burial place of the blessed Gertrud von Altenberg (1227-1297), [[Elisabeth of Hungary|Saint Elisabeth's]] daughter''
* '''Grube Fortuna''' (Oberbiel) - ''[[Visitors' Mine]] including a light and mine railway museum''  ''(Iron ore was mined here until 1983.)''
*'''Stone Bench''' (Oberbiel Forest) - ''A secluded place, that may have originally served as a hunting post''
* '''Jewish Cemetery''' (Burgsolms) - ''Tombstones from 1705 to 1939''
*'''Gallows of Solms''' (Forest between Burgsolms/Oberndorf and Albshausen) - '''''Memorial against death penalty''': Erected in stone in 1750, the gallows has never been used for an execution.''
*'''Schäferburg''' ("Shepherd's castle", Niederbiel) - ''Log cabin and barbecue area on the edge of the forest (Westerwald side) overlooking the city and the Lahn valley''
*'''Former Hunting Lodge Dr. Roth, later a children's home''' (Albshausen) - A kind of counterpart to Niederbiel's "Schäferburg" on the Taunus side (built around 1920)
*'''Old Station Braunfels-Oberndorf''' (Oberndorf) - Representative building on the disused Solmsbach-valley-route to [[Waldsolms|Brandoberndorf]]

== Images==
<gallery>
Burgsolms-Braunfels.jpg|The churches of Burgsolms in front of [[Braunfels]] castle
Oberndorf Kirche mit Himmel.jpg|Oberndorf
Kloster Altenberg - panoramio.jpg|[[Altenberg Abbey, Solms|Altenberg Abbey]]
Pfingstmontag 2019 im Feld- und Grubenbahnmuseum Fortuna 06.jpg|Visitors' Mine Fortuna
Jüdischer Friedhof Solms.jpg|Jewish Cemetery
Solmser Galgen.jpg|alt=Gallows|Gallows
Evangelische Kirche Solms-Albshausen.jpg|Albshausen church
Kirche Solms-Niederbiel.jpg|Niederbiel church
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.grube-fortuna-besucherbergwerk.de/ ''Grube Fortuna'' homepage]

{{Towns and municipalities in Lahn-Dill-Kreis}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1258 disestablishments in Europe]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1129]]
[[Category:Youth councils]]
[[Category:Lahn-Dill-Kreis]]