Rinteln

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Rinteln is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the Weser river, north of Porta Westfalica. It sits in a broad valley between the Weserbergland hills and the North Lippe Bergland, about 60 kilometers west of Hanover and 20 kilometers from Hamelin. The town has about 25,600 residents and covers 109 square kilometers, sitting roughly 56 meters above sea level. It is reachable via the A2 Autobahn (European route E30).

History: Rinteln was founded around 1150 on the north bank of the Weser. In 1235, Neu-Rinteln was founded on the south bank. The northern village declined after the plague in 1350, and the area grew into a fortified town that was a southern stronghold of the Counts of Schaumburg. From 1621 to 1810, it was the seat of Ernestina University under Westphalian rule of Jérôme Bonaparte. When Schaumburg County was divided in 1640, Rinteln became the capital of the eastern part, the Grafschaft Schaumburg hessischen Anteils. The Eulenburg estate became the seat of the counts. Rinteln remained the county and later district capital until 1977, when it merged with Schaumburg-Lippe. A British Forces hospital operated in the 1960s, and the railway station opened in 1875.