Kriftel

Kriftel
Coat of arms
Kriftel
Location of Kriftel within Main-Taunus-Kreis district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Main-Taunus-Kreis
Founded	8th century
Government
• Mayor	Christian Seitz
• Governing parties	CDU
Area
• Total	6.76 km2 (2.61 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	10,701
• Density	1,600/km2 (4,100/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	65830
Dialling codes	06192
Vehicle registration	MTK
Website	www.kriftel.de

Kriftel is a municipality in the Main-Taunus district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 16 km west of Frankfurt (centre).

It has about 10,000 inhabitants.

Kriftel is also commonly known as "Obstgarten des Vordertaunus" (fruit orchard before the Taunus), because of the fields around it which are mainly used for producing strawberries.

History

In July AD 754 the track which carried the dead Saint Boniface rested over night in the village. To the honour of the saint the Bonifatiuskapelle (chapel of Boniface) was built.

Kriftel was first mentioned documentary in 790.

The Thirty Years' War damaged a lot in Kriftel including the chapel which was not rebuilt until 1755. It took that long because in 1661 a big fire destroyed the whole village (34 houses out of 38).

From 1945 until the oil crisis in 1973, Kriftel experienced a population explosion due to massive immigration from urban sprawl and workers of the Hoechst-AG, whom were offered cheap land to build their housing units.

In 1959 the chapel had to be relocated because of the growing of the community.

During the mid-1970s Kriftel had to fight for independence, because Hofheim, the capital of the Main-Taunus district wanted it to belong to it.

Sister city is since 1981 the French city Airaines. The "Platz von Airaines" (Place of Airaines) the train station is named after the partnership.

Today

Kriftel has two churches, the Catholic Church "St. Vitus" and the evangelic "Resurrection Church" and three schools, one elementary school (Lindenschule [Linden School]), a comprehensive school (Weingartenschule [Vineyard School]) and a training school (Konrad-Adenauer-Schule). Kriftel lies at the federal motorway A 66 and the regional train line S 2 (From Niedernhausen over Frankfurt to Dietzenbach).

Kriftel is known for its good leisure time facilities. Kriftel has a Freizeitpark (Freetime park) with a swimming pool, places to play soccer, miniature golf and beach volleyball, a quarter pipe for skating and playgrounds. The village is also hosts various club activities. The most important clubs are the SV 07 Kriftel (soccer) and the Turn- und Sportverein Kriftel (sports in general especially volleyball and trick cycling). Two feasts strengthen the community a lot. They are the Lindenblütenfest (Feast of the blossom of the linden) in summer and the Krifteler Kerb (Kriftel's Kermesse) in autumn.

External links

• www.kriftel.de Official homepage of the administration (German)
• www.feuerwehr-kriftel.de Homepage of the volunteer fire department (German)