Flintbek is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is on the River Eider, c. 10 km southwest of Kiel. The meaning of the name is controversial but one possibility is the combination of flint(stone) with the word bek (beck, brook).

Flintbek
Flag of Flintbek
Coat of arms of Flintbek
Location of Flintbek within Rendsburg-Eckernförde district
Flintbek is located in Germany
Flintbek
Flintbek
Flintbek is located in Schleswig-Holstein
Flintbek
Flintbek
Coordinates: 54°15′N 10°4′E / 54.250°N 10.067°E / 54.250; 10.067
CountryGermany
StateSchleswig-Holstein
DistrictRendsburg-Eckernförde
Municipal assoc.Eidertal
Government
 • MayorHorst-Dieter Lorenzen
Area
 • Total
17.57 km2 (6.78 sq mi)
Elevation
50 m (160 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[1]
 • Total
7,562
 • Density430/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
24220
Dialling codes04347
Vehicle registrationRD
Websitewww.flintbek.de

Flintbek is the seat of the Amt ("collective municipality") Eidertal, and of the former Amt Flintbek.

Archeological excavations at Flintbek discovered cart tracks dating from c. 3400 BC underneath a megalithic long barrow, belonging to the Funnelbeaker culture. This is the earliest known direct evidence for wheeled vehicles in the world (i.e. not models or images).[2][3][4][5]

Places of interest

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The Lutheran Church dates back to at least 1223, when Earl Albrecht of Orlamünde, Governor of the Danish King, authorised the Monastery of St Augustine to build a church in Flintbek.[6] The present building is late gothic and has an impressive wooden tower and steeple. The interior has a carved wooden altar (Schnitzaltar).

In the church cemetery is a 1952 sculpture by Friedrich Wilhelm Klose, Mutter des Ostens (Mother of the East). She represents the suffering and misfortunes of those driven from their homes because of war. The inscription reads:

„Ich will euch trösten, wie einen seine Mutter tröstet. Jes. 66,13. Wir gedenken unserer teuren Toten in der ostdeutschen Heimat.“

"I will comfort you as one whom his mother comforts. Isa. 66.13. We pray for our beloved dead in the East German homeland."[7]

 
Flintbek Lutheran Church

Also in the cemetery is a memorial to the dead of both World Wars.

There are pleasant walks along the river Eider. The oldest iron bridge in Germany (1865) is in the Eider Valley, in the adjacent community of Techelsdorf.[8]

 
Mother of the East
 
1865 Iron Bridge, Techelsdorf, Germany

References

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  1. ^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden in Schleswig-Holstein 4. Quartal 2022" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein.
  2. ^ "3400 BC: The oldest evidence for the use of the wheel and wagon originates from Northern Germany". Kiel University. 2022.
  3. ^ Mischka, Doris (2011). "The Neolithic burial sequence at Flintbek LA 3, north Germany, and its cart tracks: a precise chronology". Antiquity. 85 (329): 742–758. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00068289. S2CID 140571057.
  4. ^ Bockmeyer, Sarah (2016). "The earliest evidence of wheels and wagons in Neolithic Central Europe and the Early Bronze Age of the northern Pontic areas (3500–2200 BC)".
  5. ^ Anthony, David A. (2007). The horse, the wheel, and language: how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-691-05887-0.
  6. ^ "Kirchengemeinde Flinkbek". Unsere Kirche - Geschichte und Gegenwart. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  7. ^ "Gemeinde Flintbek: Leben und Wohnen - Gästeinformation - Mutter Osten". www.flintbek.de. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  8. ^ "Techelsdorf". memim.com. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
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