Märkischer Rural District facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Märkischer Kreis
District
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region	Arnsberg
Capital	Lüdenscheid
Area
• Total	1,058.949 km2 (408.862 sq mi)
Population  (2001)
• Total	457,465
• Density	431.9991/km2 (1,118.8725/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	MK
Website	http://www.maerkischer-kreis.de

The Märkischer Kreis is a district (Kreis) in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The district was created in 1975 as part of the reorganisation of North Rhine-Westphalian districts.

Twinning

The district is twinned with

•  Wales, Wrexham County Borough. This was started in 1970 by Iserlohn.
•  Brandenburg, Elbe-Elster. This started as a twin with Finsterwalde before Finsterwald became a part of Elbe-Elster.
•  Poland, Racibórz district.

Coat of arms

The lion and fess chequey (a stripe (fess) made up of little squares (chequey))are taken from the old coat of arms of the district of Altena, which is from the arms of the Counts of the Mark. In the first half of the 13th century a seal with both the fess and the lion was in use, as first used by Adolf I of Altena (1199-1241). Engelbert I of the Mark (1249-1277) dropped the lion in his seal. The original colour of the lion was unknown, so a black lion with red tongue and claws was chosen, as in the arms of the Dukes of Jülich. The black cross comes from the arms of Cologne, as the eastern part of the area historically belonged to the Archbishops of Cologne. The coat of arms was designed by the herald Waldemar Mallek, and was granted on May 6, 1976.

Towns and municipalities

Politics and administration

The district is led by a Landrat. The headquarters of the government of the county are in Lüdenscheid, but there are county halls with parts of the administration in Iserlohn and Altena, too. The police headquarters of the county are in Iserlohn.

The county council meets in the county hall in Iserlohn. Its last election was on September 26 2004.