as wood processing and the production of foamed material. Other businesses include machine and tool fabrication, laser technology and one international cargo carrier. Basket making Lichtenfels became a centre of basket making in the middle of the 19th century. The basket makers in the surrounding upper Maintal area brought their products to trade in Lichtenfels, which was and is the biggest retail market. The leading entrepreneur was the basket dealer Joseph Crinkly. Since 1904, there has been a technical basket college, and as of 1912 there was also a braiding course for women. Those fashioned and very frequent outwork baskets came from the whole family. After the First World War Lichtenfels became known as the seat of the German wicker or basket-making industry. The period saw the gradual extinction of basket making in Germany. After the Second World War Lichtenfels was the main remaining basket dealer and today as an exclusive exporter of the braiding manufactures. Lichtenfels is the basket-making capital of Germany and has the only college which still teaches the old craft skills. Each year at the end of September the Korbmarkt (Basket Market) is held when the town is filled with stalls selling baskets from many countries and one can watch many craftspeople at work. On the Market Place in front of the town hall there is the World's largest gift basket. Transport Road Coburg can be reached by car via B 173 Lichtenfels-Hof-Dresden or motorway A 73 Suhl-Lichtenfels-Nuremberg. Railways Lichtenfels station is on the Eisenach–Lichtenfels and Bamberg-Hof main lines. The Franconian Forest Railway turns off from Bamberg-Hof railway near Lichtenfels. It is a regional rail hub and a former ICE stop. Notable people Thomas Dehler (1897–1967), politician (DDP, FDP), Federal Minister of Justice Niklas Dorsch (born 1998), footballer Heinrich Faber (c. 1490–1552), pedagogue and music theorist Reinhard Hütter (born 1958), Christian theologian and professor Max Jüngling (1903–1963), politician Stefan Kießling (born 1984), footballer Friedrich Myconius (1490–1546), reformer Andreas Röschlaub (1768–1835), physician and natural philosopher Emmi Zeulner (born 1987), politician (CSU) Twin towns – sister cities Lichtenfels is twinned with: Ariccia, Italy (2004) Cournon-d'Auvergne, France (1992) Prestwick, Scotland, United Kingdom (1974) Vandalia, United States (1975) References Lichtenfels (district) Populated places on the Main basin Populated riverside places in Germany