these seats are held by the SPD, and one seat each by the CDU and FDP. List of elected mayors: 1998–2004: Karl-Heinz Dietzel (SPD) 2004–2013: Dieter Runzheimer (SPD) 2013–incumbent: Markus Boucsein Places of interest Fachwerkstadt (compact area featuring half-timbered houses in the Old Town) Town Hall (from 1556), with Axe Whetter in the tower Schloss (stately home built between 1550 and 1557 by Landgrave Philip) with garden Marketplace Bartenwetzerbrücke ("Axe Whetters' Bridge" built between 1595 and 1596) Gothic town church (built between 1415 and 1425) Hospitalskapelle St. Georg ("St George's Hospital Chapel") Eulenturm ("Owl Tower"; a preserved tower from the old town wall) Zweipfenningsbrücke ("Twopenny Bridge" from 1890) Stirling-Bau (B. Braun Melsungen AG's Pfieffewiesen Works) Sport MT Melsungen (handball) Melsunger Fußballverein 08 (football) Culture Regular events Melsunger Weinfest (wine festival) Melsunger Kabarett-Wettbewerb (cabaret contest) Bad Liebenstein-Stafette (yearly relay) Culinary specialities Ahle Wurst (or Aahle Worscht), a kind of Hessian hard pork sausage. Its name is a dialectal form of alte Wurst – "old sausage". Transportation The town lies on Autobahn A 7. Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 83 runs through Melsungen and Bundesstraßen B 253 and B 487 both begin (or end) here. Melsungen lies on the Kassel—Bebra—Fulda railway line and belongs to the North Hesse Transport Network. In May 2006 the RegioTram line RT5 (Kassel-Melsungen) began. It directly connects Melsungen with downtown Kassel. The line ends at present where the Melsungen-Süd return loop is still not finished. Further stations are being built at Melsungen-Schwarzenberg und Melsungen-Bartenwetzerbrücke. Economy Melsungen is home to the firm of B. Braun Melsungen, which has a €3,500,000,000 yearly turnover, and about 35,100 employees worldwide (as of 2007). Notable people Johannes Rhenanus (c.1528 in Melsungen–1589) salinist, theologian, alchemist, printer and author. Arnold Grimme (1868–1958) veterinarian and naturalist, district veterinarian in Melsungen (1895–1910) Reinhard Selten (1930–2016) Nobel Prize winner in Economics for his contribution to game theory Alwin Wagner (born 1950 in Melsungen) discus thrower and weight lifter, competed in 1984 Summer Olympics Christof Lauer (born 1953 in Melsungen) jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist Twin towns Melsungen has partnerships with the following towns: Dreux, France, since 1966 Evesham, United Kingdom, since 1982 Todi, Italy, since 1985–86 Koudougou, Burkina Faso, since 1990 Bad Liebenstein, Thuringia, since 1990 There is also a "friendship" with the Berlin community of Spandau. References External links Official website Schwarzenberg Obermelsungen Röhrenfurth Timber-framed photos of Melsungen Schwalm-Eder-Kreis