Messel

Messel
Coat of arms
Messel
Location of Messel within Darmstadt-Dieburg district
Coordinates: 49°56′N 08°44′E / 49.933°N 8.733°ECoordinates: 49°56′N 08°44′E / 49.933°N 8.733°E
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Darmstadt-Dieburg
Government
• Mayor	Andreas Larem
Area
• Total	14.82 km^2 (5.72 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
• Total	3,972
• Density	270/km^2 (690/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	64409
Dialling codes	06159
Vehicle registration	DA / DI
Website	www.messel.de

Messel is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in Hesse near Frankfurt am Main in Germany.

The village is first mentioned, as Masilla, in the Lorsch codex. Messel was the property of the lords of Groschlag from ca. 1400 to 1799. After the extinction of the Groschlag male lineage, the village would have passed to the Archbishopric of Mainz but the population refused to accept this transition and paid homage to the daughters of the Groschlag family instead. The minister of the archbishopric, von Albini, consequently occupied the village with a force of 50 hussars. In 1806, the village fell to the Grand Duchy of Hesse.

The nearby Messel pit is an important site for Eocene fossils.

• 
  Signpost at the entrance
• 
  Fossil Museum and House of clubs
• 
  Evangelical Church of 1545

References

1. "Bevölkerung der hessischen Gemeinden". Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt (in German). August 2016.