The name Kuerten

The church tower is from the 12th century. The name of the church "St. Johannes Baptist" refers to an old baptistery that may have existed as early as the 10th century. The buildings around the church square date from the 18th and 19th centuries (such as the vicarage).

The village is referred to as Curtine in medieval documents. It goes back to the word curtis, which means open space within an enclosed courtyard where the aldermen of a court gathered. In Kürten there was indeed a district court early on, which demonstrably met until 1699. It ruled on dubious inheritance cases, as well as theft, robbery or assault and was the next higher instance to the court / fiefdom court, which belonged to a manor and ruled on normal inheritance cases in a court association (today's district court and land registry office).

In 1929, the two offices of Kürten (with the municipalities of Kürten and Bechen) and Olpe (with the municipalities of Olpe and Wipperfeld) merged to form the Amt Kürten with its official seat in Kürten. In 2008, the municipality of Kürten celebrated its 700th anniversary. It referred to the first mention of Cürten in the "Liber valoris" - a tax register of the Archbishopric of Cologne from 1308.

Kürten is named Stockhausen-Gemeinde after the musician and composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who lived and worked here for many years. Special features in Kürten include the "hydraulic ram" exhibited next to the entrance to the parking garages of the Kürten town hall or the "Dr. Förster Hülse" near Enkeln, a very old, protected European holly (Tree of the Year 2021)