Gronau (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁoːnaʊ] ⓘ) is a town and a municipality in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
[2] The town was laid out according to a plan of regular streets with a wall, shot towers, remparts and two gates.
The medieval town wall was demolished at the end of the 18th century, and the inhabitants who had lost their homes during the fire of 1795 were allowed to use the stones for building new houses.
[7] The villages of Banteln, Betheln, Brüggen, Despetal y Rheden were incorporated into the town in 2016 and the number of inhabitanats rose to more than 10.000.
St. Mattäus Church was founded in 1457 and renovated by the famous architect Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves from 1856 to 1859.
The ruin of Saint George Chapel, a small gothic chapel with typical pointed arches representing the style of the Middle Ages, can be visited in the north of Gronau outside of the historical town centre.
Near the monastery a part of the medieval town wall with a fortified tower built in the 14th century can be visited.
Unlike the other fortified towers in Gronau it was not demolished at the end of the 18th century, as it was used as a prison for a long time.
As it is in a narrow lane surrounded by wooden half-timbered houses it was not set on fire in 1938 in the Kristallnacht but transformed into a residential building.