Rinteln (German: [ˈʁɪntl̩n] ^ⓘ) is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river north of the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In relation to some well known places, it is 60 kilometers west of Hanover, and just 20 kilometers from Hamelin of Pied Piper fame.^[3] Its population is about 28,500.

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Rinteln
Town
Coat of arms
Location of Rinteln within Schaumburg district
Rinteln Show map of Germany Rinteln Show map of Lower Saxony
Coordinates: 52°11′26″N 9°4′53″E
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Schaumburg
Subdivisions	10 Stadtteile
Government
• Mayor (2021–26)	Andrea Lange[1] (Ind.)
Area
• Total	109 km2 (42 sq mi)
Elevation	56 m (184 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	25,721
• Density	240/km2 (610/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	31737
Dialling codes	05751
Vehicle registration	SHG, RI
Website	www.rinteln.de

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It is accessed by the A2 autobahn (E30).

The settlement of Rinteln was founded about 1150 on the northern bank of the Weser. Later, in 1235, the village of Neu-Rinteln ("New Rinteln") was founded on the southern bank. It is the origin of the modern town, since the northern village was abandoned in 1350 due to the plague. The village grew to a fortified town, that served as a southern stronghold of the Counts of Schaumburg.

From 1621 until its dissolution in 1810 during the Westphalian rule under Jérôme Bonaparte, Rinteln was the seat of Ernestina University. When the County of Schaumburg was divided in 1640, Rinteln became the capital of the eastern part which retained the name Grafschaft Schaumburg hessischen Anteils. The Eulenburg in Rinteln became the seat of the counts. Rinteln remained the capital of the county and later of the district, until it was merged with the neighboring district of Schaumburg-Lippe in 1977.

In 1875, the railway station was opened.^[4]

Rinteln is twinned with:^[5]

• Kendal, Cumbria
• Sławno, Pomerania

• Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg (1720–1800), a Hessian Lieutenant General fighting with the British-allied German contingents in the American Revolutionary War.
• Philip II, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe (1723–1787), a ruler of the counties of Lippe-Alverdissen and Schaumburg-Lippe.
• Diederik Lodewijk Bennewitz (1764–1826), a Dutch goldsmith, silversmith and jeweller.
• Friedrich Kohlrausch (1840–1910), physicist who investigated the conductive properties of electrolytes.^[6]
• Margrit Brückner (born 1946) a feminist German sociologist
• Cajus Julius Caesar (born 1951), politician (CDU). He served in the Bundestag three times
• Paul McGuinness (born 1951), talent manager, the manager of the rock band U2 from 1978 to 2013.
• Keith Rand RSA (1956-2013), an English wood sculptor and a Royal Scottish academician.
• Graham Coxon (born 1969), musician, singer-songwriter and painter; founding member of the rock band Blur.