Detmold

City and region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the River Werre on the northern slopes of Tentoburger Wald, 25 km/15 mi southeast of Bielefeld; population (1994) 72,800 (city). It is a tourist centre and has furniture and metallurgical industries.

Detmold was formerly the capital and garrison town of the principality of Lippe-Detmold. Features include a palace in the Weser Renaissance style (1548-57), 16th-17th-century churches, and half-timbered houses. The early 19th-century writer Christian Dietrich Grabbe was born in Detmold, and the composer Johannes Brahms worked here for a time.