Ilmenau
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| Ilmenau | |
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| Coat of arms | Location |
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| Administration | |
| Country |  Germany |
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| State | Thuringia |
| District | Ilm-Kreis |
| Town subdivisions | 6 |
| Mayor | Gerd-Michael Seeber (CDU) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 62.64 km² (24.2 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 500 m (1641 ft) |
| Population | 26,540 (31/12/2006) |
| - Density | 424 /km² (1,097 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | IK |
| Postal code | 98693 |
| Area code | 03677 |
| Website | www.ilmenau.de |
Ilmenau is a town located in the district of Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany.
It is the biggest town in Ilm-Kreis district with 7,200 students studying at the Technische Universität Ilmenau. The surrounding area is marked by the Thuringian forest and its mountains. The highest mountain of Ilmenau is the Kickelhahn (German for rooster, which is also found in the coat of arms of Ilmenau), with a height of 861 metres. The highest mountains of the Thuringian forest are the Schneekopf (meaning snow-head) with a height of 978 metres and the Großer Beerberg (982.9 meters), a few kilometres to the south-west of Ilmenau. Goethe also enjoyed staying in Ilmenau, mostly on holiday. The river flowing through Ilmenau is the Ilm.
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[edit] Etymology
The name comes from the German words Ulmen (i.e. Elms and Aue (i.e. floodplain), in reference to the floodplain of the Ilm river, which was covered with elms before the foundation of the town. The "town animals" of Ilmenau are the chicken and the capra.
[edit] Geography
Ilmenau sits between the Thuringian Forest to the southwest and the lower hills and plains of the Thüringer Becken (to the northeast). The mineral resources important in the history of Ilmenau were largely deposited as a result of the uplift of the metamorphic rock underlying the Thuringian Forest.[1]
[edit] Subdivisions
There are five near villages belonging to the town of Ilmenau:
- Oberpörlitz
- Unterpörlitz
- Heyda
- Roda
- Manebach
[edit] Neighboring municipalities
- Erfurt, 40 km in north
- Gotha, 40 km in northwest
- Weimar, 50 km in northeast
- Arnstadt, 25 km in north
- Saalfeld and Rudolstadt, 35 km in east
- Sonneberg, 50 km in southeast
- Coburg, 60 km in south
- Suhl, 20 km in southwest
- Meiningen, 40 km in southwest
[edit] Vicinity
Around the city live nearly 80,000 people on an area of 540 km², who have Ilmenau as a centre of their work, school, shops and other supplies. Biggest towns and villages nearby are Gräfenroda (3,600 inhab.), Königsee (3,500 inhab.), Gehren (3,300 inhab.) and Langewiesen (3,200 inhab.).
[edit] History
Ilmenau was founded in the 13th century, it is first named in 1273. Since 1341 it has some town rights. Between 1660 and 1920 it belonged to Saxe-Weimar, earlier the majors about Ilmenau were the Käfernburger (from Arnstadt), the Schwarzburger (from Arnstadt, later Rudolstadt), and the Henneberger (from Meiningen).
Between 1471 to 1626, copper mining made an important contribution to the economy of Ilmenau. In 1611, these mines produced an estimated 38 tons of copper and 188Kg of silver. Production reached these levels again in the 1730's, during a brief revival of copper mining under the leadership of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, fluorite and Braunstein (manganese ore) were mined here.[2] [3][4]
Until 1870, Ilmenau stayed a small town of circa 3000 inhabitants, but then the industrial revolution reached the town. Some factories for porcelain (Graf von Henneberg Porzellan since 1777), glasswares (the Sophienhütte since 1852) and toys developed. In 1879 the town got a railway connection to Erfurt (north), 1881 to Gehren/Großbreitenbach (south-east) and 1904 to Schleusingen (south-west).
The university was founded in 1894 as Thüringisches Technikum. Now, it is the Technische Universität Ilmenau, where the ISWI took place every two years. The FIL European Luge Championships 1934 took place in the town.
1952 the district Kreis Ilmenau was founded. It had an area of about 380 km² with a population of circa 70,000 inhabitants. Ilmenau has been the capital of this district. In 1994 it was merged with Kreis Arnstadt in the North to the new district Ilm-Kreis with Arnstadt as capital.
[edit] Development of number of inhabitants
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[edit] Economy
The economy of Ilmenau is marked by production of glasswares and some high-tec-industries like programming software. Ilmenau has a very strong economy compared with other Eastern German regions. The unemployment rate is still 16%, but it is getting smaller. The average earning is circa 14,000 Euros per head and year.
Ilmenau is the place of the Technische Universität Ilmenau with circa 7,000 students.
[edit] Infrastructure
Ilmenau is getting crossed by the federal highways 4 (Erfurt-Nürnberg), 87 (Ilmenau-Leipzig) and 88 (Eisenach-Ilmenau-Jena). Five kilometres to the north runs the motorway A 71 from Erfurt to Würzburg. There is still a railway to Erfurt while the other former railway lines to Schleusingen and Großbreitenbach are out of operation. The Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed rail line nearby is under construction.
[edit] In the arts
- In literature Ilmenau is (hypothetically) one of the closest towns to the fictional displaced town of Grantville West Virginia and is featured in various deep back ground stories published in The Grantville Gazettes e-publications.
[edit] Sister cities
[edit] Notable persons
- Jan Behrendt, luger, born in Ilmenau
- Robert Döpel, nuclear physicist, died in Ilmenau
- Wolfram Fiedler, luger, born in Ilmenau
- Marie Gutheil-Schoder, soprano, died in Ilmenau
- Andrea Henkel, biathlete born in Ilmenau
- Karl Ludwig von Knebel, poet, retired to Ilmenau
- Stefan Krauße, luger, born in Ilmenau
- André Lange, bobsledder, born in Ilmenau
- Andreas Libavius, chemist, taught in Ilmenau
- Paul Löbe, politician, worked as a printer in Ilmenau
- Jens Müller, luger, born in Ilmenau
- Ute Oberhoffner, luger, born in Ilmenau
- Fritz Reinhardt, Nazi Finance Minister, born in Ilmenau
- Fritz Sauckel, Nazi war criminal, studied in Ilmenau
- Corona Schröter, singer, died in Ilmenau
- Peter Sendel, biathlete, born in Ilmenau
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