Quedlinburg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Quedlinburg | |
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| Coat of arms | Location |
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| Administration | |
| Country |  Germany |
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| State | Saxony-Anhalt |
| District | Harz |
| Town subdivisions | 3 Stadtteile |
| Mayor | Eberhard Brecht (SPD) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 78.15 km² (30.2 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 123-182 m |
| Population | 22,185 (31/12/2006) |
| - Density | 284 /km² (735 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | HZ |
| Postal code | 06484 |
| Area code | 03946 |
| Website | www.quedlinburg.de |
| Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iv |
| Reference | 535 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1994 (18th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Quedlinburg (IPA: [ˈkveːdlɪnbʊʁk]) is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list.
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[edit] History
The town of Quedlinburg has existed since at least the early 9th century, when a settlement known as Gross Orden existed at the eastern bank of the river Bode. As such the city is first mentioned in 922, as part of a donation by Henry the Fowler. The records of this donation were collected at the abbey of Corvey.
After Henry's death in 936, his widow Saint Mathilda founded a religious community for women ("Frauenstift") on the castle hill, where daughters of the higher nobility were educated. The main task of this collegiate foundation, Quedlinburg Abbey, was to pray for the memory of King Henry and the rulers that came after him. The first abbess was Mathilde, granddaughter of Henry and Saint Mathilde.
The Quedlinburg castle complex, founded by Henry the Fowler and build up by Otto I the Great in 936, was an imperial palatinate of the Saxon emperors. The palatinate with a men's convent was in the valley, where nowadays the Roman Catholic church of St Wiperti is situated, while the women's convent worked on the castle hill.
In 961 and 963 a Canon's monastery was established in St Wiperti south of the castle hill. It was abandoned in the 16th century, and at one time the church, which boasts a magnificent crypt from the 10th century, was even used as a barn and a pigsty before being restored in the 1950's.
In 973 shortly before the death of Otto I the Great a Reichstag (Imperial Convention) was held at the court of emperor Otto I the Great where many nobles, including Mieszko, duke of Poland and Boleslav, duke of Bohemia, and even nobles from as far away as Byzantium and Bulgaria, gathered to pay homage to the emperor. It was here that Otto the Great introduced his new daughter-in-law Theophanu, a Byzantine princess whose marriage to Otto II brought hope for recognition and continued peace between the rulers of the Eastern and Western empires.
In 994 Otto III granted the right of market, tax and coining and established the first market place to the north of the castle hill.
The town became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1426. Quedlinburg Abbey frequently disputed the independence of Quedlinburg, which sought the aid of the Bishopric of Halberstadt. In 1477 Abbess Hedwig, aided by her brothers Ernest and Albert, broke the resistance of the town and expelled the bishop's forces. Quedlinburg was forced to leave the Hanseatic League and was subsequently protected by the Electorate of Saxony. Both town and abbey converted to Lutheranism in 1539 during the Protestant Reformation.
In 1697 Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony sold his rights to Quedlinburg to Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg for 240,000 thalers. Quedlinburg Abbey contested Brandenburg-Prussia's claims throughout the 18th century, however. The abbey was secularized in 1802 during the German Mediatisation and Quedlinburg passed to the Kingdom of Prussia as part of the Principality of Quedlinburg. Part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807-13, it was included within the new Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.
During the Nazi regime, the memory of Henry I became a sort of cult, as Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of the "most German of all German" rulers. The collegiate church and castle were to be turned into a shrine for Nazi Germany. Quedlinburg was administered within Bezirk Halle while part of East Germany. It became part of Saxony-Anhalt during German reunification.
In the 1980s, restoration specialists from Poland were called in to carry out repairs on the old architecture, now one of the most popular attractions of the town.
[edit] Geography
The town is located north of the Harz mountains apr. 123 meters above sealevel. The nearest mountains reach 181 Meter above sealevel. The biggest part of the town is located in the western part of the river Bodes bed. This river comes from the Harz mountains and flows into the river Saale and further into the river Elbe. The towns area is about 78,15 square kilometer.
[edit] Climate
Quedlinburg has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification) resulting from Prevailing Westerlies, blowing from the high pressure area in the central atlantic towards Scandinavia. Snowfall occurs every almost winter. January and February are the coldest months of the year, with an average temperature of 0,1 °C and 0,4 °C. July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 17,8 °C (63 °F) and 17,2 °C. The average annual precipitation is close to 438 millimetres with rain occurring usually from May to September. This preceptation is one of the lowest in Germany, which has an annual average close to 700 millimetres.
| Weather averages for Quedlinburg | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Average high °C (°F) | 0.1 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 7.8 | 12.9 | 16.7 | 17.8 | 17.2 | 13.9 | 9.6 | 4.7 | 1.5 | |
| Average low °C (°F) | |||||||||||||
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 23 | 22 | 28 | 38 | 53 | 57 | 47 | 54 | 33 | 27 | 30 | 26 | |
| Source: Deutscher Wetterdienst, Normalperiode 1961-1990[1] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Air
The airports nearest to Quedlinburg are the Airport Hannover in a distance of 120 kilometer in direction North-West and the Leipzig/Halle Airport 90 kilometer in the South-East. Much closer, but only served by small private airplanes and business jets is the Airport Magdeburg-Cochstedt.
[edit] Train
Quedlinburg is connected by rail in 2 ways. Regional trains run on normal-gauge tracks by Deutsche Bahn and the private company Connex connect Quedlinburg with Magdeburg, Thale, Halberstadt and the rest of Europe.
In 2006 the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen Selketal branch was extended into Quedlinburg from Gernrode giving access to the historic steam narrow gauge railway, Alexisbad and high Harz plateau.
[edit] Bus
Quedlinburg is connected by regional busses to the surrounding villages and small towns.
Additionally there are also buses to Berlin, run by the company BerlinLinienBus.
[edit] Road
[edit] Culture
[edit] Main sights
In the innermost parts of the town a wide selection of half-timbered buildings from at least five different centuries are to be found (including a 14th century structure one of Germany's oldest), while around the outer fringes of the old town there are wonderful examples of Art Nouveau buildings, mainly dating from the early 20th century.
Since December 1994 the old town of Quedlinburg and the castle mount with the collegiate church are listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.[2] Quedlinburg is one of the best-preserved medieval and renaissance towns in Europe, having miraculously escaped major damage in World War II.
In 2006 the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen Selketal branch was extended into Quedlinburg from Gernrode giving access to the historic steam narrow gauge railway, Alexisbad and high Harz plateau.
Until 2007 Quedlinburg was the capital of the district of Quedlinburg.
[edit] Sister cities
Quedlinburg has five sister cities, one in France and four in Germany in a sister cities union. The year each relationship was formed is shown in parentheses below.
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[edit] References
- ^ Deutscher Wetterdienst, Normalperiode 1961-1990 (German). Deutscher Wetterdienst.
- ^ Unesco World heritage list
[edit] Further reading
- Honan, William H. (1997): Treasure Hunt. A New York Times Reporter Tracks the Quedlinburg Hoard. New York: Fromm International Publishing Corporation. ISBN 0-88064-174-6
- Kogelfranz, Siegfried and Korte, Willi A. (1994): Quedlinburg – Texas and Back. Black Marketeering with Looted Art.
[edit] External links
- The city's website (in German)
- Website for Travellers (in German)
- Private homepage (in English)
- UNESCO page on Quedlinburg
- The Quedlinberg Art Affair
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