Saalfeld

Infobox German Location
Art = Town
image_photo = Stadtkirche Saalfeld.jpg
Wappen = Wappen_Saalfeld.pnglat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 39 |lat_sec = 0
lon_deg = 11 |lon_min = 22 |lon_sec = 0
Bundesland = Thuringia
Landkreis = Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
Höhe = 235
Fläche = 44.72
Einwohner = 27861
Stand = 2006-06-30
PLZ = 07301–07318
Vorwahl = 03671
Kfz = SLF
Gemeindeschlüssel = 16 0 73 077
Gliederung = 14
Adresse = Markt 1
07318 Saalfeld/Saale
Website = [http://www.saalfeld.de/ www.saalfeld.de]
Bürgermeister = Matthias Graul
Partei =

Saalfeld ( _de. Saalfeld/Saale) is a town of Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is situated on the left bank of the Saale River, some km to mi|50|wiki=yes|abbr=yes south of Weimar and km to mi|130|wiki=yes|abbr=yes south-west of Leipzig by road. Its population in 2003 was 28,393.

History

Saalfeld is one of the most ancient towns in Thuringia. Once the capital of the extinct duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld, it was part of Saxe-Meiningen until 1918. The city is still partly surrounded by old walls and bastions, and contains some interesting medieval buildings, among them being a palace, built at the start of the Early Modern era in 1679 on the site of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter, which was destroyed during the Peasants' War (1525). Other notable edifices are the Gothic Church of St. John, dating from the beginning of the 13th century; the Gothic town hall, completed in 1537; and, standing on an eminence above the river, the Kitzerstein, a palace said to have been originally erected by the German King Henry I, although the present building is not older than the 16th century. But perhaps the most interesting relic of the past in Saalfeld is the ruin of the Hoher Schwarm, called later the Sorbenburg, said to have been erected in the 7th century.

The Battle of Saalfeld, part of the Napoleonic Wars, took place on October 10 1806.

Industry

Saalfeld is situated in one of the busiest parts of Thuringia and has a number of prosperous industries, including the manufacture of machinery, bricks, paint, malt, cigars, hosiery and vinegar. Other industries are brewing, printing and iron-founding, and there are ochre and iron mines in the area.

Culture

Saalfeld is a key town in the best selling alternate history stories in Eric Flint's 1632 series, in which a small American town of 3,000 co-protagonists is suddenly transported across time and space into the Thirty Years' War, which ravaged the countryside and nearly depopulated central Germany.

References

Andrew I. Port, Conflict and Stability in the German Democratic Republic Cambridge University Press, 2007.
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