Magdeburg is the capital city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important
medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman
Emperor, founder of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, was buried in the town's
cathedral after his death. Magdeburg's version of German town law, known as
Magdeburg rights, spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The city is
also well known for the 1631 Sack of Magdeburg, which hardened Protestant
resistance during the Thirty Years' War. Prior to it Magdeburg was one of the
largest German cities and a notable member of the Hanseatic League.
Magdeburg was destroyed twice in its history.
Magdeburg is the site of two universities, the Otto-von-Guericke
University and the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.
Nowadays Magdeburg is a traffic junction as well as an industrial and trading
centre. The production of chemical products, steel, paper and textiles are
of particular economic significance, along with mechanical engineering and
plant engineering, ecotechnology and life-cycle management, health management
and logistics. In 2005 Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th
anniversary. In June 2013 Magdeburg was hit by record breaking flooding.
History = Early years =
Founded by Charlemagne in 805 as Magadoburg, the town was fortified in
919 by King Henry I the Fowler against the Magyars and Slavs. In 929 the city
went to Edward the Elder's daughter Edith, through her marriage to Henry's
son Otto I, as a Morgengabe — a Germanic customary gift received by the new bride
from the groom and his family after the wedding night. Edith loved the town and
often lived there; at her death she was buried in the crypt of the Benedictine
abbey of Saint Maurice, later rebuilt as the cathedral. In 937, Magdeburg was the
seat of a royal assembly. Otto I repeatedly visited Magdeburg and was
also buried in the cathedral. He granted the abbey the right to income from
various tithes and to corvée labour from the surrounding countryside.
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded in 968 at the synod of Ravenna;
Adalbert of Magdeburg was consecrated as its first archbishop. The archbishopric
under Adalbert included the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, Merseburg,
Meissen and Naumburg-Zeitz. The archbishops played a prominent role in
the German colonisation of the Slavic lands east of the Elbe river.
In 1035 Magdeburg received a patent giving the city the right to hold trade
exhibitions and conventions, which form the basis of the later family of city
laws known as the Magdeburg rights. These laws were adopted and modified
throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Visitors from many countries began to
trade with Magdeburg. In the 13th century, Magdeburg became a
member of the Hanseatic League. With more than 20,000 inhabitants Magdeburg
was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The town had an
active maritime commerce on the west, with the countries of the North Sea, and
maintained traffic and communication with the interior. The citizens
constantly struggled against the archbishop, becoming nearly independent
from him by the end of the 15th century. In about Easter 1497, the then
twelve-year-old Martin Luther attended school in Magdeburg, where he was
exposed to the teachings of the Brethren of the Common Life. In 1524, he was
called to Magdeburg, where he preached and caused the city's defection from
Catholicism. The Protestant Reformation had quickly found adherents in the city,
where Luther had been a schoolboy. Emperor Charles V repeatedly outlawed
the unruly town, which had joined the Alliance of Torgau and the Schmalkaldic
League. Because it had not accepted the Augsburg Interim, the city, by the
emperor's commands, was besieged by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, but it
retained its independence. The rule of the archbishop was replaced by that of
various administrators belonging to Protestant dynasties. In the following
years Magdeburg gained a reputation as a stronghold of Protestantism and became
the first major city to publish the writings of Luther. In Magdeburg,
Matthias Flacius and his companions wrote their anti-Catholic pamphlets and
the Magdeburg Centuries, in which they argued that the Roman Catholic Church
had become the kingdom of the Antichrist.
In 1631, during the Thirty Years' War, imperial troops under Johann Tserclaes,
Count of Tilly, stormed the city and committed a massacre, killing about
20,000 inhabitants and burning the town in the sack of Magdeburg. The city had
withstood a first siege in 1629 by Albrecht von Wallenstein. After the war,
a population of only 4000 remained. According to the Peace of Westphalia,
Magdeburg was assigned to Brandenburg-Prussia after the death of
the current administrator, August of Saxe-Weissenfels, as the semi-autonomous
Duchy of Magdeburg; this occurred in 1680.
= 19th century = In the course of the Napoleonic Wars,
the fortress surrendered to French troops in 1806. The city was annexed to
the French-controlled Kingdom of Westphalia in the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit.
King Jérôme appointed Count Heinrich von Blumenthal as mayor. In 1815, after the
Napoleonic Wars, Magdeburg was made the capital of the new Prussian Province of
Saxony. In 1912, the old fortress was dismantled, and in 1908, the
municipality Rothensee became part of Magdeburg.
= 20th century = Magdeburg was heavily bombed by the
Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The RAF bombing raid on the night
of 16 January 1945, destroyed much of the city. The official death toll was
approximately 16,000. Near the end of World War II, the city
of about 340,000 became capital of the Province of Magdeburg. Brabag's
Magdeburg/Rothensee plant that produced synthetic oil from lignite coal was a
target of the Oil Campaign of World War II. The impressive Gründerzeit suburbs
north of the city, called the Nordfront, were destroyed as well as the city's
main street with its Baroque buildings. It was occupied by USA troops in 19
April 1945 and was left to Red Army in 1 July 1945. Post-war the area was part of
the Soviet Zone of Occupation and many of the remaining pre-World War II city
buildings were destroyed, with only a few buildings near the cathedral
restored to their pre-war state. Prior to the reunification of Germany, many
surviving Gründerzeit buildings were left uninhabited and, after years of
degradation, waiting for demolition. From 1949 on until German reunification
on 3 October 1990, Magdeburg belonged to the German Democratic Republic.
= Since German reunification = In 1990 Magdeburg became the capital of
the new state of Saxony-Anhalt within reunified Germany. Huge parts of the
city and its centre were also rebuilt in a modern style. Its economy is one of
the fastest-growing in the former East German states.
In 2005 Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th anniversary.
The city was hit by 2013 European floods. Authorities declared a state of
emergency and said they expected the Elbe river to rise higher than in 2002.
In Magdeburg, with water levels of five metres above normal, about 23,000
residents had to leave their homes on 9 June.
Climate Magdeburg has an oceanic climate
according to Köppen climate classification.
Main sights = Cathedral =
One of Magdeburg's most impressive buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of
Saints Catherine and Maurice with a height of 104 m, making it the highest
church building of eastern Germany. It is notable for its beautiful and unique
sculptures, especially the "Twelve Virgins" at the Northern Gate, the
depictions of Otto I the Great and his wife Editha as well as the statues of St
Maurice and St Catherine. The predecessor of the cathedral was a
church built in 937 within an abbey, called St. Maurice. Emperor Otto I the
Great was buried here beside his wife in 973. St. Maurice burnt to ashes in 1207.
The exact location of that church remained unknown for a long time. The
foundations were rediscovered in May 2003, revealing a building 80 m long and
41 m wide. The construction of the new church
lasted 300 years. The cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice was the
first Gothic church building in Germany. The building of the steeples was
completed as late as 1520. While the cathedral was virtually the
only building to survive the massacres of the Thirty Years' War, it suffered
damage in World War II. It was soon rebuilt and completed in 1955.
The square in front of the cathedral was occupied by an imperial palace, which
was destroyed in the fire of 1207. The stones from the ruin were used for the
building of the cathedral. The presumed remains of the palace were excavated in
the 1960s. = Other sights =
Unser Lieben Frauen Monastery, 11th century, containing the church of St.
Mary. Today a museum for Modern Art. Home of the National Collection of Small
Art Statues of the GDR. The Magdeburger Reiter, the first
free-standing equestrian sculpture north of the alps. It probably depicts the
Emperor Otto I. The Green Citadel of Magdeburg
Town hall. This building had stood on the market place since the 13th century,
but it was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War; the new town hall was built
in a Renaissance style influenced by Dutch architecture. It was renovated and
re-opened in Oct 2005. Landtag; the seat of the government of
Saxony-Anhalt with its Baroque façade built in 1724.
monuments depicting Otto von Guericke, Eike von Repkow and Friedrich Wilhelm
von Steuben. Ruins of the greatest fortress of the
former Kingdom of Prussia. Rotehorn-Park.
Elbauenpark containing the highest wooden structure in Germany.
St. John Church The Gruson-Gewächshäuser, a botanical
garden within a greenhouse complex The Magdeburg Water Bridge, Europe's
longest water bridge "Die Grüne Zitadelle" or The Green
Citadel of Magdeburg, a large, pink building of a modern architectural style
designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and completed in 2005.
Jerusalem Bridge. Magdeburg is one of the major towns
along the Elbe Cycle Route. Event venues
Cathedral of Magdeburg GETEC Arena – Biggest multi-purpose hall
in Saxony-Anhalt, home of handball team SC Magdeburg
AMO - Culture and congress building Altes Theater am Jerichower Platz –
Former theater, used for parties and large conferences
Stadthalle - Concert hall St. Johannis Church
St. Petri Church, with stained glass by Charles Crodel
Seebühne at Elbauenpark Messe-Magdeburg
Paulus Church Concert hall Georg Philipp Telemann at
"Kloster unser lieben Frauen" Projekt 7 – Night club at the university
campus. Concerts with indie-pop and rock music
Factory – Former factory building, German and international pop, rock,
metal, and indie music artists are featured
Kulturwerk Fichte – used mainly for conferences
Prinzzclub – Night club at Halberstädter Straße – house-, electro and black music
Festung Mark – Part of the former city fortification, now reconstructed for
parties and conventions Kunstkantine – Factory cafeteria,
monthly electro-music parties Feuerwache – Former fire station,
repurposed for events MDCC-Arena - Home of 1. FC Magdeburg
Education The Otto-von-Guericke University
Magdeburg was founded in 1993 and is one of the youngest universities in Germany.
The university in Magdeburg has about 13,000 students in nine faculties. There
are 11,700 papers published in international journals from this
institute. The Magdeburg-Stendal University of
Applied Sciences was founded in 1991. There are 30 direct study programs in
five departments in Magdeburg and two departments in Stendal. The university
has more than 130 professors and approximately 4,500 students at
Magdeburg and 1,900 at Stendal. Culture and sports
Magdeburg has a proud history of sports teams, with football proving the most
popular. 1. FC Magdeburg currently play in the Regionalliga Nord and recently
promoted to 3. Liga. The now defunct clubs SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg and
Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg were among the first football clubs in Germany. 1.
FC Magdeburg is the only East German football club to have won a European
club football competition. There is also the very successful handball team, SC
Magdeburg who are the first German team to win the EHF Champions League.
The city is portrayed as a rebel castle on the strategy map of Medieval II:
Total War. The discus was re-discovered in
Magdeburg in the 1870s by Christian Georg Kohlrausch, a gymnastics teacher.
Magdeburg is well known for its Christmas market, which is an attraction
for 1.5 million visitors every year. Other events are the Stadtfest,
Christopher Street Day, Elbe in Flames and the Europafest Magdeburg
International relations Magdeburg is twinned with:
Gallery People
Alfons Bach, industrial designer Jessica Böhrs, German actress and
singer, known for being in the movie Eurotrip
Adelbert Delbrück, German banker and lawyer
Otto von Guericke, mayor and inventor of the Magdeburg hemispheres. The Otto von
Guericke University of Magdeburg is named after him
Carl Gustav Friedrich Hasselbach, mayor and member of the Prussian House of
Lords Antje Harvey- Olympic biathlon athlete
Christian Georg Kohlrausch, gymnastic teacher and re-discoverer of discus
throwing Georg Kaiser, writer
Heinrich Jost, typeface designer Stefan Kretzschmar, retired professional
handball player and Olympic medallist Olaf Malolepski, singer-songwriter,
frontman of German schlager band Die Flippers
Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern, the philologist who coined the term
Bildungsroman Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German
biologist, won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995
Richard Oelze, painter Erich Ollenhauer, leader of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany 1952–1963. Menahem Pressler, pianist
Ernst Reuter, mayor of Magdeburg 1931–1933, then mayor of West Berlin
from 1948 to 1953. Petra Schmidt-Schaller, actress
Margarete Schön, stage and film actress Kurt Singer, a philosopher
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, an American patriot
Christoph Christian Sturm, German preacher and author, who wrote the
majority of his devotional works here Bruno Taut, city architect 1921–1923,
completed two housing projects in Magdeburg
Georg Philipp Telemann, composer Klaus Thunemann, bassoon professor
Henning von Tresckow, Major General in the German Wehrmacht, active in the
military resistance Lothar von Trotha German military
commander notorious for presiding over the near-extermination of the Herero in
German South-West Africa. Karl Wallenda, highwire acrobat
Camillo Walzel librettist and theatre director, who wrote under the pseudonym
F Zell Dejan Zavec, Slovenian welterweight
boxer, IBF Welterweight Champion Heinrich Zschokke, author and reformer
Arthur Ruppin, Zionist thinker and leader
Marcel Schmelzer, German footballer See also
The Magdeburg hemispheres, an experimental apparatus used to
demonstrate the force of atmospheric pressure in 1656 by scientist Otto von
Guericke. References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:
Herbermann, Charles, ed.. Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
External links Official website
IKUS - the intercultural Students of Magdeburg
History society of Magdeburg and surround e.V.
tramway in Magdeburg