Altenburg [listen] is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Leipzig, 90 kilometres (56 miles) west of Dresden and 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region between Gera, Zwickau and Chemnitz with more than 1 million inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of 33,000.
Altenburg was first mentioned in 976 and later became one of the first German cities within former Slavic area, east of the Saale river (as part of the medieval Ostsiedlung movement). The emperor Frederick Barbarossa visited Altenburg several times between 1165 and 1188, hence the town is named a Barbarossa town today. Since the 17th century, Altenburg was the residence of different Ernestine duchies, of whom the Saxe-Altenburg persisted until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918. Industrialization reached Altenburg and the region quite early in the first half of the 19th century and flourished until the Great Depression around 1930. Economic malaise set in while Altenburg was in East Germany and continued after German reunification in 1990, evidenced by a decline in population, high unemployment and house vacancy rates.
Altenburg is a town in Thuringia, Germany.
It may also refer to:
Altenburg is the German exonym for the towns of:
The Altenburg is a castle that sits on the tallest of the seven hills of Bamberg, southern Germany, overlooking the city. It is located in Upper Franconia, a region in the state of Bavaria, and dates back to 1109.
The first mention of the Altenburg was in 1109, although it is likely that it was built on the spot of an earlier palisade castle.
It first served as what is known is German as a "Fliehburg". This is a castle that was not regularly inhabited, but served mainly for city defense as a place where local residents could flee to in times of danger.
In 1251, the Bamberg "Fürstbischöfe," the sovereign bishops of Bamberg, acquired the castle. From 1305 to 1553, it was the residence of the bishops.
In 1553, during the Second Margrave War, the army of Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, burnt the castle down. Afterward the castle was used as a prison for a while.
In 1801, the Bamberg physician Adalbert Friedrich Marcus acquired the decaying castle and restored it from the ground up. The author E. T. A. Hoffmann, who was friends with Marcus, felt so drawn to the castle that he frequently stayed for a long time in one of the wall towers during the years 1808 to 1813.