Altenburg
Altenburg
Location of the town of Altenburg within Altenburger Land district
Coordinates	50°59′6″N 12°26′0″E / 50.985°N 12.433333°E / 50.985; 12.433333Coordinates: 50°59′6″N 12°26′0″E / 50.985°N 12.433333°E / 50.985; 12.433333
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Altenburger Land
Town subdivisions	4
Lord Mayor	Michael Wolf (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	45.60 km2 (17.61 sq mi)
Elevation	227 m  (745 ft)
Population	34,972 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	767 /km2 (1,986 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	ABG
Postal code	04600
Area code	03447
Website	www.altenburg.eu

Altenburg  [listen] (help·info) is a town in the German federal state (Bundesland) of Thuringia, 45 km south of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district.

Geography[link]

Altenburg is bounded by Windischleuba, Nobitz, Saara, Altkirchen, Göhren, Lödla, Rositz, Wintersdorf and Gerstenberg.

History[link]

Altenburg about the year 1650

Castle of Altenburg

The Nikolai quarter is one of the oldest parts of Altenburg

The town (civitas Altenburg) was first mentioned in a deed to the Bishop of Zeitz in 976. Remains of a Slavic castle on the Schloßberg ("Castle Hill") demonstrate that the town was probably a Slavic foundation, the capital of the shire of Plisni, taken over during the conquest of Meißen by Henry I. As shown by place names, the surrounding area (Osterland) was mainly settled by Slavs.

The town's location on the imperial road between Halle and Cheb in Bohemia gave Altenburg economic importance in the salt trade.

The first castle, located under the present day church St. Bartholomäi, was destroyed after the Battle of Hohenmölsen between Henry IV and Rudolph of Swabia. It was rebuilt on the Schloßberg outside of the town. The 11th century Mantelturm tower is still preserved. The castle later became an imperial palatinate and played an important part in the German takeover and settlement of the area between the Harz-mountains and the Elbe.

In the middle of the 12th century, the Hohenstaufen emperors patronized Altenburg, allowing the town to become a market and a mint. Together with the Royal forests Leina, Pahna, Kammerforst and Luckauer Forst, lands of the Groitzsch family bought by Frederick Barbarossa, Altenburg, Colditz, Zwickau and Chemnitz were turned into the Terra Plisnensis. Altenburg and Chemnitz as Imperial towns were intended to reduce the importance of Leipzig held by the Margrave of Meißen. Under Frederick Barbarossa much building took place, especially in the market area, and the town grew rapidly. An priory of canons regular was founded and the parish church was finished in 1172. The twin towers (Rote Spitzen) are still preserved. A town wall was constructed at the end of the 12th century.

During the Interregnum, the Terra Plisnensis was impounded, but bought back by Rudolph I of Germany, who desired the crown of Thuringia. Together with Zwickau and Chemnitz, Altenburg was part of the anti-Meißen Pleiße-city Union of 1290. After the Battle of Lucka in 1307 against Frederick the Brave of Meißen and his brother Diezmann, King Albert I lost Altenburg and the Pleiße-lands to the margraves of Meißen.

In 1455, Altenburg saw the division (Altenburger Teilung) of the Meißen lands between Elector Frederick II (the Gentle) and Duke William that led, after a failed attempt at reconciliation (Hallescher Machtspruch) to a war (1446–1451) between the two brothers (Bruderkrieg). In the second division of the Wettin lands between Ernest and Albert at Leipzig in 1485, Altenburg fell to Ernest, together with the Electorate (Kurland), Grimma, the Mutschener Pflege, Leisnig, Thuringia and the Vogtland. From this time on, Altenburg was historically connected with Thuringia. During the German Peasants' War of 1525, the Altenburg Augustinian monastery was attacked. In the summer, four peasant rebels were executed at the marketplace.

From 1603 to 1672, Altenburg was the residence of the Ernestine line, after that, it fell to Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. During the Napoleonic wars it was a scene of a brief Allied raid by the Saxon General Johann von Thielmann. When the Ernestine lands were re-divided in 1826, Altenburg became the capital of Saxe-Altenburg. The last duke abdicated on 13 November 1918 after being promised 12 million Marks and the ownership of numerous castles. The free-state Saxe-Altenburg was merged with Thuringia in 1920.

During World War II, several subcamps of the Buchenwald concentration camp were located here. They provided forced labour for HASAG, the third largest Germany company to use concentration camp labour.^[2]

In 1952, Altenburg fell to the Leipzig District, but became part of Thuringia again in 1990.

Historical population[link]

Source (since 1994): Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik

1. ^ 29 October
2. ^ 31 August

Main sights[link]

Altenburg's town hall is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Germany. It was built between 1562 and 1564 by the architect Nikolaus Grohmann. The Schenkendorffsches Palais (1724) and the Alte Amtshaus (1725) are remarkable Baroque structures. There is also a castle, which is the scene of the famous Prinzenraub, related by Carlyle in his "Miscellanies". The Western main wing (1706–1732) contains an exhibition on the history of playing cards and card games and an historical museum.

Town Hall.

The Lindenau-Museum in the palace of Bernhard August von Lindenau, was built in 1875 and houses Italian paintings of the 13th-15th centuries, a collection of classical antiquities and cast and modern art. The scientific museum Mauritianum shows the largest well-known mummified rat king, which was found in 1828 in a miller's fireplace at Buchheim.

Castle - Corps de Logis.

Altenburg Theatre,

Other points of interest include the Botanischer Erlebnisgarten Altenburg, a small botanical garden.

Culture[link]

Altenburg is called the playing cards town. The game of skat is said to have originated here, based on the Bavarian tarock. Because of the influence Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had on the town, it is nicknamed a "Barbarossa town".

Economy[link]

Gumpert Apollo

Altenburg is noted for produced playing cards. The Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik was founded in the year 1831. Today it is a subsidiary company of Cartamundi and market leader in Germany.

In Altenburg is the headquarters of the Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur. The Gumpert Apollo supercar has been produced by Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur since 2005.

Altenburg is also known for its mustard, which is produced by Altenburger Senf und Feinkost.

Transport[link]

Local transport[link]

Local transport within Altenburg relies exclusively on buses. 6 lines connect the outlying quarters to the downtown.

Rail[link]

Altenburg station is on the Leipzig–Hof line

Airport[link]

Leipzig-Altenburg Airport

In the vicinity of the town are two airports.
The Leipzig-Altenburg Airport, a former Russian military airport, is used for cheap commercial flights to London Stansted, Barcelona-Girona and Edinburgh.
Leipzig/Halle is an international airport 50 km northwest of Altenburg.

International relations[link]

Altenburg is twinned with:

• Offenburg, Germany
• Olten, Switzerland
• Zlín, Czech Republic
• Hickory, United States

Notable natives[link]

• Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus
• Joachim Büchner
• Carl Adolph Douai
• Frederick I
• Hans Conon von der Gabelentz
• Georg von der Gabelentz
• Johann Georg August Galletti
• Ralf Haber
• Johann Ludwig Krebs
• Bernhard von Lindenau
• Uwe Rösler
• Hermann Schlegel
• Ingo Schulze
• George Spalatin

See also[link]

• Petrosomatoglyph. Christs's Fingerprint and the imprint of the Devil's head.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Altenburg

• official website for the town
• tourism information
• Lindenau-Museum
• http://www.investor-altenburg.de/

v t e Towns and municipalities in Altenburger Land Altenburg Altkirchen Dobitschen Drogen Fockendorf Frohnsdorf Gerstenberg Göhren Göllnitz Göpfersdorf Gößnitz Haselbach Heukewalde Heyersdorf Jonaswalde Jückelberg Kriebitzsch Langenleuba-Niederhain Löbichau Lödla Lucka Lumpzig Mehna Meuselwitz Monstab Nöbdenitz Nobitz Ponitz Posterstein Rositz Saara Schmölln Starkenberg Thonhausen Treben Vollmershain Wildenbörten Windischleuba Ziegelheim

Johann Ernst Altenburg (15 June 1734 – 14 May 1801) was a German composer, organist and trumpeter. He is not to be confused with a similarly named composer in the 1620s who contributed to the collection Angst der Hellen und Friede der Seelen

Life[link]

His father, Johann Kaspar Altenburg (1688–1761), worked from 1709 as a field trumpeter under Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels and from 1711 as head trumpeter for the duke's brother, Duke Christian von Sachsen-Weissenfels at his residence, Castle Neu-Augustusburg in Weissenfels. Here, Johann Ernst Altenburg was born on 15 June 1734. After the death of Duke Christian in 1736, influenced by this event, the elder Altenburg began giving his young son lessons. At age 18 the young Altenburg had received a formal acquittal as trumpeter. He could not find a post. After studying organ for at most two years with Johann Theodor Roemhildt and Johann Christoph Altnikol, he went "nine years abroad."^[1]

Unofficial biographies of the time purport that the Seven Years' War offered momentary work for professional trumpeters; this was probably the case for Altenburg. In 1766 he turned back to Weissenfels. From Merseburg and Landsberg near Halle, where he worked for a brief time as an organist, he went to Bitterfeld in 1767 and received his lifetime post as an organist. He stayed at this post until his death on 14 May 1801, although the post was hardly sufficient. During this time he acquired a scandalous reputation as the "wild organist," whose disreputable behaviour earned him repeated lawsuits, which accumulated in an accusation of high treason in 1792. All of these accusations were subsequently dropped.^[1]

Work[link]

As a composer he is most well known for his six harpsichord sonatas. Altenburg achieved musicological importance through his publication Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter- und Paukerkunst (An Essay on the Introduction to Heroic and Musical Trumpeters' and Kettledrummers' Art) (Halle, 1795). These can be considered the oldest printed German trumpet studies and are thus the most meaningful resource of old trumpet technique. At the time of the printing, the greater part of the text had been in development for about 25 years. An advertisement for the publication appears in Johann Adam Hiller's "Musikalischen Nachrichten" in 1770. The earliest known reference to the manuscript is found in a letter of Altenburg's from February 1767.^[1]

Altenburg drew together the entire "knowledge" of the art of the trumpet of his time—certainly a concern considering his embossed, interpretive ways. He uses at least 108 works from at least 104 notably well-known authors, as well as new, further, anonymous authors. However, the literature he quotes mainly covers topics in general history, law, and religion. Altenburg's work is associated with contemporary instrumental technique. The examples cover a broad scope of trumpet history, which emerge with thorough analysis as back projection of Altenburg's ideal picture of trumpet practice in his society. Altenburg constructs an unbroken tradition of trumpet practice from Old Testament times (Aron's son) to his own time and lifts from that the claim of an even higher societal reputation for the trumpeter.^[1]

In this work some small compositions of mostly unclear authorship are offered. For example, there is a tiny duet for two clarion, a bourée for two clarion, a trio in the form of a polonaise, and a chorale for three clarion, principal trumpet, and drum, among others. Furthermore, he offers an addendum containing a concerto for seven clarion with drums. A small fugue for two clarion lifted from work by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber nearly a century earlier also appears.^[1]

See also[link]

Baroque trumpet

External links[link]

• Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter- und Paukerkunst (Google Books, German text)

References[link]