Альтенбург қаласы: Тарихы мен географиясы

City in Thuringia, Germany
the city in Thuringia, Germany

Altenburg is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and 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. Today, the city and its rural county is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. 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. The main sights of Altenburg are the castle, the Lindenau Museum, the historic city center (most buildings are from early modern origin) and the Gründerzeit architecture around the center. The popular German card game Skat was developed in Altenburg during the 1810s and the founder of the famous Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, lived and worked in Altenburg between 1810 and 1817. Altenburg lies in the flat and fertile landscape of Osterland on the Pleiße river in the very east of Thuringia, next to the neighboring federal state of Saxony.

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 placenames, the surrounding area (Osterland) was mainly settled by Slavs. The town's location on the imperial road 'Via Imperii' 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 as one of their Kaiserpfalzes, 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. A priory of canons regular was founded and the parish church was finished in 1172. The twin towers of the 12th century Augustinian monastery (Rote Spitzen) are still preserved. A town wall with 5 gates was constructed at the end of the 12th century. Altenburg got its charter around 1200, in 1256 the Wettins confirmed it again. The law structure was transposed from Goslar municipal law. 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 Wettin margraves of Meissen, who held the city until 1918. 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 and its dynasty, the Ernestine Wettins.

The Reformation was introduced in Altenburg quite early, in 1522, by George Spalatin, Wenzeslaus Linck and Gabriel Zwilling. During the German Peasants' War of 1525, the Altenburg Augustinian monastery was attacked. In the summer, four peasant rebels were executed at the marketplace. After the Schmalkaldic War brought defeat for the Ernestines, Altenburg belonged to the Albertines for short time (1547–1554) before coming back to the Ernestines after the Naumburg Treaty. From 1603 to 1672, Altenburg was the residence of an Ernestine line, after that, it fell to Saxe Gotha Altenburg. The Thirty Years' War brought heavy damage to the city and more than half of the population died. From 1705 onwards, the Magdalenenstift was a Protestant boarding school for young noble ladies. 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, successor state to the dissolved Saxe Hildburghausen. Around 1830, the city walls and gates were knocked down and the old suburbia in front of the former wall were incorporated. Industrialization began around this time and the economy and population both saw rapid growth, strengthened by the connection to the railway in 1842 (as Thuringia's first connected city). The Revolution of 1848 led to the abdication of the conservative duke Joseph, who was replaced by his more liberal brother George. The last duke abdicated during the Revolution of 1918 on 13 November 1918 after being promised 12 million Marks and the ownership of numerous castles. The free state of Saxe Altenburg was merged with Thuringia in 1920. Altenburg was a working class city during the Weimar Republic, ruled by SPD and KPD, which led to heavy conflicts between left and right wing forces after 1933. The Jewish community was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in 1938, many Jews emigrated or were killed in the concentration camps. Furthermore, communists and invalids from Altenburg were murdered. During World War II, several subcamps of the Buchenwald concentration camp were located here. They provided 13,000 forced labourers for HASAG, the third largest German company to use concentration camp labour. The US Army reached Altenburg on 15 April 1945 and was replaced by the Soviet Army on 1 July 1945. In 1952, Thuringia was dissolved and replaced by administrative divisions of East Germany (Bezirks). Altenburg became part of the Leipzig administrative district, in which it was the second largest city. After reunification, previously extant states were re established in the former east Germany as federal states in the reunified Germany. Although a majority of 54% in the district voted for Saxony in a plebiscite, the district council decided to join Thuringia together with the Schmölln district, partly because a vast majority of 80% in the neighboring Schmölln district had voted for Thuringia. These districts had formed the eastern part of Saxe Altenburg until 1920 and were reunified as the modern day Altenburger Land district in 1994.

Altenburg is located on the southern edge of the Leipzig Bay, a flat and fertile area, with intensive agricultural use and lignite surface mining north of the town. The nearest mountains are the Ore Mountains approximately to the south east. The Pleiße valley runs east of the city, whereas the center itself is located at Blaue Flut (blue flood) river, a small tributary of Pleiße river. The Blaue Flut feeds the Großer Teich (big pond), an inner city pond with an island in the middle, on which the Altenburg zoo is located. There is relatively little forest within the town's municipal territory: the small Stadtwald (town wood) and Herzog Ernst Wald (Duke Ernest wood) south of the center and the Fasanerieholz (Pheasantry wood) at Ehrenberg district. The elevation of the city center is 200 m, to the north it declines down to 162 m and in the south next to Mockzig district it rises up to 261 m.

Altenburg was the first city in Thuringia with connection to the railway, established in 1842 with the Leipzig–Hof line. Initially, Altenburg station was a terminus station, which became impractical as traffic grew, so a new through station was built in 1878 in the north east of the city. In addition to the connections to Leipzig (1842) and Hof/Zwickau (1844), some more lines were established to Glauchau (1858, via Gößnitz), to Gera (1865, via Gößnitz), to Zeitz (1872, abandoned in 2002) and to Narsdorf (1901, abandoned in 1998). Today, the Altenburg station is the only station within the municipality, after the Paditz station (on the Hof line) and the North Altenburg station (on the Zeitz line) were closed. There are some regional trains to Leipzig, Zwickau and Erfurt (via Gera and Jena) today. Glauchau can be reached by changing trains in the near Gößnitz station. With the rollout of the Leipzig City Tunnel in December 2013, the services on the Leipzig–Hof/Zwickau line were reorganized and integrated in the S Bahn Mitteldeutschland with connections to Leipzig twice an hour. The connection to long distance trains is carried out via Leipzig (north and east), Jena (south) and Erfurt (west), since the last long distance trains on the Leipzig–Hof line ceased operating in 2006. Altenburg is situated between two Autobahns: the A4 (Erfurt–Dresden) passes approximately south and the A72 (Leipzig–Chemnitz) passes approximately east of the city. Regional traffic is carried by the three national roadsn in Altenburg. The B7 is the connection to Gera (and A4 in Erfurt direction) in the south west and to Rochlitz in the north east, the B93 runs to Borna (and A72 in Leipzig direction) in the north and to Zwickau in the south and the B180 links Altenburg with Zeitz in the west and Hohenstein Ernstthal (and A72/A4 in Chemnitz and Dresden direction via secondary road 1357) in the south east. An important secondary road connects Altenburg with Gera north to the B7 via Lumpzig. The B7 and B93 bypass the town center on a ring road to absorb the transit traffic between Leipzig and Zwickau. The Leipzig Altenburg Airport, a former Soviet military airport, is situated east of the city and was used by Ryanair for flights to London Stansted, Barcelona Girona and Edinburgh until 2011. Currently, there are no public flights at this airport. The next regional airport is located in Leipzig/Halle ( to the north). Biking is becoming more popular since the construction of long distance cycle tracks began in the 1990s. Both the Pleiße track, along the Pleiße valley from Werdau near Zwickau to Leipzig, and the Thuringian city track (Radweg Thüringer Städtekette) from Eisenach via Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera to Altenburg, connect points of tourist interest. Local public transport within Altenburg is based exclusively on buses. Six lines connect the outlying quarters to the inner city. Furthermore, there are some regional bus services to the villages in the district. The Altenburg Tramway was in operation from 1895 until 1920.

There are three Gymnasiums in Altenburg: two state owned and one Christian (ecumenical).