Thuringia - Thüringen

State of Thuringia
Capital	Erfurt
Residents	2.143.145 (2018)
surface	16,171 km²
website	www.thueringen.de/
no tourist info on Wikidata:
location

The state Thuringia is in the middle Germany. Because of this location and its abundance of forests, the country bears the title "Green Heart of Germany". The state capital is Erfurtthat is next to the cultural city Weimar and the area Thuringian Forest form the tourist strongholds. But even apart from these strongholds, Thuringia has a lot to offer, especially culturally, due to its former small states. Thuringia borders in the east Saxony, in the south Bavaria, in the west Hesse and Lower Saxony and in the north Saxony-Anhalt.

Regions

Thuringian Forest

The south of the country is from Thuringian Forest dominates, which extends between the rivers Werra and Saale. To the west of the Werra, the country shares the ridge of the with Hesse and Bavaria Rhön. To the east of the Saale, the Thuringian Forest is not so high, but also scenic Thuringian Slate Mountains away. In the extreme southeast, east of the river Weisse Elster, Thuringia shares it with Saxony and Bavaria Vogtland.

The Thuringian Basin north of the Thuringian Forest is a landscape with comparatively sparse natural vegetation. It borders the to the north resin and is south of Sondershausen of the Hainleite interrupted.
The result is the following picture of the holiday regions or holiday areas (from north to west in a clockwise direction):

1. Northern Thuringia: resin, Hainich, Hainleite, Kyffhauser and Eichsfeld.
2. Thuringian heartland (also sometimes called "Central Thuringia" or "Thuringian Basin")
3. Saaleland: Ilm-Saale-Platte, Oral cavity, Saale valley, Thuringian Tuscany and Thuringian Slate Mountains
4. East Thuringia: Thuringian woodland, Thuringian Vogtland and Osterland.
5. Thuringian Forest, Western and Central Thuringian Forest, High slate mountains and Schwarzatal.
6. Southwest Thuringia: Werra Valley, Rhön and Grave field.

Cities

The capital of the Free State of Thuringia is Erfurt. The largest cities in the country are on a line in an east-west direction. These are Gera, Jena, the "cultural capital" Weimar, Erfurt, Gotha and Eisenach. Important cities outside this line are Suhl in the Thuringian Forest, Nordhausen on the southern edge of the Harz Mountains and the Skat town of Altenburg in the far east of the country. in the Thuringian Forest are Ilmenau, Oberhof as well as the half-timbered town Schmalkalden worth seeing. The former residential cities are still worth seeing for tourists Rudolstadt in the Saale valley with the Heidecksburg and Meiningen in the Werra valley with the famous theater and its museums.

Selected cities:

Gumpert Apollo

The former royal seat known as Skatstadt Altenburg, with around 38,000 inhabitants, is the largest city in the East Thuringian Altenburger Land and has a lot to offer culturally. The card game Skat was developed here between 1810 and 1818. In addition to the German Skat Association, the International Skat Court is also based in the city, and there is even a fountain dedicated to card games. In addition to the castle and the large contiguous historical old town area, there is also an art museum of national importance. The Altenburg Prince Robbery Festival takes place every summer in cooperation between the Altenburg State Theater and the City of Altenburg. In addition, Altenburg is home to the Gumpert Sports Car Manufactory, a manufacturer of expensive, exclusive sports cars, whose viewing is a must for car enthusiasts.

Eisenach, the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, is located in the west of Thuringia. It is located at 221 m a.s.l. at the northwest end of the Thuringian Forest, where Hörsel and nephew flow together. The city is best known for Luther, who hid in the Wartburg. In the city center, the castle with the porcelain collection, the George Church and the Luther and Bach House are particularly worth a visit. Eisenach also made a name for itself as an automobile city. Before the Second World War, BMW produced its cars in Eisenach, in GDR times the Wartburg was made and since reunification Opel has had its Corsa assembled in the city. This history of automobile construction in Eisenach is shown in the "automobile world eisenach" museum.

Erfurt Cathedral

The capitalcity 50.97805555555611.0291666666671 Erfurt has a medieval old town with many half-timbered houses. The most famous bridge in Erfurt is without a doubt the 120 m long Krämerbrücke built with houses. The landmark of the city, however, is the cathedral towering over the city together with the neighboring Severikirche. Every year in August, the cathedral stage festival takes place on the large staircase that leads down from the cathedral to the market. Another impressive building is the Petersberg Citadel, from the fortress you can enjoy a fantastic view of the old town. Erfurt also achieved fame as a city of flowers, and the Egapark still bears witness to this today.

Salvator Church

Gera, the birthplace of Otto Dix, is the third largest city in Thuringia and is located in the valley of the White Elster. For visitors to Thuringia, this city in the shadow of Erfurt is probably only a secondary destination, although it does have some cultural highlights. The orangery and theater date from the time of the Principality of Reuss. In the city center, the town hall and the Salvatorkirche adorn the cityscape. In 2007 she organized the Federal Garden Show together with the small neighboring town of Ronneburg.

Friedenstein Castle

50.94888888888910.7183333333332 Gotha became known primarily through the establishment of the first insurance company in Germany and the merger of two workers 'parties to form the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, which was later renamed the SPD. Gotha was a residential city for a long time. The early baroque Friedenstein Castle still bears witness to this time. The Museum der Natur, the largest nature museum in Thuringia, is located in the west tower of Friedenstein Castle.

Greizer locks

Greiz is a former residential town and was the seat of the older line of the Principality of Reuss. The East Thuringian city is the district and largest city in the district of Greiz. It advertises itself as a "park and palace town", which names are justified by two castles plus a summer palace and an extensive English park, which is considered one of the most beautiful landscape parks in Thuringia. Beyond the city limits, Greiz is known as the "Pearl of the Vogtland", which refers to the charming location in the valley basin of the White Elster and to the architecturally valuable city ensemble from the Art Nouveau era.

Divi Blasii at the Untermarkt in Mühlhausen

Mühlhausen (Thuringia) the city in the heart of Germany, is nestled between the ridges of the Hainich and the Eichsfeld, north of Eisenach. Whichever direction you approach the city in the Unstrut Valley, the church tower of St. Mary's Church greets you from afar. The city wall with its defensive towers and the towers of the 11 medieval churches transport visitors back to a bygone era. This is where the princes of the empire met in the Middle Ages. Philip of Swabia was elected German king and the citizenship of the imperial city gained self-government in 1251. Mühlhausen is crowned by the Marienkirche in the upper town, the largest church in Thuringia after the Erfurt Cathedral. Here preached who confessed alongside Martin Luther Reformer Thomas Müntzer and put the city at the center of German history at the time of the Peasants' War. The town's second main church, the Divi Blasii parish church, is a Gothic hall church on Untermarkt. She is named Johann Sebastian Bach closely related. The composer and church musician worked here as an organist from 1707-1708. You can still listen to Bach’s music in the church today. The town hall houses a special kind of treasure. The Imperial City Archive is located here with valuable documents and writings.

JenTower

The university town Jena lies in the Saale valley, surrounded by high, mostly rugged limestone mountains. After Erfurt, it is the second largest city in Thuringia. Jena is the “City of Science 2008”. The historic old town was badly damaged in the Second World War. As a result, a variety of modern and historical buildings characterizes the cityscape. The most striking building is the 149 meter high JenTower. The cylindrical skyscraper was built in GDR times and fundamentally rebuilt after the fall of the Wall. The highlight of a visit to Jena is the Zeiss Planetarium, it is the oldest in the world.

The Meininger Theater

Meiningen lies in the Werra valley between the Thuringian Forest and the Rhön on the border with Bavaria. The city is a stop on the Klassikerstraße and has a wide range of options for city tourism and cultural tourism alike. Meiningen is generally known as the “theater city”. The dialect is Henneberg-Franconian, a subspecies of Main-Franconian.

Goethe and Schiller

Weimar, the city of Goethe and Schiller, is part of the world cultural heritage. However, not only the two poets stayed in the city, the composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius were also active in the city. Weimar offers a lot of sights, including the German National Theater, Bauhaus Museum, and Schiller's house. It is probably the most famous city in Thuringia, not only culturally, but also steeped in history, especially due to the Weimar Republic. The darkest chapter in Weimar history is during the Nazi era. In front of the city was the Buchenwald concentration camp, which is now a memorial for the victims.

Other goals

• Natural park Thuringian Forest and biosphere reserve Rhön (Thuringian part). Here you can find the Schneekopfs the highest point in Thuringia with a height of 1001 m.

• The area of ​​the Upper Saale on the western edge of the is also recommended for nature lovers Thuringian Slate Mountains. There are the Hohenwarte- and the Bleilochtalsperre. It is not far from the Saale Valley Schwarzatal with the Oberweißbacher Bergbahn.

• This is indispensable for a natural exploration Rennsteig, which stretches from Eisenach over the ridge of the Thuringian Forest to the Bavarian border in the Thuringian Slate Mountains. To the north of Eisenach you can take a treetop path in the national park Hainich go up to the roof of the forest.

• From Weimar and Jena north towards the federal state border, Thuringia shares with it Saxony-Anhalt an area on the Ilm, Saale and Unstrut, which was nicknamed "Tuscany of the East" because of its sunny river slopes and rolling hills, and also as a wine-growing region Saale-Unstrut is known. This is also where the Saale, Unstrut and Ilmtal cycle paths meet.

• On the former German / German border near Asbach-Sickenberg is the supraregional important Border Museum Schifflersgrund, about 40 km northeast in Eichsfeld the Grenzlandmuseum Eichsfeld.

background

Wartburg at Eisenach

Thuringia was not a state unit until 1920. The land of the residences was rather a mirror of the small German states: over and over again inheritance divisions took place and other lines died out again after a short period of existence. Today not only the great ducal castles of Weimar or Gotha, but also smaller residences like that of the 500-soul village Ebersdorf at Schleiz (link).

After the division of Leipzig in 1485, a large part of today's Thuringia was ruled by the Ernestines, but the sub-lines of the Black Burger and Reuss also owned rulers. Even Prussia and Saxony had small shares in the cake. Since the Thuringian princes had little political weight, it is not surprising that they devoted themselves to culture as a substitute. So Goethe went to Weimar only through the efforts of Duke Carl August. After the abdication of the nobility, the state of Thuringia was formed in 1920. With an interruption from 1933 to 1945 it existed until 1952. Until 1990 it was divided into the three districts of Erfurt, Gera and Suhl, with some areas that are now part of Thuringia also assigned to other districts. This included, for example, the Altenburger Land, which is part of the district Leipzig was assigned.

The official national anthem of Thuringia is Thuringia, lovely country, as unofficial, because sung much more often, that applies Rennsteig song.

getting there

By plane

The nearest commercial airports with scheduled flights are the 51.42388888888912.236388888889Leipzig Halle Airport(IATA: LEJ), the 49.49861111111111.078055555556Nuremberg Airport(IATA: NUE) and the 50.0333333333338.5705555555556airport Frankfurt(IATA: FRA).

There are two airports in Thuringia itself, 50.97972210.958056Airport Erfurt - Weimar(IATA: ERF) and Altenburg, on which larger planes can land. Both have no scheduled services. From Erfurt there are charter flights to some hot water destinations.

By train

In Thuringia, the rail connections are still quite good, but the area-related connection to long-distance traffic has decreased in recent years. ICE connections are available from the cities of Frankfurt, Berlin, Halle, Leipzig, Dresden, Bamberg and Munich. Otherwise, the journey is mainly made via regional express trains.

With the high-speed line Halle / Leipzig - Erfurt - Nuremberg, the section between Halle / Leipzig and Erfurt was initially put into operation on December 13, 2015. The route to Nuremberg has been extended since December 2017. This gradually reduced the number of long-distance traffic stops in Thuringia. Since the end of 2017, ICEs have only stopped in Erfurt, Gotha and Eisenach. Three IC trains run daily from Gera, Jena and Weimar via Kassel and the Ruhr area to Düsseldorf.

By bus

The development of the long-distance bus market is currently subject to rapid change, both in terms of providers and routes.

In the street

Of north and south the journey is usually made via the (Berlin-Munich). From direction east and west the traveler arrives via the (Dresden-Frankfurt) to Thuringia. The two motorways are the most important connections and most of them have six lanes. There are only minor expansion gaps.

Other motorways in Thuringia are the (Leipzig-Göttingen), the (Schweinfurt-Südharz) and the (Nuremberg-Suhl).

Note: As everywhere, arriving by car on Friday afternoons should be avoided because of the weekend commuters.

mobility

By train

Altenburg, the former capital of the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg, was the first city in the Thuringian states to have a railway connection. (Photo: portico of Altenburg train station)

Both Deutsche Bahn and some private railways operate local transport. That's how she drives Vogtland Railway Train stations in East Thuringia. The South Thuringia Railway and the Erfurt Railway. Goes to the north and east Abellio.

• Line map of rail passenger transport in Thuringia

There are two transport associations in Thuringia. On the one hand, there is Central Thuringia transport association around Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera, on the other hand the cross-border ones Central German transport association in Altenburger Land, which also extends to north-west Saxony around Leipzig and south-east Saxony-Anhalt around Halle.

With the Thuringia ticket can one person for 25, - € (As of March 2018) drive through Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. 4 additional people pay an additional € 7 each. Your own children / grandchildren up to the age of 14 travel for free. The ticket is valid on regional trains of the DB, most private railways, in some bus companies and in city traffic in all places in the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT), dhua in Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m., on weekends and public holidays all day until 3 a.m. the following day.

For single travelers there is one thing Hopper ticket, with which you can easily drive 50 km within Thuringia for € 5.40 or there and back for € 8.70 (Dec. 2018). Within the network area of ​​the VMT there is a VMT hopper ticket for € 5.60 one-way / € 9.20 return trip, which is then also valid on buses and trams at the start and destination. There is that for longer distances Regio120 ticket up to 120 km, region 120 plus up to 150 km in Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt for € 17 and € 22, respectively. These tickets are also only valid on local trains on weekdays from 9 a.m. or on Sat / Sun all day.

The Thuringian regional railways take bicycles with them free of charge.

By bus

Buses usually only connect the nearest towns and villages with each other. While the number of city lines has mostly remained stable in recent years, the number of lines on the overland routes has decreased due to the population decline. Thüsac in Altenburger Land tries to maintain the lines with minibuses. These are mostly large-capacity taxis with 8 seats that drive on behalf of Thüsac. If a larger group is traveling, they must contact Thüsac beforehand so that a larger bus can be used. There is an overview on the website of the Bus Thuringia e.V.

In the street

The motorways are also the most important routes for journeys within the country. While most of the motorways are well developed, some important federal highways still lack local bypasses. There is an environmental zone in Erfurt.

By boat

Shipping traffic with passenger transport is only available on the Bleilochtalsperre and the Hohenwarte dam with round trips. Otherwise, only the Werra and the Saale can be traveled by canoe.

By bicycle

Thuringia has a network Cycling routes, which opens up all parts of the country, but is in part quite challenging due to the mountainous location.

language

The language in Thuringia is essentially divided into two dialect groups. The Franconian south of the Thuringian Forest and the Thuringian-Upper Saxon north of it. However, the dialects are similar to in Saxony quite different. This is how the "Gersche Fettguschendialect"from the dialect of Greizeralthough the two cities are only 30 km apart.

to buy

kitchen

Two of the most famous Thuringian specialties are the Thuringian roast sausages and the Thuringian dumplings.

Further information on Thuringian cuisine can be found at Eating and drinking in Thuringia.

nightlife

• Jazz Mile Thuringia
• Thuringian Bach Weeks
• Kulturarena Jena

Learn

Thuringia's oldest university is the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Today it has ten faculties.

Work

public holidays

Christmas Eve (December 24th) and New Year's Eve (December 31st) are not public holidays. Nevertheless, many businesses are closed all day and many shops and leisure facilities are closed from midday on these days. Depending on the city, local public transport can be severely restricted or even stopped from the afternoon onwards. Most of the restaurants are also closed on Christmas Eve.

In predominantly Catholic Eichsfeld Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 3, 2021) is also celebrated in the north-west of the country.

School holidays

Furthermore, there are two to three flexible vacation days in Thuringia, which are determined locally. The long-term summer vacation dates can be found at the Conference of Ministers of Education can be read.

security

Thuringia is considered a very safe federal state. In the annual federal crime statistics, Bavaria leads the table with the lowest crime rate.

health

The Woodland, the Saale-Orla area and the upper Werra area Hildburghausen is as TBE risk area classified. These are areas in which at least five diseases occurred between 1985 and 2004 Early summer meningoencephalitis or at least two TBE diseases were registered within one year.

• Emergency number: 112
• Poison control number: 49 (0) 361 730730

climate

The south side of the Thuringian Forest, but especially the Saale and Unstrut valleys, where even wine thrives.

respect

literature

Web links

• Thuringia tourism - officially
• Thuringian cities
• Official website of the Free State of Thuringia

Federal states

Germany: • Baden-Wuerttemberg • Bavaria • Berlin • Brandenburg • Bremen • Hamburg • Hesse • Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania • Lower Saxony • North Rhine-Westphalia • Rhineland-Palatinate • Saarland • Saxony • Saxony-Anhalt • Schleswig-Holstein • Thuringia

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