Erfurt is the capital and largest city in the state of Thuringia, central Germany. It is located in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, within the wide valley of the Gera river. It is located 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Leipzig, 300 km (186 mi) south-west of Berlin, 400 km (249 mi) north of Munich and 250 km (155 mi) north-east of Frankfurt. Together with a string of neighbouring cities Gotha, Weimar, Jena and others, Erfurt forms the central metropolitan corridor of Thuringia called Thüringer Städtekette with over 500,000 inhabitants.
Thuringia, officially the Free State of Thuringia, is a state of Germany. Located in central Germany, it covers 16,171 square kilometres (6,244 sq mi), being the sixth smallest of the sixteen German States. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Jena is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of about 110,000. Jena is a centre of education and research; the Friedrich Schiller University was founded in 1558 and had 18,000 students in 2017 and the Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule Jena counts another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies.
Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other.
Bad Blankenburg is a spa town in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 6 km southwest of Rudolstadt, and 37 km southeast of Erfurt. It is most famous for being the location of the first kindergarten of Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel, in 1837.
Gotha is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, 20 kilometres west of Erfurt and 25 km east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918. The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originating here spawned many European rulers, including the royal houses of the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal and Bulgaria.
Bornhagen is a municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany, located at the foot of the ruins of Hanstein Castle. The town district Rimbach is positioned directly south of the castle citadel at an elevation of 370 m. Bornhagen is located 22km south of Göttingen, 85km northwest of the state capital Erfurt and 270km southwest of Berlin. It is the westernmost settlement in Thuringia but does not contain the westernmost point which is 75km south near Geisa.
Greiz is a town in Thuringia, and it is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia on the river White Elster.
Erfurt–Weimar Airport serves Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, and the nearby city of Weimar, both of which form the largest part of the state's central metropolitan area. The airport is 5 km (3.1 mi) west of Erfurt city center and is mainly used for seasonal charter flights to European leisure destinations.
Coburg is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was one of the capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Through successful dynastic policies, the ruling princely family married into several of the royal families of Europe, most notably in the person of Prince Albert, who married Queen Victoria in 1840. As a result of these close links with the royal houses of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Coburg was frequently visited by the crowned heads of Europe and their families.
Ohrdruf is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain and Wölfis were merged into Ohrdruf in January 2019.
Feldkirch is a medieval town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, bordering on Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is the administrative centre of the Feldkirch district. After Dornbirn, it is the second most populous town in Vorarlberg. The westernmost point in Austria lies in Feldkirch on the river Rhine, at the tripoint between Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
Artern is a town in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. The former municipalities Heygendorf and Voigtstedt were merged into Artern in January 2019.
Weißensee is a town in the district of Sömmerda, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 6 km northwest of Sömmerda, and 25 km north of Erfurt. The former municipality Herrnschwende was merged into Weißensee in January 2019.
The Krämerbrücke is a medieval arch bridge in the city of Erfurt, in Thuringia, central Germany, which is lined with half-timbered shops and houses on both sides of a cobblestone street. It is one of the few remaining bridges in the world that have inhabited buildings. It has been continuously inhabited for over 500 years, longer than any other bridge in Europe. The stone, pedestrian bridge, which dates from 1325, is one of the oldest secular structures in Erfurt. It spans the Breitstrom, a branch of Gera River, and connects two town squares – Benediktsplatz and Wenigemarkt.
Alkersleben is a municipality in the Ilm-Kreis district in Thuringia, Germany. The municipality is a member of the collective municipality Riechheimer Berg.
Amt Wachsenburg is a municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany. The municipality is named after the Wachsenburg Castle which is located in its center. It was formed on 31 December 2012 from the former municipalities Wachsenburggemeinde and Ichtershausen. The former municipality Kirchheim was merged into Amt Wachsenburg in January 2019, and Rockhausen in December 2019. It consists of the villages Bechstedt-Wagd, Bittstädt, Eischleben, Haarhausen, Holzhausen, Ichtershausen, Kirchheim, Rehestädt, Rockhausen, Röhrensee, Sülzenbrücken, Thörey and Werningsleben.
Bützow Castle is a castle in Bützow, Germany.
A coercion castle or coercive castle was a heavily fortified, medieval castle built to dominate the surrounding land. Such castles were built mainly in the High and Late Middle Ages in order to protect those territories in areas where the population was not assessed as being entirely loyal to the sovereign. Because of the poor infrastructure of medieval Europe, the construction of castles was one of the most important ways of exercising power, which is why it was governed by royal rights. Examples of coercive castles are the Moritzburg in Halle, which was built in the late 15th century, and the Alte Burg in Koblenz.
Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt, central Germany, is one of the largest and best-preserved town fortresses in Europe. The citadel was built on Petersberg hill, in the north-western part of the old town centre from 1665, when Erfurt was governed by the Electorate of Mainz. It is surrounded by over two kilometres of stone walls and is 36 hectares in size.
