154-505: Ilmenau ( German pronunciation: [ˈɪlmənaʊ̯] ) is a town in Thuringia , central Germany . It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt . Ilmenau is located approximately 33 km (21 miles) south of Erfurt and 135 km (84 miles) north of Nuremberg within the Ilm valley at the northern edge of
308-610: A boost to the town's development: the former 2000 people-small town arose to an industrial centre of glass, porcelain and toy production. Furthermore, mining saw a resurgence by gaining fluorite and Braunstein ( manganese ore). After being connected by railway in 1879, the Industrial Revolution reached the town. Some factories for porcelain ( Graf von Henneberg Porzellan since 1777), glasswares (the Sophienhütte since 1852) and toys developed and grew until
462-510: A bus network connecting the city centre with the outskirts and neighbouring villages. The Technische Universität Ilmenau has 7,000 students and is Thuringia's second-largest university, founded in 1894 as Thüringisches Technikum , converted to a university in 1992. Its emphasis is on mathematics, physics, informatics, several engineering disciplines and media studies. Furthermore, there are two grammar schools Gymnasiums in Ilmenau, one offers
616-522: A copy of the biography of a noble highwayman from the German Peasants' War . In a couple of weeks the biography was reworked into a colourful drama titled Götz von Berlichingen , and the work struck a chord among Goethe's contemporaries. Since Goethe could not subsist on his income as one of the editors of a literary periodical (published by Schlosser and Merck), in May 1772 he once more took up
770-605: A deep emotional bond with the Polish pianist Maria Szymanowska , 33 at the time, and she separated from her husband. In 1821 Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter introduced him to the 12-year-old Felix Mendelssohn . Goethe, now in his seventies, was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison to Mozart in the following conversation between Goethe and Zelter: "Musical prodigies ... are probably no longer so rare; but what this little man can do in extemporizing and playing at sight borders
924-411: A devotion to the theater, and was greatly fascinated by the puppet shows that were annually arranged by occupying French Soldiers at his home and which later became a recurrent theme in his literary work Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship . He also took great pleasure in reading works on history and religion. Of this period he wrote: I had from childhood the singular habit of always learning by heart
1078-412: A few months, this put an early end to his law career. Around this time, Goethe became acquainted with the court of Darmstadt , where his inventiveness was praised. It was from that world that there came Johann Georg Schlosser (who later became Goethe's brother-in-law) and Johann Heinrich Merck . Goethe also pursued literary plans again; this time, his father did not object, and even helped. Goethe obtained
1232-467: A focus on science as an elite boarding school in addition to the common curriculum. They are the Gymnasium "Am Lindenberg" – which focuses on languages and economics, and Goetheschule which specialises in science and mathematics. Notable research institutes are: The current mayor Daniel Schultheiß (Independent) has been in office since November 2018. The last municipal election was held in 2009 with
1386-686: A great admirer of Goethe's in his early youth, sending him some of his earlier works with praising cover notes. The meeting is said to be of a strikingly unsuccessful nature, with Heine completely omitting the meeting in the Harzreise , and speaking flippantly of it in much later life. In 1832, Goethe died in Weimar of apparent heart failure. He is buried in the Ducal Vault at Weimar's Historical Cemetery . The last words of Goethe usually abridged as Mehr Licht! , that is, "more light!", although
1540-478: A large role since the town became a spa in the 1830s. In 2012, there were 49,000 hotel guests having 114,000 overnight stays in Ilmenau. Ilmenau station is located in the city centre on the Plaue–Themar railway , which opened to Ilmenau in 1879. Ilmenau station and stations in the districts of Pörlitzer Höhe and Roda are connected by an hourly service to Erfurt via Arnstadt . Another line to Großbreitenbach
1694-502: A more natural and tough vegetation more resilient to climate change as well as diseases and vermin. In comparison to the forest, agriculture is still quite conventional and dominated by large structures and monocultures. Problems here are caused especially by increasingly prolonged dry periods during the summer months. Environmental damage in Thuringia has been reduced to a large extent after 1990. The condition of forests, rivers and air
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#17327720025091848-455: A mutually wary relationship ever since first becoming acquainted in 1788. This collaborative friendship lasted until Schiller's death in 1805. In 1806, Goethe was living in Weimar with his mistress Christiane Vulpius , the sister of Christian A. Vulpius and daughter of archivist Johann Friedrich Vulpius (1725–1786), and their son August von Goethe . On 13 October, Napoleon 's army invaded
2002-419: A number of Goethe's poems to music. His other compositions inspired by Goethe include the overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Op. 27, 1828), and the cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht ( The First Walpurgis Night , Op. 60, 1832). Heinrich Heine , on his hiking tour through Germany (the trip immortalised in his work Die Harzreise ) was granted an audience with Goethe in 1824 in Weimar. Heine had been
2156-664: A similar journey, and his example was a major motivating factor for Goethe to make the trip. More importantly, however, the work of Johann Joachim Winckelmann had provoked a general renewed interest in the classical art of ancient Greece and Rome . Thus Goethe's journey had something of the nature of a pilgrimage to it. During the course of his trip Goethe met and befriended the artists Angelica Kauffman and Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein , as well as encountering such notable characters as Lady Hamilton and Alessandro Cagliostro . He also journeyed to Sicily during this time, and wrote that "To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily
2310-407: A small role in Ilmenau. It occurred after reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders (e.g. Oberpörlitz and Hüttenholz settlement), others were Langewiesen or Elgersburg . The birth deficit was 132 in 2012, this is −5.1 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: -4.5; national average: -2.4). The net migration rate
2464-447: A strong tendency from rural areas towards the big cities. From 2008 to 2012, there was a net migration from Thuringia to Erfurt of +6,700 persons (33 per 1000 inhabitants), +1,800 to Gera (19 per 1000), +1,400 to Jena (14 per 1000), +1,400 to Eisenach (33 per 1000) and +1,300 to Weimar (21 per 1000). Between Thuringia and the other German states, the balance is negative: In 2012, Thuringia lost 6,500 persons to other federal states,
2618-400: A university in 1992. Since 1990, many research institutes have been established in the vicinity making Ilmenau an important hub of technological research. Ilmenau was historically a small mining town, primarily silver, copper and manganese, until the deposits were depleted. After 1800, it was one of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's favourite resorts because of its beautiful surroundings. In 1838,
2772-418: A wealthy Worms merchant's daughter and friend of his sister, who would later marry the merchant G. F. Schuler. Goethe studied law at Leipzig University from 1765 to 1768. He detested learning age-old judicial rules by heart, preferring instead to attend the lessons of the university professor and poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert . In Leipzig, Goethe fell in love with Anna Katharina Schönkopf ,
2926-794: A wider range of destinations than Erfurt Airport and is closer than Munich Airport. Cycling is becoming ever more popular since the construction of quality cycle paths began in the 1990s. There is the Ilm track from the Rennsteig in the Thuringian Forest to the Saale valley at the Saxony-Anhalt border via Ilmenau and Weimar . In addition there are cycle paths that connect to the Gera track (in Elgersburg ) to Erfurt nearby and to
3080-436: Is Germany's driest area, with annual precipitation of only 400 to 500 mm. Artern , in the north-east, is warm and dry, with a mean annual temperature of 8.5 °C and mean precipitation of 450 mm; contrast this with wet, cool Oberhof , in the Thuringian Forest, where temperature averages only 4.4 °C and mean annual precipitation reaches 1300 mm. Due to many centuries of intensive settlement, most of
3234-779: Is a white-red bicolor, derived from the white and red stripes of the Ludowingian lion. The coat of arms and flag of Hesse are quite similar to the Thuringian ones, since they are also derived from the Ludowingian symbols. Symbols of Thuringia in popular culture are the Bratwurst and the Forest , because a large amount of the territory is forested. Named after the Thuringii Germanic tribe who occupied it around AD 300, Thuringia came under Frankish domination in
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#17327720025093388-412: Is about 1.78% less. The current population is 2,120,237 (31 December 2020) with an annual rate of decrease of about 0.5%, which varies widely between the local regions. In 2012, 905,000 Thuringians lived in a municipality with more than 20,000 inhabitants, this is an urbanization rate of 42% which continues to rise. In July 2013, there were 41,000 non-Germans by citizenship living in Thuringia (1.9% of
3542-449: Is disputed as Vogel was not in the room at the moment Goethe died, something he himself says in his account: " [...] "More light" is said to have been the last words of the man, who always hated darkness in every respect, as I had left the dying room for a moment. [...] " Thomas Carlyle , in his letter to John Carlyle (2 July 1832) records that he had learned the version Macht die Fensterladen auf, damit ich mehr Licht bekomme! ("Open
3696-524: Is eight kilometres south of the capital's Cathedral , in the municipality of Rockhausen . Thuringia's climate is temperate with humid westerly winds predominating. Increasingly as one moves from the north-west to the south-east, the climate shows continental features: winters can be cold for long periods, and summers can become warm. Dry periods are often recorded, especially within the Thuringian Basin, leeward to mountains in all directions. It
3850-661: Is followed up by Werra river valley, dividing it from the Rhön Mountains in the west and the Grabfeld plain in the south. Eastern Thuringia, commonly described as the area east of Saale and Loquitz valley, is marked by a hilly landscape, rising slowly from the flat north to the mountainous south. The Saale in the west and the White Elster in the east are the two big rivers running from south to north and forming densely settled valleys in this area. Between them lies
4004-473: Is leading source of economic activity together with mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. Ilmenau and the surrounding region have produced many winter Olympic champions in disciplines such as luge , bobsleigh , and biathlon . The name comes from the German words Ulmen (i.e. Elms ) and Aue (i.e. floodplain ), in reference to the floodplain of the Ilm river, which was covered with elms before
4158-828: Is located within a basin, formed by Ilm river on the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest at an altitude of 500m. The surrounding mountains are the Pörlitzer Höhe (573 m) in the north, the Ehrenberg (528 m) and the Tragberg (534 m) in the east, the Lindenberg (749 m) in the south, the Kickelhahn (861 m) in the south-west and the Hangeberg (701 m) in the west. Whereas the first three belong to
4312-527: Is not part of the Ilm's drainage basin, the emanating rivers here (Reichenbach near Roda district and Wipfra near Oberpörlitz district) are tributaries of the Gera , which is itself a tributary of River Unstrut . There is a water area in the centre of the town, the Ilmenauer Teichgebiet . This lies between the old town and the main campus of the university with 5 lakes, laid out by monks during
4466-470: Is now Thuringia were the Sorbs proper , who unified all tribes in what is now southern half of Eastern Germany. The Ostsiedlung movement led to the assimilation of Slavic people between the 11th and the 13th century under German rule. The population growth increased during the 18th century and stayed high until World War I , before it slowed within the 20th century and changed to a decline since 1990. Since
4620-490: Is software engineering. These new sectors benefit from the vicinity to the university and the research institutes. In 2012, there were 26 companies in industrial production with more than 20 workers employing 1,500 persons and generating a turnover of €170 million. Local employment (such asretail, hospital, cinema etc.) include serving the university in particular (which is the biggest employer with 2,000 employees), but also research and industrial services. Tourism has also played
4774-682: Is thus convinced that the Soldans were Hungarians from the Maramureș region. However, noble families with the name Soldan can also be found in Prussia and Sweden , so a possible German origin of the family should not be excluded. The family might have first become Hungarian in Maramureș and then Romanian in Moldavia . Goethe's grandfather, Friedrich Georg Goethe [ de ] (1657–1730) moved from Thuringia in 1687 and changed
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4928-499: Is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything." While in Southern Italy and Sicily, Goethe encountered, for the first time genuine Greek (as opposed to Roman) architecture, and was quite startled by its relative simplicity. Winckelmann had not recognized the distinctness of the two styles. Goethe's diaries of this period form the basis of the non-fiction Italian Journey . Italian Journey only covers
5082-472: The Metamorphosis of Plants , was published after he returned from a 1788 tour of Italy. In 1791 he was made managing director of the theatre at Weimar , and in 1794 he began a friendship with the dramatist , historian, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller , whose plays he premiered until Schiller's death in 1805. During this period Goethe published his second novel, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship ;
5236-631: The Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe became a member of the Duke's privy council (1776–1785), sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau , and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena . He also contributed to the planning of Weimar's botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace . Goethe's first major scientific work,
5390-508: The Battle of Valmy against revolutionary France , assisting Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach during the failed invasion of France. Again during the Siege of Mainz , he assisted Karl August as a military observer. His written account of these events can be found within his Complete Works . In 1794, Friedrich Schiller wrote to Goethe offering friendship; they had previously had only
5544-875: The Bleiloch Dam and the Hohenwarte Dam on the River Saale, as well as the Leibis-Lichte Dam and the Goldisthal Pumped Storage Station in the Thuringian Highlands. Thuringia is Germany's only state with no connection to navigable waterways. The geographic centre of the Federal Republic is in Thuringia, within the municipality of Vogtei next to Mühlhausen . The centre of Thuringia
5698-689: The Elbe , with its tributaries the Unstrut , Ilm and White Elster, drains the most part of Thuringia. The Werra – the headwater of the Weser – drains the south-west and west of the state. Furthermore, some small areas on the southern border are drained by tributaries of the Main , itself a tributary of the Rhine . There are no large natural lakes in Thuringia, but it does have some of Germany's biggest dams, including
5852-566: The Evangelical Church in Central Germany or to the Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck ( Schmalkalden region). Catholic dioceses are Erfurt (most of Thuringia), Dresden-Meissen (eastern parts) and Fulda (Rhön around Geisa in the very west). Thuringia is a stronghold for the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the party emerged as the largest in Thuringia in the 2021 national elections . In 2017
6006-489: The GDR period, two big Plattenbau estates were established in the south-east ("Stollen") and in the north ("Pörlitzer Höhe"). The university's main campus at Ehrenberg in the east was set up in the 1950s and enlarged during the following decades up to the present time. It hosts also some interesting architecture from Stalinist neo-classicism to contemporary glass-and-steel architecture. Agriculture plays an insignificant role in
6160-817: The Great Depression . It weakened especially private consumption, so that Ilmenau's toy industry collapsed, same as some porcelain producers focused on bibelot. The precursor to the current university was founded in 1894 as the Thüringisches Technikum . Now, it is the Technische Universität Ilmenau , where the ISWI takes place every two years. After the German Revolution of 1918–19 , the Thuringian small states, including Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, were merged into
6314-670: The Hermunduri , but later research rejected the idea. Other historians argue that the Thuringians were allies of the Huns , came to central Europe together with them, and lived before in what is Galicia today. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus first mentioned the Thuringii around 400; during that period, the Thuringii were famous for their excellent horses. The Thuringian Realm existed until after 531. The Landgraviate of Thuringia
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6468-736: The Holy Roman Empire . Though he had studied law in Leipzig and had been appointed Imperial Councillor, Johann Caspar Goethe was not involved in the city's official affairs. Johann Caspar married Goethe's mother, Catharina Elisabeth Textor (1731–1808), in Frankfurt on 20 August 1748, when he was 38 and she was 17. All their children, with the exception of Johann Wolfgang and his sister Cornelia Friederica Christiana (1750–1777), died at an early age. The young Goethe received from his father and private tutors lessons in subjects common at
6622-766: The Kingdom of Prussia also acquired some Thuringian territory and administered it within the Province of Saxony . The Thuringian duchies which became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany were Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , Saxe-Meiningen , Saxe-Altenburg , Saxe-Coburg-Gotha , Schwarzburg-Sondershausen , Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities of Reuss Elder Line and Reuss Younger Line . In 1920, after World War I , these small states merged into one state, called
6776-518: The Leine river emanates. The central and northern part of Thuringia is defined by the 3,000 km (1,200 sq mi) wide Thuringian Basin , a very fertile and flat area around the Unstrut river and completely surrounded by the following hill chains (clockwise from the north-west): Dün , Hainleite , Windleite , Kyffhäuser , Hohe Schrecke , Schmücke , Finne , Ettersberg , Steigerwald , Thuringian Forest , Hörselberge and Hainich . Within
6930-747: The Principality of Reuss-Greiz , a defunct principality in the modern state's borders. Some reordering of the Thuringian states occurred during the German Mediatisation from 1795 to 1814, and the territory was included within the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine organized in 1806. The 1815 Congress of Vienna confirmed these changes and the Thuringian states' inclusion in the German Confederation ;
7084-549: The Protestant Reformation , and Roman Catholicism was suppressed as early as 1520; priests who remained loyal to it were driven away and churches and monasteries were largely destroyed, especially during the German Peasants' War of 1525. In Mühlhausen and elsewhere, the Anabaptists found many adherents. Thomas Müntzer , a leader of some non-peaceful groups of this sect, was active in this city. Within
7238-701: The Rhön Mountains around Geisa in the southwest. Protestant church membership is shrinking rapidly, whereas the Catholic Church is somewhat more stable because of Catholic migration from Poland, Southern Europe and West Germany. Other religions play no significant role in Thuringia. There are only a few thousand Muslims (largely migrants) and about 750 Jews (mostly migrants from Russia) living in Thuringia. Furthermore, there are some Orthodox communities of Eastern European migrants and some traditional Protestant Free churches in Thuringia without any societal influence. The Protestant parishes of Thuringia belong to
7392-431: The Thuringian Forest at an elevation of 500 metres (1,640 feet). The most important institution in Ilmenau is the Technische Universität Ilmenau , a public research university and Thuringia's only "Technical University" with about 4,900 students and an emphasis on engineering disciplines, computer science, mathematics, natural sciences, economics, and media studies. Its precursor was founded in 1894 and developed into
7546-772: The Weimar Republic , six Landtag elections were held. Thuringia was one of the states where the Nazi Party first gained real political power during the Weimar Republic. Wilhelm Frick was appointed Minister of the Interior in the state coalition government after the Nazi Party won six deputies to the Thuringian Landtag in the December 1929 election. In this position, he removed from
7700-595: The electoral threshold of 5%. The other two parties of the traffic light coalition in Berlin, Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), did not pass the threshold and lost all of their seats, which contributed to the break-up of that coalition on November 6th. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) recorded small gains and came second with 24%. The newly-founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance BSW debuted in third place at 16%. The AfD in Thuringia became
7854-599: The idyll of Hermann and Dorothea , the Roman Elegies and the verse drama The Natural Daughter . In the last period, between Schiller's death, in 1805, and his own, appeared Faust Part One (1808), Elective Affinities (1809), the West-Eastern Diwan (an 1819 collection of poems in the Persian style, influenced by the work of Hafez ), his autobiographical Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit ( From My Life: Poetry and Truth , published between 1811 and 1833) which covers his early life and ends with his departure for Weimar, his Italian Journey (1816–17), and
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#17327720025098008-400: The 12th century; its walls were found under today's St. James Church. The first written mention of Ilmenau followed later, in 1273, as the village had already existed many decades. At that time, Ilmenau belonged to the Counts of Käfernburg . They died out in 1302 and Ilmenau became part of the Schwarzburg County. After 1320, an important trade route from Nuremberg in the south to Erfurt in
8162-429: The 2011 Census results. Since the Protestant Reformation , the most prominent Christian denomination in Thuringia has been Lutheranism . During the GDR period, church membership was discouraged and has continued shrinking since the reunification in 1990. Today over two thirds of the population is non-religious. The Protestant Church in Germany has had the largest number of members in the state, adhered to by 20.8% of
8316-433: The 6th century. Thuringia became a landgraviate in 1130 AD. After the extinction of the reigning Ludowingian line of counts and landgraves in 1247 and the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264), the western half became independent under the name of " Hesse ", never to become a part of Thuringia again. Most of the remaining Thuringia came under the rule of the Wettin dynasty of the nearby Margraviate of Meissen ,
8470-407: The Basin the smaller hill chains Fahner Höhe and Heilinger Höhen . South of the Thuringian Basin is the state's largest mountain range, marked by the Thuringian Forest in the north-west, the Thuringian Highland in the middle and the Franconian Forest in the south-east. Most of this range is forested and the Großer Beerberg (983 m) is Thuringia's highest mountain. To the south-west, the Forest
8624-417: The Districts of Erfurt , Suhl and Gera . Thuringia was re-established in 1990 following German reunification , slightly re-drawn, and became one of the new states of the Federal Republic of Germany. The name Thuringia or Thüringen derives from the Germanic tribe Thuringii , who emerged during the Migration Period . Their origin is largely unknown. An older theory claims that they were successors of
8778-421: The Duchy's chancellor of the Exchequer left his office, Goethe agreed to act in his place and did so for two and a half years; this post virtually made him prime minister and the principal representative of the Duchy. Goethe was ennobled in 1782 (this being indicated by the " von " in his name). In that same year, Goethe moved into what was his primary residence in Weimar for the next 50 years. As head of
8932-454: The Ernestine Wettins . Their various lands formed the Free State of Thuringia, founded in 1920, together with some other small principalities. The Prussian territories around Erfurt , Mühlhausen and Nordhausen joined Thuringia in 1945. The coat of arms of Thuringia shows the lion of the Ludowingian Landgraves of 12th-century origin. The eight stars around it represent the eight former states which formed Thuringia. The flag of Thuringia
9086-447: The Free State of Thuringia ( Freistaat Thüringen ); only Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead. Weimar became the new capital. The coat of arms of this new state was simpler than those of its predecessors. The Landtag of the newly established state first convened in 1920 in Weimar. Its deputies were elected for three years according to proportional representation , with a minimum voting age of 21. Between 1920 and 1932, under
9240-443: The German federal system with a unitary state . Thuringia was the location of the Buchenwald concentration camp with multiple subcamps. After being controlled briefly by the US following the end of the Second World War , from July 1945 the state of Thuringia came under the Soviet occupation zone and was expanded to include parts of Prussian Saxony, such as the areas around Erfurt , Mühlhausen , and Nordhausen . Erfurt became
9394-454: The Middle Ages for providing fish. The biggest lake with an area of 95 hectares is made up of the Wipfra river next to Heyda district by the Heyda Dam , built in the 1980s. Nearly all the unbuilt municipal area is covered by forest with spruces and pines (in the north) as the main species. Smaller areas are also covered by beeches . The forest monocultures of spruces were caused by the enormous need of wood for mining and glass industry during
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#17327720025099548-457: The Saale valley in the east via Gehren , Königsee and Rudolstadt . Many paths through the forest are used by mountain bikers, since mountain biking is very popular in the region. There are few cycle lanes for inner city everyday traffic but using side roads and paths is working well. Despite the hilly terrain in some parts, Ilmenau is a cycle-friendly city owing in part to the high percentage of residents being students. Public transport includes
9702-488: The Saxe-Weimar War Commission, Goethe participated in the recruitment of mercenaries into the Prussian and British military during the American Revolution. The author Daniel Wilson claims that Goethe engaged in negotiating the forced sale of vagabonds, criminals, and political dissidents as part of these activities. Goethe's journey to the Italian peninsula and Sicily from 1786 to 1788 was of great significance in his aesthetic and philosophical development. His father had made
9856-411: The Schwarzburgs (1351–1420 and 1445–1464), the Witzlebens (1420–1434) and the Schaumbergs (1476–1498). Between 1471 and 1626, copper mining made an important contribution to the economy of Ilmenau. In 1611, the mines produced an estimated 38 tons of copper and 188 kg of silver. Production reached these levels again in the 1730s until the operations ceased in 1739 because of an ingress of water in
10010-425: The Thuringian police force anyone he suspected of being a republican and replaced them with men who were favourable towards the Nazis. He also ensured that, whenever an important position came up within Thuringia, a Nazi was given that post. Following the Nazi seizure of power in Berlin, the Landtag was formally abolished as a result of the " Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich " of 30 January 1934, which replaced
10164-463: The area is shaped by human influence. The original natural vegetation of Thuringia is forest with beech as its predominant species, as can still be found in the Hainich mountains today. In the uplands, a mixture of beech and spruce would be natural. However, most of the plains have been cleared and are in intensive agricultural use while most of the forests are planted with spruce and pine . Since 1990, Thuringia's forests have been managed aiming for
10318-415: The balance was negative with Switzerland (−2,800) and Austria (−900). Of the approximately 850 municipalities of Thuringia, 126 are classed as towns (within a district) or cities (forming their own urban district). Most of the towns are small with a population of less than 10,000; only the ten biggest ones have a population greater than 30,000. The first towns emerged during the 12th century, whereas
10472-408: The beginning of Urbanisation around 1840, the Thuringian cities have higher growth rates resp. smaller rates of decline than rural areas (many villages lost half of their population since 1950, whereas the biggest cities ( Erfurt and Jena ) kept growing). The 1981 census projected that Thuringia's population would reach 2,221,222 by 2011. The population counted in the 2011 census was 2,181,603, which
10626-435: The beginnings of books, and the divisions of a work, first of the five books of Moses , and then of the Aeneid and Ovid 's Metamorphoses . ... If an ever active imagination, of which that tale may bear witness, led me hither and thither, if the medley of fable and history, mythology and religion, threatened to bewilder me, I readily fled to those oriental regions, and plunged into the first books of Moses, and there, amid
10780-432: The biggest glass producers within the Comecon states. After reunification, the factory survived and is still a leading company for laboratory glassware in Germany, nevertheless, due to rationalization efforts during the 1990s, the number of employees decreased to 225. After 1990, new branches were established in Ilmenau. Mechanical engineering and polymer processing are now playing an especially important role in Ilmenau, as
10934-415: The birth ratio. Furthermore, the population is getting older and older with some rural municipalities recording more than 30% of over-65s (pensioners). This is a problem for the regional labour market, as there are twice as many people leaving as entering the job market annually. The birth rate was about 1.8 children per women in the 1970s and 1980s, shrinking to 0.8 in 1994 during the economic crisis after
11088-635: The borders of modern Thuringia the Roman Catholic faith only survived in the Eichsfeld district, which was ruled by the Archbishop of Mainz , and to a small degree in Erfurt and its immediate vicinity. The modern German black-red-gold tricolour flag's first appearance anywhere in a German-ethnicity sovereign state , within what today comprises Germany, occurred in 1778 as the state flag of
11242-447: The buildings in Ilmenau, so that the town was rebuilt during the 1750s and 1760s in a relatively uniform late-Baroque style by Gottfried Heinrich Krohne . The town centre is located between Obertorstraße in the north, Poststrasse in the east, Mühlgraben in the south and Burggasse in the west. Two older suburbs are the quarters around Rasen in the north-west and Lindenstraße in the south-west. Between 1871 and 1914, some interesting parts of
11396-665: The cellar against the wild pillaging soldiery was her work. Goethe noted in his diary: "Fires, rapine, a frightful night... Preservation of the house through steadfastness and luck." The luck was Goethe's, the steadfastness was displayed by Christiane. Days afterward, on 19 October 1806, Goethe legitimized their 18-year relationship by marrying Christiane in a quiet marriage service at the Jakobskirche in Weimar. They had already had several children together by this time, including their son, Julius August Walter von Goethe (1789–1830), whose wife, Ottilie von Pogwisch (1796–1872), cared for
11550-426: The college towns Erfurt , Jena , Weimar and Ilmenau have the highest rates, whereas there are almost no migrants living in the most rural smaller municipalities. The Thuringian population has a significant sex ratio gap, caused by the emigration of young women, especially in rural areas. Overall, there are 115 to 120 men per 100 women in the 25–40 age group ("family founders") which has negative consequences for
11704-417: The comedy Die Mitschuldigen . The inn Auerbachs Keller and its legend of Johann Georg Faust 's 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller became the only real place in his closet drama Faust Part One . Given that he was making little progress in his formal studies, Goethe was forced to return to Frankfurt at the end of August 1768. Back in Frankfurt, Goethe became severely ill. During
11858-621: The daughter of a craftsman and innkeeper, writing cheerful verses about her in the Rococo genre. In 1770, he released anonymously his first collection of poems, Annette . His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets evaporated as he developed an interest in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Christoph Martin Wieland . By this time, Goethe had already written a great deal, but he discarded nearly all of these works except for
12012-539: The death of his first wife in 1705 he married Cornelia Schellhorn, née Walther (1668–1754), widow of the innkeeper Johannes Schellhorn (died 1704), with whom he had four more children, including Johann Caspar Goethe, father of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe's father, Johann Caspar Goethe (1710–1782), lived with his family in a large house (today the Goethe House ) in Frankfurt , then a free imperial city of
12166-452: The ducal library. He was, moreover, the Duke's friend and chief adviser . In 1776, Goethe formed a close relationship with Charlotte von Stein , a married woman seven years older than him. The intimate bond with her lasted for ten years, after which Goethe abruptly left for Italy without giving his companion any notice. She was emotionally distraught at the time, but they were eventually reconciled. Aside from his official duties, Goethe
12320-459: The east, Stützerbach , Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig and Gehlberg in the south as well as Elgersburg and Martinroda in the west. There are five villages which are incorporated as municipal districts of Ilmenau: Heyda (incorporated in 1994), Manebach (1994), Oberpörlitz (1993), Roda (1939) and Unterpörlitz (1981). In July 2018 the former municipalities of Gehren , Langewiesen , Pennewitz and Wolfsberg were merged with Ilmenau. In January 2019
12474-573: The economy has seen an upturn and the general economic situation has improved. Agriculture and forestry have declined in importance over the decades. Nevertheless, they are more important than in most other areas of Germany, especially within rural regions. 54% of Thuringia's territory is in agricultural use. The fertile basins such as the large Thuringian Basin or the smaller Goldene Aue , Orlasenke and Osterland are in intensive use for growing cereals, vegetables, fruits and energy crops. Important products are apples, strawberries, cherries and plums in
12628-563: The economy of Ilmenau as only 18% of the municipal territory are cultivated. The soil is not that fertile and the climate is harsh. The main crops are maize and rapeseed/ In addition there is cattle farming on some areas. 64% of the territory is forest, so that wood production is important in Ilmenau. Industry was based on the production of glassware and porcelain during the 19th and 20th century with many large and famous companies (porcelain brands: Henneberg (est. 1777), Metzler & Ortloff (est. 1873)). The porcelain industry did not survive
12782-661: The elder Goethe until his death in 1832. August and Ottilie had three children: Walther, Freiherr von Goethe (1818–1885), Wolfgang, Freiherr von Goethe (1820–1883) and Alma von Goethe (1827–1844). Christiane von Goethe died in 1816. Johann reflected, "There is nothing more charming to see than a mother with her child in her arms, and there is nothing more venerable than a mother among a number of her children." After 1793, Goethe devoted his endeavours primarily to literature. In 1812, he travelled to Teplice and Vienna both times meeting his admirer Ludwig van Beethoven , who had set music to Egmont two years prior in 1810. By 1820, Goethe
12936-522: The end of August 1771, Goethe acquired the academic degree of the Licentiate in Law from Strasbourg and was able to establish a small legal practice in Frankfurt. Although in his academic work he had given voice to an ambition to make jurisprudence progressively more humane, his inexperience led him to proceed too vigorously in his first cases, for which he was reprimanded and lost further clientele. Within
13090-461: The establishment of the town as a spa led to the advent of tourism, which is still an important industry. Industrialisation started after the railway arrived in 1879, but increased rapidly during the following century primarily in glass and porcelain manufacturing. The porcelain factories closed (as in many other places in western Europe) during the 1990s. The glass industry, however, remained and produces laboratory equipment and measurement devices and
13244-507: The exception of a train transporting the town's refuse to the incinerator at Leuna . The Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway passes through the municipal boundaries, but no trains stop in Ilmenau as of 2021. There is debate whether the Ilmenau-Wolfsberg service station should be served by passenger trains. Ilmenau is situated close to the motorways Bundesautobahn 71 to Erfurt in the north and Würzburg / Nuremberg (A 73) to
13398-580: The first far-right party in Germany since World War II to win a state election. Thuringia is divided into 17 districts ( Landkreise ): Furthermore, there are five urban districts: Thuringia's economy is marked by the economic transition that happened after the German reunification and led to the closure of most of the factories within the Land. The unemployment rate reached a peak in 2005. Since that year,
13552-463: The first prince of independent Moldavia, Bogdan I , and then Romanised their name. Historians Radu Rosetti and Gheorghe Ghibănescu also argue that in the charter from 1411 the family name is written before the first name, this being a custom only in Hungarian documents. Moreover, the first name of Peter's brother, Miclaus, could come from the Hungarian form of Nicholas, which is Miklós. Rosetti
13706-590: The first year of Goethe's visit. The remaining year is largely undocumented, aside from the fact that he spent much of it in Venice . This "gap in the record" has been the source of much speculation over the years. In the decades which immediately followed its publication in 1816, Italian Journey inspired countless German youths to follow Goethe's example. This is pictured, somewhat satirically, in George Eliot 's Middlemarch . In late 1792, Goethe took part in
13860-520: The flat and forested Holzland in the north, the flat and fertile Orlasenke in the middle and the Vogtland , a hilly but in most parts non-forested region in the south. The far eastern region (east of White Elster) is the Osterland or Altenburger Land along Pleiße river, a flat, fertile and densely settled agricultural area. There are two large rivers in Thuringia. The Saale , a tributary of
14014-618: The following results: Ilmenau is twinned with: Thuringia Thuringia , officially the Free State of Thuringia , is one of Germany's 16 states with 2.1 million people, its 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, its 11th-largest in area. Erfurt is the capital and largest city. Other cities include Jena , Gera and Weimar . Thuringia is bordered by Bavaria , Hesse , Lower Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Saxony . It has been known as "the green heart of Germany" ( das grüne Herz Deutschlands ) from
14168-464: The foothills, the last are part of the mountainous Thuringian Forest. There is also a geological border between them: the mountain range is of porphyry and the foothills are of Muschelkalk (in the west) and Buntsandstein (in the east). The Kickelhahn is one of the most visited mountains within the Thuringian Forest and hosts an old viewing tower with a panorama above the town and the forest landscape. The Ilm river has two significant tributaries in
14322-805: The forested mountains, are protected as natural reserves, including Thuringia's first national park within the Hainich mountains, founded in 1997, the Rhön Biosphere Reserve , the Thuringian Forest Nature Park and the South Harz Nature Park . During the Middle Ages, Thuringia was at the border between Germanic and Slavic territories, marked by the Saale river. The main Slavic tribe in what
14476-426: The former municipalities of Frauenwald and Stützerbach were also merged with Ilmenau. In the past, Ilmenau had been a small town of less than 2,000 inhabitants. Population growth began in the 19th century from 2,000 in 1800, 2,800 in 1850 and reaching 3,400 in 1870. Subsequently, the population grew rapidly to 10,400 in 1900 and 17,300 in 1940. After World War II, the population rose further to 20,000 in 1975 and to
14630-525: The foundation of the town. The mascots ("town animals") of Ilmenau are the hen and the goat . The origins of Ilmenau are unknown. It is possible that the village was founded by the St. Peter's monastery of Saalfeld , which encouraged the settlement of this part of Thuringia during the High Middle Ages. However, there are no written sources to verify or disprove this. A first church was built during
14784-657: The four greatest novels ever written, while the American philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson selected Goethe as one of six "representative men" in his work of the same name (along with Plato , Emanuel Swedenborg , Montaigne , Napoleon , and Shakespeare ). Goethe's comments and observations form the basis of several biographical works, notably Johann Peter Eckermann 's Conversations with Goethe (1836). His poems were set to music by many composers including Mozart , Beethoven , Schubert , Berlioz , Liszt , Wagner , and Mahler . Through his maternal grandmother,
14938-645: The fruit sector, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes (grown in greenhouses), onions, cucumbers and asparagus in the vegetable sector, as well as maize, rapeseed, wheat, barley and sugar beets in the crop sector. Meat production and processing is also an important activity, with swine, cattle, chickens and turkeys in focus. Furthermore, there are many milk and cheese producers, as well as laying hens. Trout and carp are traditionally bred in aquaculture in many villages. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832)
15092-619: The largest party with 33% of the vote (and 36% of the seats), its best ever performance and the first time it placed first in a state election in Germany. The incumbent governing coalition suffered dramatic losses; the Left had split up, with new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) becoming the more popular part, while the remaining Left lost more than half of its support and fell to fourth place on 13%. The 130+ year old SPD, which since late 2021 rules Germany under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, recorded its worst result in any postwar state election, barely passing
15246-439: The last words of Goethe, 'Open the window, let us have more light' (this about an hour before painless death, his eyes failing him)." Even though the context was different, these words, especially the abridged version, which turned into a dictum, usually used as a mean to illustrate the pro-Enlightenment worldview of Goethe. The first production of Richard Wagner 's opera Lohengrin took place in Weimar in 1850. The conductor
15400-426: The late 19th century due to its broad, dense forest. Most of Thuringia is in the Saale drainage basin , a left-bank tributary of the Elbe . Thuringia is home to the Rennsteig , Germany's best-known hiking trail . Its winter resort of Oberhof makes it a well-equipped winter sports destination – half of Germany's 136 Winter Olympic gold medals had been won by Thuringian athletes as of 2014. Thuringia
15554-417: The latest ones received town status only in the 20th century. Today, all municipalities within districts are equal in law, whether they are towns or villages. Independent cities (i.e. urban districts) have greater powers (the same as any district) than towns within a district. * Average annual change in percent within the last three years (13 December 2009 to 31 December 2012), adjusted from incorporations and
15708-426: The latter case, Goethe made a desperate passion of what was in reality a hearty and relaxed friendship. Despite the immense success of Werther , it did not bring Goethe much financial gain since the protection later afforded by copyright laws at that time virtually did not exist. (In later years Goethe would counter this problem by periodically authorizing "new, revised" editions of his Complete Works .) In 1775, on
15862-404: The mines. A brief revival of copper mining under the leadership of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe failed during the first decades of the 19th century. The Ilmenau mint was in use between 1690 and 1705 producing silver Talers and smaller copper coins. A subsequent blow to the economy after the end of mining in 1739 occurred in 1752, as the town was nearly completely destroyed by fire. The population
16016-490: The miraculous, and I could not have believed it possible at so early an age." "And yet you heard Mozart in his seventh year at Frankfurt?" said Zelter. "Yes", answered Goethe, "... but what your pupil already accomplishes, bears the same relation to the Mozart of that time that the cultivated talk of a grown-up person bears to the prattle of a child." Mendelssohn was invited to meet Goethe on several later occasions, and set
16170-460: The most to Bavaria , Saxony , Hesse and Berlin . Only with Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg the balance is positive. The international migration is fluctuating heavily. In 2009, the balance was +700, in 2010 +1,800, in 2011 +2,700 and in 2012 +4,800. The most important countries of origin of the Thuringia migrants from 2008 to 2012 were Poland (+1,700), Romania (+1,200), Afghanistan (+1,100) and Serbia / Montenegro / Kosovo (+1,000), whereas
16324-634: The national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Ilmenau are Chinese , Russians and Syrians . During recent years, the economic situation of the city has improved: the unemployment rate within the Ilm district has declined from 21% in 2005 to 7% in 2013. Owing to the official atheism in former GDR , most of the population is non-religious. 17.4% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (Lutheran) and 5.0% are Roman Catholics, according to 2011 EU census. There are several museums in Ilmenau: The town fire in 1752 destroyed nearly all
16478-562: The new capital of Thuringia. Ostheim , an exclave of Landkreis Eisenach, was ceded to Bavaria. In 1952, the German Democratic Republic dissolved its states, and created districts ( Bezirke ) instead. The three districts that shared the former territory of Thuringia were Erfurt, Gera and Suhl . Altenburg Kreis was part of Leipzig Bezirk. The present State of Thuringia was recreated with slightly altered borders during German reunification in 1990. From
16632-552: The new federal state of Thuringia in 1920 of which Ilmenau became part. It belonged to the Arnstadt district, which was divided in 1952 into the new Ilmenau district (southern part, to Bezirk Suhl ) and the Arnstadt district (northern part, to Bezirk Erfurt ). In 1994, both districts were reunited with the new name "Ilm-Kreis" (by the river Ilm ) and Arnstadt as capital. The FIL European Luge Championships of 1934 took place in
16786-605: The north was relocated next to Ilmenau, so that a castle was established to control the traffic. Soon after, the Schwarzburgs founded a planned town (relatively similar to Königsee ) and Ilmenau received municipal rights in 1341. By 1343 the Schwarzburgs had sold their new town to the Counts of Henneberg , who held it until their line died out in 1583. Nevertheless, the Hennebergs often mortgaged Ilmenau to other houses like
16940-598: The northwest going clockwise; Thuringia borders on the German states of Lower Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , Saxony , Bavaria and Hesse . The landscapes of Thuringia are quite diverse. The far north is occupied by the Harz mountains, followed by the Goldene Aue , a fertile floodplain around Nordhausen with the Helme as most important river. The north-west includes the Eichsfeld , a hilly and sometimes forested region, where
17094-666: The notion of Volkspoesie (folk poetry). On 14 October 1772 Goethe hosted a gathering in his parents home in honour of the first German "Shakespeare Day". His first acquaintance with Shakespeare's works is described as his personal awakening in the field of literature. On a trip to the village of Sessenheim in October 1770, Goethe fell in love with Friederike Brion , but the tryst ended in August 1771. Several of Goethe's poems, like " Willkommen und Abschied ", " Sesenheimer Lieder " and " Heidenröslein ", date to this period. At
17248-598: The nucleus of the later Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony . With the division of the house of Wettin in 1485, Thuringia went to the senior Ernestine branch of the family, which subsequently subdivided the area into a number of smaller states, according to the Saxon tradition of dividing inheritance amongst male heirs. These were the " Saxon duchies ", consisting, among others, of the states of Saxe-Weimar , Saxe-Eisenach , Saxe-Jena , Saxe-Meiningen , Saxe-Altenburg , Saxe-Coburg , and Saxe-Gotha . Thuringia generally accepted
17402-442: The original claimed last words quote was longer. The earliest known account was of Karl Wilhelm Müller's, which gives all of his last words: "Macht doch den zweiten Fensterladen in der Stube auch auf, damit mehr Licht hereinkomme." ("Open the second shutter in the living room so that more light comes in.") According to his doctor Carl Vogel [ de ] , his last words were, Mehr Licht! (More light!), but this
17556-465: The outbreak in Vienna, at age 16. Walther and Wolfgang neither married nor had any children. Walther's gravestone states: "With him ends Goethe's dynasty, the name will last forever," marking the end of Goethe's personal bloodline. While he has no direct descendants, his siblings do. The most important of Goethe's works produced before he went to Weimar were Götz von Berlichingen (1773), a tragedy that
17710-463: The party got 22.7%, while in 2021 they got 24.0%. Thuringia is notable for being the first and only state in Germany where the communist party that ruled former East Germany until 1989, The Left (Die Linke), and the new Alternative for Germany (AfD) have seen their first-ever first place finish in a state election. Die Linke in 2019 , and the AfD in 2024 . The Alternative for Germany (AfD) became
17864-428: The peak in 1988 with a population of 29,500. The unfavourable economic situation in the old East Germany after reunification in 1990 resulted in a decline in the population, which fell to 27,000 in 2000 before stabilising. The average decline of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately −0.03% p. a, whereas the population in bordering rural areas is declining more and more rapidly. Suburbanization has played only
18018-474: The poem "Ilmenau" (1783, the only town that Goethe dedicated a poem to), the poem " Wanderer's Nightsong II" (1780, which was written at Kickelhahn mountain) and the 4th act of " Iphigenia " (1779, written at Schwalbenstein rock). Since 1838, Ilmenau had been a spa ressort, based on water cure treatments at hydropathic establishments . Ilmenau's hydropathic establishment was serviced by Drs Schwabe, Fitzler, Baumbach, and Preller. The later 19th century brought
18172-464: The population in 2018. Members of the Catholic Church formed 7.6% of the population, while 71.6% of Thuringians were non-religious or adhere to other faiths. The highest Protestant concentrations are in the small villages of southern and western Thuringia, whereas the bigger cities are even more non-religious (up to 88% in Gera ). Catholic regions are Eichsfeld in the northwest and parts of
18326-569: The population − among the smallest proportions of any state in Germany). Nevertheless, the number rose from 33,000 in July 2011, an increase of 24% in only two years. About 4% of the population are migrants (including persons that already received German citizenship). The biggest groups of foreigners by citizenship are (as of 2012): Russians (3,100), Poles (3,000), Turks (2,100) and Ukrainians (2,000). The number of foreigners varies between regions:
18480-482: The practice of law, this time at Wetzlar . In 1774 he wrote the book which would bring him worldwide fame, The Sorrows of Young Werther . The broad shape of the work's plot is largely based on what Goethe experienced during his time at Wetzlar with Charlotte Buff (1753–1828) and her fiancé, Johann Christian Kestner (1741–1800), as well as the suicide of the Goethes' friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747–1772). In
18634-414: The previous centuries. However, they are susceptible to diseases and windthrow and will be replaced by more natural mixed forest during the next few decades after storm conditions Kyrill led to enormous damage within the town's forests in 2007. Ilmenau abuts the following municipalities, which are all part of the Ilm district: Neusiß , Plaue and Wipfratal in the north, Wolfsberg and Langewiesen in
18788-421: The renowned theatre company of Abel Seyler until a 1774 fire had destroyed Schloss Weimar . Karl August came of age when he turned eighteen in 1775, although his mother continued to be a major presence at the court. So it was that Goethe took up residence in Weimar , where he remained for the rest of his life and where, over the course of many years, he held a succession of offices, including superintendent of
18942-579: The renowned German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe belonged to the descendants of the Soldan family and thus had Turkish ancestry. Bernt Engelmann has said that "the German poet prince [i.e. Goethe] with oriental ancestors is by no means a rare exception." Nicolae Iorga believes that the Soldan family were originally Hungarian nobles who settled in Moldavia from Transylvania together with
19096-477: The reunification and rose again to more than 1.4 children in 2010, which is a higher level than in West Germany. Nevertheless, there are only 17,000 births compared to 27,000 deaths per year, so that the annual natural change of the Thuringian population is about −0.45%. In 2015 there were 17,934 births, the highest number since 1990. Migration plays an important role in Thuringia. The internal migration shows
19250-518: The scattered shepherd tribes, found myself at once in the greatest solitude and the greatest society. Goethe also became acquainted with Frankfurt actors. Valerian Tornius wrote: Goethe – Leben, Wirken und Schaffen . In early literary attempts Goethe showed an infatuation with Gretchen , who would later reappear in his Faust , and the adventures with whom he would describe concisely in Dichtung und Wahrheit . He adored Caritas Meixner (1750–1773),
19404-408: The shutters so I can get more light!") from Sarah Austin : "[...] Mrs. Austin wrote lately that Goethe's last words were, Macht die Fensterladen auf, damit ich mehr Licht bekomme! Glorious man! Happy man! I never think of him but with reverence and pride. [...]" John Ruskin , in his Præterita , narrates a memory of him from his diary record of 25 October 1874 that Carlyle "[...] had been quoting
19558-539: The south. Near the town, the Autobahn crosses the Thuringian Forest with some of Germany's longest tunnels and bridges. Furthermore, there were three Bundesstraßen connecting Ilmenau: the Bundesstraße 4 to Erfurt in the north and Coburg in the south (annulled after the opening of A 71 during the 2000s), the Bundesstraße 87 to Weimar in the north-east (now starting at the Autobahn some kilometres north-east of
19712-424: The spelling of his surname (from Göthe to Goethe). In Frankfurt, he first worked as a tailor, then opened a tavern. His son and grandchildren subsequently lived on the fortune he earned. Friedrich Georg Goethe was married twice, his first marriage was to Anna Elisabeth Lutz (1667–1700), the daughter of a burgher Sebastian Lutz (died 1701), with whom he had five children, including Hermann Jakob Goethe (1697–1761), after
19866-427: The strength of his fame as the author of The Sorrows of Young Werther , Goethe was invited to the court of Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , who later became Grand Duke in 1815. The Duke's mother, Duchess Anna Amalia , had been the long-time regent on behalf of her son until 1775 and was one of the most important patrons of the arts in her day, making her court into a centre of the arts. Her court had hosted
20020-583: The structural change after German reunification in 1990, so that factories closed like most in Western Germany earlier during the 1970s and 1980s. The glass industry always concentrated on laboratory glassware such as thermometers, test tubes and other chemical and medical requisites. During the GDR period, all the glass factories of Ilmenau and the surrounding villages were centralized in a new Kombinat , opened in 1976 with 5,000 workers in Ilmenau being one of
20174-426: The success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), and joined a thriving intellectual and cultural environment under the patronage of Duchess Anna Amalia that had already included Abel Seyler 's theatre company and Christoph Martin Wieland , and that formed the basis of Weimar Classicism . He was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar , Karl August , in 1782. Goethe was an early participant in
20328-500: The time, especially languages ( Latin , Greek , Biblical Hebrew (briefly), French, Italian, and English). Goethe also received lessons in dancing, riding , and fencing . Johann Caspar, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions, was determined that his children should have every advantage he had missed. Although Goethe's great passion was drawing, he quickly became interested in literature; Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803) and Homer were among his early favorites. He also had
20482-462: The town with large villas developed: a larger one in the south-west around Waldstraße and Goetheallee and a smaller one in the west around Sturmheide, which are hosting noble mansions in Gründerzeit and Art Nouveau style. On the one hand, prosperous factory owners lived here and on the other hand, many buildings were in use as guesthouses as Ilmenau was a spa town during the 19th century. During
20636-430: The town's economy by founding porcelain and glass manufactures. Whereas the foundation of the porcelain manufacture in 1777 was successful, the glass industry failed twice until industrialisation started in the 1850s. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited Ilmenau often between 1776 and 1831, sometimes as minister of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and sometimes for private holidays. Some Ilmenau-related parts of his written works are
20790-765: The town) and the Bundesstraße 88 to Eisenach in the north-west and Rudolstadt in the east, which was relocated around Ilmenau as a bypass (via the A 71 in the north and on a new line in the east). The nearest local airport to Ilmenau is the Erfurt–Weimar Airport , approx. 40 km (25 mi) to the north, which serves mostly for holiday flights to the Mediterranean and other touristic regions. The next major airports are Frankfurt Airport , Berlin Brandenburg Airport and Munich Airport . Some holidaymakers also use Nuremberg Airport which has
20944-776: The town. In the last few years of World War II, Ilmenau was the site of manufacture of the mock-up production of the single-seat fighter version of the Horten Ho 229 V6 (Version 6) jet aircraft. The only surviving example of the Horten jet is the Horten Ho 229 V3. In December 2011, the Horten V3 was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution's Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Maryland, US. Ilmenau
21098-497: The town. The French "spoon guards", the least disciplined soldiers, occupied Goethe's house: The 'spoon guards' had broken in, they had drunk wine, made a great uproar and called for the master of the house. Goethe's secretary Riemer reports: 'Although already undressed and wearing only his wide nightgown... he descended the stairs towards them and inquired what they wanted from him.... His dignified figure, commanding respect, and his spiritual mien seemed to impress even them.' But it
21252-490: The verse epic Hermann and Dorothea , and, in 1808, the first part of his most celebrated drama, Faust . His conversations and various shared undertakings throughout the 1790s with Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Johann Gottfried Herder , Alexander von Humboldt , Wilhelm von Humboldt , and August and Friedrich Schlegel have come to be collectively termed Weimar Classicism . The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer named Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship one of
21406-545: The vicinity of Ilmenau: the Gabelbach is a small creek with a small valley between Kickelhahn and Lindenberg south of the city. It is one of the most preferred areas for walks next to Ilmenau. The other is the Schorte , a bigger creek within a deep, 10 km (6 mi) long valley in the south-east, marked by many abandoned mining tunnels, including one that can be visited as a mining museum. The area north of Pörlitzer Höhe
21560-679: The year and a half that followed, marked by several relapses, relations with his father worsened. During convalescence, Goethe was nursed by his mother and sister. In April 1770, Goethe left Frankfurt in order to finish his studies, this time at the University of Strasbourg . In Alsace , Goethe blossomed. No other landscape was to be described by him as affectionately as the warm, wide Rhineland. In Strasbourg, Goethe met Johann Gottfried Herder . The two became close friends, and crucially to Goethe's intellectual development, Herder kindled his interest in William Shakespeare , Ossian and in
21714-466: The years at Weimar before he met Schiller in 1794, he began Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and wrote the dramas Iphigenie auf Tauris ( Iphigenia in Tauris ), Egmont , and Torquato Tasso and the fable Reineke Fuchs . To the period of his friendship with Schiller belong the conception of Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years (the continuation of Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship ),
21868-411: Was Franz Liszt , who chose the date 28 August in honour of Goethe, who was born on 28 August 1749. Goethe had five children with Christiane Vulpius. Only their eldest son, August, survived into adulthood. One child was stillborn, while the others died early. Through his son August and daughter-in-law Ottilie, Johann had three grandchildren: Walther, Wolfgang and Alma. Alma died of typhoid fever during
22022-409: Was +2.8 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin of Ilmenau migrants are rural areas of Thuringia as well as foreign countries. Like other eastern German cities, Ilmenau has only a small immigrant population: circa 4.4% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 9.5% are migrants (according to 2011 EU census ). Differing from
22176-607: Was a German polymath , who is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a profound and wide-ranging influence on Western literary , political , and philosophical thought from the late 18th century to the present day. A poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic, his works include plays, poetry and aesthetic criticism , as well as treatises on botany , anatomy , and color. Goethe took up residence in Weimar in November 1775 following
22330-595: Was also a friend and confidant to Duke Karl August and participated in the activities of the court. For Goethe, his first ten years at Weimar could well be described as a garnering of a degree and range of experiences which perhaps could have been achieved in no other way. In 1779, Goethe took on the War Commission of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar , in addition to the Mines and Highways commissions. In 1782, when
22484-600: Was established in 1920 by the Weimar Republic through a merger of the Ernestine duchies , save for Saxe-Coburg . After World War II , Thuringia came under the Soviet occupation zone in Allied-occupied Germany , and its borders were reformed, to become contiguous . Thuringia became part of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, but was dissolved in 1952 during administrative reforms , and divided into
22638-561: Was favoured by or was the birthplace of three key intellectuals and leaders in the arts: Johann Sebastian Bach , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , and Friedrich Schiller . The state has the University of Jena , the Ilmenau University of Technology , the University of Erfurt , and the Bauhaus University of Weimar . The Frankish Duchy of Thuringia was established around 631 AD by King Dagobert I . The modern state
22792-572: Was impoverished and living conditions were bad. Reconstruction took decades under the leadership of Gottfried Heinrich Krohne , a famous late-Baroque architect in Germany, who planned the new church, town hall and street plan, and so on. After the Hennebergs died out in 1583, the city belonged to the Wettins and since 1661 to the Wettin-Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Weimar (until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918). The dukes tried to foster
22946-574: Was improved by modernizing factories, houses (decline of coal heating) and cars, and contaminated areas such as the former Uranium surface mines around Ronneburg have been remediated. Today's environmental problems are the salination of the Werra river, caused by discharges of K+S salt mines around Unterbreizbach and overfertilisation in agriculture, damaging the soil and small rivers. Environment and nature protection has been of growing importance and attention since 1990. Large areas, especially within
23100-515: Was not to last long. Late at night they burst into his bedroom with drawn bayonets. Goethe was petrified, Christiane raised a lot of noise and even tangled with them, other people who had taken refuge in Goethe's house rushed in, and so the marauders eventually withdrew again. It was Christiane who commanded and organized the defense of the house on the Frauenplan. The barricading of the kitchen and
23254-522: Was on amiable terms with Kaspar Maria von Sternberg . In 1821, having recovered from a near fatal heart illness, the 72-year-old Goethe fell in love with Ulrike von Levetzow , 17 at the time. In 1823, he wanted to marry her, but because of the opposition of her mother, he never proposed. Their last meeting in Carlsbad on 5 September 1823 inspired his poem " Marienbad Elegy " which he considered one of his finest works. During that time he also developed
23408-401: Was opened in 1881 and closed in 1998 and a third one to Themar via Schleusingen opened in 1904. Since 1998, there has no longer been a regular service, but there are some historical steam locomotives running at special events on the line, which crosses the Thuringian Forest on one of the steepest lines in Germany (with a gradient of 6%). Freight transport by rail is no longer important, with
23562-422: Was the first work to bring him recognition, and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (German: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers ) (1774), which gained him enormous fame as a writer in the Sturm und Drang period which marked the early phase of Romanticism . Indeed, Werther is often considered to be the "spark" which ignited the movement, and can arguably be called the world's first " best-seller ". During
23716-579: Was the largest state in the region, persisting between 1131 and 1247. Afterwards the state known as Thuringia ceased to exist; nevertheless the term commonly described the region between the Harz mountains in the north, the White Elster river in the east, the Franconian Forest in the south and the Werra river in the west. After the Treaty of Leipzig , Thuringia had its own dynasty again,
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