The town of Quedlinburg

The town of Quedlinburg

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history in brief   ~  Sights    ~   Museums   ~   Churches   ~
Personalities   ~}

Only a very brief outline of the history of Quedlinburg shall be presented here. When you read this, you would definitely not mind a visit of Quedlinburg. These words are written by a night watchman of Quedlinburg, who discovers no and then an hour of leisure to deal with all the long past times.

The first important year for Quedlinburg is 922. In this year, the town was mentioned in a document, issued by Heinrich I.. So we could celebrate our first millennial on 22^nd April 1922.

From 922 to 1207, there are at least 67 visits of German emporers and kings verifiable, so that the town of Quedlinburg has the right to call themselves an Old Town of Emporers. I would like to present some dates and incidents of the history, which contributed to the development of the town until our millennium.

I already mentioned the year 922, but already a few years later, in 929, an imperial assembly took place in Quedlinburg and at the same time the wedding of Otto I. with Editha of England.

On 2^nd July 936, King Heinrich I. died in Memleben, was taken to Quedlinburg and buried at the crypt of the Convents Church in front of the altar of St. Peter. Already a few days later, on 30^th July 936, the Queen widow Mathilde founded the imperial free convent for women.

In 961, the relics of St. Servatius were taken ceremoniously from Maastricht to Quedlinburg. Since this time he has been being the patron saint of the Convents Church. From 966 to 999 Mathilde, the daughter of Otto I. and the grand-daughter of Heinrich I., was the first abbess of the convent. This convent was a school for noble daughters, mainly of the Saxon higher nobility. This free-worldly convent had also seat and vote at the German Imperial Diet, it was only under the emporers and the pope. From 998 to 999 abbess Mathilde was the empires administrator during the campaign of Otto III. against Rome and governed the German empire. Was Quedlinburg the capital of the German empire at this time? Another important fell in the term in office of abbess Mathilde, because in 994 Quedlinburg got the Currency, Market and Customs Legislation. This was probably the basis for the development of Quedlinburg with its many buildings of stone or timber framework. We also must not forget the foundation of the Maria’s Convent on the Muenzenberg hill in 985. It was the only convent within the town, but if I say “within the town”, it is not really right. During the time of its foundation, this convent was out of the town walls. Today it is situated in the middle of the town and belongs to the most beautiful part of Quedlinburg.

During a stay of Emporer Lothar in Quedlinburg in 1134 Market and Customs Legislation was confirmed again for the whole empire.

This convent had existed from 936 until the Peace of Lueneville in 1802. Then the convent fell to the Prussian state, and the convent was closed down in its function. The last abbess left Quedlinburg.

How the convent was developing, the town of Quedlinburg was doing too, with its many small and big timber framework houses. Initially there was a row of housing estates and villages, for example Old Town, New Town with its mediaeval stamp, Westendorf around the castles hill, the former convent, which was pulled down in 1539 after the Peasants War either or after the Reformation, as the case may be. Nowadays it puts up a small with market place within Quedlinburg. In the period of industrial expansion in Germany from 1871 on and after the connection to the rail net in 1862, many of the new parts of the town developed around the old walls of the town. The expansion of the town has still not completed yet. It is being build partly within the town, but also outside of the town on the green meadow.

A big event for Quedlinburg was the inclusion in the list of World Cultural Heritages of UNESCO in 1994. This fact brought a fresh impetus for the entire town to all spheres, but especially to the restoration and redevelopment of the witnesses of the Middle Ages.So the town has a lot of architectural monuments and sights, for example:

The Palace with the Collegiate Church already existed at the time of King Heinrich and has been changed during the centuries. On the Palace Hill we can find:

	Dom Treasures
	Museum
	Restaurant
	Palace Garden

The City Hall - first mentioned in 1310

Churches:

	Market Church, open on demand
	Nicolai Church, open on demand, climb up to the top of the tower possible
	Blasii Church, in the summer season open for all guests of the town, at evenings often used as concert hall
	Mathildes Church, open for everyone
	Johannis Church, open on demand
	Johannis Chapel, visit by appointment
	Wiperti Church, a guided tour is offered at the town
	Ägidii Church, visit by appointment only
	Palace Church St. Servatius, a view on the Dom Treasures permanently possible
	Church of the Advent Parish, youngest Church building, built after 1990, to be found at the Schmale Strasse

	Timber frame-work houses, 1320 houses from the Gothic period to our time
	Jugendstil. There is a ring around the town wall, in all styles and possibilities of the architecture at that time, almost 3,5 km long
	New buildings from the GDR-time
	HBM Q specially for the town of Quedlinburg developed style of architecture, made of cast concrete, suit well to the Old Town

Towers of the town fortifications

	Tower of Horror including a torture chamber and a dungeon. open for visits and for bolds to live there (two modern hotel rooms)
	Lindenbein Tower reconstructed including a gallery, climb up possible
	Tower of Pigs Herdsman, rebuilt as apartment, no visit
	Tower of Geese Herdsman visit and booking as hotel room possible
	Emporers Tower, rebuilt as apartment, visit possible with a little luck
	Tittenturm Tower, in private hands
	Kruschitzky Tower, not passable
	Black Powder Tower, not passable Pictures of the towers

Museums:

Palace Museum History of Quedlinburg

Klopstock Museum exhibition about:

	Klopstock
	D. Erxleben
	Carl Ritter
	GutsMuths

	Staenderhaus oldest timber frame-work house of the town 1320
	Lyonel Feininger Gallery, his works a nd changing exhibitions
	Keller Galerie am Schlossberg , Exhibition with changing themes
	Wordspeicher a warehouse, built up at about 1650, open for visitors, building restored in 2000

Memories:

	Memory of Klopstock at the Bruehl
	Memory of Carl Ritter at the Bruehl
	Memory of Brecht at the waterworks
	Schachtbrunnen Blasiistrasse
	Memory of Gutsmuths Poelle
	Münzenberger Musiciants Market and Steinbruecke (Stone bridge )
	Roland Marketplace

Personalities of Quedlinburg

	Prof. Anders Richard
	Bosse Robert
	Brauns Wilhelm
	Dr. Brecht Gustav
	Erxleben Dorothea
	Fritz Graßhoff
	GutsMuths
	H.C.Huch
	Klopstock
	Melanchthon
	Ritter Carl
	Dr. Spitzmann Johannes
	Voss Max
	Wolf Julius

Quedlinburg Impressions