Erfurt

Erfurt
City
View over Erfurt
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Erfurt
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Urban district
First mentioned	742
Subdivisions	53 districts
Government
• Lord mayor	Andreas Bausewein (SPD)
• Governing parties	SPD / The Left / Greens
Area
• Total	269.17 km2 (103.93 sq mi)
Elevation	200 m (700 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	214,969
• Density	800/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	99001-99198
Dialling codes	0361
Vehicle registration	EF
Website	www.erfurt.de/ef/en Template:En icon

Erfurt (German pronunciation: [ˈɛʁfʊʁt]) is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Together with the neighbour-cities Weimar and Jena it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. Notable institutions in Erfurt are the Federal Labour Court of Germany, the University of Erfurt and the Fachhochschule Erfurt as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erfurt with the Erfurt Cathedral as one of the main sights. Further famous buildings are the Krämerbrücke, a bridge completely covered with dwellings, and the oldest Synagogue still standing in Europe, established in 11th century. Furthermore, the medieval city centre consists of old timber-framed houses and about 25 gothic churches.

Erfurt was first mentioned in 742, as Saint Boniface founded the Diocese. Although the town did not belong to one of the Thuringian states politically, it quickly became the economic centre of the region. Until the Napoleonic era it was part of the Electorate of Mainz and afterwards it belonged to Prussia until 1945. The university was founded in 1392, closed in 1816 and reestablished after the German reunification in 1994. It was the third university working in what is Germany today, but with an older privilege from 1379, some historians argue that it is the oldest university in Germany. Martin Luther was the most famous student of the institution.

The citys economy is effected by administration and governance, services and microelectronics industry. Caused by the central position within Germany, Erfurt became an important location of logistics in Germany and Central Europe during the last years. Another traditional economic sector is horticulture. Besides Erfurt is the city with the second-largest trade fair (after Leipzig) in eastern Germany and an important hub in rail and road transportation. The KiKa, the German public television channel for children, is also located in Erfurt.

The city lies in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin within the wide valley of Gera River.

History

Erfurt, woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

Old synagogue (the oldest in Europe)

Old university (1392)

Middle Ages

Erfurt is an old Germanic settlement. The oldest evidence of human settlement dates from the prehistoric era; archeological finds from the north of Erfurt revealed human traces from the paleolithic period, ca. 100,000 BCE. The Erfurt-Melchendorf dig showed a settlement from the neolithic period. The Thuringii inhabited the Erfurt area ca. 480 and gave their name to Thuringia ca. 500.

The town is first mentioned in 742 under the name of "Erphesfurt": in that year, Saint Boniface writes Pope Zachary to tell him that he had established three dioceses in Thuringia, one of which "in a place called Erphesfurt, which for a long time has been inhabited by pagan natives." All three dioceses (the other two were Würzburg and Buraburg) were confirmed by Zachary the next year, though later Erfurt was brought into the diocese of Mainz. That the place was populous already is borne out by archeological evidence, which includes 23 graves and six horse burials from the sixth and seventh centuries.

Throughout the Middle Ages, it was an important trading town because of its location, near a ford across the Gera river. Together with the other five Thuringian woad-towns of Gotha, Tennstedt, Arnstadt and Langensalza it was the centre of the German woad trade.

In 1349, during the wave of pogroms which followed the Black Death across Europe, the Jews of Erfurt were rounded up, with more than 100 killed and the rest driven from the city. Recently, the medieval synagogue has been discovered beneath newer buildings, and has been restored (in 2009). In 1392, the University of Erfurt, where Martin Luther was matriculated, was founded. One of the leading German universities for many centuries, it fell upon hard times in the early 19th century, and was forced to close in 1816. It was refounded in 1994 by the Thuringian state parliament and has regained its status as a leading German academic and research institution.

Early modern period

In 1664, the city and surrounding area were brought under the dominion of the Electorate of Mainz. Erfurt became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802. In the Capitulation of Erfurt the city, its 12,000 defenders, and the Petersberg fortress were handed over to the French on 16 October 1806. The city became part of the First French Empire in 1806 as Principality of Erfurt, and was returned to Prussia in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars. Although enclosed by Thuringian territory in the west, south and east, the city remained part of the Prussian Province of Saxony until 1944.

Since 1815

The city was the site of the failed Erfurt Union of German states in 1850. The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during its congress at Erfurt in 1891.

In 1914 The Erfurt Company JA Topf & Sons began the manufacture of crematoria later becoming the market leader in this industry. Under the Nazi's JA Topf & Sons supplied specially developed crematoria, ovens and associated plant to the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Mauthausen. On 27 January 2011 a memorial and museum dedicated to the Holocaust victims killed using Topf ovens was opened at the former company premises in Erfurt.

Bombed as a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, Erfurt suffered only limited damage and was captured on 12 April 1945, by the US 80th Infantry Division. On 3 July, American troops left the city and the city became part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and East Germany. On 19 March 1970 the East and West German Chancellors Willi Stoph and Willy Brandt met in Erfurt, the first such meeting since the division of Germany. After reunification, the city became the capital of the re-established state of Thuringia.

Geography and demographics

Gera river in city centre

Topography

Erfurt is situated in the south of the Thuringian basin, a fertile agricultural area between the Harz mountains 80 km (50 mi) in the north and the Thuringian forest 30 km (19 mi) in the southwest. Whereas the northern parts of the city area are flat, the southern ones consist of hilly landscape up to 430 m of elevation. In this part lies also the municipal forest of Steigerwald with beeches and oaks as main tree species. To the east and to the west are some non-forested hills so that the Gera river valley within the town forms a basin. North of the city are some gravel pits in operation, while others are abandoned, flooded and used as leisure area for Erfurters.

Climate

Erfurt has a humid continental climate (Dfb) or an oceanic climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and lows of 12 °C (54 °F). Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of 2 °C (36 °F) and lows of −3 °C (27 °F). The city's topography creates a microclimate caused through the basin position with sometimes inversion in winter (quite cold nights under −20 °C (−4 °F)) and inadequate air circulation in summer. Annual precipitation is only 502 millimeters (19.8 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long.

Climate data for Erfurt (1971-2000)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	2.2 (36.0)	3.2 (37.8)	7.8 (46.0)	12.2 (54.0)	17.5 (63.5)	20.1 (68.2)	22.5 (72.5)	22.7 (72.9)	18.3 (64.9)	12.7 (54.9)	6.4 (43.5)	3.4 (38.1)	12.4 (54.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−3.1 (26.4)	−2.9 (26.8)	0.3 (32.5)	2.8 (37.0)	7.1 (44.8)	10.2 (50.4)	12.1 (53.8)	12.0 (53.6)	9.1 (48.4)	5.1 (41.2)	0.9 (33.6)	−1.5 (29.3)	4.3 (39.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	24.7 (0.97)	23.8 (0.94)	35.5 (1.40)	40.3 (1.59)	54.8 (2.16)	60.8 (2.39)	62.5 (2.46)	52.8 (2.08)	40.5 (1.59)	36.8 (1.45)	37.5 (1.48)	31.5 (1.24)	501.5 (19.74)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	7.0	6.7	8.3	7.9	8.5	10.0	8.7	8.3	7.4	6.9	7.8	7.6	95.1
Source: World Meteorological Organization

Administrative division

Districts of Erfurt

Erfurt abuts the districts of Sömmerda (municipalities Witterda, Elxleben, Walschleben, Riethnordhausen, Nöda, Alperstedt, Großrudestedt, Udestedt, Kleinmölsen and Großmölsen) in the north, Weimarer Land (municipalities Niederzimmern, Nohra, Mönchenholzhausen and Klettbach) in the east, Ilm-Kreis (municipalities Kirchheim, Rockhausen and Amt Wachsenburg) in the south and Gotha (municipalities Nesse-Apfelstädt, Nottleben, Zimmernsupra and Bienstädt) in the west.

The city itself is divided in 53 districts. The centre is formed by the district Altstadt (old town) and the Gründerzeit districts Andreasvorstadt in the northwest, Johannesvorstadt in the northeast, Krämpfervorstadt in the east, Daberstedt in the southeast, Löbervorstadt in the southwest and Brühlervorstadt in the west. More former industrial districts are Ilversgehofen (incorporated in 1911), Hohenwinden and Sulzer Siedlung in the north. Another group of districts is marked by Plattenbau settlements, constructed during the GDR period: Berliner Platz, Moskauer Platz, Rieth, Roter Berg and Johannesplatz in the northern as well as Melchendorf, Wiesenhügel and Herrenberg in the southern city parts.

Finally, there are many villages with an average population of approximately 1,000 which got incorporated during the 20th century; however, they mostly stayed rural to date:

Alach (incorporated 1994) Azmannsdorf (1994) Bindersleben (1950) Bischleben-Stedten (1950) Büßleben (1994) Dittelstedt (1994) Egstedt (1994) Ermstedt (1994) Frienstedt (1994) Gispersleben (1950) Gottstedt (1994) Hochheim (1938)

Hochstedt (1994) Kerspleben (1994) Kühnhausen (1994) Linderbach (1994) Marbach (1950) Mittelhausen (1994) Möbisburg-Rhoda (1950) Molsdorf (1994) Niedernissa (1994) Rohda (1994) Salomonsborn (1994) Schaderode (1994)

Schmira (1950) Schwerborn (1994) Stotternheim (1994) Tiefthal (1994) Töttelstädt (1994) Töttleben (1994) Urbich (1994) Vieselbach (1994) Wallichen (1994) Waltersleben (1994) Windischholzhausen (1994)

Demographics

Evolution of population until 2003

Around the year 1500, the city had 18,000 inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. Population stagnated then until the 19th century. The population of Erfurt was 21,000 in 1820, and increased to 32,000 in 1847, the year of rail connection as industrialization began. In the following decades Erfurt grew up to 130,000 at the beginning of World War I and 190,000 inhabitants in 1950. A maximum was reached in 1988 with 220,000 persons. The bad economic situation in eastern Germany after the reunification resulted in a decline in population, which fell to 200,000 in 2002 before rising again to 206,000 in 2011. The average growth of population within the last years was approximately 0.5% p. a, whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Erfurt. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders.

Like other eastern German cities, Erfurt has only a small amount of foreign population: circa 3.0% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 5.9% are migrants (according to 2011 EU census). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Erfurt are Vietnamese people, Russians and Ukrainians. During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 21% in 2005 to 9% in 2013. Nevertheless, some 14,000 households with 24,500 persons (12% of population) are dependent upon state social benefits (Hartz IV). Due to the official atheism in former GDR, most of the population is non-religious. 14.8% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 6.8% are Catholics (according to 2011 EU census). The Jewish Community consists of 500 members. Most of them migrated to Erfurt from Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s.

Culture, sights and cityscape

Erfurt Cathedral and Severi-Church

Notable residents in cultural history

Martin Luther attended the University of Erfurt and received his bachelor's and master's degrees of theology there. Luther lived there as a student from 1501 to 1511 and, as a monk, from 1505 to 1511.

The city is the birthplace of one of Johann Sebastian Bach's cousins, Johann Bernhard Bach, as well as Johann Sebastian Bach's father Johann Ambrosius Bach. Bach's parents were married in 1668 in a small church, the Kaufmannskirche (Merchant's Church), that still exists on the main square, Anger.

The sociologist Max Weber was born in Erfurt, and the theologian and philosopher Meister Eckhart was Prior of Erfurt's Dominican Order.

Johann Pachelbel served as organist at the Prediger church in Erfurt. Pachelbel composed approximately seventy pieces for organ while in Erfurt. After 1906 the composer Richard Wetz lived in Erfurt and became the leading person in the town's musical life. His major works were written here, including three symphonies, a Requiem and a Christmas Oratorio.

Famous modern musicians from Erfurt are Clueso, the Boogie Pimps, Northern Lite or Yvonne Catterfeld.

Museums

Stadtmuseum

Erfurt has a great variety of museums:

• The Stadtmuseum (municipal museum) shows some aspects of Erfurt's history with a focus on Middle Ages, early modern history, Martin Luther and the university. Other parts of the Stadtmuseum are the Neue Mühle (new mill), an old water mill still in function and the Benaryspeicher (Benary's magazine) with an exhibition of old printing machines.
• The Angermuseum is the art museum of Erfurt, named after the Anger square, where it is located. It focusses on modern graphik arts, mediveal sculpting and early modern artisanal handicraft.
• The Naturkundemuseum (natural history museum) is situated in an mediveal woad magazine and exhibits objects of Thuringian flora and fauna, geology and ecology.
• The Deutsches Gartenbaumuseum (national museum of horticulture) is accommodated in 17th century citadel Cyriaksburg and shows the history of German horticulture, in what Erfurt always has been a centre.
• The Museum für Thüringer Volkskunde (museum of popular art and cultural anthropology) attends to the common life of people in Thuringia in the past and shows exhibits of peasant and artisan traditions.
• The Alte Synagoge (Erfurt Synagogue) was opened in 2009 and shows the Erfurt Treasure together with some medieval Hebrew manuscripts.
• The Elektromuseum (museum of electrical engineering) shows the history of electric engines, which is an important field of Erfurt's economy.
• The Erinnerungsort Topf & Söhne (memorial site of Topf and Sons) shows an exhibition about the company Topf and Sons, which constructed the crematories of Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
• The Kunsthalle Erfurt (Erfurt art gallery) shows varying exhibitions of contemporary art.
• The Peterskirche (Saint Peter's church) houses an exhibition of Concrete art.
• The Schloss Molsdorf in the district of Molsdorf is a baroque palace with an exhibition about the painter Otto Knöpfer.

Theatre

Since 2003, the modern opera house is home to Theater Erfurt and its Philharmonic Orchestra. The "grand stage" section has 800 seats and the "studio stage" can hold 200 spectators. In September 2005, the opera Waiting for the Barbarians by Philip Glass premiered in the opera house. The Erfurt Theater has been a source of controversy recently. In 2005 a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel stirred up the local press since the performance contained suggestions of pedophilia and incest. The opera was advertised in the program with the addition "for adults only".

On 12 April 2008, a version of Verdi's opera Un ballo in maschera directed by Johann Kresnik opened at the Erfurt Theater. The production stirred deep controversy by featuring nude performers in Mickey Mouse masks dancing on the ruins of the World Trade Center and a female singer with a painted on Hitler toothbrush mustache performing a straight arm Nazi salute, along with sinister portrayals of American soldiers, Uncle Sam, and Elvis Presley impersonators. The director described the production as a populist critique of modern American society, aimed at showing up the disparities between rich and poor. The controversy prompted one local politician to call for locals to boycott the performances, but this was largely ignored and the premiere was sold out.

Sport

Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann Halle

Notable types of sport in Erfurt are athletics, ice skating, cycling (with the oldest velodrome in use in the world, opened in 1885), swimming, handball, volleyball, tennis and football. The city's football club FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is member of 3. Fußball-Liga and based in Steigerwaldstadion with a capacity of 20,000. The Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann Halle was the second indoor speed skating arena in Germany.

Cityscape

Architecture of Gründerzeit in Brühlervorstadt district

Erfurt's cityscape is near to the ideal of a European city: In the middle a medieval core of narrow, curved alleys, surrounded by a belt of Gründerzeit architecture, created between 1873 and 1914. In 1873 the city was defortificated so that it was now allowed to build houses in the area in front of the former city walls. In the following years, Erfurt saw a construction boom. In the northern area (districts Andreasvorstadt, Johannesvorstadt and Ilversgehofen) emerged some tenements for the factory workers, in the eastern area (Krämpfervorstadt and Daberstedt) some apartments for white-collar workers and clerks and in the southwestern part (Löbervorstadt and Brühlervorstadt) with its beautiful valley landscape some villas and mansions of rich factory owners and notables. During the interwar period, some settlements in Bauhaus style were realized, often as housing cooperatives. After World War II and over the whole GDR period, housing shortage remained a problem even though the government started a big flat construction programme. Between 1970 and 1990 emerged large Plattenbau settlements with high-rise blocks on the northern (for 50,000 inhabitants) and southeastern (for 40,000 inhabitants) periphery. After the reunification the renovation of old houses in city centre and the Gründerzeit areas was a big issue. The federal government granted high subsidies, so that many houses could be restored.

In World War II, little of Erfurt was destroyed as compared to many other cities in Germany. This is one reason why the centre today offers a mixture of medieval, baroque and classical architecture added by buildings from the last 150 years. Public green spaces are located along Gera river and in several parks like the Stadtpark, the Nordpark and the Südpark. The biggest green area is the egapark, a horticultural exhibition park and botanic garden established in 1961, but it is not accessible without an entry fee and some activities like barbecue or ball games are restricted.

Main sights

Churches, monasteries and synagogues

The city centre hosts about 25 churches and monasteries, most of them in gothic style, some also in Romanesque style or a mixture of romanesque and gothic elements, and few in later styles. Some important churches and monasteries are:

• the Erfurt Cathedral which stands besides the St Severi Church on Domberg hill as the most remarkable sight ensemble of Erfurt
• the St Peters Church (former Benedictine monastery) as the most important romanesque building in Erfurt on Petersberg hill
• the Predigerkirche as the Lutheran main church of the city
• the ruin of Barfüßerkirche, a former Franciscan monastery, closed in 1525 and destroyed by bombings in 1944
• the Augustinian monastery, where Luther lived as a monk between 1505 and 1512
• the Kaufmannskirche St Gregory as one of the biggest originally used parish churches
• the St Michaels Church, the church of the old university
• the Ursuline monastery which is still in use today
• the former monastery, now parish churches of St. Crucis (Neuwerkskirche), St Augustine (Reglerkirche) and St Jacob and Nicholas (Schottenkirche) with their impressive buildings

Two existing historic synagogues are the Erfurt Synagogue (in German called "old synagogue") and the 19th century Kleine Synagoge (small synagogue). In use is only the new synagogue from 1952.

• 
  Erfurt city hall
• 
  Krämerbrücke
• 
  Christmas market at Domplatz
• 
  Angermuseum
• 
  Erfurt Theatre
• 
  Citadel on Petersberg
• 
  Fischmarkt

Secular architecture

The most important secular sights are the Krämerbrücke, a bridge completely covered with dwellings, and the Petersberg Citadel, a huge baroque fortress on the Petersberg hill above the centre. Furthermore there are lots of interesting early modern, representative houses, especially around the main squares Domplatz, Fischmarkt and Anger. Moreover Erfurt has interesting Gründerzeit architecture, which is not that known.

Economy and infrastructure

Agriculture, Industry and Services

Former factory building, now reused for services

Anger 1, a big department store in centre

Farming has a great tradition in Erfurt: the cultivation of woad made the city rich during the Middle Ages. Today, horticulture and the production of flower seeds is still an important business in Erfurt. Besides there is growing of fruits (like apples, strawberries and sweet cherries), vegetables (e. g. cauliflowers, potatoes, cabbage and sugar beets) and grain on more than 60% of the municipal territory.

Industrialization in Erfurt started around 1850. Until World War I, many factories were founded in different sectors like engine building, shoes, guns, malt and later electro-technics, so that there was no industrial monostructure in the city. After 1945, the companies became socialized by the GDR gouvernment, which led collateral to the decline of some of them. After reunification, nearly all factories got closed, either because they failed the adoption of free market economy or because the German gouvernment sold them to west German businessmen who closed them to avoid competition to their own enterprises. On the other hand, the federal gouvernment started early in the 1990s to subsidize the foundation of new companies, but it took long time before the economic situation got stabilized around 2006. Since this time, unemployment decreased and overall, new jobs develop. Today, there are many small and medium-sized companies in Erfurt with electro-technics, semiconductors and photovoltaics in focus. Besides, the engine building is still an important industry same as the production of food, for example with a big noodle factory, the Braugold brewery or Born Feinkost, a producer of Thuringian mustard.

Erfurt is an Oberzentrum (which means "supra-centre" according to Central place theory) in German regional planning. Such centres are always hubs of service businesses and public services like hospitals, universities, research, trade fairs, retail etc. Additionally Erfurt is the capital of the federal state of Thuringia, so that there are many institutions of administration like all the Thuringian state ministries and some nation-wide authorities. Typical for Erfurt are the logistic business with many distribution centres of big companies, the Erfurt Trade Fair and the media sector with KiKa and MDR as public broadcast stations.

Transport

Main train station

by rail

Erfurt is connected by the Thuringian Railway to Leipzig in the east and to Frankfurt/Kassel in the west. Furthermore there are some regional railways from Erfurt to Magdeburg via Sangerhausen, to Nordhausen, to Göttingen via Mühlhausen, to Würzburg, Ilmenau and Saalfeld via Arnstadt and to Gera via Weimar and Jena. The Erfurt Central Station was rebuilt during the 2000s for connecting the new Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway (will be opened in 2015) with the new Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway (will be opened in 2017). With the implementation of both new railways, Erfurt will get a second ICE route, running from Berlin (then 1,5 h from Erfurt) to Munich (then 2 h from Erfurt) in addition to the existing one from Frankfurt to Dresden.

In freight transport exists an intermodal terminal in the district of Vieselbach (Güterverkehrszentrum/GVZ) with connection to rail and Autobahn.

by road

The two Autobahnen crossing each other nearby at Erfurt junction are the Bundesautobahn 4 (Frankfurt–Dresden) and the Bundesautobahn 71 (Schweinfurt–Sangerhausen). Together with the east tangent both motorways form a circle road around the city and lead the interregional traffic around the centre. Whereas the A 4 was built in the 1930s, the A 71 came into being after the reunification in 1990s and 2000s. In addition to both motorways exist two Bundesstraßen: the Bundesstraße 7 connects Erfurt parallel to A 4 with Gotha in the west and Weimar in the east. The Bundesstraße 4 is a connection between Erfurt and Nordhausen in the north. Its southern part to Coburg was annulled when A 71 was finished. Within the circle road, B 7 and B 4 are also annulled, so that the gouvernment of Thuringia has to pay for maintenance instead of the German federal gouvernment. The access to the city is restricted as Umweltzone since 2012 for some vehicles. Big parts of the inner city are a pedestrian area which could not be reached by car (except for residents).

by aviation

The Erfurt-Weimar Airport lies ca. 3 km (2 mi) west of city centre. It was largely extended in 1990s, but anticipations did not fulfill so that there is only rare air traffic, mostly to Mediterranean holiday regions. Other flights are carried out via Frankfurt Airport, which can be reached in 2,5 h and prospective via Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which will open in 2014 and is accessible within 3 h.

by bike

Biking is getting more and more popular since the construction of quality cycle tracks began in the 1990s. For tourism serve the Gera track and the Thuringian city string track (Radweg Thüringer Städtekette). Both connect points of tourist interest, the first along the Gera valley from Thuringian forest to Unstrut river and second near to medieval Via Regia from Eisenach via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena to Altenburg. For inner city every-day traffic exist some cycle lanes along several main streets. Nevertheless there are – in comparison to other cities in Germany – deficits, so that cycle traffic is comparatively underrepresented in Erfurt, too because the terrain is hilly in some parts of the city.

Trams and buses

Tram near Anger square

The Erfurt public transport system is marked by an area-wide tram network, established in 1883 and extended in the 2000s. Today, there are six lines running every ten minutes on every course. Additionally works a bus system, which connects the sparsely populated districts. Both systems are organized by SWE EVAG, a company owned by the city administration. Trolleybuses were in service from 1948 until 1975.

Education

After the reunification, the educational system was realigned. The University of Erfurt, closed after 1816, was refounded in 1994 with a focus on humanities and teacher apprenticeship. Today there are approximately 5000 students at this university with four faculties. Another college is the Fachhochschule Erfurt, a University of Applied Sciences founded in 1991 which offers a combination of scientific training and its practical applications. There are also nearly 5000 students in six faculties, of whom the faculty of landscaping and horticulture is reputable all over Germany. A University of Applied Sciences in private ownership is the Adam-Ries-Fachhochschule, founded in 2008 with focus on business economics and more than 300 students.

Further there are eight Gymnasiums, six state-owned, one catholic and one evangelical. One of the state-owned is a Sportgymnasium, an elite boarding school for young talents in athletics, swimming, ice skating or football. Another state-owned Gymnasium offers a focus in sciences also as an elite boarding school additionally to the common curriculum.

Politics

Mayor and city council

The first free elected mayor after German reunification was Manfred Ruge, CDU (in office from 1990 to 2006), followed by Andreas Bausewein, SPD (in office since 2006).

The last municipal election was held in 2009 with the result:

Party	Percentage	Seats in council
SPD (social democratic)	33,0	17
CDU (conservative)	22,7	11
The Left (post-socialistic left)	19,6	10
Greens (green)	8,7	4
Free Voters (citizen-oriented/populist)	8,2	4
FDP (classical liberal)	5,2	3
NPD (far-right)	2,6	1

Twin towns

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Erfurt is twinned with:

• Győr, Hungary, since 1971
• Vilnius, Lithuania, since 1972
• Kalisz, Poland, since 1982
• Mainz, Germany, since 1988
• Lille, France, since 1991
• Shawnee, Kansas, United States, since 1993
• San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, since 1993
• Lovech, Bulgaria, since 1996
• Haifa, Israel, since 2000
• Xuzhou, People's Republic of China, since 2005
• Kati, Mali, since 2011

People from Erfurt

• See: List of people from Erfurt

External links

• Erfurt City Panoramas - Panoramic Views and virtual Tours
• Kraemerbruecke
• Sister City (since 1993) with Shawnee, Kansas
• World Shots. Germany. Erfurt. - Collection of photographs (English, Russian, Hebrew)
• Memorial and Museum Topf & Sons. - Builders of the Auschwitz Oven