A city of southern Germany west-northwest of Munich. Founded by Augustus as a Roman garrison c. 14 B.C., it was a major commercial and banking center in the 15th and 16th centuries. Population: 263,000.
Augsburg
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Augs·burg (ôgz'bûrg', ouks'bʊrk')  |
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Augsburg, historic German city included in Bavaria since 1806. Of Roman origin, it developed from the military colonia Augusta Vindelicorum, founded in 15 bc. In 1276 it became a Free Imperial City, losing this status only with the dissolution of the Empire (1806). It owed its immense prosperity in the later Middle Ages to its situation on the trade route between Italy and northern Europe. The powerful Augsburg merchant family of Fugger was responsible for the Fuggerei, an early experiment in social welfare. In 1530 Augsburg was the scene of the Diet in which the differences between Catholics and Protestants were debated, and the Protestant document prepared for this occasion is known as the Augsburgische Konfession; and in 1555 the Religious Peace (see Augsburger Religionsfriede) was signed there. Agnes Bernauer, the subject of plays by Hebbel and others, was the daughter of a barber surgeon of Augsburg, which is also the birthplace of B. Brecht.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Augsburg |
Augsburg (ouks'bʊrk), city (1994 pop. 264,764), capital of Swabia, Bavaria, S central Germany, a major industrial center on the Lech River. The major industries include the manufacture of textiles, clothing, machinery, computers, electronic equipment, motor vehicles, and airplanes. The city is an important rail junction.
Augsburg was founded (c.14 B.C.) by Augustus as a Roman garrison called Augusta Vindelicorum. In early medieval times it was controlled by the Frankish kings. It was made a free imperial city in 1276 and was later a powerful member of various Swabian leagues, including the Swabian League of 1488-1534.
Augsburg was one of Europe's most important commercial and banking centers in the 15th and 16th cent. and was a rallying point of German science and art. The city was the home of the Fugger and Welser families and was the birthplace of Hans Holbein the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger, and Hans Burgkmair. Several important agreements, including the Augsburg Confession (1530), were concluded there during the Reformation. Augsburg suffered greatly in the Thirty Years War (1618-48). In 1806 it became part of Bavaria.
Augsburg's many noteworthy structures include the cathedral (begun in the 9th cent.); the 16th-century Fuggerei, an enclosed settlement for poor persons founded by the Fugger family; and the 17th-century town hall. Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg.
| History 1450-1789: Augsburg |
During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the free and imperial city of Augsburg entered its golden age as a financial and cultural center. One of the largest of the early modern German cities, Augsburg's population approached thirty thousand in 1500, growing to its highest level of forty thousand around 1618. Augsburg's geographic position between the Lech and Wertach rivers contributed to the development of a strong textile industry after the Lech was diverted into a series of canals running through the city.
Domestic developments and international trade connections enabled Augsburg's guilds (Zünfte), most significantly the merchants (Kaufleute), weavers (Weber), and goldsmiths (Goldschmiede), to grow strong politically and economically. From its establishment following a guild rebellion in 1368 until 1548 (when Emperor Charles V laid siege to the city), Augsburg's "guild constitution" (Zunftverfassung) provided that the seventeen craft guilds were to send twelve representatives each to the Great Council and thirty-four guild masters (after 1478) to the Small Council. The guilds thus shared power with the patricians, who retained one of the two positions of mayor and fifteen representatives in the Small Council.
In the late fifteenth century, merchant families, most importantly the Baumgartners, Herwarts, Höchstetters, Fuggers, and Welsers, diversified their regional manufacturing interests into banking and credit. Close associations with trading and banking houses in Venice and Antwerp launched Augsburg merchants into Europe-wide recognition and international trade. The Fugger and the Welser trade routes and business connections extended throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Central Europe, and Italy and through the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal into Africa, India, the West Indies, and Venezuela. Close financial relationship between the Fuggers and the Habsburg emperors, particularly Maximilian I (ruled 1493–1519), contributed to Augsburg's growing importance in imperial politics, as is evident in the fact that Augsburg hosted twelve of thirty-five imperial diets held between 1500 and 1600. Among the most important of these diets were Martin Luther's meeting with the papal legate Cajetan (1518), the Augsburg Confession (1530), the Augsburg Interim (1547–1548), and the Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555). Jacob Fugger "the Rich" (1459–1525) amassed a fortune, which he used to finance the imperial election of Charles V in 1519 and to found the Fuggerei for poor Catholics, the first welfare housing project in the world, in 1516.
In the early sixteenth century, book production and book collection formed the backbone of intellectual development in Augsburg; individuals such as the humanist Conrad Peutinger (1465–1547), who served on the imperial council and as city council secretary, amassed large personal libraries. Between 1468 and 1555, the Augsburg publishing houses produced around 5,900 works, making Augsburg one of the most significant German printing centers during the Reformation era, second only to Wittenberg in printing Luther's works. Augsburg painters and woodcut engravers—Hans Holbein the Elder (1465?–1524), Jörg Breu (c. 1475–1537), Hans Burgkmair (1473–c. 1531), and Leonhard Beck (c. 1480–1542)—produced numerous early Renaissance paintings and woodcuts that graced books as well as local churches. The foundation of the Latin school at St. Anna in 1531 ensured a continued tradition of humanist education within Augsburg, especially visible in its establishment of the city library in 1537.
A strong ecclesiastical and episcopal presence—including the bishop, cathedral chapter, and seventeen monasteries and convents—dominated late medieval religious life in Augsburg. Christoph von Stadion, the humanist-minded bishop of Augsburg (1478–1543), made an early attempt at ecclesiastical reform with his accession in 1517, but Martin Luther's hearing before the papal legate Cajetan (1469–1534) in 1518 brought the Reformation directly to Augsburg. Between 1521 and 1534, the Augsburg city council, unwilling to accept the Reformation for economic and political reasons, maintained a policy, designed by Conrad Peutinger, of outward compliance to episcopal and imperial mandates while avoiding direct interference in the growing evangelical movement among the populace and clergy. Ample evidence of the need for this policy can be seen in the July 1524 Schilling Uprising resulting from a city council attempt to banish the evangelical preacher Johannes Schilling. Anabaptist and Zwinglian influences grew in the late 1520s and early 1530s under the leadership of Michael Keller (c. 1500–1548), Hans Denck (c. 1495–1527), and Balthasar Hubmaier (1485–1528), culminating in the "Martyr's Synod," an important gathering of southern German Anabaptist leaders on 24 August 1527. Beginning in 1534, Augsburg's city council introduced a Zwinglian-styled reformation that was favored by the guilds; it was completed in 1537 with the publication of a reformed church order.
During the Augsburg Interim (1547–1548), Emperor Charles V reestablished the rights of Catholics in Augsburg by dissolving the guilds and altering the city constitution to promote a leadership shared between the Catholic and Protestant patricians. After a brief period of shifting power, the Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) established Augsburg as one of a few fully biconfessional cities. Guild unrest in Augsburg in 1584 known as the Kalenderstreit, 'calendar struggle', ostensibly over the imperial acceptance of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, provides evidence that the Catholic and Protestant communities did not always enjoy a harmonious coexistence, either socially or politically. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Augsburg city council maintained a confessionally neutral policy and sought to diminish social tensions that could lead to guild unrest. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) established Parität, 'parity', in Augsburg, splitting political power proportionally between Catholics and Lutherans. The confessional population distribution shifted from 70 percent Protestant in 1648 to approximately 60 percent Catholic by the mid-eighteenth century.
In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Augsburg embarked on an ambitious civic building program, which included the creation of a series of public fountains, such as the Mercury and the Hercules bronzes (1596–1602) designed by Adriaan de Vries (c. 1560–1626), and the redesign of the Rathaus (City Hall) with its famous Goldener Saal (Golden Hall) as well as numerous public buildings by Elias Holl (1573–1646) during his tenure as the municipal builder between 1601 and 1635. Augsburg's early organization of civic medical and charitable institutions, such as the college of medicine (Collegium Medicum Augustanum, 1582) and city orphanage (1572) served as a model for other German cities.
Augsburg suffered a political and economic downturn in the mid-seventeenth century. The population decreased to a low of 16,422 in 1635 as a result of the effects of plague epidemics (9,000 died in the 1627–1628 outbreak alone) and the Thirty Years' War (5,000 died in the 1634–1635 siege) and recovered to about 20,000 in 1645 and 30,000 around 1770. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Augsburg economy recovered because of its export of decorative silver, the establishment of textile manufacturing, and the city's continuing role in banking and finance. The restoration of modest wealth allowed the continuation of a strong cultural development as seen in such baroque and rococo patrician palaces as the Schaezler Palace (1765–1770) and in the work of Augsburg artists Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1609–1684) and Johann Ulrich Mayr (1630–1704) in the St. Ulrich, St. Anna, and Holy Cross churches. The Collegium Musicum, which was established in 1713, sponsored works of composers such as the Augsburg native Leopold Mozart (1719–1787). Augsburg attempted to maintain neutrality in the growing military conflicts in Europe, but this did not prevent the siege and occupation of the city in 1703–1704 by French and Bavarian troops in the War of the Spanish Succession nor its loss of independence when Augsburg was integrated into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806.
Bibliography
Clasen, Claus Peter. Anabaptism: A Social History, 1525– 1618: Switzerland, Austria, Moravia, South and Central Germany. Ithaca, N.Y., 1972.
Gottlieb, Gunther, et al. Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg von der Römerzeit bis zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart, 1984.
Kiessling, Rolf. Bürgerliche Gesellschaft und Kirche in Augsburg im Spätmittelalter. Ein Beitrag zur Strukturanalyse der oberdeutschen Reichsstadt. Augsburg, 1971.
Künast, Hans-Jörg. "Getruckt zu Augspurg": Buchdruck und Buchhandel in Augsburg zwischen 1468 und 1555. Tübingen, 1997.
Roeck, Bernd. Eine Stadt in Krieg und Frieden. Studien zur Geschichte der Reichsstadt Augsburg zwischen Kalenderstreit und Parität. 2 vols. Göttingen, 1989.
Roper, Lyndal. The Holy Household: Women and Morals in Reformation Augsburg. Oxford, 1984.
Roth, Friedrich. Augsburgs Reformationsgeschichte. 4 vols. Munich, 1901–1911. Reprint, Munich 1974.
Safley, Thomas Max. Charity and Economy in the Orphanages of Early Modern Augsburg. Boston, 1997.
Stuart, Kathy. Defiled Trades and Social Outcasts: Honor and Ritual Pollution in Early Modern Germany. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1999.
Tlusty, B. Ann. Bacchus and Civic Order: The Culture of Drink in Early Modern Germany. Charlottesville, Va., 2001.
Zoepfl, Friedrich. Das Bistum Augsburg und seine Bischöfe im Reformationsjahrhundert. Munich, 1969.
—MARJORIE E. PLUMMER
| Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Augsburg, Germany |
The country code is: 49
The city code is: 821
| Wikipedia: Augsburg |
For other uses, see Augsburg (disambiguation).
Coordinates: 48°22′0″N 10°54′0″E / 48.366667°N 10.9°E
| Augsburg | |
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  Augsburg
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| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| State | Bavaria |
| Admin. region | Swabia |
| District | Urban district |
| Lord Mayor | Kurt Gribl |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 146.93 km2 (56.73 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 446-561 m |
| Population | 263,477 (1 January 2007) |
| - Density | 1,793 /km2 (4,644 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | A |
| Postal codes | 86150–86199 |
| Area code | 0821 |
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Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a College town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population exceeding 264,000 citizens. After Trier, Augsburg is Germany's second oldest city.
Augsburg is the only German city with its own legal holiday, the Peace of Augsburg, celebrated on August 8 of every year. This gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other region or city in Germany.[1]
Contents |
History
Main article: History of Augsburg
The city was founded in 15 BC by Drusus and Tiberius as Augusta Vindelicorum, under the orders of their stepfather Emperor Augustus. This garrison camp soon became capital of the Roman province of Raetia.
Early development was due to a 400-year affiliation with the Roman Empire, especially because of its excellent military, economic and geographic position at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach, and with direct access to most important Alpine passes. Thus, Augsburg was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages.[2]
Around 120 AD Augsburg became the capital of the Roman province Raetia. Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the 5th century AD, by Charlemagne in the 8th century, and by Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, but arose each time to greater prosperity.
Augsburg Confession
Augsburg was decreed an Imperial Free City on March 9, 1276. Augsburg also held its own bishop at this time. With a strategic location as intersection of trade routes to Italy, it became a major trading centre. Augsburg produced large quantities of woven goods, cloth and textiles. Augsburg became the base for the Fugger banking empire, who donated the Fuggerei part of the city devoted to housing for needy citizens in 1516 and remains in use today.
In 1530, the Augsburg Confession was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Augsburg. Following the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, after which the rights of religious minorities in imperial cities were to be legally protected, a mixed Catholic–Protestant city council presided over a majority Protestant population; see Paritätische Reichsstadt.
Thirty Years' War
Religious peace in the city was largely maintained despite increasing Confessional tensions until the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). In 1629, Ferdinand II issued the Edict of Restitution, which restored the legal situation of 1552 which again curtailed the rights of the Protestant citizens. The inequality of the Edict of Restitution was rescinded when in April 1632, the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus captured Augsburg without resistance.
In 1631, the Swedish army was routed at nearby Nördlingen. By October 1634, Catholic troops had surrounded Augsburg. The Swedish garrison refused to surrender and a siege ensued through the winter of 1634/35 and thousands died from hunger and disease. This ruinous siege, followed by the discovery and available travel to the America and a new route to India via the Cape, resulted in a rapid decline in Augsburg's prosperity.
Nine Years' War
In 1686, Emperor Leopold I, formed the League of Augsburg, termed by the English as the "Grand Alliance" after England joined in 1689: a European coalition, consisting (at various times) of Austria, Bavaria, Brandenburg, England, the Holy Roman Empire, the Palatinate of the Rhine, Portugal, Savoy, Saxony, Spain, Sweden, and the United Provinces. It was formed to defend the Palatinate from France. This organization fought the War of the Grand Alliance against France in the Nine Years War.
Augsburg's peak boom years occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries via the bank and metal businesses of the merchant families Fugger and Welser, who held a local near total monopoly on their respective industries. Augsburg's wealth attracted artists seeking patrons and rapidly became a creative center for famous painters, sculptors and musicians notably birthplace of : the Holbein painter family, the composer Leopold Mozart and the playwright Berthold Brecht. Rococo became so prevalent that it became known as “Augsburg style” throughout Germany.
Industrial Revolution Revival
In 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Augsburg lost its independence to become part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1817 Augsburg became an administrative capital of the Oberdonaukreis, then administrative capital in 1837 for the district Swabia and Neuburg.
During the end of the 18th century, Augsburg's textile industry again rose to prominence followed by the attached machine manufacturing industry.
Military
Augsburg was historically a militarily important city due to strategic locale. During the German re-armament prior to World War Two, the Wehrmacht enlarged Augsburg's one original Kaserne (barracks) to three: Somme Kaserne ((housing Wehrmacht Artillerie-Regiment 27)); Arras Kaserne ((housing Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 27)) and Panzerjäger Kaserne (housing Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 27 (later Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27). Wehrmacht Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27 was later moved to Füssen. Reichswehr Infanterie Regiment 19 were located in Augsburg.
Reichswehr Infanterie Regiment 19 became the base unit for the Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 40, a subset of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27 (ehich later became Wehrmacht Panzerdivision 17). Elements of Wehrmacht II Battalion of Gebirgs-Jäger-Regiment 99 (especially Wehrmacht Panzerjäger Kompanie 14) was composed of parts of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27. Infanterie Regiment 40 remained in Augsburg until the end of the war surrendering to the United States.
The three Kaserne changed hands confusingly between the Soviet Red Army, American and Germans, finally ending in US hands for the duration of the Cold War.
During World War II, one subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located outside Augsburg, supplying approximately 1300 forced labourers to local military-related industry, most especially Messerschmidt.[3][4]
In 1941 Rudolf Hess without Hitler's permission secretly took off from a local airport and flew to Scotland to meet the Duke of Hamilton, and crashed in Eaglesham in an attempt to mediate the end of the European front of World War II and join sides for the upcoming Russian Campaign.
In 1945, the U.S. Army occupied the heavily damaged city. An American military presence in the city started with the 11th Airborne Division, followed by the 24th Infantry Division, US Army Seventh Corps Artillery, and finally the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, which returned the former Kaserne to German hands in 1998. Originally the Heeresverpflegungshauptamt Südbayern and a Officers' caisson existed on or near the location of Reese-Kaserne, but was demolished by the occupying Americans. The former Wehrmacht Kaserne became the three main US barracks in Augsburg: Reese;, Sheridan and FLAK. US Base FLAK was an anti-aircraft barracks since 1936 and US Base Sheridan "united" the former infantry barracks with a smaller Kaserne for former Luftwaffe communications units.
Politics
Municipality
Main article: List of mayors of Augsburg
From 1266 until 1548, the terms Stadtpfleger (head of town council) and Mayor were used interchangeably, or occasionally, simultaneously. In 1548 the title was finally fixed to Stadtpfleger, whom officiated for several years and then awarded the title for life (though no longer governing), thus resulting confusingly, in records of two or more simultaneous Stadtpfleger.
After the transfer to Bavaria in 1806, Augsburg was ruled by a Magistrate with two mayors, supported by an additional council of "Community Commissioners": the Gemeindebevollmächtige.
As of 1907, the Mayor was entitled Oberbürgermeister, as Augsburg had attained a population of 100,000, as per the Bavarian Gemeindeordnung.
Town Council
| Election results of the Town Council since 1972 in percent | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | CSU | SPD | FDP | Grüne | ödp | DKP/PDS | REP | NPD | other |
| 1972 | 44,9 | 46,5 | 2,3 | – | – | 0,7 | – | 0,9 | 4,7 |
| 1978 | 46,8 | 44,5 | 2,7 | – | – | 0,4 | – | 0,6 | 4,9 |
| 1984 | 32,9 | 44,9 | 1,3 | 4,2 | – | 0,2 | – | 0,7 | 15,8 |
| 1990 | 43,1 | 28,4 | 2,5 | 10,8 | – | – | 10,0 | – | 5,2 |
| 1996 | 44,1 | 29,4 | 1,7 | 10,5 | – | – | 2,8 | – | 11,5 |
| 2002 | 43,5 | 36,4 | 3,5 | 8,7 | 1,8 | 1,2 | – | – | 4,9 |
| 2008 | 40,1 | 30,1 | 2,7 | 10,3 | 1,5 | 3,5 | – | – | 11,8 |
| Seats 20081 | 25 | 19 | 1 | 6 | – | 22 | – | – | 73 |
1 Local elections on March 2, 2008 22008: Die Linke 3 Pro Augsburg: 6, Freie Wähler: 1
Members of the Bundestag
Augsburg is located in the Wahlkreis 253 Augsburg-Stadt constituency, which includes Königsbrunn and the District of Augsburg (Landkreis Augsburg).
Christian Ruck of the CSU was directly elected to the Bundestag with 49.2% of the vote in the 16th German Bundestag.
Indirectly elected to the Bundestag to adhere to the Landesliste were Miriam Gruß for the FDP, Heinz Paula for the SPD and Claudia Roth for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
Main sights
- Town Hall, built in 1620 in Renaissance style
- Perlachturm, a bell tower built in 1182
- Fuggerei (see above)
- Bishop's Residence, built about 1750 in order to replace the older bishop palace; today the administrative seat of Swabia
- Cathedral, founded in the 9th century
- Augsburger Puppenkiste, a very famous marionette theater
- Eiskanal, the world's first artificial whitewater course (venue for the whitewater events of the 1972 Munich Olympics).
- Dorint Hotel Tower
- Der Goldene Saal
- St. Ulrich and St. Afra—one church is Roman Catholic, the other Lutheran, the duality a result of the Peace of Augsburg concluded in 1555 between Catholics and Protestants
- Mozart Haus Augsburg (where composer father Leopold Mozart was born there and Mozart visited several times)
- Childhood home of Bertolt Brecht
- The Augsburg Botanical Gardens Botanischer Garten Augsburg
Incorporations
| Year | Municipality | Area |
|---|---|---|
| July 1, 1910 | Meringerau | 9.5 km² |
| January 1, 1911 | Pfersee | 3.5 km² |
| January 1, 1911 | Oberhausen | 8.6 km² |
| January 1, 1913 | Lechhausen | 27.9 km² |
| January 1, 1913 | Hochzoll | 4.4 km² |
| April 1, 1916 | Kriegshaber | 59 km² |
| July 1, 1972 | Göggingen | |
| July 1, 1972 | Haunstetten | |
| July 1, 1972 | Inningen |
Historical population development
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1635 | 16,432 |
| 1645 | 19,960 |
| 1806 | 26,200 |
| 1830 | 29,019 |
| December 1, 1871 ¹ | 51,220 |
| December 1, 1890 ¹ | 75,629 |
| December 1, 1900 ¹ | 89,109 |
| December 1, 1910 ¹ | 102,487 |
| June 16, 1925 ¹ | 165,522 |
| June 16, 1933 ¹ | 176,575 |
| May 17, 1939 ¹ | 185,369 |
| September 13, 1950 ¹ | 185,183 |
| June 6, 1961 ¹ | 208,659 |
| May 27, 1970 ¹ | 211,566 |
| June 30, 1975 | 252,000 |
| June 30, 1980 | 246,600 |
| June 30, 1985 | 244,200 |
| May 27, 1987 ¹ | 242,819 |
| June 30, 1997 | 257,300 |
| December 31, 2002 | 259,231 |
| December 31, 2003 | 259,217 |
| December 31, 2004 | 260,407 |
| December 31, 2005 | 263,804 |
| December 31, 2006 | 269,449 |
¹ Census result
Partner cities
Inverness, Scotland since 1956
Amagasaki, Japan, since 1959- Nagahama, Japan, since 1959
Bourges, France, since 1963
Dayton Ohio, United States, since 1964
Liberec, Czech Republic, since 2001
Jinan, People's Republic of China, since 2004
Information on the partner cities can also be found at www.augsburg.de
Commerce and infrastructure
Transport
The main road link is autobahn A 8 between Munich and Stuttgart.
Public transport
Public transport is very well catered for. It is controlled by the Augsburger Verkehrsverbund (Augsburg transport union, AVV) extended over central Swabia. There are seven rail Regionalbahn lines, four tram lines, 27 city bus lines and six night bus lines, as well as, several taxi companies.
The tram network is now 35.5 km-long after the opening of new lines to the university in 1996, the northern city boundary in 2001 and to the Klinikum Augsburg (Augsburg hospital) in 2002. Two more tram lines are under construction, planned to be completed in 2011.
Rail services
Augsburg has seven stations. The Hauptbahnhof (main station) built from 1843 to 1846 is Germany’s oldest main station in a large city still providing services in the original building. It is currently being modernized and an underground tram station is built underneath it. Hauptbahnhof is on the Ulm–München line and is connected by ICE and IC services to Munich, Berlin, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart. As of December 2007, the French TGV connected Augsburg with a direct High Speed Connection to Paris. In addition EC and night train services connect to Amsterdam, Paris and Vienna and connections will be substantially improved by the creation of the planned Magistrale for Europe.
The AVV operates seven Regionalbahn lines from the main station to:
- Mammendorf
- Schmiechen
- Aichach/Radersdorf
- Meitingen/Donauwörth
- Dinkelscherben
- Schwabmünchen
- Klosterlechfeld.
Starting in 2008, the regional services are planned to be altered to S-Bahn frequencies and developed long term as integrated into the Augsburg S-Bahn.
Economy
Augsburg is a vibrant industrial city. Many global market leaders namely MAN, EADS or KUKA produce high technology products like printing systems, large diesel engines, industrial robots or components for the Airbus A380 and the Ariane carrier rocket. After Munich, Augsburg is considered the high-tech centre for Information and Communication in Bavaria and takes advantage of its lower operating costs, yet close proximity to Munich and potential customers.
Major Companies
- Boewe Systec
- EADS
- EMCON Technologies (former Zeuna-Staerker)
- Fujitsu Siemens Computers
- KUKA Robotics / Systems
- MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg)
- manroland
- MT-Aerospace
- NCR
- Osram
- Premium Aerotec
- Siemens
- UPM-Kymmene (former Haindl)
- Verlagsgruppe Weltbild
- WashTec (former Kleindienst)
Education
Augsburg is home to the following universities and colleges:
- University of Augsburg, founded in 1970[5]
- Fachhochschule Augsburg
Media
The local newspaper is the Augsburger Allgemeine first published in 1807.
Notable citizens
- died 304 Saint Afra
- c.890-973 Saint Ulrich
- 1070-1127 Saint Wolfhard
- 1459–1525 Jakob Fugger Noted banker and financial broker. An area within the city, called the Fuggerei was set aside for the poor and needy. Founded in 1519.
- 1460–1524 Hans Holbein the Elder, a pioneer in the transformation of German art from the Gothic to the Renaissance style.
- 1517–1579 Paulus Hector Mair, martial artist.
- 1573–1646 Elias Holl, architect
- 1580–1627 Julius Schiller, lawyer and astronomer.
- 1704–1767 Johann Jakob Haid, engraver
- 1719–1787 Leopold Mozart, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- 1898–1956 Bertolt Brecht, famous German writer.
- 1858–1913 Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine.
- 1933 Ulrich Biesinger, a former German footballer, part of the team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
- 1939 Helmut Haller, a footballer who represented West Germany at three World Cups.
- 1957 Bernhard Langer, famous professional golfer.
- 1959 Bernd Schuster, a German football coach and former player.
- 1983 Philipp Kohlschreiber, a German tennis player.
- 1985 Bianca Voitek, a German female bodybuilder.
Miscellaneous
The patron saints of Augsburg are Saint Ulrich and Saint Afra. Saint Afra was killed (either beheaded or burned at the stake, accounts differ) by the Romans at Augsburg in 304. An earlier patroness was Zisa, referenced in the 11th century, feast day September 28), possibly an early Germanic goddess and originally the consort of Tyr.
A key family tourist attraction is the large annual children's party and festivities of 29 September (Michaelmas or St. Michael's Day) held at the Turamichele, where (Archangel Michael) appears in a window on the west side of the city tower (Perlachturm) and fights with the devil.
Augsburg's Lech River White Water Canoeing hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics events and are now open to the public.
Augsburg holds year-long German Mozart Festival concerts and hosts the International Leopold Mozart Violin Competition.
Sports
The city is home to a DEL (first-division) ice hockey team, the Augsburger Panther. The original club, AEV, was formed in 1878, the oldest German ice sport club and regularly draws around 4000 spectators, quite reasonable for German ice hockey. Home games are played at the Curt Frenzel Stadion: not truly an indoor rink as the sides are open, though a new stadium is in the process of planning.
For the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, a Lech River dam protective diversionary canal for river ice was converted into the world's first artificial whitewater slalom course: the Eiskanal and remains a world-class venue for whitewater competition and served as prototype for two dozen similar foreign courses.
The FC Augsburg is a 2nd Bundesliga football team based in Augsburg and plays in the Rosenaustadion. A new stadium called impuls arena was opened in July 2009 and it is planned to host games of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Local City Nicknames
While commonly coined Fuggerstadt (Fuggers' city) due to the Fuggers residing there, within Swabia it's also often referred to as Datschiburg: which originated sometime in the 19th century refers to Augsburgs favorite sweet: the Datschi made from fruit, preferably prunes, and thin cake dough..[6] The Datschiburger Kickers charity football team founded in 1965 keenly this as its name.[7][8]
See also
- List of civic divisions of Augsburg
- League of Augsburg
- Augsburg College A private Lutheran College in the United States that takes its name from the Augsburg Confession.
- List of mayors of Augsburg
- Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine, who also used biodiesel
Notes
- ^ http://www2.augsburg.de/
- ^ http://www2.augsburg.de/index.php?id=12356
- ^ Wolfgang Sofsky, William Templer, The Order of Terror: The Concentration Camp: Princeton University Press: 1999, ISBN 0691006857: 352 pages: pp 183
- ^ Edward Victor. Alphabetical List of Camps, Subcamps and Other Camps. http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/List%20of%20camps.htm
- ^ http://www.uni-augsburg.de
- ^ Augsburger Stadtlexikon - Datschiburg (German) accessed: 18 November 2008
- ^ Datschiburger Kickers website accessed: 18 November 2008
- ^ Augsburger Stadtlexikon - Datschiburger Kickers (German) accessed: 18 November 2008
References
- Die Chroniken der schwäbischen Städte, Augsburg, (Leipzig, 1865–1896).
- Werner, Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg, (Augsburg, 1900).
- Lewis, "The Roman Antiquities of Augsburg and Ratisbon", in volume xlviii, Archæological Journal, (London, 1891).
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Augsburg |
- Stadt Augsburg Official site (English version)
- Augsburg Region Tourism
- Fotosafari Augsburg An interactive set of pictures which allows you to explore Augsburg
- (German) Augsburg City Plan
- (German) District of Augsburg
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Mentioned in
- Johannes Spreng (person)
- Hans Burgkmair (person)
- Dasinger (family name)
- Christoph Lencker (art)
- Thoman Burgkmair (art)
- Hans Schwarz (art)
- Die Deutsche Chronik (work)
- Rudolf Diesel (person)
- Burchard Zink (person)
- Augsburger Reichstage
- Interimstaler
- Reformation Symphony (music)
- Leonhard Wagner (art)
- Haid (art)
