Place:Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Eichsfeld, Thüringen, Germany

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Heilbad Heiligenstadt is a spa town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Eichsfeld district.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

• Heiligenstadt was first mentioned in 973.
• In 1022 it was acquired by the archbishop of Mainz.
• In 1227, the town received town rights from the archbishop of Mainz.
• In 1333 it was destroyed by fire.^[1]
• In 1525 it was captured by Henry the Middle, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.^[1]
• In 1540 Heiligenstadt became the capital of Eichsfeld.
• In the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648, the city was devastated several times.
• In 1803 it came into possession of Prussia.^[1]
• In 1929 the salt-water hydropathic baths were built and in 1950 the town was designated a spa.
• On 9 November 1938, the town synagogue was desecrated. The event is commemorated in a plaque on the building, which is now a residence.
• In October 1989, demonstrations began in Heiligenstadt as part of the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany.
• In 1994, Heiligenstadt became the capital of the new district of Eichsfeld, formed by the amalgamation of the districts of Heiligenstadt and Worbis.

Historical Population

Population (31 December):

Data since 1994: Thüringian state office of statistics

Name of the town

Despite the official designation of the town as a spa in 1929 and a 1950 decision by the town council to append the word Soleheilbad (salt-water spa) to its name, it remained officially "Heiligenstadt" (literally Holy City) during the East German years. In 1990 the city government still used only Heiligenstadt.

However, the post office used Heilbad Heiligenstadt, as did postcard companies and the local savings bank. In fact between 1950 and 1990, the town had the distinction of being referred to in three different ways: as Heiligenstadt, Heilbad Heiligenstadt, or Heiligenstadt (Eichsf.) (for Eichsfeld).

In 1990, the town council and especially the mayor began expanding the spa business and it took on increasing importance. In addition, after German reunification, there were several Heiligenstadts in Germany. Initially the government declined to rename the town Heilbad Heiligenstadt because of a lack of evidence that it was a spa, but the town lodged an appeal and used the one and a half years before an official visit and the relative lack of oversight immediately after reunification to create spa facilities and integrate the word Heilbad into official usage. Permission for the renaming was then granted since the town was evidently a spa and using that name.

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