Bad Blankenburg () is a
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...
in the district of
Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is situated 6 km southwest of
Rudolstadt, and 37 km southeast of
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
. It is most famous for being the location of the first
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
of
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel, in 1837.
To the north of it, on an eminence, rise the fine ruins of the castle of
Greifenstein, built by the German king
Henry I, and from 1275 to 1583 the seat of a
cadet branch
A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...
of the
counts of Schwarzburg.
In the nineteenth century, Bad Blankenburg was part of the small
principality
A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...
of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt.
History
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of House of Schwarzburg, Schwarzburg dy ...
.
Bad Blankenburg is the headquarters of
Deutsche Evangelische Allianz, a cooperative network of most Protestant churches in Germany.
Historical Population
Historical Population ''(from 1960 as of 31 December)'':
:
Data source from 1994: Thuringian Office for Statistics
Twin towns – sister cities
References
External links
Friedrich Fröbel Museum at Bad BlankenburgBad Blankenburg
Towns in Thuringia
Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
Spa towns in Germany
{{SaalfeldRudolstadt-geo-stub