Havelberg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is situated on the

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe and long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mo ...

, and part of the town is built on an island in the centre of the river. The two parts were incorporated as a town in 1875. It has a population of 6,436 (2020).

History

The Bishopric of Havelberg was founded in 946, by

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

(then a prince), but the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

tended to live in either

Plattenburg Plattenburg is a municipality in the Prignitz district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is named after the water castle of Plattenburg which is located in the district. Demography File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Plattenburg.pdf, Development of popu ...

or Wittstock, a few miles north of Havelberg. An early bishop was

Anselm of Havelberg Anselm of Havelberg (c. 1100 – 1158) was a German bishop and statesman, and a secular and religious ambassador to Constantinople. He was a Premonstratensian, a defender of his order and a critic of the monastic life of his time, and a the ...

. Havelberg is home to a former monastery, now used as the Prignitz Museum, which was established in 1904. In 1359 Havelberg became a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

and developed into a trade center with a booming economy. Havelberg remained a member of the Hanseatic League until 1559. Havelberg was part of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

for most of its history. Havelberg was formerly a strong fortress, but during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

it was taken from the Danish by the imperial troops in 1627. Recaptured by the Swedes in 1631, and again in 1635 and 1636, it was in 1637 retaken by the Saxons. When the German states where dissolved in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

in 1952, Havelberg became part of the district of Magdeburg. When the German states were refounded during

German Reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, the whole district of Magdeburg became part of Saxony-Anhalt, including the formerly Brandenburgian town of Havelberg.

Sights

Havelberg has a historical centre with many well-preserved wooden buildings, e.g. in Kirchstraße and Scabellstraße. The St. Mary's Cathedral was founded in 1170 and transformed into an impressive gothic building from 1279-1330. It is on a hill offering a beautiful view of the old town centre where St. Laurentius, a parish church which was built around 1300, deserves a visit. The oldest house is ''Beguinenhaus'' at Salzmarkt (Salt Market) built from sandstone in 1390 with a stone

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

which was carved around 1400 above the entrance.Matthias Puhle: ''Die Hanse - 16 Städtebilder aus Sachsen-Anhalt'', p. 55. Dößel (Saalekreis) 2008

Notable people

* Bruno Keil (1859–1916), classical philologist. * Singer Annett Louisan was born here in 1977. * Gustav Gerneth (1905–2019), oldest living man at the time of his death.

References

External links

Images from Havelberg
Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Stendal (district) Members of the Hanseatic League {{Stendal-geo-stub