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

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

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 on the

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

, 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 The Bishopric of Havelberg () was a Roman Catholic diocese founded by King Otto I of Germany in 946, from 968 a suffragan to the Archbishops of Magedeburg. A Prince-bishopric (''Hochstift'') from 1151, Havelberg as a result of the Protestant Ref ...

was founded in 946, by

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

(then a prince), but the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

tended to live in either Plattenburg or

Wittstock Wittstock/Dosse is a town in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in north-western Brandenburg, Germany. Geography It is located in the eastern Prignitz region on the Dosse River near the confluence with its Glinze tributary, about east of Prit ...

, a few miles north of Havelberg. An early bishop was Anselm of Havelberg. The Slavic revolt of 983 brought Havelberg under the control of the pagan

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

. The city was not restored to Christian, German rule until 1147 with the

Wendish Crusade The Wendish Crusade () was a military campaign in 1147, one of the Northern Crusades, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs (or "Wends"). The Wends were made up of the Slavic ...

. Havelberg is home to a former monastery, now used as the

Prignitz Prignitz () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in northwestern Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. Neighboring districts, clockwise from the north, are Ludwigslust-Parchim (in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Ostprignitz-Ruppin (Brandenburg), Stendal (dist ...

Museum, which was established in 1904. In 1359 Havelberg became a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

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, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

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

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

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 were dissolved in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

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

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

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 sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

which was carved around 1400 above the entrance.: ''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), the 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