Herrnhut (; ; ; Upper Lusatian: ''Harrnhutt'', ''Harrnutt'') is a town of around 6,000 inhabitants in

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...

, in the district of Görlitz, in eastern

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

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 ...

. The town is mainly known as the place of origin of the community of the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

(established by Nicolas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf in 1722), and of the Moravian Stars (''Herrnhuter Sterne''). In 2016, the town was awarded the honorary title '' European City of the Reformation'' by the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe, and in 2024, Herrnhut was inscribed on the World Heritage List as part of the serial site "Moravian Church Settlements" (''Siedungen der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde'') alongside Christiansfeld (Denmark),

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

(USA) and Gracehill (Northern Ireland). Herrnhut lies between the larger towns of

Löbau Löbau (; , ) is a city in the east of Saxony, Germany, in the traditional region of Upper Lusatia. It is situated between the slopes of the Löbauer Berg and the fertile hilly area of the Upper Lusatian Mountains. It is the gateway to this volca ...

and Zittau in the hilly foreland of the Zittau Mountains on the Petersbach, the longest headstream of the Pließnitz, a tributary of the Lusatian Neisse.

Geography

It is located in the historic

region, on the road Bundesstraße 178, and on the Zittau–Löbau railway line. Herrnhut is about south-east of

, north-west of Zittau, and south-west of the district capital

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

. The municipality borders on, among other municipalities, Oderwitz.

Subdivisions

Herrnhut is also the name of the largest town in the municipality. Since 1 January 2013, when Berthelsdorf was incorporated, the municipal area contains 11 subdivisions: * Herrnhut (original town) * Ninive * Ruppersdorf * Schwan * Friedensthal * Strahwalde * Euldorf * Großhennersdorf * Heuscheune * Neundorf auf dem Eigen * Schönbrunn * Berthelsdorf * Rennersdorf/O.L.

History

Herrnhut proper was founded in the early 18th century by German-speaking members of the Unity of the Brethren, religious refugees from Margraviate of Moravia. The Unity of the Brethren arose after the reformer

Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1369 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czechs, Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and t ...

had been burnt at the stake during the Council of Constance in 1415. In the 18th century, they had to face the stern

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

measures enacted in the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods with feudalism, feudal obligations to the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted o ...

by the Habsburg rulers. From 1722 refugees came to Upper Lusatia, held by the Electors of Saxony since the Peace of Prague (1635). After meeting with their leader Christian David, a Moravian missionary, the German nobleman Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) invited them to settle on his extended Berthelsdorf estates. Shortly afterward, David built the first home in what was to become Herrnhut. ''Herrn Hut'' means the Lord's watchful care or the Lord's protection. Zinzendorf himself had a new residence erected here in 1725–1727). From Herrnhut the community spread to Rixdorf near

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, the former Marienborn monastery near Büdingen, to Herrnhaag, to Norden, to Pawlowitzke (1771–1772). Numerous daughter churches arose all over the world. The first organized Protestant missionary movement began from Herrnhut in 1732, when 2 Bohemian Brethren went to the Danish West Indies, and then others went also to Greenland. The first North American mission work began in Savannah, Georgia in 1735. In 1738, the missionary station of Genadendal was founded in South Africa. Christiansfeld in Denmark followed in 1771. Herrnhut holds a prominent place in the history of Protestantism, as well as the broader

history of Christianity The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of Go ...

. Zinzendorf's community influenced

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

in creating

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and it contributed to the rise of

Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

, a broad interdenominational movement of more than 300 million people all over the globe.

Population

According to the Saxon state congress in 1777, Herrnhut contained 76 homes. In the mid-19th century the population rose above 1,000, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it reached more than 2,000. Since the 1950s there has been a decline in population, which was compensated for by the incorporation of neighboring municipalities.

Location maps

File:Fotothek df rp-h 0510001 Herrnhut-Ruppersdorf-O.L.. Oberreit, Sect. Zittau, 1844-46.jpg, Map of Oberreit with Herrnhut, around 1845 File:Fotothek df rp-c 0680039 Strahwalde. Oberreit, Sect. Zittau, 1844-46.jpg, Map of Oberreit with Herrnhut and Strahwalde, around 1845 File:Fotothek df rp-c 0680057 Herrnhut-Ruppersdorf-O.L.. Oberreit, Sect. Zittau, 1844-46.jpg, Map of Oberreit with Herrnhut and Ruppersdorf, around 1845

Coat of arms

The Herrnhut coat of arms is blue and white, showing the tower of the ''Altan'' (the lookout tower) atop the Hutberg hill above the city. The name of Hutberg hill ("Hill of Watching") suggested the name of the Moravian settlement founded by these exiles on the Zinzendorf estate in 1722. ''Herrn Hut'' means "the Lord's Watchful care".

Culture

Herrnhut has a church and two museums, including a museum of local history. It is the center of the worldwide

, the Unitas Fratrum, in German ''Brüder-Unität'' or ''Brüdergemeine''. Many European languages have named the Moravian Church movement directly after Herrnhut, for example ''hernhuutlus'' in Estonian, ''herrnhutilaisuus'' in Finnish, ''hernhūtieši'' in Latvian and ''herrnhutismen'' in both Norwegian and Swedish. The former Herrnhut train station on the decommissioned railway line Zittau–Löbau has been turned into an art gallery.

Economy

Its economy is based on church administration, education, tourism and manufacturing, including a 25-pointed star that is often hung in windows and on porches during the Christmas season, which has been produced for over 150 years. It is called the Moravian star or Moravian Advent star (''Herrnhuter Adventsstern'' or simply ''Herrnhuter Stern''). From Herrnhut, the Moravian star decoration has spread across Europe and America.

Gallery

File:Fotothek df rp-a 0010032 Herrnhut. Ortsansicht mit Windmühle, Zeichnung von Joh. Gottfried Schultz, 27.8..jpg, Herrnhut, 1765 File:Herrnhut, Gemeinsaal.jpg, Church hall in Herrnhut File:Herrnhut, Unität.jpg, Vogtshof Herrnhut, seat of the

File:Herrnhut Sachsen - altes Bahnhofsgebäude als Kustbahnhof Foto 2007 Wolfgang Pehlemann Wiesbaden DSCN4658.jpg, also functions as an art gallery File:Graf Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf Denkmal Herrnhut.jpg, Nicolaus Zinzendorf monument in Herrnhut File:Herrnhut Friedhof.jpg, Herrnhut "God's Acre", the graveyard of the Moravian Church since the 18th century

Notable people

* Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf (1727–1752), church writer * Heinrich August Jäschke (1817–1883), missionary, linguist and orientalist * Adolf Heinrich Lier (1826–1882), landscape painter * Hugo Theodor Christoph (1831–1894), entomologist * Herbert Fischer (1914–2006), Ambassador of the GDR to India * Martin Clemens (born 1939), Saxon politician (CDU) and former deputy of the Saxon Landtag * David Gill (civil servant) (born 1966), Chief of the Federal Presidential Office under

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. During the P ...

References

External links

Herrnhuter SterneEvangelische Brüder
{{Authority control Towns in Görlitz (district) History of the Moravian Church Settlements of the Moravian Church Populated places established in 1722 World Heritage Sites in Germany