Querfurt () is a town in the

Saalekreis Saalekreis is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The district seat is Merseburg. Its area is . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts Kyffhäuserkreis (Thuringia), Mansfeld-Südharz, Salzlandkreis, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, ...

district, or ''Kreis'', in southern

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 located in a fertile area on the Querne, west from

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

. In 2020, the town had a population of 10,454. The town Querfurt consists of Querfurt proper and the following 8 ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions: Gatterstädt, Grockstädt, Leimbach, Lodersleben, Schmon, Vitzenburg, Weißenschirmbach and Ziegelroda.Hauptsatzung der Stadt Querfurt
October 2015. Querfurt is known as the birthplace of Saint Bruno of Querfurt.

History

For some time, Querfurt was the capital of a

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 ...

covering nearly , with a population of about 20,000. The ruling family having become extinct in 1496, it passed to that of Mansfeld. In 1635, according to the terms of the Peace of Prague, it was ceded to the

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, John George I, who handed it over to his son Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels; in 1746, it was united once more with Saxony. It was incorporated into

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1815.

Notable people

* Jacob Christian Schäffer (1718–1790), a Protestant minister, naturalist, pioneer of the washing machine and the wood paper * Georg Muche (1895–1987), Bauhaus artist, painter and graphic artist * Walter Herrmann (1910–1987), physicist * Ulrich Willerding (born 1932), botanist * Dietmar Demuth (born 1955), football player and coach * Jan Seyffarth (born 1986), racing driver

Other personalities associated with the town

* Johann Gottfried Schnabel (born 1692, died between 1751 and 1758), German writer; settled down in 1719 as a barber in Querfurt. * Julius von Kirchmann (1802–1884), lawyer and politician, law court official in Querfurt

* Hans Schomburgk (1880–1967), explorer and pioneer of German wildlife films

Gallery

File:Querfurt_castle.jpg, Castle File:Querfurt_castle_south_gate.jpg, File:Querfurt_Nordostrondell.jpg, File:Querfurt_Schiessgraben.jpg, Town walls File:Querfurt_defence_tower.jpg, Defence tower File:Querfurt_Friedenseiche.jpg, Oak of peace File:Querfurt_Grundschule_Rossplatz.jpg, Elementary school

References

External links

Official Website of the City of Querfurt
Saalekreis {{Saalekreis-geo-stub