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Bad Elster () is a spa town in the
Vogtlandkreis The Vogtlandkreis () is a ''Landkreis'' (rural district) in the southwest of Saxony, Germany, at the borders to Thuringia, Bavaria, and the Czech Republic. Neighboring districts are (from south clockwise) Hof, Saale-Orla, Greiz, Zwickau and Erzg ...
district, in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
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 betwe ...
. It lies on the border of Bavaria and the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
in the Elster gebirge hills. It is situated on the river
White Elster The White Elster
Accessed on 16 Jan 2011. (, ) is a long river in central
Plauen Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the S ...
, and 25 km northwest of
Cheb Cheb (; german: Eger) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře. Before the 1945 Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, expulsion of the German-speaking population ...
. It is part of the ''Freunde im Herzen Europas'' microregion.


History


Elster before 1800

Two kilometers north west of the town centre lies the remains of a twelfth-century walled village, known today as the "Alte Schloss" or "Old Castle". This was first documented in 1324. In 1412 a manor was sold to the von Zedtwitz family, who held it until 1800. In 1533 the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
reached
Adorf Adorf () is a small town and municipality in the Vogtlandkreis to the south-west of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Gettengrün, a village within the municipality, borders on the Czech Republic. Etymology The name Adorf can be analysed as " ...
and its daughter church in Elster, and the first Protestant pastor was installed in 1540. The healing properties of the waters from the spring now known as the Moritzquelle were recognised well before Georg Leisner, physician to the Duke Moritz von Sachsen-Zeitz, wrote in 1669 that inhabitants of both Adorf and Elster come to the spring to take the waters, and he had successfully used them on many different patients. One famous visitor was
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...
, who came in 1795. He mentions the spring at Elster in his work
Hermann and Dorothea ''Hermann and Dorothea'' is an epic poem, an idyll, written by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe between 1796 and 1797, and was to some extent suggested by Johann Heinrich Voss's ''Luise'', an idyll in hexameters, which was first published i ...
.


(Bad) Elster in the 19th and 20th century

Elster became an independent parish in 1851. In 1892 the old St. Peter und Paul church was demolished and replaced with the Revival Gothic, St. Trinitatiskirche. Elster was promoted to be the "Königlich-Sächsischen Staatsbad", official royal spa of Saxony in 1848. With that the visitor numbers rose: 1848: 129; 1850: 378, 1860: 1,750, 1870: 2,450, 1890: 5,870, 1900: 8,900, 1990: 15,600. Elster prepended the ''Bad'', meaning "spa", in 1875, ''Bad Elster'' became its official name in 1935. In 1880, Bademuseum Bad Elster opened; it was the first museum in the town and in
Vogtland Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...
, but was short lived. A new museum opened in 1993.


Geography and transport


Places

Places within Bad Elster include Sohl and Mühlhausen.


Demography

Growth of Population ''(from 1964 on, as of December 31st)'':


Business

The main industries are tourism and health. There are seven clinics specialising in recuperation. In 2005 there were 35 establishments offering accommodation with 2400 beds, and receiving 540,000 bednights. The town lies near the B 92. There are two open border crossings into the Czech Republic; open for pedestrians and bicycles but not cars, though post
Schengen The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...
even the barrier has been removed. The station is 2.5 km from the town centre at Mühlhausen on the Plauen Eger line where there is a two hourly service.


Politics


Town Council

http://badelster.de/fileadmin/files/badelster/Infos/Stadtratswahl_25.05.2014_-_Ermittlung_des_Gesamtergebnisses.pdf The elections in May 2014 showed the following results: * Unabhängige Bürgerschaft (Independent citizens) 4 seats * Freie Wähler (Free Voters)(independent): 3 seats * CDU: 3 seats * The Left: 2 seats * SPD: 2 seats


Coat of arms

Field gold (or), with a naturalistic Magpie standing on three green hills (vert). From centre hill, a spring (argent) with water flowing to pool (argent).


Attractions

The most important buildings in Bad Elster are from the last quarter of the 19th century. * The Royal Spa House (''Königliche Kurhaus'') is an important example of turn of the 20th century
neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
, demonstrating the importance of spa building to the state. * The Albert Baths (''Albert Bad'') were built in the
Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
* The King Albert Theatre (''König Albert Theater''), formerly called the spa theatre (''Kurtheater''), opened in 1914 and has been recently modernised. Alexander, Prince of Saxony, is the theatres patron. It is also an important conference venue for Saxony and the Euroregion. * The Nature Theatre (''NaturTheater'') lies in a woodland setting. It is the oldest open-air theatre in Saxony. In 2007 it was adapted to meet modern standards and reopened, offering a six-month season of Opera, theatre, concerts and cinema. * The 1892 Lutheran church of Holy Trinity (''St.-Trinitatis-Kirche'') was built in the
Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style. It contains artifacts from the previous building such as the gothic statues of SS Peter and Paul from c. 1490. * The former luxury hotel building, the ''Wettiner Hof'' was listed for protection; and awaited renovation. The building was eventually demolished. * There are also smaller monuments such as the
Saxon post milestone A Saxon milepost (german: kursächsische Postmeilensäule, colloquially ''sächsische Postmeilensäule'' or ''Postsäule'') was a milepost in the former Electorate of Saxony that gave distances expressed as journey times to the nearest eighth o ...
(''Postmeilensäule'', 1724) and the Schiller Monument (''Schillerdenkmal'').


Twin town

*
Bad Waldsee Bad Waldsee () is a town in Upper Swabia in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Ravensburg. It is situated 20 km south of Biberach an der Riß, and 20 km northeast of Ravensburg. The town is known for its histo ...
, from 1990


Personalities


Sons and daughters of the town

* Christoph Albrecht (born 1944), theater and musicologist *
Klaus Ostwald Klaus Ostwald (born 26 August 1958) is an East German former ski jumper. Career He won the FIS Ski Flying World Championships 1983 in Harrachov. Ostwald earned two medals in the team large hill at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with a s ...
(born 1958), GDR - ski jumper *
Heinz Wossipiwo Heinz Wossipiwo (born 25 January 1951) is a German former ski jumper who competed from 1971 to 1975, representing East Germany. Career He won a silver medal in the individual large hill at the 1974 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun. W ...
(born 1951), GDR-ski jumper


Those associated with the site

* Robert Flechsig (1817-1892), first fountain and spa doctor in the Royal Saxon Staatsbad * Hermann Richard Otto Knothe (1891-1961), painter and graphic artist, died there * Walter Ferdinand Damm (1889-1961), a painter, lived and worked in Bad Elster, died there * Pierre Geisensetter (born 1972), moderator, spent his youth in Bad Elster


References


External links


Bad Elster town's homepageInformation around Bad ElsterSächsische Staats Spas: Bad Elster Bad BrambachGenWiki-Artikel on Bad Elster
{{Authority control Spa towns in Germany Vogtlandkreis