Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

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 is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th

Hessentag The Hessentag (; en, Hesse Day) is an annual event, both fair and festival, organized by the German state of Hesse to represent the different regions of Hesse. The events are shown for a week to the visitors, with an emphasis on cultural disp ...

state festival.

History

Middle Ages

In 744

Saint Sturm Saint Sturm (c. 705 – 17 December 779), also called Sturmius or Sturmi, was a disciple of Saint Boniface and founder and first abbot of the Benedictine monastery and abbey of Fulda in 742 or 744. Sturm's tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 77 ...

, a disciple of

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

, founded the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (German ''Kloster Fulda'', Latin ''Abbatia Fuldensis''), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda (''Fürstabtei Fulda'') and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (''Fürstbistum Fulda''), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastic ...

as one of Boniface's outposts in the reorganization of the church in

. It later served as a base from which missionaries could accompany

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

's armies in their political and military campaigns to fully conquer and convert pagan

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 ...

. The initial grant for the abbey was signed by Carloman, Mayor of the Palace in

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the F ...

(in office 741–47), the son of

Charles Martel Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesma ...

. The support of the Mayors of the Palace, and later of the early Pippinid and

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...

rulers, was important to Boniface's success. Fulda also received support from many of the leading families of the Carolingian world. Sturm, whose tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 779, was most likely related to the Agilolfing dukes of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. Fulda also received large and constant donations from the Etichonids, a leading family in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, and from the

Conradines The Conradines or Conradiner were a dynasty of Franconian counts and dukes in the 8th to 11th Century, named after Duke Conrad the Elder and his son King Conrad I of Germany. History The family is first mentioned in 832, with Count Gebhard in ...

, predecessors of the

Salian The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the l ...

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

s. Under Sturm, the donations Fulda received from these and other important families helped in the establishment of daughter-houses near Fulda. St Boniface - Baptising-Martyrdom - Sacramentary of Fulda - 11Century

St Boniface - Baptising-Martyrdom - Sacramentary of Fulda - 11Century

After his martyrdom by the Frisians, the relics of Saint Boniface were brought back to Fulda. Because of the stature this afforded the monastery, the donations increased, and Fulda could establish daughter-houses further away, for example in Hamelin. Meanwhile, Saint

Lullus Saint Lullus (Lull or Lul) (born about 710 AD in Wessex, died 16 October 786 in Hersfeld) was the first permanent archbishop of Mainz, succeeding Saint Boniface, and first abbot of the Benedictine Hersfeld Abbey. He is historiographically consid ...

, successor of Boniface as archbishop of Mainz, tried to absorb the abbey into his archbishopric, but failed. This was one reason he founded

Hersfeld Abbey Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue. History ...

to limit the attempts of the enlargement of Fulda. Braun Fulda UBHD

Between 790 and 819 the community rebuilt the main

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

church to more fittingly house the

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s. They based their new

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

on the original 4th-century (since demolished)

Old St. Peter's Basilica Old St. Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where the new St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began dur ...

in Rome, using the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

and

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

plan of that great

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

church to frame their own saint as the "Apostle to the Germans". The crypt of the original

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

church still holds those relics, but the church itself has been subsumed into a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

renovation. A small, 9th-century chapel remains standing within walking distance of the church, as do the foundations of a later women's abbey. Rabanus Maurus served as abbot at Fulda from 822 to 842. Fulda Abbey owned such works as the ''Res Gestae'' by the fourth-century Roman historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

and the

Codex Fuldensis The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex (Hessian State Library, ''Codex Bonifatianus I''), designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most impo ...

, as well as works by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

Servius Servius is the name of: * Servius (praenomen), the personal name * Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian * Servius Tullius, the Roman king * Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist See ...

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

and

Sulpicius Severus Sulpicius Severus (; c. 363 – c. 425) was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours. Life Almost all that we know of Sev ...

Counter-Reformation

Prince-abbot Balthasar von Dernbach adopted a policy of

counter-reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

. In 1571 he called in the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

to found a school and college. He insisted the members of the chapter should return to a

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

form of life. Whereas his predecessors had tolerated

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, resulting in most of the citizenry of Fulda and a large portion of the principality's countryside professing

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, Balthasar ordered his subjects either to return to the

Catholic faith The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

or leave his territories.Otto Schaffrath. ''Fürstabt Balthasar von Dermbach und seine Zeit. Studien zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation in Fulda'' (= ''Veröffentlichung des Fuldaer Geschichtsvereins''. Bd. 44, ). Parzeller, Fulda 1967, mit umfangreicher Literaturübersicht. He also ordered the

Fulda witch trials The Witch trials of Fulda in Germany from 1603 to 1606 resulted in the death of about 250 people. They were one of the four largest witch trials in Germany, along with the Trier witch trials, the Würzburg witch trial, and the Bamberg witch t ...

, in which hundreds of people, mostly women, were burnt alive on charges of witchcraft.

18th and 19th centuries

The foundation of the abbey of Fulda and its territory originated with an Imperial grant, and the sovereign principality therefore was subject only to the

German emperor The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...

. Fulda became a bishopric in 1752 and the

prince-abbot A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudal entity, usually a State of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled ...

s were given the additional title of prince-bishop. The prince-abbots (and later prince-bishops) ruled Fulda and the surrounding region until the

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

was forcibly dissolved by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in 1802. The city went through a baroque building campaign in the 18th century, resulting in the current "Baroque City" status. This included a remodeling of

Fulda Cathedral Fulda Cathedral (german: Fuldaer Dom, also ''Sankt Salvator'') is the former abbey church of Fulda Abbey and the burial place of Saint Boniface. Since 1752 it has also been the cathedral of the Diocese of Fulda, of which the Prince-Abbots of Fu ...

(1704–12) and of the ''Stadtschloss'' (Fulda Castle-Palace, 1707–12) by

Johann Dientzenhofer Johann Dientzenhofer (25 May 1663 – 20 July 1726) was a builder and architect during the Baroque period in Germany. Johann was born in St. Margarethen near Rosenheim, Bavaria, a member of the famous Dientzenhofer family of German architects, wh ...

. The city parish church, St. Blasius, was built between 1771 and 1785. In 1764 a

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

factory was started in Fulda under Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot

Heinrich von Bibra Heinrich von Bibra (Heinrich VIII of Fulda), Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot of Fulda (1711–1788) was Prince-Bishop and Prince-Abbot from 1759 to 1788. As part his role as Prince-Abbot of Fulda, he had the additional role as Archchancellor (' ...

, but shortly after his death it was closed down in 1789 by his successor, Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot Adalbert von Harstall. The city was given to Prince William Frederick of Orange-Nassau (the later King

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...

) in 1803 (as part of the short-lived Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda), was annexed to the

Grand Duchy of Berg The Grand Duchy of Berg (german: Großherzogtum Berg), also known as the Grand Duchy of Berg and Cleves, was a territorial grand duchy established in 1806 by Emperor Napoleon after his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz (1805) on territories be ...

in 1806, and in 1809 to the

Principality of Frankfurt The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself. Histor ...

. After the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

of 1814–15, most of the territory went to the

Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (german: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its p ...

, which

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

annexed in 1866.

20th century

From 1938 to 1943, Fulda was the location of a Nazi

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

camp for

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

. Fulda lends its name to the

Fulda Gap The Fulda Gap (german: Fulda-Lücke), an area between the Hesse-Thuringian border (the former Inner German border) and Frankfurt am Main, contains two corridors of lowlands through which tanks might have driven in a surprise attack by the Sovi ...

, a traditional east–west invasion route used by Napoleon I and others. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, it was presumed to be an invasion route for any conventional war between

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and

Soviet forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

. Downs Barracks in Fulda was the headquarters of the American 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment, later replaced by the

11th Armored Cavalry Regiment The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment ("Blackhorse Regiment") is a unit of the United States Army garrisoned at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California. Although termed an armored cavalry regiment, it is being re-organized as a multi ...

. The cavalry had as many as 3,000 soldiers from the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

until 1993. Not all those soldiers were in Fulda proper, but scattered over observation posts and in the cities of

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which be ...

and

Bad Hersfeld The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld (''Bad'' is "spa" in German; the Old High German name of the city was ''Herolfisfeld'') is the district seat of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast ...

. The strategic importance of this region, along the border between East and West Germany, led to a large

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and Soviet military presence.

Politics

Fulda has traditionally been a conservative Catholic city, with the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Fulda The Diocese of Fulda (Latin ''Dioecesis Fuldensis'') is a Roman Catholic diocese in the north of the German state of Hessen. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The bishop's seat is in Fulda Cathedral. History The histo ...

being based in the city cathedral. During the time of

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

and

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

, the city was a stronghold for Centre Party. After the end of World War II, in addition to all mayors, Fulda's constituency seats have been safe seats for CDU in both the

Landtag of Hesse The Landtag of Hesse (german: link=no, Hessischer Landtag) is the unicameral parliament of the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany. It convenes in the Stadtschloss in Wiesbaden. As a legislature it is responsible for passing l ...

(District X 1946-1950, District 14 1950-1983, Fulda I since 1983) and

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

( Fulda electoral district). CDU has never received less than 42.4 percent of the vote in communal elections since 1946. Oberbürgermeister (Lord mayor) Department I (head and personnel administration, finance, committee work, culture, business development, city marketing, investments) *Cuno Raabe (CDU): 1946–1956 * Alfred Dregger (CDU): 1956–1970 *Dr. Wolfgang Hamberger (CDU): 1970–1998 *Dr. Alois Rhiel (CDU): 1998–2003 *Gerhard Möller (CDU): 2003–2015 *Heiko Wingenfeld (CDU): 2015– Department II (public security and order, family, youth, schools, sports, social affairs, seniors) *Karl Ehser: 1934–1945 *Karl Schmitt: 1946–1948 *Heinrich Gellings: 1948–1969 *Dr. Wolfgang Hamberger: 1969–1970 *Dr. Tilman Pünder: 1971–1980 *Lutz von Pufendorf: 1981–1984 *Dr. Alois Rhiel: 1984–1989 *Josef H. Mayer: 1990–1995 *Oda Scheibelhuber: 1995–1999 *Bernd Woide: 1999–2003 *Dr. Wolfgang Dippel: 2004–2014 *Dag Wehner (CDU): 2014– Landtag (state parliament) * Cuno Raabe (CDU): 1946-1962, elected in 1946, 1950, 1954 and 1958 * Alfred Dregger (CDU): 1962-1972, elected in 1962, 1966 and 1970, resigned to accept Bundestag mandate * Winfried Rippert (CDU): 1972-1999, appointed in 1972, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1995 * Walter Arnold (CDU): 1999-2004 and again 2009-2018, elected in 1999, 2003; resigned in 2004; elected in 2009 and 2013 * Margarete Ziegler-Raschdorf (CDU): 2004-2009, appointed in 2004, elected in 2008 * Thomas Hering (CDU): 2018-, elected in 2018 Bundestag (federal parliament) * Anton Sabel (CDU): 1949-1957, elected in 1949 and 1953 * Hermann Götz (CDU): 1957-1976, elected in 1957, 1961, 1965, 1969 and 1972 * Alfred Dregger (CDU): 1976-1998, elected in 1976, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1990 and 1994 *

Martin Hohmann Martin Hohmann (born 4 February 1948) is a German lawyer and politician of the AfD party. He was a member of the German Parliament ("Bundestag") for the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), from 1998 until 2005. From 2017 to 2021, he ...

(CDU): 1998-2005, elected in 1998 and 2002; expelled from CDU in 2003 for anti-Semitic remarks * Michael Brand (CDU): 2005-, elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 Source:

Transport

Fulda station Fulda station is an important transport hub of the German railway network in the east Hessian city of Fulda. It is used by about 20,000 travellers each day. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station. It is a stop for Intercity ...

is a transport hub and interchange point between local and long-distance traffic of the German railway network, and is classified by

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

as a category2 station. It is on the

Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending at Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it i ...

; the North–South line (''Nord-Süd-Strecke''), comprising the Bebra–Fulda line north of Fulda, and the Kinzig Valley Railway and Fulda–Main Railway to the south; the

Vogelsberg Railway The Vogelsberg Railway (german: Vogelsbergbahn) is a single-track main line from Gießen via Alsfeld to Fulda in the German state of Hesse. Name The name of the Vogelsberg Railway was originally used for the now closed and dismantled branch line ...

, which connects to the hills of the

Vogelsberg The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley. Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest ...

in the west; and the Fulda–Gersfeld Railway (Rhön Railway) to

Gersfeld Gersfeld is a town in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the Fulda River, in the Rhön Mountains, southeast of Fulda. It belonged to the abbey-principality of Fulda before secularisation in 1803. It then belonged to th ...

in the Rhön Mountains to the east. Fulda is on the

Bundesautobahn 7 is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963 km (598 mi). It bisects the country almost evenly between east and west. In the north, it starts at the border with Denmark as an extension of the Danish part o ...

(BAB 7).

Bundesautobahn 66 is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Taunus to Fulda, passing close to Frankfurt am Main. The first part of the autobahn between Wiesbaden and the Nordwestkreuz Frankfurt, was opened as early as 1934, then called the ''Rhein-M ...

starts at the interchange with the BAB 7, heading south towards

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. Fulda is also on the

Bundesstraße 27 Bundesstraße 27 or B27 is a German federal road. It connects Blankenburg am Harz with Rafz in Switzerland. Route The Bundesstraße 27 crosses the following states and towns (north to south): * Saxony-Anhalt: Blankenburg am Harz * Lower ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Fulda is twinned with: *

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

, Italy (1960) *

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, France (1964) *

Sergiyev Posad Sergiyev Posad ( rus, Се́ргиев Поса́д, p=ˈsʲɛrgʲɪ(j)ɪf pɐˈsat) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Sergiyevo-Posadsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Population: It was pre ...

, Russia (1991) * Wilmington, United States (1997) *

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; german: Leitmeritz) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat ...

, Czech Republic (2001) *

Dokkum Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks). ...

, Netherlands (2013)

Notable people

Pre-1800

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P003647, Anton Storch

* Adam of Fulda (), composer and music theorist *Adam Krafft (1493–1558), Protestant church reformer *

Justus Menius Justus Menius (13 December 1499 – 11 August 1558) was a German Lutheran pastor and Protestant reformer whose name is Latinized from ''Jost'' or ''Just'' (i.e. ''Jodocus'') ''Menig''. Early life Menius was born in Fulda to poor but respectab ...

(1499–1558), theologian * Franz Kaspar Lieblein (1744–1810), botanist *

Prince-Bishop,

Prince-Abbot A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudal entity, usually a State of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled ...

and of Fulda from 1759 to 1788

1801–1850

* Georg von Adelmann (1811–1888), physician and surgeon *

Otto Bähr Otto Bähr (2 June 1817 – 17 February 1895) was a German legal scholar and liberal parliamentarian. He supported the view, not always well accepted by governments, that since the State was part of society, it must be judged in the same courts ...

(1817–1895), lawyer and politician * Hugo Staehle (1826–1848), composer *

Ferdinand Braun Karl Ferdinand Braun (; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the ...

(1850–1918), physicist, electrical engineer and Nobel laureate in physics

1851–1900

* Adalbert Ricken (1851–1921), mycologist and priest * Ludwig Hupfeld (1864–1949), instrument maker and industrialist *

Wilhelm Heye August Wilhelm Heye (31 January 1869, Fulda – 11 March 1947, Braunlage) was a German officer who rose to the rank of Generaloberst and became head of the Army Command within the Ministry of the Reichswehr in the Weimar Republic. One of his ...

(1869–1947), officer *Clara Harnack (1877–1962), painter, teacher and mother of the resistance fighters Arvid and

Falk Harnack Falk Harnack (2 March 1913 – 3 September 1991) was a German director and screenwriter. During Germany's Nazi era, he was also active with the German Resistance and toward the end of World War II, the partisans in Greece. Harnack was from a fam ...

* Anton Storch (1892–1975), politician *

Wilm Hosenfeld Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...

(1895–1952), officer and

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Paul Deichmann Paul Deichmann (27 August 1898 – 10 January 1981) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Deichmann was born in Fulda on 27 August 1898. He entered the German Impe ...

(1898–1981), officer of the Luftwaffe * Max Stern (1898–1982), businessman, investor and philanthropist

1901–1950

Karl Storch Karl Storch (21 August 1913 – 16 August 1992) was a German athlete, who mainly competed in the hammer throw. He was born in Fulda. The member of SC Borussia Fulda competed for Germany at the 1952 Summer Olympics, Germany in the 1952 Sum ...

(1913–1992), athlete (hammer thrower) *

Wilhelm Balthasar Wilhelm Balthasar (2 February 1914 – 3 July 1941) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II. As a fighter ace, he is credited with seven aerial victories during the Spanish Civil War and further 40 aerial ...

(1914–1941), Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

*Fr. Gereon Goldmann (1916–2003), WWII veteran of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS; later a Franciscan priest *

(born 1948), politician (CDU, now AfD) *

Winfried Michel Winfried Michel (born 1948 in Fulda) is a German recorder player, composer, and editor of music. Michel studied with Ingetraud Drescher, Nikolaus Delius, and Frans Brüggen. He is lecturer for the recorder at the Staatliche Hochschule Münste ...

(born 1948), composer, recorder player and music publisher

1951–present

* Markus Oestreich (born 1963), racing driver *

Immanuel Bloch Immanuel Bloch (born 16 November 1972, Fulda) is a German experimental physicist. His research is focused on the investigation of quantum many-body systems using ultracold atomic and molecular quantum gases. Bloch is known for his work on atoms ...

(born 1972), physicist *

Tobias Sammet Tobias Sammet (born 21 November 1977) is a German musician, singer, songwriter, music producer and radio host best known for being the singer and primary songwriter of the power metal band Edguy, and the founder of the metal opera project Avan ...

(born 1977), musician *

Sebastian Kehl Sebastian Walter Kehl (; born 13 February 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the Sporting Director of Borussia Dortmund. He amassed Bundesliga totals of 314 games and 24 goals o ...

(born 1980), football player *

Patrik Sinkewitz Patrik Sinkewitz (born 20 October 1980) is a German professional road racing cyclist, who is currently suspended from the sport until 2024 for doping and ineligibility offences. He was a climbing specialist who can ride well over a stage race, a ...

(born 1980), professional cyclist * Tobias Wolf (born 1988), football player *

Damien Haas Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy- improv collective founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post v ...

(born 1990), actor

Gallery

File:Fulda, Schlossgarten, 2019-10 CN-08.jpg, City palace garden File:Catedral de Fulda.jpg,

File:Fulda-Bonifatiusstatue.png, Statue of Saint Boniface (1830) in Fulda File:Ansicht des Bonifatiusplatzes mit Bonifatiusdenkmal und Hauptwache in Fulda 1850.jpg, Fulda in 1850 File:Fulda-Stadtschloss.png, Entrance of the Stadtschloss (City Palace) File:Altes Rathaus Fulda 2.jpg, Old City Hall File:Orangerie Fulda 029a.jpg, Orangerie File:Frauenberg Fulda Gästehaus.JPG, Kloster Frauenberg (Fulda), a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery File:St.-Michaelskirche-2284.jpg, St. Michael's Church File:Fulda - Adelspalais im Barockviertel.jpg, Baroque Adelspalais File:FULDA Alte Universitaet.JPG, Old University of Fulda: ''Adolphs-Universität Fulda'' File:Fulda countryside.jpg, Looking east toward Fulda over the rich farmlands File:Weser watershed 3.png,

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

river watershed, showing

Fulda river The Fulda () is a river of Hesse and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser (the other one being the Werra). The Fulda is long. The river arises at Wasserkuppe in the Rhön mountains in Hesse. From there it runs north ...

and the city of Fulda File:Fulda, Paulustor, 2019-10 CN-02.jpg, St. Paul's Gate, viewed from the south

References

External links

Official website360degree virtual tour through downtown Fulda

Vonderau Museum FuldaHochschule Fulda (University of Applied Science)Holocaust survivor testimony of the Kristallnacht pogrom in Fulda
on the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website {{Authority control . Populated places established in the 8th century 8th-century establishments in Germany 744 establishments Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 12th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Carolingian architecture Counter-Reformation Historic Jewish communities