Gräfenthal () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

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 ...

Geography

Gräfenthal is located in the southern Thüringer Schiefergebirge, a low mountain range south-eastern of the better known

Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...

. Mountains in this region rise up to 800 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

and are usually wooded with spruce trees. 20 km north-eastern of Gräfenthal lies district town

Saalfeld Saalfeld (german: Saalfeld/Saale) is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin. Geography ...

. Neighboring municipalities (clockwise, starting northwards) are: Reichmannsdorf,

Probstzella Probstzella is a municipality in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany. History Between 1945 and 1990 Probstzella station served as East German inner German border crossing for rail transport. The crossing was open for trains tr ...

Ludwigsstadt Ludwigsstadt is a town in the district of Kronach, in the Upper Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany. Geography It is situated in the valley of the Loquitz River, a tributary of the Saale, in the Thuringian-Franconian Highlands of the Thuri ...

, Tettau,

Oberland am Rennsteig Oberland am Rennsteig is a former municipality in the Sonneberg district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2013, it is part of the town Sonneberg.Piesau Piesau is a village and a former municipality in the district of Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europ ...

, Lichte, Schmiedefeld Gräfenthal has 8 subdivisions: *Buchbach *Creunitz *Gebersdorf *Gräfenthal *Großneundorf *Lichtenhain *Lippelsdorf *Sommersdorf

History

In 1288 the town was first mentioned. It was for much of its early history under various Ernestine princelings.

Number of inhabitants

* 1994: 3.146 * 1997: 3.036 * 2000: 2.913 * 2003: 2.808 * 2006: 2.692 * 2009: 2.499 * 2012: 2.150 * 2014: 2.056

Pictures

Buildings

*Castle Wespenstein *Grenz- und Heimatmuseum Gräfenthal *Town church, with restored Art Nouveau mural paintings. *Railway viaduct

Economy and infrastructure

Erstwhile

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

and the location at the route for commerce between

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

were important economical factors. Mainly

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

, slate and alum had been mined. During the 20th century Gräfenthal was well known for its porcelain products. From the formerly three manufactories only one is still in existence. Today a plastics factory is the main employer. Gräfenthal lies on the road between Neuhaus am Rennweg and

. Further roads lead to surrounding municipalities. The town used to be connected to the railway-system up until the line section between

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

and

became disused due to lacking profitability.

Sons and daughters of the town

* Reinhard Höhn (1904-2000), state and administrative lawyer in the Period of National Socialism * Helmut Lipfert (1916-1990), Luftwaffe officer in World War II * Christian Paschold (born 1949), sculptor, artist

References

Saalfeld-Rudolstadt Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen {{SaalfeldRudolstadt-geo-stub