Ilmenau () is a town 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 ...
, central
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. It is the largest town within the
Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is
Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
and north of
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 ...
within the
Ilm valley at the northern edge of the
Thuringian Forest at an elevation of .
The most important institution in Ilmenau is the
Technische Universität Ilmenau
The Technische Universität Ilmenau (''Ilmenau University of Technology'', TU Ilmenau) is a German public research university located in Ilmenau, Thuringia, central Germany. Founded in 1894, it has five academic departments (faculties) with ...
, a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
and Thuringia's only "Technical University" with about 4,900 students
and an emphasis on engineering disciplines, computer science, mathematics, natural sciences, economics, and media studies. Its precursor was founded in 1894 and developed into a university in 1992.
Since 1990, many research institutes have been established in the vicinity making Ilmenau an important hub of technological research.
Ilmenau was historically a small mining town, primarily silver, copper and manganese, until the deposits were depleted. After 1800, it was one of
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 tr ...
's favourite resorts because of its beautiful surroundings. In 1838, the establishment of the town as a
spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneothe ...
led to the advent of tourism, which is still an important industry. Industrialisation started after the railway arrived in 1879, but increased rapidly during the following century primarily in glass and porcelain manufacturing. The porcelain factories closed (as in many other places in western Europe) during the 1990s. The glass industry, however, remained and produces laboratory equipment and measurement devices and is leading source of economic activity together with mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. Ilmenau and the surrounding region have produced many winter Olympic champions in disciplines such as
luge,
bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Fe ...
, and
biathlon
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...
.
History
Middle Ages
The name comes from the
German words ''Ulmen'' (i.e.
Elms) and ''Aue'' (i.e.
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
), in reference to the floodplain of the
Ilm river, which was covered with elms before the foundation of the town. The mascots ("town animals") of Ilmenau are the
hen and the
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...
.
The origins of Ilmenau are unknown. It is possible that the village was founded by the St. Peter's monastery of
Saalfeld, which encouraged the settlement of this part of Thuringia during the High Middle Ages. However, there are no written sources to verify or disprove this. A first church was built during the 12th century; its walls were found under today's St. James Church. The first written mention of Ilmenau followed later, in 1273, as the village had already existed many decades. At that time, Ilmenau belonged to the Counts of
Käfernburg. They died out in 1302 and Ilmenau became part of the
Schwarzburg County. After 1320, an important trade route from
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 ...
in the south to
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
in the north was relocated next to Ilmenau, so that a castle was established to control the traffic. Soon after, the Schwarzburgs founded a planned town (relatively similar to
Königsee) and Ilmenau received municipal rights in 1341. By 1343 the Schwarzburgs had sold their new town to the Counts of
Henneberg, who held it until their line died out in 1583. Nevertheless, the Hennebergs often mortgaged Ilmenau to other houses like the Schwarzburgs (1351–1420 and 1445–1464), the
Witzlebens (1420–1434) and the
Schaumbergs (1476–1498).
Early modern period
Between 1471 and 1626, copper mining made an important contribution to the economy of Ilmenau. In 1611, the mines produced an estimated 38 tons of copper and 188 kg of silver. Production reached these levels again in the 1730s until the operations ceased in 1739 because of an ingress of water in the mines. A brief revival of copper mining under the leadership of
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 tr ...
failed during the first decades of the 19th century. The Ilmenau
mint was in use between 1690 and 1705 producing silver
Talers and smaller copper coins. A subsequent blow to the economy after the end of mining in 1739 occurred in 1752, as the town was nearly completely destroyed by fire. The population was impoverished and living conditions were bad. Reconstruction took decades under the leadership of
Gottfried Heinrich Krohne
Gottfried is a masculine German given name.
It is derived from the Old High German name , recorded since the 7th century.
The name is composed of the elements (conflated from the etyma for 'God' and 'good', and possibly further conflated with ) a ...
, a famous late-Baroque architect in Germany, who planned the new church, town hall and street plan, and so on.
After the Hennebergs died out in 1583, the city belonged to the
Wettins and since 1661 to the Wettin-Ernestine duchy of
Saxe-Weimar (until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918). The dukes tried to foster the town's economy by founding porcelain and glass manufactures. Whereas the foundation of the porcelain manufacture in 1777 was successful, the glass industry failed twice until industrialisation started in the 1850s.
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 tr ...
visited Ilmenau often between 1776 and 1831, sometimes as minister of
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and sometimes for private holidays. Some Ilmenau-related parts of his written works are the poem "Ilmenau" (1783, the only town that Goethe dedicated a poem to), the poem "
Wanderer's Nightsong II" (1780, which was written at
Kickelhahn mountain) and the 4th act of "
Iphigenia" (1779, written at Schwalbenstein rock).
Since 1815
Since 1838, Ilmenau had been a spa ressort, based on water cure treatments at
hydropathic establishments. Ilmenau's hydropathic establishment was serviced by Drs Schwabe, Fitzler, Baumbach, and Preller.
[
The later 19th century brought a boost to the town's development: the former 2000 people-small town arose to an industrial centre of glass, porcelain and toy production. Furthermore, mining saw a resurgence by gaining ]fluorite
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
The Mohs sca ...
and ''Braunstein'' (manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy u ...
ore).[ After being connected by railway in 1879, the ]industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
reached the town. Some factories for 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 main ...
(''Graf von Henneberg Porzellan'' since 1777), glasswares (the ''Sophienhütte'' since 1852) and toys developed and grew until the Great Depression. It weakened especially private consumption, so that Ilmenau's toy industry collapsed, same as some porcelain producers focused on bibelot.
The precursor to the current university was founded in 1894 as the ''Thüringisches Technikum''. Now, it is the Technische Universität Ilmenau
The Technische Universität Ilmenau (''Ilmenau University of Technology'', TU Ilmenau) is a German public research university located in Ilmenau, Thuringia, central Germany. Founded in 1894, it has five academic departments (faculties) with ...
, where the ISWI takes place every two years.
After the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Thuringian small states, including Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, were merged into the new federal state of Thuringia in 1920 of which Ilmenau became part. It belonged to the Arnstadt district, which was divided in 1952 into the new Ilmenau district (southern part, to Bezirk Suhl) and the Arnstadt district (northern part, to Bezirk Erfurt). In 1994, both districts were reunited with the new name "Ilm-Kreis" (by the river Ilm) and Arnstadt as capital.
The FIL European Luge Championships of 1934
FIL or Fil may refer to:
People
* Father-in-law
* Fil Barlow (born 1963), Australian cartoonist
* Fil Delacruz (born 1950), Filipino artist
* Fil Fraser (1932–2017), Canadian broadcaster, filmmaker, civil servant and educator
* Fil Hearn (bor ...
took place in the town. In the last few years of World War II, Ilmenau was the site of manufacture of the mock-up production of the single-seat fighter version of the Horten Ho 229 V6 (Version 6) jet aircraft. The only surviving example of the Horten jet is the Horten Ho 229 V3. In December 2011, the Horten V3 was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution's Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Maryland, USA.
Geography and demographics
Topography
Ilmenau is located within a basin, formed by Ilm river on the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest at an altitude of 500m. The surrounding mountains are the ''Pörlitzer Höhe'' (573 m) in the north, the '' Ehrenberg'' (528 m) and the ''Tragberg'' (534 m) in the east, the ''Lindenberg'' (749 m) in the south, the ''Kickelhahn'' (861 m) in the south-west and the ''Hangeberg'' (701 m) in the west. Whereas the first three belong to the foothills, the last are part of the mountainous Thuringian Forest. There is also a geological border between them: the mountain range is of porphyry and the foothills are of Muschelkalk (in the west) and Buntsandstein (in the east). The Kickelhahn is one of the most visited mountains within the Thuringian Forest and hosts an old viewing tower with a panorama above the town and the forest landscape.
The Ilm river has two significant tributaries in the vicinity of Ilmenau: the ''Gabelbach'' is a small creek with a small valley between Kickelhahn and Lindenberg south of the city. It is one of the most preferred areas for walks next to Ilmenau. The other is the Schorte
Schorte is a river of Thuringia, Germany. It flows into the Ilm in Ilmenau.
See also
*List of rivers of Thuringia
A list of rivers of Thuringia, Germany:
A
*Alster
* Apfelstädt
* Ascherbach
* Auma
B
* Biber
* Bibra
* Blambach
* Bod ...
, a bigger creek within a deep, long valley in the south-east, marked by many abandoned mining tunnels, including one that can be visited as a mining museum. The area north of Pörlitzer Höhe is not part of the Ilm's drainage basin, the emanating rivers here (Reichenbach near Roda district and Wipfra near Oberpörlitz district) are tributaries of the Gera, which is itself a tributary of River Unstrut.
There is a water area in the centre of the town, the ''Ilmenauer Teichgebiet''. This lies between the old town and the main campus of the university with 5 lakes, laid out by monks during the Middle Ages for providing fish. The biggest lake with an area of 95 hectares is made up of the Wipfra river next to Heyda district by the Heyda Dam, built in the 1980s. Nearly all the unbuilt municipal area is covered by forest with spruces and pines (in the north) as the main species. Smaller areas are also covered by beeches. The forest monocultures of spruces were caused by the enormous need of wood for mining and glass industry during the previous centuries. However, they are susceptible to diseases and windthrow and will be replaced by more natural mixed forest during the next few decades after storm conditions Kyrill led to enormous damage within the town's forests in 2007.
Administrative division
Ilmenau abuts the following municipalities, which are all part of the Ilm district: Neusiß, Plaue and Wipfratal in the north, Wolfsberg and Langewiesen in the east, Stützerbach
Stützerbach is a village and a former municipality in the Ilm-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Ilmenau.
History
Within the German Empire (1871-1918), part of Stützerbach belonged to the Pru ...
, Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig is a village and a former municipality in Thuringia, Germany. Formerly in the district Ilm-Kreis, it is part of the town Suhl since January 2019.
Gallery
File:Winter in Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig.jpg, Schmiedefeld am ...
and Gehlberg in the south as well as Elgersburg and Martinroda
Martinroda is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis
Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, ...
in the west.
There are five villages which are incorporated as municipal districts of Ilmenau: Heyda (incorporated in 1994), Manebach (1994), Oberpörlitz (1993), Roda (1939) and Unterpörlitz (1981). In July 2018 the former municipalities of Gehren, Langewiesen, Pennewitz and Wolfsberg were merged with Ilmenau. In January 2019 the former municipalities of Frauenwald and Stützerbach
Stützerbach is a village and a former municipality in the Ilm-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Ilmenau.
History
Within the German Empire (1871-1918), part of Stützerbach belonged to the Pru ...
were also merged with Ilmenau.
Demographics
In the past, Ilmenau had been a small town of less than 2,000 inhabitants. Population growth began in the 19th century from 2,000 in 1800, 2,800 in 1850 and reaching 3,400 in 1870. Subsequently, the population grew rapidly to 10,400 in 1900 and 17,300 in 1940. After World War II, the population rose further to 20,000 in 1975 and to the peak in 1988 with a population of 29,500. The unfavourable economic situation in the old East Germany after reunification in 1990 resulted in a decline in the population, which fell to 27,000 in 2000 before stabilising.
The average decline of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately −0.03% p. a, whereas the population in bordering rural areas is declining more and more rapidly. Suburbanization has played only a small role in Ilmenau. It occurred after reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders (e.g. Oberpörlitz and Hüttenholz settlement), others were Langewiesen or Elgersburg.
The birth deficit was 132 in 2012, this is −5.1 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: -4.5; national average: -2.4). The net migration rate was +2.8 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin of Ilmenau migrants are rural areas of Thuringia as well as foreign countries.
Like other eastern German cities, Ilmenau has only a small immigrant population: circa 4.4% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 9.5% are migrants (according to 2011 EU census 2011 EU census, or EU population and housing census 2011 was an EU-wide census in 2011 in all EU member states.
2011 EU member state censuses
{, class="wikitable sortable"
! Country
! Dedicated article
! Related articles
, -
, Austria , , , , ...
). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Ilmenau are Chinese, Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
and Syrians. During recent years, the economic situation of the city has improved: the unemployment rate within the Ilm district has declined from 21% in 2005 to 7% in 2013. Owing to the official atheism in former GDR
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, most of the population is non-religious. 17.4% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (Lutheran) and 5.0% are Roman Catholics, according to 2011 EU census.
Culture, sights and cityscape
Museums
There are several museums in Ilmenau:
* The ''Goethe-Stadt-Museum'' in the Amtshaus in the market place is both the municipal museum and a museum about 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 tr ...
and his connection to the city.
* The ''Jagdhaus Gabelbach'' in the forest south of the city is a former hunting lodge built in 1783 and contains an exhibition about hunting and forestry during the 18th century.
* The ''Fischerhütte'' in Langewiesener Strasse is a former glass factory and displays historic laboratory glassware produced in Ilmenau as well as temporary exhibitions, for example about optics and light.
File:Amtshaus Ilmenau2010.JPG, Goethe-Stadt-Museum
File:Jagdhaus Gabelbach.JPG, Jagdhaus Gabelbach
File:Fischerhütte Ilmenau2.JPG, Fischerhütte
Cityscape
The town fire in 1752 destroyed nearly all the buildings in Ilmenau, so that the town was rebuilt during the 1750s and 1760s in a relatively uniform late-Baroque style by Gottfried Heinrich Krohne
Gottfried is a masculine German given name.
It is derived from the Old High German name , recorded since the 7th century.
The name is composed of the elements (conflated from the etyma for 'God' and 'good', and possibly further conflated with ) a ...
. The town centre is located between Obertorstraße in the north, Poststrasse in the east, Mühlgraben in the south and Burggasse in the west. Two older suburbs are the quarters around Rasen in the north-west and Lindenstraße in the south-west. Between 1871 and 1914, some interesting parts of the town with large villas developed: a larger one in the south-west around Waldstraße and Goetheallee and a smaller one in the west around Sturmheide, which are hosting noble mansions in Gründerzeit and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
style. On the one hand, prosperous factory owners lived here and on the other hand, many buildings were in use as guesthouses as Ilmenau was a spa town during the 19th century. During the GDR
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
period, two big Plattenbau estates were established in the south-east ("Stollen") and in the north ("Pörlitzer Höhe"). The university's main campus at Ehrenberg in the east was set up in the 1950s and enlarged during the following decades up to the present time. It hosts also some interesting architecture from Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
ist neo-classicism to contemporary glass-and-steel architecture.
File:Straße des Friedens Ilmenau.JPG, Pedestrian area in the centre
File:Ilmenau, Lindenstraße, Westen.jpg, The Lindenstraße, Ilmenau's boulevard
File:Villa Waldstraße Ilmenau4.JPG, Historistic mansion at Waldstraße
File:Villa Waldstraße Ilmenau.JPG, Art Nouveau mansion at Waldstraße
File:Villa Sturmheide Ilmenau2.JPG, Mansion at Sturmheide
File:Ilmenau Poerlitzer Hoehe.JPG, Plattenbau settlement at Pörlitzer Höhe
File:TU Ilmenau Helmholtzbau.JPG, Neo-classicist Helmholtzbau at Ehrenberg campus
Sights and architectural heritage
Older buildings (pre-1870)
* The ''Church of St James'' at Marktstrasse is the evangelical main church of Ilmenau, built after the town fire of 1752 in late-Baroque style.
* The ''Holy Cross Church'' at the cemetery north of the city centre is a small church, built in 1852. Furthermore, the historic cemetery hosts some 18th-century graves and a mourning hall (now reused as a Columbarium), built in 1836 in classicistic style.
* The town hall at the Marktplatz was also built after the last town fire of 1752.
* The ''Zechenhaus'' is one of the oldest buildings in Ilmenau, built in 1730. It was in use as seat of the local mining authority.
* The ''Bergmannskapelle'' (17th century) is a small wooden chapel, former used by the miners to pray for good luck.
* The ''Alte Münze'' (1691) at Wallgraben was the mint, where the Ilmenau Talers were coined around 1700.
* The parsonage at Kirchplatz was built in the 1760s in Baroque style.
* The ''Alte Försterei'' (1733) at Wetzlarer Platz is a small Baroque forester's lodge.
* The ''Wasserburg'' at Amtsstrasse is a castle ruin, consisting of only few low walls.
* The ''Kickelhahnturm'' (1855) and the ''Goethehäuschen'' (1783) were built on the top of the Kickelhahn mountain south of the town.
File:Stadtkirche Ilmenau3.JPG, St. James' Church
File:Kreuzkirche Ilmenau2.JPG, Holy Cross Church
File:Ilmenau Rathaus.jpg, Town hall
File:Bergmannskapelle Ilmenau.JPG, Bergmannskapelle
File:Alte Försterei Ilmenau.JPG, Alte Försterei
File:Ilmenau Kickelhahn Turm.jpg, Kickelhahnturm
File:Ilmenau Goethehaeuschen.jpg, Goethehäuschen at Kickelhahn
Modern architecture (after 1870)
* The ''Neues Technikum'' at Weimarer Straße was built in 1926 for enlarging the university's precursor in modern style.
* A department store at Friedrich-Hofmann-Straße, built in 1928 has a Bauhaus-style glass façade.
* A house at Naumannstraße was built from 1929 to 1932 in international-modern Bauhaus-style by Arthur Schröder.
* The ''St. Joseph's Church'' at Unterpörlitzer Straße was built between 1979 and 1983 as Catholic parish church in modern style.
* The Goethe memorial at the Marktplatz was established in 1996.
* The new Audimax of the university was built during the 2000s in modern style, same as a new auditorium's building in form of a glass cube at Weimarer Strasse.
* The ''Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau'', a federal authority based in Ilmenau, was built around 2000 in boomerang-style.
Neues Technikum Ilmenau.jpg, Neues Technikum
Bauhaus-Kaufhaus Ilmenau.JPG, Department store in Bauhaus-style
Ilmenau Naumannstr 9 Ansicht NO.jpg, Bauhaus-style house at Naumannstraße
Kirche Sankt Josef Ilmenau.JPG, St. Joseph's Church
Goethe-Denkmal in Ilmenau-2.jpg, Goethe memorial
TU Ilmenau Humboldtbau.JPG, University's new Audimax
Ilmenau BAfWb.jpg, Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau
Economy
Agriculture plays an insignificant role in the economy of Ilmenau as only 18% of the municipal territory are cultivated. The soil is not that fertile and the climate is harsh. The main crops are maize and rapeseed/ In addition there is cattle farming on some areas. 64% of the territory is forest, so that wood production is important in Ilmenau.
Industry was based on the production of glassware and porcelain during the 19th and 20th century with many large and famous companies (porcelain brands: ''Henneberg'' (est. 1777), ''Metzler & Ortloff'' (est. 1873)). The porcelain industry did not survive the structural change after German reunification in 1990, so that factories closed like most in Western Germany earlier during the 1970s and 1980s. The glass industry always concentrated on laboratory glassware such as thermometers, test tubes and other chemical and medical requisites. During the GDR period, all the glass factories of Ilmenau and the surrounding villages were centralized in a new Kombinat, opened in 1976 with 5,000 workers in Ilmenau being one of the biggest glass producers within the Comecon states. After reunification, the factory survived and is still a leading company for laboratory glassware in Germany, nevertheless, due to rationalization efforts during the 1990s, the number of employees decreased to 225. After 1990, new branches were established in Ilmenau. Mechanical engineering and polymer processing are now playing an especially important role in Ilmenau, as is software engineering. These new sectors benefit from the vicinity to the university and the research institutes. In 2012, there were 26 companies in industrial production with more than 20 workers employing 1,500 persons and generating a turnover of €170 million.
Local employment (such asretail, hospital, cinema etc.) include serving the university in particular (which is the biggest employer with 2,000 employees), but also research and industrial services. Tourism has also played a large role since the town became a spa in the 1830s. In 2012, there were 49,000 hotel guests having 114,000 overnight stays in Ilmenau.
Transport
Rail
Ilmenau station
Ilmenau station is one of four stations in the Ilmenau municipality in the German state of Thuringia. The station is referred to locally as ''Ilmenau Hauptbahnhof'' (main station), but this has never been its official name.
Location
Ilmenau st ...
is located in the city centre on the Plaue–Themar railway, which opened to Ilmenau in 1879. Ilmenau station and stations in the districts of ''Pörlitzer Höhe'' and ''Roda'' are connected by an hourly service to Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
via Arnstadt. Another line to Großbreitenbach
Großbreitenbach is a town in the Ilm-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 13 km southeast of Ilmenau. It has about 8000 inhabitants. Major industries are glass manufacturing and tourism. The former municipalities Altenfeld, ...
was opened in 1881 and closed in 1998 and a third one to Themar via Schleusingen opened in 1904. Since 1998, there has no longer been a regular service, but there are some historical steam locomotives running at special events on the line, which crosses the Thuringian Forest on one of the steepest lines in Germany (with a gradient of 6%). Freight transport by rail is no longer important, with the exception of a train transporting the town's refuse to the incinerator at Leuna. The Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway passes through the municipal boundaries, but no trains stop in Ilmenau as of 2021. There is debate whether the Ilmenau-Wolfsberg service station should be served by passenger trains.
Road
Ilmenau is situated close to the motorways Bundesautobahn 71 to Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
in the north and Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzbur ...
/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 ...
(A 73) to the south. Near the town, the Autobahn crosses the Thuringian Forest with some of Germany's longest tunnels and bridges. Furthermore, there were three Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' ( German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraße ...
n connecting Ilmenau: the Bundesstraße 4 to Erfurt in the north and Coburg in the south (annulled after the opening of A 71 during the 2000s), the Bundesstraße 87 to Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...
in the north-east (now starting at the Autobahn some kilometres north-east of the town) and the Bundesstraße 88 to Eisenach
Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, sit ...
in the north-west and Rudolstadt in the east, which was relocated around Ilmenau as a bypass (via the A 71 in the north and on a new line in the east).
Air
The nearest local airport to Ilmenau is the Erfurt–Weimar Airport, approx. to the north, which serves mostly for holiday flights to the Mediterranean and other touristic regions. The next major airports are Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centre ...
, Berlin Brandenburg Airport and Munich Airport
Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt ...
. Some holidaymakers also use Nuremberg Airport
Nuremberg Airport , german: link=no, Albrecht Dürer Flughafen Nürnberg, is the international airport of the Franconian metropolitan area of Nuremberg and the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport. With about 4.1 million pa ...
which has a wider range of destinations than Erfurt Airport and is closer than Munich Airport.
Bicycle
Cycling is becoming ever more popular since the construction of quality cycle paths began in the 1990s. There is the ''Ilm track'' from the Rennsteig in the Thuringian Forest to the Saale valley at the Saxony-Anhalt border via Ilmenau and Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...
. In addition there are cycle paths that connect to the ''Gera track'' (in Elgersburg) to Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
nearby and to the Saale valley in the east via Gehren, Königsee and Rudolstadt. Many paths through the forest are used by mountain bikers, since mountain biking is very popular in the region. There are few cycle lanes for inner city everyday traffic but using side roads and paths is working well. Despite the hilly terrain in some parts, Ilmenau is a cycle-friendly city owing in part to the high percentage of residents being students.
Public transit
Public transport includes a bus network connecting the city centre with the outskirts and neighbouring villages.
Education and research
The Technische Universität Ilmenau
The Technische Universität Ilmenau (''Ilmenau University of Technology'', TU Ilmenau) is a German public research university located in Ilmenau, Thuringia, central Germany. Founded in 1894, it has five academic departments (faculties) with ...
has 7,000 students and is Thuringia's second-largest university, founded in 1894 as ''Thüringisches Technikum'', converted to a university in 1992. Its emphasis is on mathematics, physics, informatics, several engineering disciplines and media studies. Furthermore, there are two grammar schools Gymnasiums
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...
in Ilmenau, one offers a focus on science as an elite boarding school in addition to the common curriculum. They are the Gymnasium "Am Lindenberg" – which focuses on languages and economics, and Goetheschule which specialises in science and mathematics.
Notable research institutes are:
* Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology
Fraunhofer may refer to:
*Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), German physicist
*Fraunhofer (crater), a lunar crater
*Fraunhofer Society (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft), a large German research organization
* Fraunhofer diffraction, far-field diffractio ...
*
* Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes ca ...
Politics
Mayor and city council
The current mayor Daniel Schultheiß (Independent) has been in office since November 2018.
The last municipal election was held in 2009 with the following results:
Twin towns – sister cities
Ilmenau is twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
* Blue Ash, United States
* Homburg, Germany
* Wetzlar, Germany
* Târgu Mureș
Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It lies on the Mureș River, th ...
, Romania
Notable people
* Andreas Libavius (1555–1616), philosopher and chemist, taught in Ilmenau
* Karl Ludwig von Knebel (1744–1834), poet, retired to Ilmenau
*Corona Schröter
Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmine Schröter (14 January 1751 – 23 August 1802) was a German musician best known as a singer. She also composed songs, setting texts by Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to music.Grove
Early life
Sch ...
(1751–1802), singer, died in Ilmenau
*Johann Karl Wilhelm Voigt
Johann Karl Wilhelm Voigt (20 February 1752 in Allstedt – 2 January 1821 in Ilmenau) was a German mineralogist and mining engineer.
He initially studied law at the University of Jena, then in 1776 enrolled at the Mining Academy in Freiber ...
(1752–1821), mineralogist, worked and died in Ilmenau
* Friedrich Christoph Pelizaeus (1859–1942), neurologist, temporarily spa doctor in Ilmenau
* Marie Gutheil-Schoder (1874–1935), soprano, died in Ilmenau
* Paul Löbe (1875–1963), politician (SPD), worked as a printer in Ilmenau
* Theodor Eicke (1892–1943), high-ranking SS officer, studied in Ilmenau
* Fritz Sauckel (1894–1946), Nazi war criminal, studied in Ilmenau
* Fritz Reinhardt (1895–1969), Nazi Finance Minister
* Robert Döpel (1895–1982), nuclear physicist, died in Ilmenau
* Michael Roth (1936–2019), engineer
*Jan Behrendt
Jan Behrendt (born 29 November 1967 in Ilmenau, Bezirk Suhl) is an East German- German luger who competed from the mid-1980s to 1998. Together with Stefan Krauße he won two Olympic gold medals (1992, 1998), ...
(born 1967), luger
*Wolfram Fiedler
Wolfram Fiedler (29 September 1951 – 11 April 1988) was an East German luger who competed from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. He won two bronze medals at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, earning them in the men's singles and men's doubles ...
(1951–1988), luger
* Matthias Platzeck (born 1953), politician (SPD), studied and graduated in Ilmenau
*Hartwig Gauder
Hartwig Gauder (10 November 1954 – 22 April 2020) was a German race walker who won a gold medal in the Men's 50 kilometres walk at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Born in West Germany, his family moved to East Germany in 1960 when they ...
(1954–2020), walker, Olympic champion, lived in Ilmenau
*Ute Oberhoffner
Ute Oberhoffner ( Weiß, born 15 September 1961 in Ilmenau, Bezirk Suhl, sometimes shown as Ute Oberhoffner-Weiss) is an East German luger who competed during the 1980s. She won two medals in the women's singles event at the Winter Olympics ...
(born 1961), luger
* Jens Müller (born 1965), luger, lives in Ilmenau
* Claudia Nolte (born 1966), politician (CDU), 1994–1998 Federal Minister for family affairs, studied in Ilmenau
* Stefan Krauße (born 1967), luger
* Peter Sendel (born 1972), biathlete
*André Lange
André Lange (; born 28 June 1973) is a retired German bobsledder and the most successful bob pilot of all time. Competing at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, he has won four gold and one silver medals. Lange originally started his sledd ...
(born 1973), bobsledder
* Andrea Henkel (born 1977), biathlete, Olympic champion
*Dajana Eitberger
Dajana Eitberger (born 7 January 1991) is a German luger. She currently represents Germany in the women's singles event in the Luge World Cup.
Career
During the 2014–15 Luge World Cup season she was victorious in one event which was the fina ...
(born 1991), luger, Olympic medalist
References
External links
*
Ilmenau Notgeld
(emergency banknotes)
{{Authority control
Ilm-Kreis
Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach