Weißensee (German for "white lake") is a

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

in the

district of Sömmerda A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, 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 (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 situated 6 km northwest of Sömmerda, and 25 km north 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 ...

. The former municipality

Herrnschwende Herrnschwende is a village and a former municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Eur ...

was merged into Weißensee in January 2019.

History

Weissensee is one of a very few towns which was actually planned in the Middle Ages. Founded in the second half of the 12th century by Jutta Claricia, Landgravine of

and sister of Emperor Frederick I, it gained market rights in 1198 and city rights in 1265. Due to its excellent strategic position between two lakes – from which the town takes its name – and a ridge of hills, Weissensee rapidly became a very important trade centre, especially for fish and

woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...

. Some notable figures lived on the Runneburg and in 1446 William III, Landgrave of Thuringia adopted the first Thuringian constitution. During the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

the town became less important and the two lakes were drained. But 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 ...

in 1814 it was awarded to

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 ...

and underwent a revival as district capital. Weissensee is famous for its medieval castle, one of the largest in Thuringia, and for its annual ''Bierfest''.

References

Sömmerda (district) {{Sömmerda-geo-stub