Goldkronach ( East Franconian: ''Gronich'') 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 o ...

in the district of Bayreuth, in

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 l ...

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 betwee ...

. It is situated near the

Fichtelgebirge The Fichtel MountainsRandlesome, C. et al. (2011). ''Business Cultures in Europe'', 2nd ed., Routledge, Abingdon and New York, p. 52. . (german: Fichtelgebirge, cs, Smrčiny), form a small horseshoe-shaped mountain range in northeastern Bavaria ...

, 12 km northeast of

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital o ...

History

On 25 June 1836, at 22:15, residents awoke to a man yelling "Fire! Fire!". In almost 2 hours, almost half of the eastern part of the town burned down, including the parish church, all two schools, the City Hall, 55 houses, and 16 other buildings. 127 families were rendered homeless. Three years later, on 18 June 1839 midnight, another fire broke out in the market. Within two hours, 29 houses and 17 buildings in the south side of town became the victims of the fire.

Population development

* 1961: 2945 * 1970: 2935 * 1987: 2903 * 2000: 3598 * 2010: 3606

Sons and daughters of the city

Sigismund von Reitzenstein Freiherr Sigismund Karl Johann von Reitzenstein (3 February 1766 in Nemmersdorf - 5 March 1847 in Karlsruhe) was the first minister of state of the Grand Duchy of Baden. From 1781, Reitzenstein studied law in Göttingen and Erlangen before gett ...

(1766-1847), politician and diplomat of Baden

Personalities who lived and worked in Goldkronach

Georgius Agricola Georgius Agricola (; born Georg Pawer or Georg Bauer; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Born in the small town of Glauchau, in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire ...

(1494-1555), scholar of 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 ide ...

and the father of the

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...

. For Goldkronach in his writings, Agricola called a weekly gold transfer of 1500 Gulden. *

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister ...

(1769-1859), German natural scientist, from 1792 to 1796 Oberbergmeister and Oberbergrat in the Prussian Goldkronach. Humboldt revolutionized mining from a technical point of view, but also introduced measures for the education and social protection of miners.

References

{{Authority control Bayreuth (district)