Nienburg () is a town in the district of
Salzlandkreis in
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is located in the lower
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...
valley, approx. 5 km northeast of
Bernburg. In January 2010 it absorbed the former municipalities
Gerbitz,
Latdorf,
Neugattersleben,
Pobzig and
Wedlitz, that became ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions of the town.
[Hauptsatzung der Stadt Nienburg (Saale)]
May 2020. In 2020 its population was 6,104.
Nienburg is first mentioned in travel records dating from 961. The medieval centre of the town is occupied by the
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
,
Nienburg Abbey, later turned into a castle, recently destroyed by fire. The church of the monastery, over 1000 years old, was inaugurated in 1004, and is beautifully preserved to this day.
In 1623, during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, part of the town was destroyed. On December 6, 1825, an early
cable-stayed bridge over the river Saale collapsed during a celebration honoring the bridge's
patron. 55 people were killed, 60 were injured, and two people remained missing. The bridge had been open for just three months. A contributing factor may have been youths attempting to get the bridge to sway to the tune of "God Save the King."
Notable people
*
Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (around 930–983), buried in the monastery Nienburg an der Saale
*
Ibrahim ibn Jaqub, (10th-century), Hispano-Arabic, Sephardi Jewish traveler, first mention of Nienburg
*
Annalista Saxo (mid-12th century), Nienburg chronicler
*
Gustav Flügel (1812–1900), composer
*
Friedrich Stahmann (b. January 1796 in Nienburg (Saale), † 30 April 1862 ibid.) was a German surgeon and writer of the end-Romantic period.
References
External links
*
Salzlandkreis
{{Salzlandkreis-geo-stub