Schwanebeck is a small town in the district of Harz, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

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 ...

. It is part of the ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Vorharz Vorharz is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the Harz district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated east of Halberstadt. It was created on 1 January 2010. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Wegeleben. The ''Verba ...

The municipal area is situated northeast of

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...

, on the ''

Bundesstraße 245 The Bundesstraße 245 (abbreviated B 245) is a German federal highway in Saxony-Anhalt. It runs from Haldensleben in Börde to Halberstadt in Harz. Route / Junctions See also * List of federal highways in Germany The following is a list ...

'' highway to Hamersleben. Since 2010, it also comprises the former municipality of Nienhagen.Gebietsänderungen vom 01. Januar bis 31. Dezember 2010

Statistisches Bundesamt The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...

History

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

settlement at the site was first mentioned in a 1062 deed. The area belonged to the

Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt The Diocese of Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic diocese (german: Bistum Halberstadt) from 804 until 1648.

, which after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

was finally

secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

according to the 1648

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...

. The Schwanebeck citizens received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1270. Bishop Albert II of Halberstadt had a chapel erected in 1334 which soon became a major

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

site. The present parish church dedicated to St Peter was erected about 1345 and rebuilt in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style in the late 17th century. With the Brandenburg Principality of Halberstadt, Schwanebeck was incorporated into the Prussian

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

by 1817.

Notable people

Detlef Enge Detlef Enge (born 12 April 1952 in Schwanebeck) is a former East German football player who played in the DDR-Oberliga for 1. FC Magdeburg. He won the Oberliga championship three times, the East German Cup—FDGB-Pokal—once and the Europea ...

(born 1952), footballer.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Towns in the Harz