Thuringia is situated at the heart of Germany and borders on the states of Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony. Its population of 2.3 million people live on a land area of 16,172 square kilometres. The largest city and capital of the state is Erfurt, which has 200,000 inhabitants.
www.thueringen.de
Thuringia can look back on a very chequered history. The kingdom of the Toringi, to whom today’s federal state owes its name, emerged around 400 AD. As time passed it was often divided up and became the essence of German state particularism, which also had its good sides, because the rulers of those dwarf states, too insignificant to be able to afford armies and military campaigns, opted to attract artists to their courts. The Free State of Thuringia was founded in 1920; since 1990, Thuringia has been one of Germany’s 16 federal states.
Thuringia is the cradle of the German optics and precision engineering industries. Carl Zeiss laid the foundations for this in Jena in the 19th century. Today, the laser television of the future is being developed in Thuringia. Eisenach is a centre of car manufacturing, while in Erfurt the dominant sectors are microelectronics and microsystems technology, and in Jena optics, pharmaceuticals, medical and biological technology.
www.leg-thueringen.de
Thuringia has nine institutions of higher education, including the University of Jena, the Technical University of Ilmenau and the University of Erfurt, the latter of which is the most recent university foundation in Germany. There are also eleven extra-university research institutes here, focusing on measuring and control engineering, information and communication technology, new materials and optics and optoelectronics as well as production and process technology, microsystems technology, biotechnology and software technology.
Thuringia also means culture with a capital C. Goethe and Schiller, Bach and Luther – many prominent names are associated with Thuringian towns. Weimar is the home of German Classicism. “On what other small spot will you find so much good?” asked Goethe, whose house can be visited in Weimar. Eisenach is the birthplace of Bach. And Luther translated the New Testament into German on the Wartburg.
