Erfurt

Erfurt (ĕr`frt), city (1994 pop. 200,800), capital of Thuringia, central Germany, on the Gera River. It is an industrial and horticultural center and a rail junction. Industries include metalworking and the manufacture of electrical apparatus, shoes, and clothing. The city is also a major exporter of processed foods and seeds. Erfurt is one of the oldest cities of Germany. It was mentioned by St. Boniface in the 8th cent., and Charlemagne later made it a center for trade with the Slavs. Martin Luther studied (1501–5) at its university (opened 1392, closed 1816), and he took his vows as an Augustinian friar at its monastery. Erfurt was a free imperial city and a member of the Hanseatic League. It passed (1664) to the electors of Mainz and (1802) to Prussia. In 1808, Napoleon I and Czar Alexander I met there at the Congress of Erfurt, and the Franco-Russian alliance concluded at Tilsit in 1807 was renewed. At a congress held at Erfurt in 1891 the German Social Democratic party adopted the Erfurt Program (see Socialist parties), which closely followed Marxist theories. Noteworthy buildings of the city include the cathedral (12th–15th cent.) and the 13th-century Church of St. Severus.

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Erfurt

City (pop., 2002 est.: 200,126), central Germany. Boniface founded a bishopric in Erfurt in AD 742, and by 805 it was an important centre on the Frankish empire's eastern border. Erfurt was granted municipal rights c. 1250 and joined the Hanseatic League in the 15th century. The city passed to Prussia in 1802, forming part of Prussian Saxony until 1945. Erfurt was the site of the first meeting of the leaders of East and West Germany in 1970. It is dominated by its 12th-century cathedral; other buildings include the monastery where Martin Luther was a monk (1505–08). Erfurt is an important road and railway junction and a commercial centre.