Oldenburg

Oldenburg, city, Germany

Oldenburg, city (1994 pop. 147,701), Lower Saxony, NW Germany, on the Hunte River and the Küstenkanal (Coast Canal). It is a rail junction, transshipment point, agricultural market, and industrial center. Manufactures include ships, glass, and textiles. Oldenburg was first mentioned in 1108 and was chartered in 1345. It was the seat of the counts of Oldenburg until 1667, when it passed, with the county, to Denmark. From 1777 to 1918 it served as the residence of the dukes (later grand dukes) of Oldenburg. Noteworthy buildings include the former ducal palace (17th–18th cent.) and the Gothic Lambertikirche, a church built in the 13th cent. (rebuilt 18th–19th cent.).

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Oldenburg, former state, Germany

Oldenburg (ôl`dənbrkh), former state, NW Germany. It is now included in the state of Lower Saxony. The city of Oldenburg was the capital. The former state consisted of three widely separated divisions. The largest of these, Oldenburg proper, now forms the district of Oldenburg, stretching S from the North Sea, W of the Weser River; the two other divisions, both very small, were Birkenfeld and the district (but not the city) of Lübeck. Oldenburg proper is a low-lying, fertile, and marshy land. The history of Oldenburg proper is mainly of dynastic significance. Originally a part of Saxony, the county of Oldenburg came into prominence in the 12th cent., when the counts became princes of the empire. In 1448, Count Christian became king of Denmark as Christian I, while his younger brother, Gerard, and his successors continued to rule Oldenburg. On the extinction (1667) of the German line, Oldenburg passed (1676) to Christian V of Denmark (direct descendant of Christian I). In 1773, Christian VII exchanged Oldenburg for ducal Holstein with Grand Duke (later Emperor) Paul I of Russia. Paul gave Oldenburg to his maternal great uncle, Frederick Augustus of Holstein-Gottorp, bishop of Lübeck, who assumed (1777) the ducal title. Peter I of Oldenburg, nephew and successor of Frederick Augustus, lost the duchy to Napoleon I but recovered Oldenburg and the bishopric of Lübeck in 1813 and subsequently acquired Birkenfeld and obtained the title grand duke. A member of the German Confederation from 1815, Oldenburg sided (1866) with Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War and joined (1871) the German Empire. The last grand duke abdicated in 1918, and Oldenburg joined the Weimar Republic.

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Oldenburg

Former German state, since 1946 part of Lower Saxony, Germany. It was held by the counts of Oldenburg from c. 1100 until 1667, when it passed to Denmark. In the late 18th century it was ruled by the bishop of Lübeck, who was made duke of Oldenburg by Joseph II, the Holy Roman emperor. It became a grand duchy in the early 19th century and took Prussia's side in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. It joined the German Empire in 1871. Its last grand duke abdicated in 1918. The 17th-century grand-ducal palace in the city of Oldenburg (pop., 2002 est.: 155,908) is now a state museum of art and culture.

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Oldenburg¹

Claes . born 1929, US pop sculptor and artist, born in Sweden

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Oldenburg²

1. a city in NW Germany, in Lower Saxony: former capital of Oldenburg state. Pop.: 158 340 (2003 est.)

2. a former state of NW Germany: became part of Lower Saxony in 1946