Meiningen: Difference between revisions

{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=February 2018}}

{{Infobox German locationplace

|area = 105123.6503

|mayor = Fabian Giesder<ref>[https://wahlen.thueringen.de/datenbank/wahl1/wahl.asp?wahlart=BM&wJahr=0000&zeigeErg=LAND&auswertung=2 Gewählte Bürgermeister - aktuelle Landesübersicht], Freistaat Thüringen,. accessedRetrieved 1425 JulyJune 20212024.</ref>

|leader_term = 20182024&ndash;2430

'''Meiningen''' ({{IPA-|de|ˈmaɪnɪŋən|lang|De-Meiningen.ogg}}) is a town in the southern part of the state of [[Thuringia]], [[Germany]]. It is located in the region of [[Franconia]] and has a population of around 2526,000 (20212024).<ref name="Daten">[https://www.meiningen.de/rathaus-politik/buergerservice/rathaus-digital/buergerservice?highlight=WyJiXHUwMGZjcmdlcnNlcnZpY2UiXQ== City of Meiningen, citizen service] Jahresrückblick 2021 (year review), PDF (4,4 MB).</ref> Meiningen is the capital and the largest town of the [[Schmalkalden-Meiningen]] district. From 1680 to 1920, Meiningen was the capital of the Duchy (and briefly of the Free State) of [[Saxe-Meiningen]].

The Duchy was abolished at the end of [[World War I]] in 1918. Meiningen then became the capital of the successor state ''Freistaat Saxony-Meiningen''. From 1920, it was a district town in the newly created state of [[Thuringia]]. {{Interlanguage link multi|Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Meiningen|de}} was founded in 1923. In 1927, ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Flugplatz Meiningen|de}}'', an airfield, was opened. In October 1931, airship [[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin]] landed there before 100,000 spectators, followed by the airship [[LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II]] on 9 July 1939. During [[World War II]], Meiningen was the location of a [[prisoner of war]] hospital, and several German military hospitals. The [[Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)|Deutsche Dienststelle]] was based in the ''Drachenbergkaserne'' barracks from 1943 to 1945. A heavy air raid on Meiningen on 23 February 1945, by the [[USAAF]] caused 208 deaths, destroyed 251 houses and two bridges in total, and damaged 440 buildings. Meiningen was occupied by American armed forces on 5 April 1945.<ref>Thuringia under American Occupation (April until July 1945), http://www.lzt-thueringen.de/files/huringia_under_american_occupation.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901115319/http://www.lzt-thueringen.de/files/huringia_under_american_occupation.pdf |date=1 September 2017 }}</ref>

Meiningen has threeseveral subdivisions. The urban districts are town center, North, East, South, Jerusalem (Meiningen), the rural communities are Helba (amalgamated in 1923) and Welkershausen (1936), as [[Dreißigacker]] (1990) and [[Herpf]] (2010). The former municipalities [[Henneberg, Thuringia|Henneberg]], [[Wallbach, Thuringia|Wallbach]] and [[Walldorf, Thuringia|Walldorf]] were merged into Meiningen in January 2019, and [[Stepfershausen]] in December 2019, and [[Sülzfeld]] in January 2024.<ref>[https://parldok.thueringer-landtag.de/ParlDok/dokument/95417/gesetz_und_verordnungsblatt_nr_15_2023.pdf Thüringer Gesetz zur freiwilligen Neugliederung kreisangehöriger Gemeinden im Jahr 2024], Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für den Freistaat Thüringen, 2023 Nr. 15, p. 349</ref>

Meiningen abuts the following municipalities: [[Wasungen]], [[Utendorf]], [[Kühndorf]], [[Rohr, Thuringia]], [[Ellingshausen]], [[Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal]], [[Untermaßfeld]], [[Sülzfeld]], [[Grabfeld, Thuringia|Grabfeld]], [[Mellrichstadt]] (Bavaria), [[Rhönblick]], [[Rippershausen]] and [[Mehmels]].

| unit precipitation days = 0.1.0 mm

| source 1 = [[World Meteorological OrganisationOrganization]]<ref name=WMO>{{cite web

* ''[[Schloss Elisabethenburg]]'' palace, built 1682-1692, a [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] castle with three wings and ''Hofkapelle''(castle chapel) and a rotunda. This is the former seat of the Dukes of [[Saxe-Meiningen]]. Today the palace houses museums, the town hall, the concert hall ''Johannes Brahms'', wedding room, the restaurant ''Schloßstuben'', a tower cafe, the town archives and the state archives.<ref name="Baedeker"/>{{rp|198}}It is now a museum of German History.

* ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Schloss Landsberg (Meiningen)|de|lt=Schloss Landsberg}}'', built 1840 for Duke [[Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen|Bernhard II]], inspired by visits to his sister [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Adelheid]], queen consort of the United Kingdom. Built under the direction of architect August Wilhelm Döbner in [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic revival style]].

Meiningen is the [[district town]] of the ''Kreis [[Schmalkalden-Meiningen]]''. The town functions as a major center of southern Thuringia in a number of ways (justice ([[Landgericht (Germany)|Landgericht Meiningen]], [[Amtsgericht Meiningen]]), state theater, state archives, hospitals).

There are several long-distance cycling trails, the first ''Werratal-Radweg'' along the [[Werra]] valley from the [[Thuringian Forest]] to the river [[Weser]] , the second ''Main-Werra-Radweg'' from Meiningen to Würzburg on the [[Main (river)|Main]] river. A third trail goes from Meiningen to [[Haßfurt]] in Bavaria.

*{{Interlanguage link multi|Carl Kiesewetter|de}} (1854–1895), historian, occultist and theosophist

*{{Interlanguage link multi|Friedrich Mosengeil|de}} (1773–1839), stenographer