Everything about Ratzeburg totally explained
Ratzeburg is a
town in
Schleswig-Holstein,
Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes--the resulting
isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the
Kreis (district) of
Lauenburg.
History
The town was founded in the
11th century as Racisburg. The name is traditionally derived from the local
Wendish ruler, Prince
Ratibor of the
Polabians, who was nicknamed Ratse. In the year
1044 Christian missionaries under the leadership of the monk
Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery. It was destroyed in a
pagan rebellion in
1066; the monks were stoned to death. Today monuments to the missionaries in two of the town's churches commemorate these events. Ansverus was canonised in the 12th century and his relics were entombed in the Ratzeburg cathedral.
Henry the Lion (
Heinrich der Löwe) became the ruler of the town in
1143 and established a
bishopric in 1154. He was also responsible for the construction of the late
Gothic Cathedral (
Dom), built in typical north German 'red-brick' style. Henry also caused similar-looking cathedrals in
Lübeck and
Braunschweig to be built--his remains are interred in the latter.
Later the town became a
Prince Bishopric, whose ruler was sovereign and as such had a vote at the
Imperial Diet. The
Bishopric of Ratzeburg was the last Catholic state in north Germany. After the 1550 death of its ruler Prince-Bishop
Georg von Blumenthal, who feuded with
Thomas Aderpul, the bishopric converted to
Lutheranism in 1554.
The town of Ratzeburg itself wasn't within the territory of the Bishopric of Ratzeburg, becoming instead part of the
Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg after the downfall of Henry the Lion. The town was almost completely destroyed in
1693, when
Christian V of Denmark reduced Ratzeburg to rubble by
bombardment. After this event it was rebuilt in
baroque style.
Ratzeburg briefly was part of the
First French Empire during the
Napoleonic Wars and was awarded to
Denmark in the
Congress of Vienna. After being annexed in the
Second Schleswig War (1864), the town became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia's
Province of Schleswig-Holstein. The cathedral quarter finally became part of the town of Ratzeburg with the 1937
Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz.
From 1945 to 1989 the
Iron Curtain ran just east of the town, putting it on the border with the
German Democratic Republic.
Ratzeburg is known for its Olympic champion
Ratzeburg Rowing Club, which was responsible for training, among others, the Gold Medalists at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. The grave of
Ernst Barlach, perhaps the most notable creative artist to have made his home in Ratzeburg, is located in one of the city's cemeteries.
Notable residents
Twin towns
Ribe, Municipality of Esbjerg, Denmark
Sopot, Poland
Sources and references
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ratzeburg'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://ratzeburg.totallyexplained.com">Ratzeburg Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
