Mühlhausen, Thuringia, Germany

Economy | Agriculture, industry and services | Transport

🇩🇪 Mühlhausen is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, 5 km (3 miles) north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, 50 km (31 miles) north-west of Erfurt, 65 km (40 miles) east of Kassel and 50 km (31 miles) south-east of Göttingen.

Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and became one of the most important cities in central Germany in the late Middle Ages. In the mid-13th century, it became a Freie Reichsstadt, an independent and republican self-ruled member of the Holy Roman Empire, controlling an area of approximately 220 square km (85 sq mi) and 19 regional villages. Due to its long-distance trade, Mühlhausen was prosperous and influential with a population of 10,000 around 1500. Because it was spared from later destruction, Mühlhausen today has a great variety of historical buildings with one of the largest medieval city centres remaining in Germany, covering a surface of more than 50 hectares within the inner city wall and approximately 200 hectares overall. There are eleven Gothic churches, several patricians’ houses and a nearly completely preserved fortification.

Johann Sebastian Bach worked as the city's organist in 1707–08. The theologian Thomas Müntzer, a leading person in the German Peasants' War, gave sermons here and was executed outside the city walls. John A. Roebling, the constructor of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Friedrich August Stüler, an influential architect in mid-19th-century Prussia, were born in Mühlhausen.

Mühlhausen is within the Thuringian Basin, a flat and fertile area, on the Unstrut river on the eastern edge of the Hainich hills.

Economy During recent years, the economic situation of the city has improved: the unemployment rate in the Unstrut-Hainich district declined from 21% in 2005 to 10% in 2013 with higher rates in the city than in the bordering rural municipalities. Still, Mühlhausen itself has one of the highest unemployment rates in Thuringia.

Agriculture, industry and services Agriculture still plays an important role in the Mühlhausen region today. Approximately 55% of the municipal territory is in agricultural use, mostly for growing cereals and vegetables. The region is a centre of the food industry in Germany, especially in the production of conserves like pickles, sauerkraut, apple sauce, cherries and other fruits and vegetables. A well-known product is the Mühlhäuser Pflaumenmus (Mühlhausian plum jam), which has been produced here since 1908.

Production of textiles, machines and electrical engineering were major manufacturing industries in Mühlhausen. Nevertheless, most factories were closed after German reunification in 1990. Since that time, Mühlhausen has had some problems finding a new economic core. Compared to other cities in Thuringia, the economic situation is relatively poor. In 2012, there were only 23 companies with more than 20 workers in the industrial sector, employing a total of 1,800 persons and generating an annual turnover of €314 million.

As district capital, Mühlhausen is a regional service hub in retail, health care, cinemas, education, government etc. One of the largest employers is the Bundeswehr, but the closure of the barracks is planned for 2015 with a direct loss of more than 800 jobs in the city. Tourism does not play an important role yet, although the city has many historic sights and the Hainich National Park is only 15 km (9 mi) away. In 2012, there were 52,000 overnight visitors staying for a total of 118,000 nights in Mühlhausen.

Transport Mühlhausen is connected to the railway by a station at the Gotha–Leinefelde line, opened in 1870. There are some regional express trains to Göttingen and to Zwickau/Glauchau (via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera) running every two hours and some local trains to Leinefelde and Erfurt (unlike the express via Kühnhausen), running every one to two hours. Former local railway connections to Sondershausen in the east and Treffurt in the west were discontinued.

Mühlhausen is the largest city in Thuringia without a direct connection to the Autobahn. The Bundesautobahn 4 near Eisenach is 30 km (19 mi) to the south and the Bundesautobahn 38 near Leinefelde is 30 km (19 mi) to the north. The connection to the city is via the Bundesstraße 247 (which is the most important route) to Leinefelde in the north and Bad Langensalza (with further connection to Erfurt and Gotha) in the south, the Bundesstraße 249 to Eschwege in the west and Sondershausen in the east and secondary roads to Bleicherode in the north, Eisenach in the south and Küllstedt in the north-west. Municipal traffic is mainly via the ring road along the inner city walls, where the load is high on the eastern side at Kiliansgraben. Therefore, a bypass road east around Mühlhausen is in planning to keep the transit traffic out of the city. This is part of a larger set of measures to improve the connections of Mühlhausen by extending the B 247 between Leinefelde, Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza.

The next local airport is the Erfurt-Weimar Airport, approximately 60 km (37 mi) to the south-east and the next major airport is the Frankfurt Airport, approximately 230 km (143 mi) to the south-west.

Biking is getting more and more popular since the construction of quality cycle tracks began in the 1990s. The Unstrut Trail and the Unstrut-Werra Trail are long-distance biking trails. Both connect points of touristic interest, the former along the Unstrut river from the Eichsfeld north-west of Mühlhausen to the Saale river near Naumburg, the latter on an abandoned railway track through the Hainich hills from Mühlhausen to Treffurt in the Werra valley.

The Mühlhausen tramway network was established in 1898 and discontinued in 1969. Since that time, there has been a bus network for local transport within the city and to neighbouring communities.

Europe/Berlin/Thuringia 
<b>Europe/Berlin/Thuringia</b>
Image: Adobe Stock Edler von Rabenstein #233720128

Mühlhausen has a population of over 35,799 people. Mühlhausen also forms the centre of the wider Unstrut-Hainich District which has a population of over 101,698 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Mühlhausen see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Mühlhausen has links with:

🇩🇪 Eschwege, Germany 🇷🇺 Kronstadt, Russia 🇩🇪 Münster, Germany 🇱🇹 Raseiniai, Lithuania 🇺🇸 Saxonburg, USA 🇫🇷 Tourcoing, France
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Mühlhausen is: -169.535,-51.206

Locations Near: Mühlhausen 10.4647,51.2055

🇩🇪 Eisenach 10.319,50.98 d: 27.1  

🇩🇪 Gotha 10.697,50.948 d: 32.9  

🇩🇪 Sondershausen 10.867,51.367 d: 33.2  

🇩🇪 Nordhausen 10.794,51.498 d: 39.7  

🇩🇪 Bad Salzungen 10.233,50.8 d: 47.9  

🇩🇪 Werra-Meißner 9.933,51.2 d: 37  

🇩🇪 Arnstadt 10.933,50.833 d: 52.8  

🇩🇪 Erfurt 11.023,50.978 d: 46.5  

🇩🇪 Erfurt-Stotternheim 11.033,50.983 d: 46.8  

🇩🇪 Göttingen 9.938,51.531 d: 51.5  

Antipodal to: Mühlhausen -169.535,-51.206

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16635.2  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 15907.7  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 15854.6  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15876.7  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12002.7  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 11915.5  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 11901.9  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 11897.4  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 11897  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 11872.2  

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