History and Chronicle
Quedlinburg, the former Royal Palatinate and member of the Hanseatic League, is a charming medieval city dating back over 1,000 years. Situated on the northern edge of the Harz, it welcomes visitors with winding streets, ancient cobblestone streets and spacious squares surrounded by half-timbered houses. The whole is dominated by the massive sandstone cliff with the convent buildings and the Romanesque Collegiate Church St. Servatius. This is where German history began more than 1,000 years ago.
At the Finkenherd, at the foot of the castle hill, the Duke of Saxony Henry I is said to have received the royal crown in 919. He and his successors made the Palatinate of Quedlinburg an important centre of their imperial policy. Henry I was buried here in 936. In the same year, his wife Mathilde founded a women’s convent here, which lasted for almost 900 years.
The splendour of the Ottonian imperial house is still reflected in the treasures of the cathedral treasury of the Collegiate Church. The premises of the former abbey now house the castle museum with exhibitions on the history of the city and abbey as well as stylish reception and audience halls.
The biggest attraction is the city itself. Over 2,000 picturesque half-timbered houses can be admired on an area of 80 hectares. As in a colourful picture book, the often richly decorated facades show the development of this construction over eight centuries.
Quedlinburg is one of the first German half-timbered towns and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List of Cultural Heritage Sites in 1994.
Short History of Quedlinburg
- 922 first written mention of Quedlinburg in a document of King Henry I.
- 922 – 1207 German kings and emperors visited Quedlinburg 69 times
- 936 death of Henry I and burial on the castle hill, Mathilde establishes a women’s abbey here to educate and provide for daughters of the high nobility. Emperor Otto I endows it with rich land ownership and independence.
- 966 Mathilde, granddaughter of Henry I, becomes 1st abbess
- 994 award of market, coin and customs rights by Emperor Otto III, around 1000 Formation of the Old Town
- 1129 consecration of the newly built Collegiate Church by Emperor Lothar III.
- 1164 – 1180 fights in Quedlinburg
- 1426 – 1477 member of the Hanseatic League
- 1477 armed clashes between citizens and abbess, overthrow of Roland, surrender of all privileges
- 1539 introduction of the Reformation in the Abbey
- 1802 dissolution of the abbey, the castle buildings become the property of the Prussian State
- 1862 – 1882 restoration of the Collegiate Church, construction of the South Tower
- 1869 repositioning of the Roland in front of the town hall
- 1936 desecration of the Collegiate Church by the National Socialists
- 1959 consecration of the Romanesque Church St. Wiperti after four years of repair
- 1961 town twinning with the northern French city of Aulnoye-Aymeries
- 1976 opening of the half-timbered museum in the Ständerbau
- 1984 beginning of replacement construction in Neuendorf (HMBQ buildings)
- 1986 opening of the Lyonel Feininger Gallery
- 1990 founding of a city union with the partners Celle, Hameln, Hann. Münden and Herford
- 1993 return of the cathedral treasury
- 1994 1,000 years of market, coin and customs law
- 1994 inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List
- 1997 reopening of the Great House of the Nordharzer Städtebundtheater
- 1997 opening of the new building of the Lyonel-Feinger-Gallery
- 2001 foundation of the association “UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany e. V”. , headquarters in Quedlinburg
- 2014 20 years of UNESCO World Heritage Quedlinburg
- 2015 opening of the museum St. Marien Münzenberg
- 2019 anniversary year (1,100 years of Henry I reign; 30 years Peaceful Revolution, 25 years of UNESCO World Heritage Quedlinburg)