Rudolstadt (Thuringian Rudelstadt, dialect: Rolscht) is a town in
the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in the Free State of Thuringia,
Germany. The former princely residence of Rudolstadt is embedded in
a forest-surrounded valley and stretches like a ribbon along the
wide arch of the Saale river.
The city was first mentioned in
a document in 776 and has had city rights since 1326. Its landmark,
visible from afar, is Heidecksburg Castle, which towers over the
city. Rudolstadt is known for the Anker stone building sets from the
Richter company and its porcelain factories (Volkstedt). From 1599
to 1920 it was the capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
In 1996, Rudolstadt received the culture prize of the state of
Thuringia for the preservation of cultural traditions on the one hand
and on the other hand for the courageous commitment to the development
of new cultural projects. In 2010, the city joined the German Language
Association.
In addition to Heidecksburg Castle, the Ludwigsburg
City Castle is one of the most important historical buildings in the
city, as is the magnificent Protestant St. Andrew's Church, which was
built in the 15th and 16th centuries and was richly decorated in the
Renaissance style in the early 17th century. Other churches are the
Evangelical Lutheran Church by the important church architect Theodor
Quentin, a neo-Gothic building from 1906, and the Catholic parish church
Mater dolorosa from 1872-1874 (Romanesque Revival).
The old town
hall in Stiftsgasse is a late Gothic building from 1524, which was
supplemented by a tower in 1603. The New Town Hall was inaugurated in
1912 on the market square. The most important sights on an
OpenStreetMap.
The three Thuringian farmhouses in Rudolstadt are
considered the oldest open-air museum in Germany. The houses from the
17th and 18th centuries were demolished in the surrounding villages in
1914/1915 and rebuilt in the Rudolstadt city park. The establishment of
an old village pharmacy is particularly worth seeing.
The
Lengefeld-Beulwitzsche property below the Heidecksburg was converted
into a museum memorial for 1.8 million euros. Friedrich Schiller and
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe met here for the first time in 1788. In May
2009 the Schiller House was opened as a museum.
Kochberg Castle
is located near Rudolstadt in Großkochberg, formerly owned by the Barons
vom und zum Stein and where Goethe stayed several times. Between
Rudolstadt and Großkochberg is the small early Romanesque church in
Weitersdorf, one of the oldest sacred buildings in Thuringia.
Artists have set up several sculptures in the pedestrian zone leading to
the market, commemorating personalities associated with the city,
including Charlotte Freifrau von Stein, Charlotte von Lengefeld and
Friedrich Schiller.
The Theater Rudolstadt, one of the most traditional theaters in
Thuringia, is of particular cultural importance for the city. There is
also the seat of the Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.
The new auditorium is to be completed in 2023 according to the plans
of the engineering office SIGMA PLAN GmbH. Completion was originally
supposed to take place at the turn of the year 2019/2020. Due to the
pandemic, there were delays and an increase in costs, which are
currently estimated at 17 million euros. (formerly 14 million euros).
The evangelical town church of St. Andreas is a three-nave late
Gothic hall church. It was built between 1463 and 1475 and resulted from
the conversion of a 12th century church. In the west of the city is the
Lutheran Church (Rudolstadt) whose cornerstone was laid in 1904.
Germany's first Bismarck Tower, inaugurated in 1899, is 9.5 m high and
was renamed the "Geschwister-Scholl-Turm" in 1950. Its construction was
an implementation of the idea of the German student body to erect
Bismarck columns of fire in Germany. The construction was carried out
according to the design of the architect Gottwalt Schinzel from Schaala.
The ceremonial inauguration with 200 participants took place on April 1,
1899. After the Second World War, the tower was damaged by vandalism,
and it was only in 1985 that it was renovated by the Friends of the
Geschwister-Scholl-Turm. In 2021, the Friends of the Bismarck Tower
Rudolstadt was founded with the aim of making the tower accessible
again.
The city's sports clubs include the football club FC Unity Rudolstadt
and the third largest sports club in Thuringia, SV 1883 Schwarza, with
around 1,500 members. The SAALEMAXX is a leisure and adventure pool.
Rudolstadt is on the Saale cycle path.
In 2021, the city applied
together with Bad Blankenburg and Saalfeld as host town for the design
of a four-day program for an international delegation of the Special
Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. In 2022 she was selected to
host Special Olympics Sudan.
Rudolstadt Festival
Every year on the first full weekend in July,
the largest folk roots world music festival in Germany, the Rudolstadt
Festival, draws musicians, artists, artisans and guests from all over
the world to Thuringia. The original event Internationales Tanzfest der
DDR was launched in 1955 and was held for the last time in 1989.
Other Events
The Rudolstadt bird shooting (end of August) is one of
the largest folk festivals in Thuringia. At the end of May and beginning
of June, the city of Rudolstadt organizes an old town festival around
the market square. Since 2011, the extreme obstacle course Getting Tough
has taken place on the first weekend in December.
By train
Long-distance trains stop in Jena-Paradise and in
Saalfeld. The regional train running in the Saale valley (hourly) and
the regional express from Nuremberg stop at Rudolstadt station.
With the long-distance bus
FlixBus has 2 bus stops in Rudolstadt.
There is a Rudolstadt long-distance bus stop opposite the train station.
Another stop is in the suburb of Schwarza (Rudolstadt-Schwarza
long-distance bus stop), Schwarzburger Strasse.
On the street
The B 85 from Weimar and the B 88 from Jena converge in Rudolstadt. 6km
south the roads separate again; the B 85 leads to Saalfeld, the B 88 to
Ilmenau. The next motorway exit is in Jena, continue on the B 88. Bus
connections to Erfurt and Weimar are available, the bus stop is near the
train station.
By bicycle
The Saale cycle path runs through
the village.
Furthermore, the mill cycle path, the cycle path
Rudolstadt-Stadtilm and the Schwarzatal - the most worth seeing river
valley in the Thuringian Forest cycle path touches the place.
Two city bus lines connect the towns in the city triangle of Saalfeld - Blankenburg - Rudolstadt every half hour.
The Wednesday market on Marktplatz and Marktstrasse is known for its
locally sourced fruit and vegetables. In summer there are also mushrooms
and blackberries from the surrounding forests. There are also objects
made from natural wood, such as rakes, ladders and wickerwork, including
the traditional humpback baskets.
Rudolstadt is on the
Porzellanstraße, and you can shop at the porcelain factories that are
still active. In the Handwerkerhof in the city center there is a
porcelain gallery.
In the city there are booksellers, hardware
stores, a clothing store, an optician's branch, a large supermarket
close to the center - there is also a gastro wholesaler on site.
Branches of the Sparkasse, Commerzbank and the Volksbank can be found.
1 Kaufland, Am Spielborn 1-3, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672
825910. Open: Mon – Fri 6 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.
2 REWE,
Marktstrasse 75-81, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 318530. Open:
Mon – Fri 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Traditional dishes, such as roasts with real Thuringian dumplings,
are available right on the market square, where Thuringian sausages are
traditionally roasted over an open fire. Fried sausages with the typical
wood-fire flavor are also available sealed in butchers to take away.
There you can get more Thuringian sausage specialties. In the Pronto
Pronto on the Neuer Markt, directly behind the courthouse, they cook
very well the Italian way. The dishes from the monthly menu are
recommended, but the simple pizza with just oil and rosemary is also
delicious. The best view of the city is from the castle café, in summer
with a balcony over the old town, where the tower of the old town hall
seems close enough to touch. From there also the shortest ascent from
the city center via a stairway.
1 Pronto Pronto, Neumarkt 8,
07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 410654, email:
info@pronto-rudolstadt.de. Open: Mon - Fri 11am - 11pm, Sat - Sun 4pm -
11pm.
2 Schlosscafé Heidecksburg, staircase VI No. 6, 07407
Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 477981, fax: +49 (0)3672 477982, e-mail:
reservierung@schlosscafe-heidecksburg.de. Open: Mon, Wed - Thu: 11 a.m.
- 10 p.m., Fri - Sat: 11 a.m. - midnight, Sun: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m., Tue:
day off.
3 Taberna - Tapas Bar Rudolstadt, Ludwigstr. 2. Tel.: +49
(0)3672 48 959 94, e-mail: info@tapas-bar-rudolstadt.de. freshly tapped,
Spanish San Miguel and the serenity of a real Spanish meal can be
sensed. Open: Tue-Fri: from 4:00 p.m. Sat: from 6:00 p.m. Mon: day off.
4 Gasthaus zum Anker, Breitscheidstraße 88. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 - 35 28
51, fax: +49 (0)3672 - 31 40 69, e-mail: info@anker-rudolstadt.de. Open:
from 11:00 a.m. Mon + Tues are days of rest.
5 Restaurant Rhodos,
Puschkinstrasse 7, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel: +49 (0)3672 423066. Greek
restaurant. Open: Mon – Thu 5 p.m. – midnight, Fri – Sun 11.30 a.m. –
2.30 p.m. + 5 p.m. – midnight.
6 Restaurante Da Meli, Marktstrasse
17, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel: +49 (0)3672 414777. Italian restaurant. Open:
daily 11.00 a.m. – 11.30 p.m.
7 Crazy Potato House, Marktstraße 5,
07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 414747. Open: Tue – Sun 11 a.m. – 10
p.m., closed on Mondays.
Theater Rudolstadt, Anger 1, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672
4500, e-mail: service@theater-rudolstadt.com.
Rudolstadt cabaret
stage, Freiligrathstraße 8, 07407 Rudolstadt. Email:
j.luther@kleinkunstbuehne.de.
Cineplex Rudolstadt,
Albert-Lindner-Strasse 6, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 464855.
Six cinema halls have a total of 839 comfortable lounge chairs.
Udo's
pub, Ludwigstraße 50, 07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 423188.
Burgkeller Rudolstadt, Schlossaufgang 3, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel: +49
(0)3672 3034643. Pub. Open: Wed + Thu 6 p.m. – midnight, Fri + Sat 6
p.m. – 3 a.m., closed Sun – Tue.
A small, quiet town where you go to bed early.
Every fourth
overnight stay in East Thuringia (almost half a million) takes place in
the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.
Cheap
1 Fröbelhaus,
Schillerstrasse 50, 07407 Rudolstadt. youth hostel.
2 Rüdiger private
rental, Rudolstädter Str. 3a, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672
413604. Feature: Pension. Price: double room from 25 euros.
3 Meeting
and educational center Schwarzenshof gGmbH, Schwarzenshofer Weg 10,
07407 Rudolstadt-Schaala. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 480 10. Group accommodation,
136 beds, 4 km from the train station. Price: double room from 29 euros.
Medium
4 Holiday Apartments Gollkowsky (FeWo Gollkowsky), Am
Gänsebach 18a, 07407 Rudolstadt, Germany (Quiet location in Cumbach).
Tel.: +49 (0)3672 423512. Accepted payment methods: Mastercard, Visa,
American Express, V-Pay, maestro, contactless. (50° 42′ 47″ N 11° 20′
41″ E)
5 Hotel Adler, Markt 1, 07407 Rudolstadt (on the market
square). Tel.: +49 (0)3672 4403. Country-style room. Price: double room
from 87 euros.
6 Hotel Thüringer Hof, Bahnhofsgasse 3, 07407
Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 412422, fax: +49 (0)3672 412423, email:
kontakt@thueringerhof-rudolstadt.de. The associated restaurant offers
traditional Thuringian cuisine. Open: Restaurant: Mon – Sat 11.30 a.m. –
10.00 p.m., Sun + public holidays 11.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. Price: Single
room from €48, double room from €74 (both including breakfast).
7
Gast- & Pensions-Haus Hodes, Mörla 1, 07407 Rudolstadt OT Mörla. Tel.:
+49 (0)3672 410101, fax: +49 (0)3672 424568. Restaurant with Thuringian
cuisine, beer garden available. Feature: ★★★. Price: Single room from
€49, double room from €69 (both including breakfast).
Upscale
8 ApaRu GmbH (Apartments Rudolstadt), Ludwigstrasse 32, 07407
Rudolstadt, Germany. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 4703120, Mobile: +49 (0)176
12322225, Fax: (0)3672 479851.
9 Panoramahotel Marienturm, Marienturm
1, 07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 43270, email:
info@hotel-marienturm.de. four-star hotel, comfortable rooms, good food,
attractive wellness offers. Price: double room from 109 euros, single
room from 89 euros.
Police Inspectorate, August-Bebel-Strasse 1, 07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 4530.
Hospitals
1 Internal Medicine Clinic, Hugo-Trinckler-Str. 2-4
07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672 4564201.
Pharmacies
2
Market Pharmacy, Markt 10, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 422767,
fax: +49 (0)3672 431573, e-mail: info@ihremarktapotheke.de. Open: Mon -
Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
3 Schiller Pharmacy,
Schwarzburger Chaussee 76, 07407 Rudolstadt. Tel.: +49 (0)3672 350222.
Open: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Wed 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
4
Trommsdorff Pharmacy, Trommsdorffstr. 2, 07407 Rudolstadt OT Volkstedt.
Tel.: +49 (0)3672 35820, fax: +49 (0)3672 358235, e-mail:
info@trommsdorff-apotheke.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8
a.m. - 12 p.m.
Tourist Information, Markt 8, 07407 Rudolstadt. Phone: +49 (0)3672
486440, email: info@rudolstadt.de. Open: Mon-Sat, 9am-1pm.
In the
city center there is a permanently bubbling drinking water fountain,
this filling station is particularly important for visitors of the TFF
festival.
There was a fortified hilltop settlement on the
vineyard in Oberpreilipp. The recovered finds come from the end of
the Urnfield Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. A Celtic was
followed by the Germanic settlement and membership of the Thuringian
Kingdom. From the time after 500 a partial settlement of Slavs is
proven through archaeological finds.
In 776 the place was
first mentioned as Rudolfestat (settlement of Rudolf) as a gift from
Charlemagne to the Hersfeld monastery.
At the
beginning of the 13th century, Rudolstadt was in the possession of
the Counts of Orlamünde, from whom it passed partially to the Counts
of Schwarzburg around 1300 and in 1334 completely. Between the years
1264 and 1334 the "Niedere Burg" and the "Obere Burg" (Heidecksburg)
are documented in Rudolstadt. The former probably stood in the area
of today's Ludwigstrasse and Burgstrasse, the other on the later
palace terrace. In 1217 a pastor Heinrich who was active at the
former parish and later city church of St. Andrew in the old town is
recorded.
In the 14th century the place underwent a decisive
expansion. A settlement that was built at the foot of the castle
hill along the road from Schalbach to Andreaskirche was granted city
rights by the Counts of Orlamünde. This resulted in the construction
of the town hall, market and fortifications with the old gate and
church gate. The oldest surviving document with the statutes dates
to the year 1326. Council masters are first attested in 1378.
In the same century the lords of Schaala were named. They
probably had an influence on the design of the defensive character
of the church and the churchyard. Both the church and the churchyard
were fortified to protect the citizens until the middle of the 15th
century.
From around 1340 Rudolstadt was owned by the
Grafschaft Schwarzburg, whose capital it later became and remained
until 1920. In 1345 the two castles and the town (town hall and a
large part of the old and new town) suffered considerable
destruction by an Erfurt army as part of the Thuringian Count's War.
In the course of the reconstruction from 1345 to 1437, the city got
a completely new face (extension of the city fortifications).
Between 1434 and 1448 the Upper Castle was expanded into a
three-wing complex. In 1573 the successor building partially burned
out, whereupon the three-wing renaissance castle was built. In 1548
there were free settlements of fiefs of the Schwarzburg counts on
the site of the lower castle.
After the
Thirty Years War, the original “Neustadt” became the “Old New Town”
and the “New New Town” was developed. The 18th and 19th centuries
brought the city a cultural heyday, when numerous artists lived and
worked here. Friedrich Schiller also stayed in the city often. He
met his future wife Charlotte von Lengefeld here and first met
Goethe in the Beulwitz house, which is now a Schiller Museum, on
September 7, 1788.
In the course of the March Revolution in
1848, the democrats under Friedrich Carl Hönniger in Rudolstadt
became the leading political force. In 1848, Hönniger took over the
office of president in the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt state parliament
for a short time before he was elected by the Democrats as a member
of the Frankfurt National Assembly. Until 1918, when the last prince
abdicated, Rudolstadt belonged to the Principality of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (suzerainty). The last prince had no
biological descendants, so that the residential palace Heidecksburg
passed into the possession of the state of Thuringia.
In the
period up to 1932, the SPD was the strongest party in the Rudolstadt
city council. As early as December 1932, the NSDAP got as many seats
as the SPD and KPD (four of 19 seats each). After the transfer of
power to Hitler in 1933, the self-governing organs of the
communities and districts created in the Weimar Republic were
effectively wiped out. From 1936 to 1945 Rudolstadt was a garrison
town of the Wehrmacht. In 1938 the meeting of the German Hitler
Youth took place in Rudolstadt.
In 1918 at least 80 Jews were
still living in what was then the principality of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. The Rudolstadt Jews who could not flee were
deported and murdered after 1938. In 1935 the Jewish cemetery, which
was located at the northern foot of the castle hill, was leveled.
The persecution of opponents of Hitler claimed numerous victims,
such as the life of the KPD city councilor Werner John, who died in
the 999 penalty battalion. A street and a residential area remind of
him. Paul-Herger-Strasse has been commemorating the city councilor
and chairman of the KPD local group Volkstedt Paul Herger, who died
as a result of his imprisonment in Buchenwald concentration camp,
since 1949. A street name has also been a reminder of the resistance
from Catholic circles around Pastor Caspar Schulte since 1949. In
the period between 1933 and 1944, 597 people were victims of forced
sterilization in the state hospital. 126 inmates of the
Rudolstadt-Cumbach care house were murdered in 1940 in Zschadraß and
Pirna-Sonnenstein as part of the “euthanasia” program Action T4. A
memorial inaugurated in 1947 on the square of the victims of fascism
commemorates all victims of resistance and persecution. During the
Second World War, 953 women and men, mainly from Poland, had to do
forced labor in the war-essential Thuringian Zellwolle AG in
Schwarza. A grove of honor and other graves in the north cemetery on
Weimarische Strasse commemorate victims of forced labor from the
Soviet Union and other nations. Steles in Volkstedt and Schwarza
have been commemorating the victims of the death marches since 1985.
Three prisoners shot by the SS and found on Mönchshügel near
Groschwitz were buried in the Lichstedt cemetery.
In the last
days of World War II, the Volkstedt district was bombed by American
aircraft on April 10, 1945. 35 people and 165 houses, including the
church, were killed. Until his escape in 1941, the future French
President François Mitterrand was housed as a prisoner of war in the
Schaala district.
After the Second World War,
Rudolstadt-Schwarza developed into a center of the chemical industry
in the GDR. More than 6,000 employees found work in what was then
the “Wilhelm Pieck” chemical fiber combine, and several thousand
more in the supply industry.
In 1952 the district of
Rudolstadt was transformed into the district of Rudolstadt and its
layout was changed. The state of Thuringia was also dissolved and
the Rudolstadt district assigned to the Gera district. Shortly
before that, the industrial town of Schwarza (1939: 3233
inhabitants) bordering on Rudolstadt was incorporated.
On
August 15, 1992, on the 5th anniversary of Rudolf Hess' death, the
Rudolf Hess memorial march took place in Rudolstadt, in which the
members of the NSU core group also took part. Together with the
neo-Nazi Andreas Rachhausen from Saalfeld, Thomas Dienel organized
the event, for which almost 2,000 neo-Nazis from all over Germany
traveled. According to the authors of the book Heimatschutz about
the NSU complex, Stefan Aust and Dirk Laabs, the then 17-year-old
Tino Brandt from Rudolstadt helped organize the demonstration.
Volkstedt was incorporated in 1921 and Cumbach in 1929. On July 1, 1950, the towns of Mörla, Pflanzwirbach, Schaala and Schwarza followed. On October 1, 1993, Keilhau was incorporated into the city of Rudolstadt with Eichfeld, which was incorporated on July 1, 1950. Lichstedt, Oberpreilipp and Unterpreilipp followed on January 1, 1997. On January 1, 2019, the city of Remda-Teichel was incorporated.
Rudolstadt is located in the Saale valley and stretches from south to
east along the Saale bend, which is also known to the locals as the
"Saaleknie". In addition to this valley, the landscape is determined by
three other factors: to the north and west of the city stretches the
arid, sparsely populated shell limestone formation of the Ilm-Saale
plateau, to the south begins the Thuringian Slate Mountains and to the
east of the Saale lies the Hintere Heide, which from Hausberg, the 481
meter high Kulm, is dominated. Forest and meadow areas alternate on the
Ilm-Saale-Plate, the rest of the area surrounding Rudolstadt is
predominantly wooded. The Saale valley with its floodplains enables
productive agriculture. While the town center is about 200 meters above
sea level in the valley, some districts are located much higher at
between 300 and 400 meters above sea level. NN. The Schwarza flows into
the Saale in the district of Schwarza. Rock types are mainly shell
limestone and red sandstone in the north and slate in the south.
Due to the low altitude in the Saale valley, the climate is milder than
in the surrounding areas.
Rudolstadt is divided into 24 districts. In addition to the main
town, the following villages belong to the town (the first documentary
mention is given in brackets):
Ammelstadt (1350)
Breitenheerda
(1294)
Cumbach (10 November 1327)
Eichfeld (December 1074)
Eschdorf (1372)
Geitersdorf (1372)
Haufeld (802–817)
Heilsberg
(822–826)
Keilhau (March 26, 1306)
Lichstedt (with Groschwitz;
August 16, 1275)
Milbitz (1350)
Morla (April 28, 1417)
Oberpriilipp (December 1074)
Plant Wirbach (July 19, 1295)
Remda
(with Altremda and Kirchremda)
Schaala (with Schwarzenshof; 1071)
Schwarza (December 1074)
Sundremda (750–779)
Pond (1076)
Teichroeda (1334)
Staircase village (874)
Lower Liplip (December
1074)
Volkstedt (842–856)
Volkstedt, Schwarza, Mörla and
Cumbach form an urban unit together with the core town, while the other
places are spatially separated.
Neighboring municipalities are, clockwise from the north, Blankenhain, Uhlstädt-Kirchhasel, Unterwellenborn, Saalfeld, Bad Blankenburg, Königsee, Stadtilm, Rittersdorf and Bad Berka.
The cities of Rudolstadt, Saalfeld/Saale and Bad Blankenburg have
been working together since 1997 as the "City Triangle on the Saale
Arch" network. A discussion started by the local newspaper Ostthüringer
Zeitung about a merger of the three cities quickly fizzled out. At
administrative level, however, sensible possible partial cooperation is
still being discussed.
In 2001, Rudolstadt-based BKK Bio-Diesel
GmbH was founded in the Rudolstadt-Schwarza industrial area with a
connection to the B88 federal highway. The system is a fully automatic
operation and works in a 24-hour system. For the farmers in the region,
this operation is of considerable importance. They use the opportunity
to have their rape processed into vegetable oil or biodiesel and rape
cake. As a result, farmers are less dependent on imported animal feed
and fossil diesel.
Rudolstadt is on the federal highways 85 (Weimar-Saalfeld) and 88
(Ilmenau-Jena). In the area between Rudolstadt and Schwarza, the federal
roads run on a route that is similar to the motorway. Federal highway 90
also leads from Rudolstadt to the Stadtilm junction on federal highway
71. Other highways in the area are federal highway 4, about 30
kilometers to the north, and federal highway 9, about 40 kilometers to
the east.
Rudolstadt has two stations on the Saalbahn from
Naumburg to Lichtenfels, which opened in 1874: Rudolstadt and
Rudolstadt-Schwarza. The ICE trains on the Berlin-Munich route also used
this route until December 2017, with a stop in Saalfeld, about ten
kilometers to the south. At the train station in Schwarza, a
four-kilometre-long railway line to Bad Blankenburg branched off from
the Arnstadt–Saalfeld railway line. It was opened in 1884 and closed in
2000.
Rudolstadt operates a joint city bus network with the
neighboring cities of Saalfeld and Bad Blankenburg. There are regional
bus lines to Erfurt, Weimar and Ilmenau, among others, as well as to the
smaller towns in the area. KomBus operates a bus station at
Rudolf-Herzer-Platz. The city is located on the Classic Road, the Beer
and Castle Road, the Thuringian Porcelain Road and the
Feengrotten-Kyffhäuser-Weg. Erfurt-Weimar Airport is about 50 kilometers
away.
In addition to the traditional companies Aelteste Volkstedter
Porzellanmanufaktur (since 1762) and Ankerwerk (manufacturer of the
Anker stone building set), Rudolstadt also has BASF and STFG Filaments
(in Schwarza), Siemens Healthineers (formerly Siemens Medical
Solutions), FunderMax and the Thuringian Institute for Textile and
Plastics Research (TITK). AEROPHARM GmbH (formerly Ankerwerk), a
subsidiary of the NOVARTIS/Sandoz/HEXAL Group with over 330 employees,
has been active at the Rudolstadt site since 1876.
The Jass paper
mill is also located in the Schwarza district. In addition, the
traditional Greifenverlag (founded in 1919 in Hartenstein, since 1921 in
Rudolstadt) was based in the city.
The innovation and start-up
center in Rudolstadt is also the seat of the joint business development
agency founded in 2007 by the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and the
cities of Saalfeld, Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg. The innovation and
start-up center itself is an instrument of municipal economic
development.
The Ostthüringer Zeitung appears in Rudolstadt with a local edition. Rudolstadt is part of the coverage area of the SRB, which serves as a regional community media station on VHF 105.2 MHz for the entire region. The city administration has set up its own Instagram page for the dissemination of event tips, current information and tips.
The city is the seat of the Thuringian State Audit Office (located in
the Ludwigsburg City Palace), the Rudolstadt District Court, the
Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation (located in the Heidecksburg
Castle) and the Thuringian riot police.
In addition to
Rudolstadt, the Thuringia clinics with the district as the responsible
body also have two locations in the neighboring town of Saalfeld, in
Pößneck and in the Saale-Orla district.
The district of Keilhau has been the seat of the General German Educational Institute since 1817.