Magdeburg is the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The city
lies on the Elbe and is one of the three regional centers in the
country. With 236,235 inhabitants (State Statistical Office as of
June 30, 2020) Magdeburg is the second largest city in Saxony-Anhalt
after Halle (Saale) and the fifth largest city in the new federal
states. Magdeburg ranked 32nd on the list of major cities in Germany
in 2019.
The city was first mentioned in a document in 805.
In 968 Otto I, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (and
together with Otto von Guericke namesake of today's "Ottostadt
Magdeburg") founded the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. In the Middle
Ages, the Hanseatic city gained great importance through free trade
and Magdeburg city law. In the late Middle Ages it was one of the
largest German cities and the center of the Reformation and the
resistance against recatholization in the Schmalkaldic League. After
the almost complete devastation in the Thirty Years' War ("Magdeburg
Wedding"), Magdeburg was expanded to become the strongest fortress
in the Kingdom of Prussia.
In 1882 Magdeburg became a city
with over 100,000 inhabitants. During the Second World War, the city
was hit hard again: After the air raid on January 16, 1945, 90% of
the densely populated old town, 15 churches and large parts of the
Wilhelminian-style district were badly destroyed. During the GDR
era, several buildings damaged or destroyed by the war were
demolished, including the ruins of the Ulrichskirche in 1956. From
1952 to 1990 Magdeburg was a GDR district town, and since 1990 it
has been the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt.
The city at the
intersection of the Elbe, Elbe-Havel and Mittelland Canal has an
important inland port and is an industrial and commercial center.
Mechanical and plant engineering, health management, environmental
technologies and recycling management, logistics and the manufacture
of chemical products, iron and steel products, paper and textiles
are of economic importance.
Magdeburg is both a Protestant
and a Catholic bishopric. The symbol of the city is the Magdeburg
Cathedral.
There are numerous important cultural institutions
in the state capital, including the Magdeburg Theater and the
Magdeburg Cultural History Museum. Magdeburg is also the location of
the Otto von Guericke University and the Magdeburg-Stendal
University of Applied Sciences.
By plane
The attempt to establish a separate commercial airport
for Magdeburg in Cochstedt was unsuccessful. Since 2016, this no longer
has an operating license. There are several established airports not far
away.
The closest one is Leipzig/Halle Airport (IATA: LEJ), about
110km south of Magdeburg. From the airport station there you can take
the Intercity (every two hours) directly to Magdeburg in just over an
hour (it takes about the same time by car).
Hannover-Langenhagen
internet airport (IATA: HAJ) is located 150km west of the cathedral
city. The distance can be covered by car in about 1½ hours (if there
isn't a traffic jam on the A2), by S-Bahn and IC via Hannover Hbf in 1
hour 50 minutes.
Berlin Brandenburg internet airport (IATA: BER),
150km east of Magdeburg, is also an option. Here, however, the
connection by public transport is the least convenient: While it takes a
little over 1½ hours by car, it takes 2½ hours by bus and train from
Schönefeld (via Potsdam Hbf).
Magdeburg Airport (ICAO: EDBM),
Otto-Lilienthal-Strasse 8, 39120 Magdeburg. Tel.: +49 (0)391 62599 10,
fax: +49 (0)391 62599 66, e-mail: flugleitung@edbm.de. Magdeburg/City
Airport is a commercial airfield in the Beyendorfer Grund district. In
1968 the world championship in powered aerobatics took place on the
airfield. The airfield is mainly used by air athletes (gliders,
parachutists), microlight pilots and private pilots as well as for
sightseeing flights.
By train
Magdeburg Central Station,
Bahnhofstr. 69, 39104 Magdeburg. The main train station is on the
InterCity line between Leipzig and Hanover and can be reached every hour
from both directions. Every two hours there are IC trains from Dresden,
Bremen and Oldenburg as well as Cologne and the Ruhr area. ICEs only
stop a few times a day from the directions of Berlin, Cologne and
Munich. Features: free WiFi
In addition, a RegionalExpress runs
to and from Berlin every hour. There are also regional connections in
the direction of Halberstadt/Thale/Goslar, Bernburg, Aschersleben,
Dessau/Leipzig, Erfurt, Helmstedt/Braunschweig, Stendal/Uelzen,
Köthen/Halle and Haldensleben/Wolfsburg, as well as an S-Bahn to
Schönebeck-Bad Salzelmen and Wittenberge.
The fastest regular
direct connections take 1:15 hours from Leipzig, 1:20 hours from
Hanover, 1:40 hours from Berlin Hbf, 2:50 hours from Bremen, 3½ hours
from Dortmund, and 4:40 from Cologne hours (with ICE and changing trains
in Hanover, however, only 4:10). From Erfurt you drive via Halle in 1½
hours, from Hamburg via Uelzen in just under three hours.
It
takes about 10 minutes to walk from the main train station to the city
center and the cathedral. The ZOB can be reached directly through a
tunnel.
There are also suburban train stations, including:
Magdeburg-Neustadt, Gröperstraße, 39124 Magdeburg (north of the city
centre). for regional trains towards Wolfsburg, Stendal, Berlin,
Dessau-Roßlau. Feature: no WiFi.
Magdeburg-Buckau, Porsestraße 16,
39104 Magdeburg (south of the city center) . for regional trains towards
Halle, Halberstadt, Erfurt.
Magdeburg-Sudenburg, Sudenburger Wuhne,
39116 Magdeburg (to the west of the city). for regional trains in the
direction of Helmstedt/Braunschweig.
Magdeburg-Herrenkrug,
Herrenkrugstraße, 39114 Magdeburg (in "Ostelbien"). Trains towards
Dessau-Roßlau. Feature: no WiFi.
By bus
ZOB Magdeburg,
Konrad-Adenauer-Platz, 39104 Magdeburg. The central bus station is
located at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz, directly at the west exit of the main
train station. There are connections i.a. to Berlin, Hanover, Hamburg,
Dresden, Nuremberg and Munich. At international destinations u.a. Headed
to Amsterdam and Prague. Providers that go to Magdeburg are Flixbus,
Eurolines and Ecolines.
In the street
In Magdeburg,
environmental zones have been set up in accordance with the Fine Dust
Ordinance. If you don't have the appropriate badge, you risk a fine of
€100 when entering an environmental zone. This also applies to foreign
road users.
Entry ban for vehicles of pollutant groups 1+2+3 (Info
Federal Environment Agency)
There is no free parking anywhere in
the city center. Relatively inexpensive parking spaces are located on
Schleinufer/Petriforder and on the corner of Erzbergerstr./Virchowstr.
Alternatively, there are several car parks in shopping centers close to
the city center (e.g. City Carré and Allee-Center).
The east-west
autobahn A 2 (Hanover - Berlin) runs north of Magdeburg. In the west,
the A 14 (Leipzig - Halle - Magdeburg) touches the city.
From the
Magdeburg-Zentrum (A 2) and Magdeburg-Sudenburg (A 14) exits, you can
get into and through the city via the Magdeburger Ring (B 71), a
four-lane city motorway. This route is recommended if you want to go
downtown. From the Ring, you can use the Albert-Vater-Str./Universität
and Zentrum/Hauptbahnhof exits to get to the city center.
By boat
Petriford ship pier is a pier near the city center for the ships of the
Magdeburg White Fleet, for the theater ship and for river cruise ships.
Further information on (tourist) shipping can be found here.
By
bicycle
Magdeburg is on the Elbe Cycle Path, which is part of the D
10 national route. The closest milestones are Tangermünde and Dessau.
Magdeburg has a well-developed local transport network. The
Magdeburger Verkehrsbetriebe (MVB) maintain 10 tram lines, 2 ferries and
15 bus lines. It should be noted that from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. only 9
lines run, but instead every half hour or later every hour throughout
the night. The central collection point for almost all lines is the
Alter Markt. The line network plans can be found online for day and
night.
The fares are: €2.40, reduced: €1.80 (child 6-14 years).
The 24-hour ticket costs €5.80 (reduced €4.00). A weekly ticket is
available for €20.40. Further tariff information can be found here: MVB
fares
Furthermore, the S-Bahn Mittelelbe crosses Magdeburg in a
north-south direction on its route from Wittenberge to Schönebeck and
serves 10 stops in the city area every half hour.
Since December
12, 2010, Magdeburg has been part of the regional transport association
Marego, which covers an area of around 50km around Magdeburg. All
network tickets are valid on regional trains, trams and buses in the
respective tariff zone. The Saxony-Anhalt (Saxony/Thuringia) ticket is
also recognized by all public transport in the marego.
Panoramic view from the Johanniskirche. From left to right, the Rotehornpark, the Elbe, the cathedral, the Allee-Center and the old market with the new and old town hall are clearly visible.
Magdeburg Cathedral. (official: Cathedral of St. Mauritius
and Catherine). The symbol of the city of Magdeburg is the medieval
cathedral, which was built in the Gothic style (with remains of
Romanesque architecture). After the previous Romanesque cathedral burned
down in a fire, today's cathedral was built between 1207 and 1520. It is
the first Gothic sacred building on German soil and one of the largest
church buildings in Germany. It is 120 meters long, the towers are 104
meters high and the vaults in the central nave are 34 meters high. The
tomb of Emperor Otto I is in the cathedral. You can also visit the
cloister. Open: depending on the season Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun
11.30am-6pm (10am church service).
Convent of Our Lady. It is one of
the most important Romanesque buildings in Germany and was founded and
built in the 11th century. The monastery is no longer in function and
today houses, among other things, an art museum with sculptures and
contemporary art. Open: Tue-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat/Sun 10am-6pm, Mon closed.
Price: adults €4, concessions €2.
St. John's Church. The church is
used as a venue for concerts, among other things. It is also possible to
climb the 52m high church tower, from which you can enjoy a wonderful
view over Magdeburg.
Opening times: depending on the season, Tue-Sun
10 a.m.-6 p.m., closed on Mondays
Entrance fee: free
Sebastianskirche (Catholic), late Gothic hall church with three naves
Petrikirche (Catholic), Gothic hall church with a Romanesque tower,
rebuilt without a vault after being destroyed
Walloon Church
(Protestant-Lutheran and Protestant-Reformed), Gothic hall church,
rebuilt without a vault after being destroyed
St. Nicolai
(Protestant), classicist building (1821-1824)
State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. The building of today's state
parliament was built in 1728. The building is in the baroque style.
Guided tours through parts of the building and visits to a plenary
session of the state parliament are possible on request (0391/5600).
Palais am Fürstenwall. Built in 1893 in the style of an Italian palazzo.
The palace is the seat of the prime minister. Visits are not possible.
Green citadel of Magdeburg. Magdeburg's newest building relevant to
tourism is the last building designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
The building, with a floor area of 6000 m² and a height of 35 m, is the
largest single structure by the Austrian artist. It was completed in
2005, five years after the death of its creator. In the house there are
apartments, shops, a hotel and a kindergarten.
Opening times: outdoor
area and inner courtyard at any time
Guided tours: Mon-Fri 11 a.m., 3
p.m. and 5 p.m. Sat/Sun 11am-5pm every hour.
Cost: €8 adults, €7
reduced (and €2.50 students?) plus €2 extra for climbing the tower
(cannot be booked separately).
Registration: on site or by phone at
0391/6208655.
Magdeburg Waterway Crossing. Since the completion of
the 918m long Magdeburg canal bridge, a trough bridge of the Mittelland
Canal over the Elbe, in 2003, the waterway junction has been complete
and ships can switch between the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe in any
direction without detours. Other structures include the Rothensee ship
lift, the Rothensee savings lock and the Hohenwarthe lock. All buildings
are located about 10km north of downtown. The Rothensee lock and the
ship lift are 2.4 km from the canal bridge.
Opening hours: 24 h
Entrance fee: free
Princely wall. Here is a small promenade
between the cathedral and the Elbe. Some (partially destroyed)
fortifications can still be seen.
Opening hours: 24 h
Entrance
fee: free
Old Town Hall After the Second World War, the old town
hall, built in the early 18th century, was rebuilt true to the original.
The facade is worth seeing; on the right is the Magdeburg Roland, built
in 2005. The bronze town hall door depicts scenes from Magdeburg's
history. The golden statue of the Magdeburg rider is located directly in
front of the town hall. A carillon is also mounted on the old town hall.
It is played by a carillonist every Friday at 10 a.m. Accessible only
from the outside, the building continues to be used by the city as the
town hall.
Magdeburg Fortress. In the 18th and 19th centuries,
Magdeburg was one of the best fortified cities in Prussia. At the
beginning of the 20th century the fortifications had become ineffective,
which is why the fortress was abolished. In the years that followed, the
buildings of the fortress fell into disrepair. Today there are only a
few well-preserved buildings of the fortress. These include the Mark
barracks, Fort XII in the Stadtpark, the Lukasklause towers
wikipediacommons (which now houses the Otto von Guericke Museum) and 13
Kiek in de Köken wikipediacommons, and the Cleve wikipedia bastion. The
last two are located on the Fürstenwall.
Magdeburg has a large number of museums with different collection
directions and focuses.
In 1906 the Magdeburg Cultural History
Museum was opened. It mainly deals with the history and handicrafts of
the city and the region. Highlights of the museum are the original
statue of the famous Magdeburg horseman and the monumental painting with
scenes from the life of Otto the Great by Arthur Kampf in the
Kaiser-Otto-Saal as well as numerous pieces on the history of the city
within the permanent exhibition.
The Museum of Natural History is
located in the same building as the Museum of Cultural History. It goes
back to the Natural Science Association of Magdeburg, founded in 1869,
which initially housed the museum in a building on Domplatz. After its
destruction in the war and the loss of numerous exhibits, the saved
exhibits were temporarily housed in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. The
oldest museum in the city has around 250,000 objects of geology,
mineralogy, paleontology and zoology and shows numerous animal
specimens.
In November 2018, the Ottonianum Magdeburg Cathedral
Museum was opened, which is located directly opposite Magdeburg
Cathedral. Emperor Otto the Great (912-973) and Queen Editha (910-946),
the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and the archaeological research in and
around the cathedral are presented in the form of numerous finds and
animations within three main themes.
The Otto von Guericke Museum
was opened in the Lukasklause in 1995. It provides information about
Otto von Guericke, shows replicas of devices such as a hand-held fire
engine and the Magdeburg weatherman, and demonstrates experiments.
A special feature among the Magdeburg museums is the millennium
tower in the Elbauenpark. At 60 meters, the building erected for the
Federal Garden Show in 1999 is the tallest laminated wood structure in
the world. 6000 years of history of science and technology are exhibited
there with several hundred exhibits and experiments. An astronomical
telescope offers the possibility of reading the clock in Magdeburg
Cathedral. A Foucault pendulum illustrates the rotation of the earth.
The Technikmuseum Magdeburg is located in an old factory hall of the
former Krupp Gruson works, which is under monument protection, with
exhibits of drive and machine tools, printing technology, locking
technology and traffic, including the first Magdeburg tram from 1899 and
Hans Grade's airplane, with which he landed in 1908 Germany's first
powered flight on the Cracauer Anger.
The art museum Kloster
Unser Lieben Frauen in a former monastery from the 11th and 12th
centuries and thus one of the oldest buildings in the city is the most
important exhibition venue for sculptures from antiquity, the Middle
Ages and modern times and for other contemporary art in Saxony-Anhalt.
Attached to the Magdeburg Puppet Theater, the Villa p. a collection
of figures and games that, with over 1,000 puppets and objects, spreads
the history of puppetry against the background of the various social
systems over 600 m².
The circus museum deals with dressage,
artistry, clowning and vaudeville, the hairdressing museum with the
history of the hairdressing trade and a historic hairdressing salon from
1929. Also worth mentioning are the museum ship Württemberg, the
historic ship mill on the Petrifoerder, the open-air museum
Steinzeithaus Randau with a replica of one 4,500-year-old post house
excavated there and a clay oven, as well as the Slavic village of
Pechau, which shows the settlement of the eastern Elbe region from the
8th to the 12th century. There are currently 15 different historic trams
on display in the Sudenburg museum depot, which also offer round trips
on several routes.
In 2014, Magdeburg's first GDR museum
apartment opened on Hohenpfortestraße in a Q6 block residential
building. The museum apartment consists of three rooms, a kitchen, a
bathroom and contains over 1,000 original exhibits from the GDR era.
The Sudenburg museum depot houses historical carriages of the
Magdeburg tram. Cultural events are also held in the depot.
Magdeburg is home to galleries whose exhibitions show contemporary
art, paintings, graphics and sculptures, photographs and printing
technology. In addition to the permanent exhibitions, there are regular
exhibitions by national and international artists in various public and
private spaces in the city.
City Permanent Galleries:
Art
Depot – predominantly works by international, mostly Eastern European
artists
Galerie Himmelreich – mainly artists from Saxony-Anhalt or
other national artists
Flurgalerie Eisenbart – special support for
young artists
Gallery of living Art - interactive gallery mainly run
by students
HO gallery
Gallery South in the cultural center
"Feuerwache"
Magdeburg Castle Gallery
art workshop
Aerosol
Arena – Germany's largest legal Hall of Fame in a 30,000 m² large,
derelict building complex in the old industrial port of Rothensee;
through the association “Freiluft-Atelier e. V.” released for all
graffiti and street art artists; a special feature are the up to 60 × 2
m large walls; in the future, train wagons are to be set up there,
making the area the world's first whole car yard.
The Theater Magdeburg, a four-section theater with its own ensembles
in the fields of music theater, philharmonic orchestra, ballet and
drama, maintains two theaters in Magdeburg, on the one hand the
traditional opera house on Universitätsplatz for music theater, ballet
and concerts with a large stage, other small stages and a podium and on
the other hand the playhouse in Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse with a large
stage, a studio and a foyer.
In 2013, more than 175,000 visitors
attended the events at Theater Magdeburg. One of the most popular events
is the Domplatz Open Air in summer with almost 23,000 visitors. Thus,
the occupancy rate of the theater was more than 80%.
The music
theater section is covered by the Magdeburg Opera. A powerful opera
ensemble, the Magdeburg Ballet and the nationally recognized Magdeburg
Philharmonic are housed here. In addition to major operas and symphony
concerts, operettas, musicals, literary ballets, theater evenings,
tabloid comedies and small forms of opera are also performed. There are
also programs in the "Cafe Rossini", performances by Germany's largest
youth theater club, free young and wild in the "Podium", special events,
opera balls and galas and prominent guest artists.
The acting
division is occupied by the Magdeburg acting department. It is housed in
the Magdeburg Playhouse, and theater literature of various times and
genres is performed, particularly contemporary domestic and foreign
drama. Among the pieces are many world premieres and German-language
premieres. In addition to the normal performances, the Magdeburg Theater
also offers a variety of events, such as "Jazz in der Kammer" under the
direction of Warnfried Altmann, Magdeburg's most famous jazz music, or
"Nachtschicht", where shows and pieces from literature, music, dance and
mix are presented .
The Magdeburg Puppet Theater from 1958 is one
of the largest and most modern puppet theaters in Europe. It has a large
hall with over 140 seats and a small one with 60 seats and the latest
stage technology, a rehearsal stage and other small stages. It offers
age-specific productions for all age groups from kindergarten to
adulthood. Affiliated to the puppet theater is the Magdeburg Youth Art
School, which offers cultural education for children, young people,
families and adults and is located in the "Thiem 20" cultural center. It
is the last independent municipal theater in Germany with a focus on
puppetry.
The "Magdeburg Children's Culture Days" or the
international puppet theater festival "Blickwechsel" take place
alternately every year, attracting more than 10,000 spectators from all
over the world to the city. In 2012, the puppet theater opened a
permanent exhibition in a neighboring, renovated half-timbered villa
(villa p.), which presents the history of puppetry from its origins to
the present day using a collection of figures and games.
In 1992,
the idea of Ines Lacroix and Matthias Engel gave rise to the "Theater an
der Angel" with more than a dozen productions and room for around 100
people in the hall. The theater is supported by veteran Peter Wittig.
Happy, comedic or thought-provoking pieces are played.
The
improvisational theater "Herzsprung" is a small theater group that
describes their plays with rough descriptions, but lets the audience
inspire them while they play. In this way they develop spontaneous
stories and scenes without a script or director. Other improvisation
groups from Magdeburg are the groups "Changing of the Scenery", "Vault
Hunter" and "Imaginary". The "Theatre in the Green Citadel" was formed
in the Green Citadel. It is a mix of theatre, show, music and comedy,
cultural events in Magdeburg are to be staged. It is the only theater in
the world that can be found in a Hundertwasser house. The theater has
room for up to 200 spectators, and exhibitions, readings and events also
take place here.
The "MS Marco Polo" based in Schönebeck has been
used as a theater ship by various ensembles since 2009 under the name
Theaterschiff Magdeburg.
The Magdeburg dilemma plays with its own ensemble in the theater in
the Leiterstraße and is known throughout the German-speaking world, on
the one hand for its numerous prizes and on the other for the MDR
television program "Die 3 von der Zankstelle". They have had guest
performances all over Germany, in Switzerland and in Stockholm.
"Die
Kugelblitze" are a cabaret group consisting of three cabaret artists who
are currently showing their plays as regular guests in the Magdeburg
dilemma.
The cabaret "... nach Hengstmanns" with the Hengstmann
brothers Sebastian and Tobias Hengstmann and their father Frank
Hengstmann and Bernd Kurt Goetz has been located in Breite Weg in
Magdeburg since 2008. In addition to the usual political satire, the
plays are often based on the family relationship between the two
brothers.
In addition, Lothar Bölck and the student cabaret
"Prolästerrat für Studienunangebote", founded in 1972, play in the
Magdeburg fire station, a socio-cultural center of the city.
The trio
Po-Ente has been enriching the Magdeburg cabaret scene since 2013. Their
stage is in the Club Kiste on the medical campus of the university
hospital.
In 2015 there were 569,791 overnight stays in Magdeburg, including
over 74,333 from abroad. This makes Magdeburg one of the 40 most visited
German cities. The state capital was able to increase the number of
overnight stays by almost 50% compared to the record low in 2000.
In June 2015, the Magdeburg hotel landscape consisted of 43
accommodations with a bed capacity of around 5,200 beds, with an
occupancy rate of around 40%. The average length of stay for hotel
guests from Germany is 1.6 days, for guests from abroad 1.7 days. Among
the largest and finest hotels in Magdeburg are the Maritim Hotel and the
Herrenkrug Parkhotel on the Elbe. Magdeburg Marketing Kongress und
Tourismus GmbH (MMKT GmbH) is primarily responsible for marketing in the
city of Magdeburg.
Magdeburg is part of several tourist
itineraries. The 1,200 km long Elbe Cycle Path, one of the most popular
cycle paths in Germany, runs through the city along the Elbe. A large
number of buildings from the Middle Ages can be visited on the
Romanesque Road. The northern and southern routes of the Romanesque Road
meet in Magdeburg.
The city is also located on the Blaues Band
water hiking route, which runs along the Elbe and is part of the
Sachsen-Anhalt Garden Dreams, a state-wide network for the rediscovery
of historic parks and gardens. There is also the "Straße der Technik" in
Magdeburg, which provides information about the engineering structures
in the region, including, for example, the last operational two-float
hoist in Europe, the tanning craft that has existed since the 13th
century, the last original preserved Germany's telegraph station and
what used to be the longest linear graduation tower in Europe.
The best-known leisure facilities include the Gruson greenhouses, a
botanical garden with almost 5,000 mostly exotic plants, an aquarium,
some reptiles (caimans, chameleons, geckos, turtles), amphibians (poison
dart frogs and clawed frogs) and a group of free-ranging ostrich quail .
In addition to the large Nemo adventure pool, there are other
swimming pools and outdoor pools in Magdeburg, including the Elbe
swimming pool, which is also part of the Federal Training Center for
swimming, the Olvenstedt swimming pool, the North swimming pool, the
Große Diesdorfer Straße swimming pool, the Carl Miller pool, the Outdoor
pool south and the Erich-Rademacher-Bad. Diving training courses and
diving trips are offered in the Diving Center Magdeburg.
The
largest lakes in Magdeburg are the Barleber Seen, the Salbker See I, the
Salbker See II, the Adolf-Mittag-See with pedal boat rentals and the
Neustädter See as a bathing lake with a "Cable Island" water ski
facility.
The Elbe is important for water tourism. Its use as a
waterway is declining. There are now more pleasure boats and passenger
ships than cargo ships. In 2014, 1,823 freight ships with 0.421 cargo
tons, 1,610 passenger ships, 3,089 sports boats and 544 other vehicles
(e.g. police, THW) were counted on the Magdeburg city route. In 2016,
the number of cargo ships continued to decline; the transport volume
fell to 0.3 million tons. On the other hand, the use of passenger
shipping is increasing. According to estimates by the Blaues Band
association, between 350,000 and 400,000 tourists were transported on
the Elbe in 2016.
On the Elbe and the Old Elbe there are about 20
km of sandy beaches, which come to light between the groynes and on
inner curves, especially when the tide is low in summer. The water of
the Elbe is clean again after 1990 as a result of the discontinuation of
industrial plants and the construction of sewage treatment plants and
has bathing water quality at visibility depths of more than one meter.
Magdeburg is the only city on the Elbe where bathing in the Elbe is
prohibited. So far, an exemption has usually been granted for the Elbe
bathing day that takes place in July on the Old Elbe.
Magdeburg's
large cinema complexes are the Cinemaxx cinema in the city center and
the Cinestar cinema on the Pfahlberg on the BAB 2. The smaller cinemas
include the Studio cinema, the Oli Lichtspiele, the Scala film theater
Sudenburg and Magdeburg's smallest cinema, the Moritzhof cultural
center. In summer there are also some open-air cinemas, the largest
being the SWM City summer cinema in the city park.
The
Elbauenpark, built for the 1999 Federal Horticultural Show in Magdeburg,
includes a natural playground, a 40 m long summer toboggan run, a 25 m
high climbing rock, a Frisbee disc golf course, a fitness and skate
course, a high ropes course, a maze and a butterfly house with over 250
butterflies of 20 species and the Millennium Tower with an exhibition on
the development of science.
Another adventure park is the
Herrenkrug Park with the Magdeburg Exhibition Centre, a golf course, the
Herrenkrugwiesen racecourse and the Nemo water park.
The
Klosterbergegarten with the Gesellschaftshaus is the first public garden
in Germany.
Among the various bowling facilities in the city,
Bowling World Magdeburg is one of the largest with its 30-lane bowling
facility, billiard tables, table tennis tables, numerous video game
machines and its own sports bar.
There are around a dozen skate
parks and dirt parks in Magdeburg. The best-known facilities are the
modern skate park built in 2013 in Stadtpark Rotehorn and the Dirtpark
M-Trails between the old town and Stadtfeld Ost. The city also has
indoor and outdoor cross tracks, the motocross track Magdeburg and the
SX motocross hall Magdeburg. The Rennring Magdeburg in Buckau is a 500 m
long indoor go-kart track, the largest go-kart track in Saxony-Anhalt.
In the Magdeburg adventure park, you can try out how to handle the
various construction machines on a sandy area of more than 130,000 m²
with large and small crawler excavators, mini excavators and small and
large wheel loaders.
The city's major sports venues are the MDCC
Arena, the Heinrich Germer Stadium, the GETEC Arena and the Hermann
Gieseler Hall. Air sports are also operated at the Magdeburg airfield.
The 16-hectare Magdeburg Zoo is home to around 1,400 animals of
around 210 species. It is located in Vogelgesangpark Neue Neustadt. More
than 300,000 visitors visit it every year. It is currently being
converted from a "classic zoo" into an adventure zoo. The zoo is
involved in over 43 conservation breeding programs and international
studbooks. In facilities such as the giraffe house, the ape house, the
meerkat enclosure or the petting enclosure, visitors should be brought
relatively close but safely to the animals, with the animals living in
species-appropriate environments.
It is open 365 days a year and
closes in the evening when dusk falls.
Probably the best-known square in Magdeburg is Hasselbachplatz,
which, along with Damaschkeplatz, represents a central connection point
in local transport. With its many bars, pubs and restaurants, the square
has developed into the center of Magdeburg's nightlife in recent years.
It is also known for the high proportion of well-preserved Gründerzeit
houses.
The Universitätsplatz is one of the most frequented
places in Magdeburg. Originally it was a magnificent place with many
imposing buildings, which were almost completely destroyed in the Second
World War. Today the opera house, the university, the city library and
other office buildings are located on Universitätsplatz. In addition to
Deutsche Telekom, there are offices for IBM and the IT service company
DATEV. Since 2006, the square has been underpassed by a tunnel for the B
1 road traffic.
A green area in the city center is Ulrichsplatz,
in the northwestern part of which the Ulrich and Levin Church used to
stand. The church, which was damaged in World War II, was demolished in
the GDR era. Today the square is a resort and is known for its
distinctive fountain. The square is surrounded by buildings in socialist
classicism and by the modern Ulrichshaus.
On the Elbe promenade
is the place of the workers' flag with a water feature and a restored
gauge house, which shows the current status of the Elbe. The square is
colloquially called "Petri" and is always a meeting place for many young
people.
The town square is located in the center of the newly
created district on the site of the former Elbe railway station.
Striking buildings are the large lifting bridge, the Elbe balcony and
the time traveler.
In addition to weekly markets, other large
events such as the European Festival or the Magdeburg Christmas market
also take place on the Old Market with the town hall and its
"triumvirate", consisting of the Magdeburg rider, Roland figure and deer
column.
In addition to the Magdeburg Cathedral, Magdeburg's
landmark, the cathedral square also houses magnificent baroque buildings
and modern buildings and is the oldest residential area in the city. Its
most important buildings include the building complex with the state
parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, the Ministry of Justice and Equal
Opportunities and the headquarters of the Norddeutsche Landesbank, which
is decorated with a yellow and white baroque facade. Due to the strong
economic and political environment of the cathedral square, there are
comparatively few cafés, restaurants and shops in its immediate
vicinity, which is why it is more frequented by visitors to the
cathedral.
Other important places in Magdeburg include
Nicolaiplatz with the Church of St. Nicolai, Neustädter Platz with the
fairytale fountain, Schellheimerplatz, which is surrounded by many
Gründerzeit houses, and Thiemplatz, Buckau's cultural center.
Magdeburg's most famous street, the Breite Weg, was once one of the
longest and most beautiful baroque streets in Europe as well as a
military and trade route, but was almost completely destroyed in the
Second World War, especially in the northern section. Only the baroque
buildings with house numbers 178 and 179 and a few Gründerzeit houses
near Hasselbachplatz were spared the bombs. In the meantime, it is more
characterized by modern buildings such as the Allee-Center and the Green
Citadel. The Breite Weg connects two of the most important squares in
Magdeburg, the Universitätsplatz with the Hasselbachplatz, and is a
pedestrian zone in the northern section.
The Hegelstraße near the
cathedral was built in the Gründerzeit based on the Parisian model. It
houses magnificent buildings such as the Palais am Fürstenwall, which
has been the seat of the State Chancellery and the Prime Minister of
Saxony-Anhalt since 1990, and is one of the few streets in Magdeburg
that is completely paved.
Leiterstraße, Magdeburg's smallest
pedestrian zone and once an important shopping street, is one of the
oldest streets in the city. It was largely destroyed in World War II.
Today it houses restaurants, the Magdeburger Zwickmühle cabaret and the
city's youth hostel.
The colorful Otto-Richter-Strasse in the
Sudenburg district was awarded the German Facade Prize in 2004. The
initiator of this street design is the architect Bruno Taut, who was
elected Magdeburg's city planning officer in the 1920s. His task was to
transform Magdeburg into a colorful city. Well-known artists such as
Carl Krayl designed many houses and streets. Due to the destruction of
the Second World War, not many of these colorful streets were preserved.
Only the restored Otto-Richter-Strasse is the last remnant of this
architecture.
Important traffic arteries in the city are the
Magdeburger Ring, which was built as an elevated road in the 1970s, and
the B 1 city crossing.
Magdeburg is home to a large number of fountains, one of the most
monumental being the Hasselbach Fountain on Haydnplatz. It stood on
Hasselbachplatz until 1927, but had to move there for traffic reasons.
The Eulenspiegel Fountain on the Alter Markt was erected there in
1970 and shows Till Eulenspiegel standing on a column above the people
of Magdeburg and mocking them. The Eisenbarth Fountain, which shows
Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (“Doctor Eisenbarth”), was built in 1939.
Similar to Eulenspiegel, Eisenbarth stands on a pillar, only in a
barker's pose.
On the Ulrichsplatz is one of the largest
fountains at the end of the meadow area. Very close by, on Leiterstraße,
first mentioned in 1263 and thus one of the oldest shopping streets in
Magdeburg, is the Faunbrunnen, also known as the "Devil's Fountain".
Figures, including people and animals, but also fauns, sirens and other
creatures, cavort in and on a large bronze cauldron. Also popular is the
water feature on the Petriförder at the workers' flag. Water sprays from
five fountains onto a river-like watercourse that meanders through the
square.
The Immermann Fountain honors the Magdeburg playwright
and writer Karl Immermann. Scenes from his works are depicted on the
fountain, water flows out of a fish head. In the northern section of the
Breiter Weg there are a few fountains from GDR times, for example a ball
fountain, three bowl fountains, the fountain "Die Badede" and a drinking
fountain. A fountain was built in Olvenstedt, which consists of a sphere
weighing several tons that floats on a thin film of water and can
therefore be moved. One of the most striking fountains is the Fairy Tale
Fountain on Neustädter Platz, which is said to evoke Russian fairy tales
and the shape of Russian basilicas.
In the course of the redesign
of the cathedral square, the new light and water features were
inaugurated in 2013. They consist of a total of 66 fountain nozzles and
33 mist nozzles that emerge from the ground and spray the water in an
arc into the air.
Magdeburg has an emergency well system
consisting of handle pumps designed according to historical models at
various locations in the city.
Magdeburg is divided into two large urban areas by the Elbe, with the
city spreading out towards the west. Between the urban areas is the
Marieninsel, on which, among other things, the Rotehornstadtpark is
located. As a result, bridges have become an important part of the city
over time. Magdeburg has a total of 135 bridges, including 103 road
bridges and 32 pedestrian bridges (as of 2009).
Magdeburg's
oldest stone bridges from 1882, the customs bridge over the Zollelbe
with its four allegorical figures, which was extensively renovated in
2006/2007, and the Anna-Ebert Bridge, at the end of which a stone lion
bearing a coat of arms is enthroned, are the eastern extension of the
New River Bridge, which dates from 1965 and was not built with arches
and pillars like its predecessors. Since the listed Anna-Ebert Bridge is
in a dilapidated condition, a cable-stayed bridge with a pylon is being
built on the western bank of the Old Elbe in the eastern extension of
the river bridge and the road across the Werder, the river bridge.
The northern stretch of bridge consists of the western, almost
parallel Jerusalem bridges, of which the arch bridge known as the South
Bridge dates from 1952 and the tied arch bridge known as the North
Bridge dates from 1996, and the Bridges of Peace, which also consist of
two bridge structures, of which the southern one is a 1997 steel
composite girder bridge and the northern one is a 1996 prestressed
concrete girder bridge. For car traffic, crossing the Elbe in the city
area is only possible via the Nordbrücke train or the Strombrücke train.
The Sternbrücke in the south of Magdeburg connects the old town with
the Elbe island of Rotehorn and the Rotehorn Park. In its place was the
"Alte Sternbrücke", which was inaugurated in 1922 and blown up in 1945
during the Second World War. Reconstruction had been considered since
1991, and in 2005 the ceremonial inauguration could finally take place
in front of 100,000 people. It is used by pedestrians and cyclists as
well as public transport buses and taxis.
One of the largest
lifting bridges in Germany is the Magdeburg lifting bridge from 1934.
The single-track railway bridge was built in 1846/47 as a multi-part
construction with a rotating middle section. Due to larger ships, the
swing bridge had to be replaced by a lift bridge in 1895, which was
replaced by the current design in 1934. It is no longer used as a
railway bridge, but only as a pedestrian bridge. The central section
(span 90 m) is permanently raised due to shipping traffic.
Another lifting bridge is the lifting bridge in the commercial port,
which is the oldest of its kind in Germany. Built in 1894 for the port
railway, it has since been shut down and is now only a technical
monument. It has been open to pedestrians and cyclists again since 2009.
Magdeburg's rail bridge over the Elbe, the Herrenkrug Railroad
Bridge, spans the commercial port area and was completed in 1979. It
replaced a railway bridge built in 1873, which represented an obstacle
to shipping due to its pillars at low tide.
Other bridges are the
Herrenkrugsteg, which has been connecting pedestrians and cyclists
across the Elbe to the Herrenkrugpark from Magdeburg Neustadt since
1999, the bridge at the waterfall near the Cracau Waterfall, also open
to pedestrians and cyclists, and the Reyherbrücke, which crosses the
Taube Elbe and which is a rare bridge construction, a fish belly bridge.
After Hanover, Magdeburg is the city with the highest proportion of
green spaces. In addition to the three large parks Elbauenpark,
Stadtpark and Herrenkrugpark on the east bank of the Elbe, there are
also a few smaller parks in Magdeburg. The Elbauenpark, the Stadtpark
and the Klosterbergegarten belong to the Garden Dreams Network –
Historical Parks in Saxony-Anhalt.
Elbauenpark (main ticket
office). A 100-hectare park was created on a former barracks site in
1999 for the Federal Horticultural Show. The park is divided into large
and small Anger, which are separated by Herrenkrugstraße. Two bridges
connect the parts. Most of the park consists of meadows and planted
beds. In the west it is bordered by the Elbe, in the southeast by a
filled-in garbage dump, one of the highest elevations in the city area.
The main entrance is at the Magdeburg Exhibition Center on
Herrenkrugstrasse, and in summer there is also a side entrance at the
Schmetterlinghaus on Breitscheidstrasse. The park is particularly
suitable for families with children. The highlight of the park is the
very descriptive technology history museum millennium tower. There are
several playgrounds, a maze, a summer toboggan run and a butterfly
house. These attractions are included in the entrance fee. Admission
does not include the climbing tower, a high ropes course and the
panoramic monorail that runs through the park. There is also a lake
stage for larger events in the park. The park has been voted among the
ten most beautiful parks in Germany several times. Open: every day,
depending on the season. November-March: 10am-4pm, April: 9am-6pm,
May-September: 9am-8pm, October: 9am-6pm. Price: November-February:
Free, March: €1, remaining months: €3 adults, €2 concessions.
Herrenkrug Park. 1830 by Peter Joseph Lenné laid out 64 hectare park.
The park runs along the Elbe and is mostly wooded. There are several
small sculptures distributed in the park (e.g. spherical sundial, lion).
The Herrenkrughotel with attached beer garden is located in the park.
There is a horse racing track east of the park. Open: 24h. Price: free.
City Park/Rotehorn Park. Planned and laid out in the late 19th century,
it is the largest park in Magdeburg at 200 hectares. The park is located
on an Elbe island surrounded by the Stromelbe and the old Elbe. It is
partly forested. A circuit of the park is 5km long. In the city park are
the city hall, an observation tower, the 26 museum ship Württemberg
wikipediacommons and the well-preserved Fort XII of the Magdeburg
Fortress. The Elbarm Taube Elbe has been expanded into a lake where you
can rent pedal boats or rowing boats. Next to the town hall there is a
playground for children. There is a shared barbecue area right next to
the Sternbrücke. Open: 24h. Price: free.
Klosterbergegarten. The park
was laid out after 1824 according to plans by the Potsdam horticultural
director Peter Joseph Lenné on the site of the former Berge Monastery,
which was destroyed during Napoleonic rule in 1813, and today has an
area of eleven hectares. It is located on the west bank of the Elbe
opposite the city park. Adjacent to the park is the Magdeburg Society
House, completed in 1828. Open: 24h. Price: free.
Gruson Greenhouses.
They house an exotic plant collection, the legacy of the Magdeburg
industrialist and plant collector is to be preserved. Open:
Tue-Sun/holidays 9am-5pm. Price: adults €3.50, reduced €2.
Magdeburg
Zoological Garden. About 1000 animals are at home in the zoo, which only
opened in 1950. Including many larger animals such as elephants,
giraffes, rhinos and lions. In 1991, extensive conversion work began to
keep the animals in a more species-appropriate manner. Since then, the
concrete-heavy, naturally designed enclosures have been gradually giving
way. Open: daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Price: adults €8, concessions €6.
Sibling Scholl Park. A small park on the site of a former bastion of the
Magdeburg Fortress. The soil profile of the fortress has been preserved,
so there are some steep slopes that are not typical for Magdeburg. The
park can be explored via stairs. Open: 24h. Price: free.
Möllenvogtei
Garden . This small garden is located between the cathedral and the
Fürstenwall. Many historic buildings and structures are still visible.
This is one of the few places in Magdeburg where medieval flair is still
exuded. Open: 24h. Price: free.
The city has a large number of monuments, but unlike other cities, in
Magdeburg you can find many of the statues and sculptures in the city
center.
The first to be mentioned is the Magdeburg Rider, erected
around 1240, which is considered to be the first free-standing
equestrian statue north of the Alps. The original is in the Cultural
History Museum in Magdeburg, and there is a replica on the Alter Markt.
Emperor Otto I is probably depicted. The Magdeburg Roland is also on the
Alter Markt, with a small figure by Till Eulenspiegel on the back. It
was repositioned in 2005 at the entrance to the Ratskeller. In 2012, the
historic triumvirate on the Alter Markt was completed with the
re-erection of the deer column. The Magdeburg horseman symbolizes the
emperor's obligation to pay tribute, the Roland symbolizes the city's
striving for independence and the stag embodies the promise of paradise.
Between the old and new town hall is the monument to Otto von
Guericke from 1907.
Gloria Friedmann's striking sculpture Time
Counter has been standing on the town square on the left bank of the
Elbe since 2008: a figure sits on a globe with a diameter of 3 m and
holds a clock in front of his head with his hands that shows the local
time. 18 or 19 clocks are embedded in the plastic sphere at the
locations of world-famous rivers. The times applicable there can be read
on the dials labeled with the river names.
The figure staircase
"Telemann and the four temperaments" was set up in 1981 next to the
monastery of Our Lady and shows the Magdeburg composer Georg Philipp
Telemann, who is surrounded by four female figures showing the
temperaments. In 1901, a Gutenberg memorial was erected to the north of
Universitätsplatz for the inventor of the printing press, Johann
Gutenberg.
In the Harnackstrasse there is a monument to General
von Steuben, who played a major role in the American War of
Independence. The Luther monument stands in front of the
Sankt-Johannis-Kirche, which is supposed to remind that he preached in
this church on June 26, 1524 in front of a large crowd.
The
Luisen monument to Queen Luise of Prussia has an eventful history. In
1963 it was thrown off the pedestal and the statue then disappeared into
a foundation pit of a dormitory. Only since 2009 has it been back in its
original location, the Geschwister-Scholl-Park. A corresponding earlier
monument to the popular Prussian Queen had been torn down in the GDR era
in the 1960s.
Other monuments would be, for example, the "Lazare
Carnot Monument" in the North Park, the "August Wilhelm Francke
Monument" also in the North Park, the "Mechthild von Magdeburg Monument"
on the Fürstenwall or the Kozlowski Monument.
Monuments and
sculptures in the city invite you to take a tour of public art in
Magdeburg. The sculpture Der Fährmann is located in the northern area of
the Elbe promenade. It shows a ferryman on the one hand and scenes from
Magdeburg's city history on the other. The Magdeburg sculpture park was
created in 1989 and was initially limited to the area around the
monastery of Our Lady. Today there are also sculptures to the north of
the Hundertwasserhaus, on the banks of the Elbe, in the area of the Elbe
train station up to the Magdeburg lifting bridge and in the area north
of the monastery complex. A total of 40 works by various artists are on
display.
Magdeburg has a total of 16 cemeteries, of which only 14 have
burials.
The largest cemetery in Magdeburg is the Westfriedhof on
Grosse Diesdorfer Straße. Its area is 62.5 ha. It was opened in 1898
after two years of construction, the chapel was built in neo-Gothic
style. It contains numerous memorials, especially the war cemetery with
the victims of the air raids on Magdeburg. Fallen Italian military
internees are also remembered. At the end of the 1990s, more than 60
Soviet victims of the NKVD were buried in a mass grave, probably killed
in the 1950s.
The United Nations Field in the Westerhüsen
district is a burial site and memorial for victims of National
Socialism. Once part of the Westerhüsen cemetery, a 1500 m² piece was
separated in 1941 and used as a foreigners' cemetery. After the end of
the Second World War, the site was often redesigned. Presumably 766
people from 11 nations are buried there.
cultural events
Sorted by time:
Magdeburg Telemann Festival
middle of March
Long Night of Science
middle of May
Europe
Festival - (former city festival)
Pentecost
Admission: free
Spectaculum Magdeburgense - Medieval market with numerous concerts in
Ravelin II
Pentecost
MDR music summer
mid-July
Balloon magic
in the Elbauenpark
mid August
Kaiser Otto Fest - Medieval town
festival in honor of Emperor Otto with parades, knight games and a
medieval market.
late August/early September
Admission (presale):
5€ per day / 11€ for the whole weekend. Box office more expensive.
Long Night of Culture
mid-September
Christmas markets in the city
center, the Moritzhof and in the Mark Fortress
1st Advent-30.12.
Magdeburg is a green and flat city. Cycling is
therefore an excellent leisure activity. The cycle paths are well
developed, but mostly lead along the side of busy roads. It is possible
to take bicycles on trams, buses, ferries and the S-Bahn, but you have
to buy an extra ticket for the bicycle.
A very good way to
explore the idyllic nature in and around Magdeburg is the Elbe cycle
path. This bike path leads along the Elbe through the entire city and
invites you to explore the unique biospheres. The cycle path symbol is a
white e on a blue background. Signs along the way provide directions and
distances to other towns, villages and attractions. There are many
restaurants and beer gardens and parks along the river.
The
following beer gardens directly on the Elbe Cycle Path are especially
recommended:
Waldschänke Hohenwarthe, At the Waldschänke 1A, 39291
Hohenwarthe. Tel: (0)39222 95990. Very nice terraced area close to the
waterway junction.
Mückenwirt, An der Elbe 14, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel:
(0)391 5209337. One of the most popular beer gardens in Magdeburg. Open:
Mon - Fri 12.00 - 18.00, Sat + Sun 10.00 - 18.00.
Old Church, Alt
Prester 86, 39114 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 5353352. Beer garden next to an
old church. Open: Sun 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Mon closed, Tue – Fri 4 p.m. –
11 p.m., Sat 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m.
City tour in a
double-decker bus, Otto von Guericke monument on the Alter Markt. Phone:
+49 391 63601402, email: info@visitmagdeburg.de. You can pass almost all
of the city's sights. Open: April-October Mon - Thu 10am, 1pm, 3pm
(except Tue 10am), Fri - Sun 10am, 12pm, 1.30pm, 3pm. Price: €12.50
pleasure boats
There are various excursion boats on the Elbe that
are offered by the Weißen Flotte GmbH. The trips across the waterway
crossing are particularly popular (adults €19.90, children €12). The
trips start either at the Petrifoerder landing stage or at Rothensee.
Travel times and special prices can be obtained directly from the
landing stage or from the tourist information office (Ernst-Reuter-Allee
12, Tel. +49 (0)391 19433). The tickets can be bought on board. If you
come early enough, reservations are not necessary. If you want to make a
reservation, you should contact the tourist information. The tourist
information also has information on day trips.
In addition to long walks, the city park offers numerous
activities:
Ascent to the 61m high Albinmüller tower
Opening
times: April 5 to October 31: Tue-Fri 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat/Sun 12-6 p.m.
Entry: €2.
Rowing or pedal boats on the Adolf-Mittag-See
Opening
times: Easter to October: Tue-Sun from 11 a.m
Cost per boat: €4 for
30 minutes, €6 for 60 minutes.
Segway or rickshaw rides in the city
park (bicycles/tandems can also be hired). On weekends, it is advisable
to reserve the Segways in advance.
Opening times: Mon-Fri 1pm-6pm,
Sat/Sun 10am-6pm
Cost: 15€ for 60 min (Segway/4 person rickshaw).
Bathing lakes, outdoor and indoor pools
Lake Barleber
Neustadt
lake
Salbker Lake
Carl-Miller-Freibad, Carl-Miller-Strasse, 39112
Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 6228211. Open: Daily 10am-7pm.
Elbe swimming
pool
Swimming pool, in Diesdorfer Str.
Miniature golf
watch
sports
Soccer: 1. FC Magdeburg plays in the 3rd Bundesliga. The glory
days of the 1970s, when the club won several East German championships,
are over. However, the club established itself in the 2nd and 3rd
Bundesliga.
Handball: SC Magdeburg plays in the 1st Bundesliga and
was the first German Champions League winner in 2002.
Magdeburg for
children
Elbe Park. With millennium tower.
City Park. With
activities and adventure playground.
Magdeburg offers a wide range of venues used for concerts, sporting events, dance events, lectures, conferences, meetings and much more. The GETEC Arena, formerly the Bördelandhalle, is a very modern and the largest multi-purpose hall in Saxony-Anhalt. In addition to sporting events, concerts and television productions take place there. Other large halls in the city are the Stadthalle with space for over 4,000 spectators, the AMO Kultur- und Kongresshaus or the Magdeburg Exhibition Centre. Venues with a medium-sized capacity include the Johanniskirche, the concert hall "Georg Philipp Telemann" in the monastery of Our Lady, the lake stage in the Elbauenpark, the Pauluskirche (regular venue for the Magdeburg Cantata Choir) or the Gesellschaftshaus built by Friedrich Schinkel in the Klosterbergegarten with its halls of different sizes . In addition to the larger facilities, there are also smaller institutions for live concerts in Magdeburg, such as the "Thiem 20 - House for Young Art", the Moritzhof, a listed four-sided courtyard, the Gröninger Bad, the KJFE prison or the KJFE HOT - Alte Bude.
In addition to live concerts, Magdeburg's nightlife consists mainly
of dance events in larger discotheques and smaller clubs. What is
striking for Magdeburg is that many of these venues are located in
former fortresses and industrial facilities that have been vacant since
reunification.
Some larger nightclubs are the Festung Mark, which
also hosts cultural events in addition to electronic music events, and
the Altes Theater am Jerichower Platz. The former factory building in
the south of the city also offers an industrial feeling, where German
and international pop, rock, metal and indie bands regularly play and
disco events take place. The city's classier clubs include the
Prinzzclub and the Buttergasse, which offer a mix of lounge and club. At
45 years old, the Baracke student club is the oldest club in the city
and is located directly on the grounds of the Otto von Guericke
University. As an equivalent, there is a box for students of the medical
faculty on the campus of the university hospital. There are also other
medium-sized and smaller discotheques and clubs, such as Boys'n'Beats,
the Alte Feuerwache, the Kunstkantine or Triebwerk. Also worth
mentioning are the beach-style clubs Strandbar directly on the Elbe,
with one of the first city beach concepts in Germany, and the Montego
Beachclub in the Rotehorn city park with volleyball courts and a large
pool.
In 2016 and 2017 some nightclubs were closed. Until 2016,
the large discotheque Music Hall, the former fun park, was located in
the south of the city, which also served special music genres in
addition to the mainstream genres. In addition, the disco tower Nautica
(Pearl Club) was closed in 2016 after the fun pool changed operators
after bankruptcy and was renovated. At the beginning of 2017, the
Kulturwerk Fichte, a listed industrial hall from the early days, where
scene parties and other major events took place, was finally closed.
Hasselbachplatz in the southern city center has developed into
Magdeburg's pub center in recent years. Due to the high frequency of
traffic during the day, but especially in the evening hours by visitors
to the numerous clubs, bars and pubs, the square is classified as a
crime hotspot and is monitored by video technology.
Around 170 regionally, nationally and internationally successful
sports clubs are based in Magdeburg. These include 1. FC Magdeburg or SC
Magdeburg. In the last 100 years, these and other clubs have produced
more than 100 athletes who have brought more than 400 medals to
Magdeburg in European and world championships, at the Olympics and
through world records. Germany's first "Sports Walk of Fame" was created
for them in Breite Weg in 2007, where the city honors the athletes by
laying floor tiles with their names, athletic achievements and their
year incorporated.
One of the two Olympic bases in Saxony-Anhalt
is in Magdeburg. The cross-sport care and service facility aims to
promote top and junior athletes in Olympic sports. Together with the
sports high school in Magdeburg and the sports secondary school "Hans
Schellheimer", they form the center for sports training and the
promotion of young people in Magdeburg.
1. FC Magdeburg plays in
the 2022/23 season in the 2nd Bundesliga and plays its home games in the
MDCC Arena. Due to numerous titles in the past, it is one of the most
successful football clubs in the GDR. Magdeburger FFC, a women's
football club, currently plays in the Regionalliga Nordost. Magdeburg is
also the seat of the Saxony-Anhalt Football Association.
SC
Magdeburg has one of the most traditional swimming departments in
Germany and has a men's and women's team in the 1st Bundesliga swimming
division. Training and competition venue is the Elbeschwimmhalle. The
track and field athletes and rowers departments are also extremely
successful and have won numerous titles at Olympic Games and
championships. However, the most successful department of SC Magdeburg
are the canoeists with several world champions and Olympic medal
winners.
The handball department of SC Magdeburg plays in the
handball national league and is considered one of the most successful
German handball clubs. It was the first German club to win the handball
Champions League in 2002. The home venue is the GETEC Arena, which holds
around 7,000 spectators. The second team, called SCM Youngsters, plays
their third division games in the Hermann-Gieseler-Halle.
Magdeburg has owned East Germany's only professional boxing stable, SES
Sport, since 2000. He is the third largest German boxing promoter and
works closely with Universum/Spotlight. The team's 15 active boxers
include several world champions.
Water polo also has a long
tradition in Magdeburg. Wasserpol-Union Magdeburg played in the
Wasserpol-Bundesliga (DWL) until relegation in 2013.
The 1st
basketball team "Otto Baskets" of the BBC Magdeburg is currently playing
in the 2nd Bundesliga ProB. It plays its home games in the
Hermann-Gieseler-Halle.
of the German Football League, the German
Bowl, held in the MDCC Arena.
In April 1994, the "Magdeburg Poor
Pigs" were founded, a baseball and softball team. After winning the
Central German Championship in 2015, they played in the Regionalliga
Nordost in 2016. The Poor Pigs play in the Westerhüsen district on the
"Tonschacht" sports complex, which opened in 2010 and corresponds to
international playing field dimensions.
The Magdeburg Marathon
has been held annually through the city of Magdeburg since 2004. You can
choose between the 42 km long marathon route, the half marathon route,
the 10 km (until 2014: 13 km) long route or the mini marathon route. The
start and finish is always the Magdeburg Exhibition Centre.
Horse
racing also has a long tradition in Magdeburg. Horse racing events have
been held regularly at the Herrenkrugwiesen racecourse since 1838. At
least 4 races take place every year.
Some air sports take place
at Magdeburg Airport, including parachuting and gliding, for example.
The airfield is the seat of the association FSV Magdeburg. In 1968 the
World Championships in powered aerobatics took place on this airfield.
The Magdeburg Spring Fair, a three-week hype at the beginning of
spring, takes place annually at the "Max Wille" fairgrounds on the small
town march directly on the banks of the Elbe. Since 2010, the RoboCup
German Open has been held in the Magdeburg exhibition halls in
March/April. Thousands of visitors follow international teams competing
with their robots in various disciplines, including robot soccer.
The Day of Thunder has been held annually at Magdeburg Airport since
2000. In 15 different racing classes, different types of mopeds,
motorcycles, cars and quads compete against each other in a 1/8 mile
race. In addition, competitions such as "Best of Show", "Most Beautiful
Overall Concept", "Best Paintwork", "Best Interior", "Best of Sound",
"Best of Exhaust" and a "dB Sound Contest" are held on a show stage.
The Magdeburg historical spectacle Spectaculum Magdeburgense in May
in the area of the old fortifications is a medieval event. Numerous
events and activities, including fakir shows, theater performances, a
medieval market and musical sounds from this period, entertain visitors.
Every year on Ascension Day, the festival of encounters against
xenophobia takes place in the Rotehorn Park.
In addition to the cloister serenades in the cathedral, in
July/August the nationally known summer open air of the Theater
Magdeburg takes place on the Magdeburg Cathedral Square.
The
BallonMagie-Days in Elbauenpark are held annually in August. Several hot
air balloons start at the same time and enrich the Magdeburg sky.
Special shapes such as ice cream cones, sausage tins or airships are
represented among the balloons.
Christopher Street Day, also in
August, is a celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people. Demonstrations are held for the rights and against the exclusion
of these groups. It takes place in numerous cities in Germany. The
parade extends from Magdeburg-Neustadt train station through the city
center, Hasselbachplatz and Liebigstrasse.
The three-day Kaiser
Otto Festival has been taking place around the historic district at
Magdeburg Cathedral since 2011, during which buildings and squares such
as the Cleve Bastion, the Monastery of Our Lady, the Möllenvogteigarten,
the Fürstenwall or the cathedral itself are venues for medieval
attractions, performances and Festive processions such as the imperial
coronation of Otto I, knight tournaments, falconry shows and medieval
songs. The festival is intended to commemorate the importance of the
city of Magdeburg as the cradle of the German nation and European
history.
The bicycle action day takes place once a year. After a
rally to the meeting point, a large bicycle demonstration leads across
the city and over the Magdeburger Ring. The cyclists want to show the
flag and stand up for a more bicycle-friendly city. In 2014 it took
place for the fourth time on June 28th.
At the end of
August/beginning of September, the OMMMA, the Ost-Mobil-Meeting
Magdeburg, takes place every year in the Elbauenpark, where cars from
GDR production and from the eastern countries are exhibited.
In September, the state harvest festival, with over 35,000 visitors the largest public event of the agricultural profession in Saxony-Anhalt, is celebrated in Magdeburg in the Elbauenpark. There is also the DIAGONALE jazz festival, the literature weeks, an event for literature lovers with many offers and exhibitions, lectures and performances, the Magdeburg art festival, the OMMMA (Ostmobil-Meeting Magdeburg) and the Magdeburg Autumn Fair (formerly Herrenmesse), a three-week hype that takes place at the beginning of autumn on the "Little City March". In 2010 it celebrated its 1000th anniversary, as it has its origin in the sacred festival of Archbishop Tagino's Theban Legion, celebrated on September 22, 1010. From the year 1220, the festival of Mauritius and his holy companions merged with the great Magdeburg fair, which at that time was still held on the cathedral square. Thus, the Magdeburg Autumn Fair is the oldest folk festival in Germany today.
The biggest event of the year is the Magdeburg Christmas market with
around 135 stands. It attracts over 1.5 million visitors every year, is
held on the Alter Markt and offers many attractions, such as daily live
music, a Santa Claus office hour, fairy tale performances and the
historic Christmas market. It is considered one of the most
child-friendly Christmas markets in Germany and is the longest open
Christmas market in Germany.
In January, the so-called Mile of
Democracy takes place every year with over 10,000 visitors, with the
Breite Weg to Hasselbachplatz being the venue for numerous activities,
information stands, discussion hours and an extensive stage program for
this event. It was created to take the space out of the right-wing
extremists' march that was taking place at the same time. They used the
anniversary of the air raids on Magdeburg on January 16, 1945 as an
occasion for a funeral procession and to equate the victims with the
Holocaust and those murdered in the concentration and extermination
camps, thus playing down the Nazi mass murders.
A wide variety of music events take place in Magdeburg throughout the
year, including many in honor of the Magdeburg baroque composer Georg
Philipp Telemann. On even-numbered years, the Magdeburg Telemann
Festival has been held in March/April since 1990, consisting of
performances and interpretations of works by the composer. Part of this
are the Festival of Musicology, the International Scientific
Conferences, the Telemann Academy for music students and young musicians
and the opera academy "Georg Philipp Telemann: The Patient Socrates".
The International Telemann Competition has been held on odd-numbered
years since 2001 and calls on participants between the ages of 18 and 34
to play works by Telemann and his contemporaries on historical
instruments or copies. The concert series "Sonntagsmusiken", initiated
by the Magdeburg Telemannfreunde, has been taking place on the first
Sunday of each month since November 1961 (with the exception of
July/August). The focus of the concert programs is the chamber music of
Telemann and his contemporaries. Telemann's church music also comes into
focus.
Another musical event is the organ festival on the three
largest and most important organs in the city, namely on the Jehmlich
organ in the monastery of Our Lady, on the Eule organ in the Cathedral
of St. Sebastian and on the Schuke main organ in the cathedral, which
was consecrated in 2008 . In the latter, the "Organ Art" takes place on
Mondays in the summer, evening concerts with nationally and
internationally renowned organists.
In spring, the Magdeburg Song
Days also take place, during which performers perform and give concerts
at various locations in the city over several days.
The fairly
manageable jazz scene in Magdeburg nevertheless offers events throughout
the year. The open-air New Orleans Jazz Festival has been held since
1995. The Herrenkrug Park is transformed into a large stage and jazz
artists perform, entertaining around 15,000 visitors. Other events
include Jazz! in the Schauspielhaus, the Kunst Kultur Karstadt, the
guitar nights of the AG Jazz, the DIAGONALE and from autumn 2015 the
Jazztage Magdeburg.
A special highlight of the year is the Fête
de la Musique Magdeburg. Over 150 bands and solo artists perform in
front of thousands of spectators every year on eleven stages distributed
throughout the city center of Magdeburg and in the Rotehorn city park.
The events are free for the public. The Fête de la Musique takes place
in over 500 cities worldwide.
A young talent competition in
Saxony-Anhalt is organized by Stadtwerke Magdeburg and is looking for
musical talent from Magdeburg and the surrounding districts. The SWM
TalentVerstauer has been taking place since 2002, until 2013 under the
name SWM MusiCids, and offers talented people the first step to starting
a career. The most famous example is the band Devilish, which later
became known as the world-famous Magdeburg band Tokio Hotel.
Since 2014, the open-air festival Love Music Festival has been taking
place in Elbauenpark with numerous rap and electronic acts.
Local culinary specialties include “Bötel”, pork knuckle with sauerkraut, mushy peas and boiled potatoes, “Gehacktesstippe”, a dark sauce made with mixed minced meat eaten with potatoes, and “Pottsuse”, a spread made from pork, lard and some spices as well "Bollenwurst", a hearty onion liver sausage.
The traditional shopping streets include the 2.2-kilometre-long
Breite Weg, which ends in the equally popular Hasselbachplatz,
Leiterstrasse and Ernst-Reuter-Allee. There are other large shopping
malls in Neue Neustadt and in Sudenburg. Nevertheless, there are far
fewer historically grown retail structures than in other cities of the
same size.
Magdeburg is more characterized by shopping centers
that were mostly built after reunification. In the city center are the
Allee-Center, the City-Carré, the Ulrichshaus and the department stores
Karstadt and Papenbreer. On the outskirts are, among other things, the
Bördepark in the south of the city near the airport and the Florapark in
the north-west of the city, the largest shopping center in
Saxony-Anhalt. As a result, Magdeburg's residents, together with a
diverse landscape of supermarkets, discounters and department stores
with 2.5 square meters of retail space per inhabitant, have a top
position in Germany.
Stumbling blocks are laid all over the world to commemorate the fate of the people who were murdered under National Socialism. So far, 650 such stones have been laid in the city of Magdeburg (as of October 2022); on December 29, 2019, Gunter Demnig laid the 75,000 in Memmingen. stumbling block.
On the occasion of Otto von Guericke's 400th birthday in 2002, 40 pairs of hemispheres were designed by artists and amateurs and set up at various locations in the city. The 1.20 m large hemispheres made of glass fiber reinforced plastic are reminiscent of Guericke's famous physical experiment in 1656. Some of these hemispheres can still be seen in the city today.
The Magdeburg Centuries, a 16th-century Protestant church history,
are named after the initiator and main editor, both of whom were
Magdeburg preachers.
Wilhelm Raabe's Magdeburg novel Our Lord's
Chancellery was published in 1862.
Gertrud von le Fort published the
novel The Magdeburg Wedding in 1938.
The city of Magdeburg is the
focal point of a piece of music created in 1992 by Manfred
Maurenbrecher. This song, titled Magdeburg 92, was later interpreted by
Bundestag member Diether Dehm.
Hurenkarrentaler, Schautaler of the
city of Magdeburg on the founding of the city
Air pump thaler, the
first coin depicting the attempt to separate the Magdeburg hemispheres
and the first coin ever with reference to Otto von Guericke.
From the
founding of Magdeburg, legend.
Picture book Germany. Around Magdeburg. Documentary film, Germany,
1999, 43:30 min., written and directed by: Birgit von Gagern,
production: MDR, series: Bilderbuch Deutschland, episode 153, first
broadcast: September 12, 1999 on Das Erste, synopsis from
fernsehserien.de. Travel report on the occasion of the Federal
Horticultural Show 1999.
1631 – The Magdeburg massacre. Documentary
film with game scenes, Germany, 2005, 42:28 min., Written and directed
by: Anne Roerkohl, Direction of the game scenes: Hannes Schuler,
Production: Ottonia Media, MDR, WDR, SR, arte, Series: Die Große
Schlachten, First broadcast: 20 May 2006 at arte, table of contents by
Anne Roerkohl and online video.
A touch of Moscow in Magdeburg - The
Stalin buildings. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 29:54 min., written and
directed by: Dirk Schneider, moderation: Axel Bulthaupt, production:
MDR, series: Der Osten – Discover where you live, first broadcast: April
22, 2014 on MDR, table of contents from MDR , (Memento of 4 February
2017 at the Internet Archive).
Gustav Adolf II. The battle for
Magdeburg. Documentary film with scenes, Germany, 2014, 43:45 min.,
Written and directed by: Judith Voelker, Director of the scenes: Pepe
Pippig, Production: Saxonia Entertainment, MDR, Series: History of
Central Germany, First broadcast: August 24, 2014 on MDR Fernsehen,
Summary of the MDR, (Memento of February 26, 2017 in the web archive
archive.today).
Magdeburg - history, present and future. Knowledge
broadcast, Germany 2014, 58 min., moderation: Victoria Herrmann,
production: MDR, series: LexiTV, first broadcast: September 2, 2014 on
MDR, table of contents from MDR, (memento from July 23, 2015 in the
Internet Archive).
Where the steel was hardened - the engineering
city of Magdeburg. Documentary, Germany, 2019, 44:44 min., written and
directed by: Tom Kühne, production: MDR, series: Der Osten – Discover
where you live, first broadcast: January 14, 2020 on MDR television,
synopsis from MDR, online video accessible until January 6, 2021.
Cheap
1 Curry 54, Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse 54, 39104 Magdeburg.
Tel.: (0)391 4021963. Here you can order currywurst with various hot
sauces and other quick dishes. Open: daily 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Middle
2 Qilin, Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse 86c, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel:
(0)391 2439944. Excellent Asian dishes. Open: Mon – Sat 11.30 a.m. – 3
p.m. + 5 p.m. – 10.30 p.m., Sun 12 noon – 9 p.m.
3 Wenzel Prager
Bierstuben, Leiterstrasse 3, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 5446616.
Hearty food at a reasonable price. Open: Sun – Thu 11:30 a.m. – 10:00
p.m., Fri + Sat 11:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
4 Gorillas - Restaurant and
Bar, Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse 55A, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391
58267785. Excellent burgers. Open: Sun – Thu 4 p.m. – 11 p.m., Fri + Sat
4 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Gehrke at Uniplatz, Breiter Weg 39, 39104 Magdeburg.
Tel.: (0)391 5618143. Extensive breakfast buffet. Open: Mon - Fri 6.00
a.m. - 6.30 p.m., Sat 7.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m., Sun 8.00 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.
5 Botanica by Mme Lulu, Otto-von-Guericke-Str. 66, 39104, Magdeburg.
Tel: +49 (0)391 58235399, Mobile: +49 (0)179 2597167, Email:
fragmadamelulu@gmail.com. Vegetarian restaurant. Open: Tues-Sun from 5
p.m. The kitchen closes at around 9:00 p.m.
Upscale
6 Landhaus
Hadrys, An der Halberstädter Chaussee 1, 39116 Magdeburg. Phone: +49
(0)391 662 66 80, email: info@landhaus-hadrys.defacebook. Classic German
and French cuisine. Open: Tue–Thu 2:30–12:00 p.m.; Fri–Sat, public
holidays 12:00–24:00.
7 Park Restaurant Die Saison, Herrenkrug 3,
39114 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 8508730. Open: Mon - Fri 6pm - midnight,
Sat 12pm - midnight, Sun 12pm - 8pm.
8 La Bodega, Domplatz 10-11,
39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 5432959. Spanish specialties, tapas &
steakhouse beer garden available. Open: Mon, Wed - Sat 11.30am - 10pm,
Sun 11.30am - 9pm.
Cinemas
Cinemaxx, City Carré Magdeburg, Kantstrasse 6, 39104
Magdeburg.
Cinestar, Am Pfahlberg 5, 39128 Magdeburg.
Moritzhof
Cultural Center, Moritzplatz 1, 39124 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 2578932.
Studio cinema, Moritzplatz 1a, 39124 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 28899965.
During one week of August every year, the free summer cinema takes place
in the Stadtpark in the evening.
Pubs
Most pubs can be found
around Hasselbachplatz (see streets and squares).
The
Hyde, Sternstrasse 29, 39104 Magdeburg. Open: daily 6 p.m. – 3 a.m.
Kartell, Breiter Weg 232A, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 58239362. Open:
Sun – Thu 5pm – 11pm, Fri + Sat 5pm – 3am.
Sternbar, Sternstrasse 9,
39104 Magdeburg. Open: Mon – Thu 7pm – 2am, Fri – Sat 7pm – 4am, Sun 8pm
– 2am.
Art pub Nachdenker, Olvenstedter Str. 43, 39108 Magdeburg.
Tel.: (0)391 50558406. Open: Tue – Thu 8pm – 12am, Fri + Sat 8pm – 2am,
Sun 8pm – 12am, Mon closed.
Beer gardens
Strandbar,
Petrifoerder 1, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 83809415. Open: daily 11am
- 1am.
Mückenwirt, An der Elbe 14, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391
5209337. Open: Mon – Fri 12pm – 6pm, Sat + Sun 10am – 6pm.
Old
Church, Alt Prester 86, 39114 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 5353352. Open: Sun
10am - 10pm, Mon closed, Tue - Fri 4pm - 11pm, Sat 11.30am - 11pm.
Schweizer Milchkuranstalt Fürstenwall, Schleinufer 8, 39104 Magdeburg.
Open: Mon – Fri 2 p.m. – 1 a.m., Sat + Sun 12 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Discotheques First, Alter Markt 13-14, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391
5975027. Open: Fri + Sat 10pm – 5am.
Factory, Sandbreite 2, 39104
Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 72728854.
13 student club crate, house 31a,
Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg. Tel.: (0)391 6714325. Open: Mon –
Fri 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sat + Sun closed. info
14 Club epic, Breiter
Weg 227, 39104 Magdeburg. Open: Fri + Sat 11 p.m. – 5 a.m.
General: A selection of hotels is available for online booking via
the official tourism website.
Cheap
The cheap hotels are
located on the outskirts or even behind the outskirts.
1 ibis
budget Magdeburg Barleben, Lindenallee 16, 39179 Barleben. Tel: (0)39203
62714. Located in Barleben, 10 km north of the centre.
2 NH Magdeburg
Hotel, Olvenstedter Str. 2A, 39179 Barleben. Tel.: (0)39203 700. Also in
Barleben, 10 km north of the centre. Feature: ★★★★.
3 Classik Hotel
Magdeburg, Leipziger Chaussee 141, 39120 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 62900.
Located on the southern outskirts of the city, 9 km from the centre.
Located in the center:
4 Youth Hostel, Leiterstrasse 10, 39104
Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 5321010.
Middle
5 Best Western Hotel
Secret Rat, Goethestr. 38, 39108 Magdeburg. Phone: (0)391 73803, Fax:
(0)391 7380599, Email: info@hotel-geheimer-rat.de. In the Stadtfeld Ost
district, 2 km from the center and easily accessible from the train
station.
6 Ratswager, Ratswagerplatz 1-4, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel:
(0)391 59260. Hotel located in the centre. Feature: ★★★★.
7 InterCity
Hotel Magdeburg, Bahnhofstrasse 69, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 59620.
Hotel located right by the train station.
8 Michel Hotel Magdeburg,
Hansapark 2, 39116 Magdeburg. Tel.: +49 (0)391 636 30, fax: +49 (0)391
636 35 50, e-mail: info@michelhotel-magdeburg.de commons. Feature: ★★★★.
Upscale
9 Maritim Hotel Magdeburg, Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse 87,
39104 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391 59490 commons. Quality hotel located in the
center. Feature: ★★★★.
10 Dorint Herrenkrug Parkhotel Magdeburg
(Herrenkrug Parkhotel), Herrenkrug 3, 39114 Magdeburg. Tel.: +49 (0)391
85080, fax: +49 (0)391 8508501, e-mail: info.magdeburg@dorint.com. Park
hotel in the district of Herrenkrug, east of the Elbe, with a beautiful
ambience and a luxurious self-image. Price: from €160 per room/night.
Magdeburg is a university city. The Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg has nine faculties with almost 14,000 students. The Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences should also be mentioned with a wide range of offers.
With a few exceptions, Magdeburg is a safe city. Of course you should follow the well-known rules like everywhere else: don't leave valuables in the car, always lock your bike (Magdeburg has one of the highest bicycle theft rates in Germany); Carry bags or valuables securely on your body to protect them from theft; be more alert in the dark and avoid dark, unknown corners as much as possible, especially when alone; Avoiding unknown people or groups of people in dark, lonely areas or problem areas.
The main hospitals in the city are:
University Hospital Magdeburg
A.ö.R., Leipziger Str. 44 (entrance from Fermersleber Weg), 39120
Magdeburg. Tel.: (0)391 6701. External locations: University women's
clinic, Gerhart-Hauptmann-Str. 35, 39108 Magdeburg, Tel. 0391 6717301.
Klinikum Magdeburg GmbH, Birkenallee 34, 39130 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391
791 0 (switchboard).
Statutory health insurance emergency service.
Tel: (0)391 62 79 600. Also paediatrician, ophthalmologist, ENT doctor.
Medico Center, Leipziger Str. 16, 39112 Magdeburg. Open: Mon, Tue, Thu 6
p.m. – 12 a.m., Wed, Fri 2 p.m. – 12 a.m., Sat, Sun, public holidays 7
a.m. – 12 a.m.
With a few exceptions, Magdeburg is a safe city. Of course you should follow the well-known rules like everywhere else: don't leave valuables in the car, always lock your bike (Magdeburg has one of the highest bicycle theft rates in Germany); Carry bags or valuables securely on your body to protect them from theft; be more alert in the dark and avoid dark, unknown corners as much as possible, especially when alone; Avoiding unknown people or groups of people in dark, lonely areas or problem areas.
The main hospitals in the city are:
University Hospital Magdeburg
A.ö.R., Leipziger Str. 44 (entrance from Fermersleber Weg), 39120
Magdeburg. Tel.: (0)391 6701. External locations: University women's
clinic, Gerhart-Hauptmann-Str. 35, 39108 Magdeburg, Tel. 0391 6717301.
Klinikum Magdeburg GmbH, Birkenallee 34, 39130 Magdeburg. Tel: (0)391
791 0 (switchboard).
Statutory health insurance emergency service.
Tel: (0)391 62 79 600. Also paediatrician, ophthalmologist, ENT doctor.
Medico Center, Leipziger Str. 16, 39112 Magdeburg. Open: Mon, Tue, Thu 6
p.m. – 12 a.m., Wed, Fri 2 p.m. – 12 a.m., Sat, Sun, public holidays 7
a.m. – 12 a.m.
Tourist information, Ernst-Reuter-Allee 12, 39104 Magdeburg. Tel.:
+49 (0)391 19433, fax: (0)391 8380-430, e-mail:
info@magdeburg-tourist.de. Open: November to March: Mon-Fri 10 a.m. to 6
p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; April to October: Mon-Fri 10 a.m. to 6.30
p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Magdeburg is largely barrier-free. There
is barrier-free access to the main sights such as the cathedral and the
Hundertwasserhaus. If you have a connection to Halle (Saale), it is
advisable not to mention it, because there is a similar rivalry between
the two cities as there is between Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Older forms of the name Magdeburg read ad Magadoburg or Magathaburg in the 10th century. The basic word castle is familiar to everyone. In the determinant, Jürgen Udolph (first time in 1999) suspects a – unproven – Germanic adjective *magaþ (“big, powerful”), i.e. “mighty castle”. Harald Bichlmeier (2010) casts doubt on this hypothesis.
Magdeburg was first mentioned in 805 in the Diedenhof Capitular by
Charlemagne as Magadoburg and was an imperial palace under Emperor Otto
I the Great. In 968 Otto I founded the Archdiocese of Magdeburg.
As a result of the synod of Ravenna in 967, Magdeburg was raised to an
archbishopric the following year. The first archbishop, Adalbert von
Magdeburg, was later canonized as an apostle of the Slavs. The dioceses
of Brandenburg, Havelberg, Meissen (until 1399), Merseburg, Posen (until
around 1000), Zeitz-Naumburg and Lebus (only from 1420) belonged to the
ecclesiastical province. Emperor Otto the Great died in 973. He was
buried in Magdeburg Cathedral next to his first wife Editha. 995 closed
Otto III. Silesia with a patent to the diocese of Meissen and
subordinated it to the archdiocese of Magdeburg.
Magdeburg was an
important trading center and hub in the Middle Ages. A large number of
important long-distance connections started from the city. For example,
the Magdeburg-Brandenburg army road was the most important connection to
the east. The Lüneburg Heerstraße connected Magdeburg with the cities in
the north. Magdeburg's membership in the Hanseatic League cannot be
exactly fixed for one year. From the beginning she grew into the
community of merchants and towns. It is estimated that Magdeburg became
a member of the Hanseatic League (verifiably since 1295) at the end of
the 13th century. In the 13th century, the art of bronze casting in
Magdeburg was the leader in a wide area.
Around 1430 there were
military conflicts between the city and the archbishop, which the
Council of Basel, among others, tried to end. In 1493 the anti-Jewish
archbishop Ernst II of Saxony expelled all Jews from the archbishopric.
In 1503 the archbishop moved his residence to Halle.
July 17, 1524 is considered the day when the Reformation was
introduced in all Magdeburg churches, after Martin Luther had preached
several times in Magdeburg in June 1524. Only the cathedral remained
Catholic, but was closed for 20 years after the death of Archbishop
Albrecht von Brandenburg in 1545. The city became a center against the
re-catholicization in the Schmalkaldic League.
During the Thirty
Years' War, Magdeburg was conquered and devastated by imperial troops of
the Catholic League under General Tilly on May 20, 1631 (May 10
according to the Julian calendar) ("Magdeburg Wedding").
In 1680,
after August's death, the archbishopric, now secularized as the Duchy of
Magdeburg, and with it the city, came under Brandenburg rule. The city
was expanded to become the strongest fortress in the Kingdom of Prussia.
In the Edict of Potsdam by the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich Wilhelm
of October 29, 1685, religious refugees from France were invited to
settle in the country. This is how the French colony of Magdeburg came
into being. On April 13, 1689, Elector Friedrich III received an
application for admission from the Mannheim expellees. decided
positively. This led to the founding of the Palatinate colony. Both
colonies formed independent political communities within the city that
were not spatially separated from the old town.
In 1807 the city
was temporarily annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia and became the seat
of the Elbe Department. After Napoleon lost the war, Magdeburg was
returned to Prussia in 1814 and in 1816 became the capital of the
province of Saxony and the seat of the administrative district of
Magdeburg and the urban district of Magdeburg, which included the city
of Magdeburg, the towns of Neustadt-Magdeburg and Sudenburg and several
surrounding villages. Magdeburg became a city of industry.
In the 1920s, Magdeburg became the center of new architecture under
Lord Mayor Hermann Beims. From 1921 to 1924, Bruno Taut was a city
councilor for building. Modern residential areas emerged in the suburbs,
such as the Beimssiedlung in the Stadtfeld West district and the
Gartenstadt Reform, as well as the Stadthalle Magdeburg. Industrial
settlements such as the Giesche zinc works also took place.
During the National Socialist period, both political and ideological
opponents were persecuted, as were many people who were excluded from
the "national community" for eugenic and racist reasons. The numerically
largest group were Jews. In 1939, the Gestapo headquarters in Magdeburg
set up an "alternative or reception camp" for them, in which those
arrested after the November pogrom, forced laborers who were later
deported, but also political prisoners, so-called half-breeds and other
groups were interned and loaned from there to Magdeburg armaments
factories.
During World War II, industrial production was
sustained by employing foreign forced laborers. In 1944,
Braunkohle-Benzin-AG (Brabag), the Wehrmacht’s largest supplier of fuel,
set up six subcamps. One of them, the "KZ Magda", was located in
Magdeburg-Rothensee. The Magdeburg Holzweg gypsy camp was set up
especially for Sinti and Roma. The prisoners were taken to the Auschwitz
concentration camp.
From 1943 to 1945 there was a satellite camp
of the Buchenwald concentration camp at the Polte-Werke in Magdeburg's
Poltestrasse (today Liebknechtstrasse).
The first air raid on the
city took place on August 22, 1940. From 1943, Magdeburg was intensively
attacked by Allied bomber formations. The air raid on Magdeburg on
January 16, 1945 by the British Royal Air Force destroyed around 90% of
the old town, including 15 churches. The Gründerzeit quarters also
suffered considerable damage. The "Nordfront" district near the old town
and the Breite Weg, one of the most beautiful baroque streets in
Germany, were almost completely destroyed. At least about 2000 people
died in this attack and another 190,000 were bombed out (homeless).
On April 11, 1945, troops of the 9th US Army took up positions on
the western city limits. On May 5, the Red Army occupied the East Elbe
part of Magdeburg. On June 1, 1945, the last forces of the US 117th
Infantry Division were replaced by British troops, who handed over
Magdeburg-West to the Red Army on July 1.
After the war, the city center and affected districts were cleared of
rubble (see “Rubber Women”). Until 1953, the large Magdeburg companies
contributed to the fulfillment of the reparation obligations imposed on
Germany as SAG companies.
From 1965 to 1969 the old town hall was
rebuilt true to the original. In the meantime, instead of the baroque
houses on Breiter Weg, the Gründerzeit and Art Nouveau buildings,
numerous buildings of the national tradition of the post-war period,
which have the Soviet architecture of the Stalin era (socialist
classicism) as a model, characterize the inner city. As a monument area,
they are themselves listed as monuments today. The large number of
prefab buildings that were built in the city center and in new
development areas were partly replaced in the city center after
reunification by modern buildings from the 1990s and the turn of the
millennium. In the GDR, Magdeburg remained the site of heavy engineering
(e.g. SKET). Due to the fact that heavy engineering dominates
Magdeburg's economy, a "house of heavy engineering" on
Universitätsplatz, which was to be higher than the cathedral, was
planned in the 1960s, but never started.
In 1952 Magdeburg became
the district town of the district of Magdeburg, which was dissolved
again in 1990. Within the district, Magdeburg was an independent city
("Stadtkreis").
As in other district towns of the GDR, peace
prayers called “Prayers for Social Renewal” or simply “Monday Prayers”
took place in Magdeburg from September 1989. 130 people met in the
cathedral for the first time on September 18 and 450 a week later.
During later Monday prayers, the cathedral was overcrowded with several
thousand people. The first demonstrations followed in October 1989;
three days before the Wall came down, 80,000 demonstrators marched
through the city.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November
9, 1989, political prisoners were gradually released from the Stasi
prison at Moritzplatz (today: Moritzplatz Magdeburg Memorial), and the
working methods of the Ministry for State Security became public
knowledge.
In June 1990, the People's Chamber decided on the (re)introduction of
states and a federal reorganization of the GDR. The districts of Halle
and Magdeburg as well as the district of Jessen essentially formed the
state of Saxony-Anhalt, as it had existed from 1947 to 1952 with changed
borders. At that time, the relatively undestroyed Halle was designated
as the state capital.
On Sunday, October 28, 1990, the
constitutive session of the new state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt took
place in Dessau in the hall of the Johann Philipp Becker barracks. The
106 freely elected representatives of the newly created Central German
state had to vote on whether Magdeburg or Halle (Saale) should become
the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Halle was narrowly defeated by eight
votes: The result was 57 to 49 votes in Magdeburg's favour. This
decision ended a serious dispute that had lasted for months, but it did
reignite the rivalry between Halle and Magdeburg.
As in several
other German cities in the early 1990s, anti-foreigner riots broke out
in Magdeburg in 1994 with the so-called Magdeburg Ascension Day riots.
Right-wing extremists were able to chase a group of black Africans
through downtown Magdeburg for hours, injuring six people.
Since
reunification, many large and small construction projects have changed
the cityscape: the central axis of the city, the Breite Weg, was one of
the longest shopping streets in Europe before the Second World War and
has been closed again since 1990 with many new buildings. Among these,
the new development on Domplatz with an office ensemble and the Green
Citadel, which opened in 2005 and was the last building designed by
Friedensreich Hundertwasser, stand out. The large green area between the
Volksstimme high-rise building, Ernst-Reuter-Allee, Hauptbahnhof and
Otto-von-Guericke-Straße, which has remained undeveloped since the
Second World War, was developed with the "City-Carré", three building
complexes with shops, offices and a large cinema. In addition,
Friedensplatz was renewed, the opera house on Universitätsplatz as well
as Universitätsplatz itself and the northern section of Breite Weg and
the former main post office were renovated. Parallel to Breiter Weg,
many Gründerzeit buildings on Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse and Hegelstrasse
and in the vicinity of Hasselbachplatz have been renovated and form a
protected monument. The theater, formerly the Freie Kammerspiele, was
also renovated, and extensions were built to the north of the Museum of
Cultural History, and the new extension was opened in 2011. In 2006, the
Sternbrücke between the southern city center and Rotehorn Park
(Werder/Marieninsel) was reopened. The inner city ring road via
Schleinufer, Walter-Rathenau-Strasse (B1), Magdeburger Ring (B71),
Fuchsberg and Erich-Weinert-Strasse was expanded to make it more
efficient with the redesign of Universitätsplatz and the tunnel there,
as well as the continuous widening of Schleinufer to four lanes.
In 2002, Magdeburg was hit hard by the Elbe flood with a maximum
level of 6.72 m, but escaped a catastrophe due to the Elbe flood canal
and the Pretziener weir. Nevertheless, there was damage of over 22
million euros. Infrastructure elements such as bridges, roads and parks
were hit particularly hard, but private buildings and companies were
also severely damaged. Up to 3,400 volunteers were on duty every day,
and 7,200 were added by aid organizations such as the fire brigade or
the German armed forces. In addition, more than 415,000 euros went into
the donation account of the city of Magdeburg.
In 2006, Magdeburg
was again hit by a flood, but this was a little less severe than in
2002. The old highs were not exceeded, but there was a risk from the
elongated flood crest, which exerted high pressure on the dikes.
The flood in June 2013 significantly exceeded the level of 2002 with a
peak of 7.46 m measured on June 9th. A disaster alert had been issued
for several days. As in 2002, there was damage.
The city's anniversary was celebrated with events throughout 2005 under the motto Magdeburg 12hundred. The central event was the ceremony in the cathedral on May 7, 2005, with the first presentation of the Kaiser Otto Prize from the city of Magdeburg to former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker.
In the past, Magdeburg was a large and important garrison of the
Prussian army, the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht and after 1945 the Soviet
army with a variety of military facilities such as barracks, hospitals,
depots, etc.
From the Prussian period came an artillery barracks
(Am Charlottentor/Turmschanzenstrasse, demolished after 1945), a pioneer
barracks (later Mudra barracks) on Turmschanzenstrasse, an artillery
barracks (later Beseler barracks) on Brückstrasse, the Anger barracks
(later von Seeckt barracks) at Jerichower Straße/Herrenkrug, the Encke
barracks and the Sixt von Arnim barracks, Am Zuckerbusch.
During
the rearmament of the Wehrmacht in the 1930s, the Hindenburg barracks
(next to the Anger barracks), the Adolf Hitler barracks along with a new
location hospital, the Luitpold barracks, the General von Hippel
barracks (the latter three on the north side today's Breitscheidstraße),
a barracks for the anti-aircraft artillery in Prester and an air force
base in Friedensweiler.
After 1945, almost exclusively Soviet
troops (the headquarters of the 3rd Shock Army and from 1954 the 3rd
General Army with subordinate parts) were housed in Magdeburg. The NVA
was only weakly represented with a few smaller offices. In the early
1990s, Soviet troops withdrew under the Two Plus Four Treaty. Today,
Magdeburg is the seat of the Bundeswehr's Saxony-Anhalt State Command.
The following communities or districts were incorporated into the
city of Magdeburg:
July 1, 1867: Sudenburg (town)
April 1, 1886:
Neustadt-Magdeburg (city)
April 1, 1887: Buckau (town) (until 1861
district of Wanzleben, then district of Magdeburg)
April 1, 1908:
Rothensee (Wolmirstedt district)
April 1, 1910: Cracau and Prester
(Jerichow I district), Fermersleben, Lemsdorf, Salbke, Westerhüsen (all
Wanzleben district)
April 1, 1926: Diesdorf (Wanzleben district)
January 1, 1934: Parts of Biederitz and Gübs (District Jerichow I; Gübs
already belonged to Magdeburg from 1494 to 1807)
1 October 1942:
parts of Barleben, Wolmirstedt and Glindenberg (all Wolmirstedt
district)
1952: Gross Ottersleben
1979: Olvenstedt
July 1,
1994: Pechau, Randau-Calenberge
April 1, 2001: Beyendorf soles
The population of the city of Magdeburg rose to over 50,000 in 1840
and doubled to 100,000 by 1880, making it a major city. In 1940, the
population reached its all-time high of 346,600. During the war years,
between 2000 and 2500 people were killed by the bombing of the city,
many had to flee until April 1945, when the city had only around 90,000
inhabitants. After the end of the war, the city quickly filled up to
225,000, partly due to the influx of refugees. From 1950 to 1988, the
number of inhabitants rose slowly and relatively steadily from 230,000
to 290,000. From 1989 to 2010, the city lost around 60,000 inhabitants
again due to out-migration, suburbanization and a decline in the birth
rate, thereby shrinking to around 230,000 inhabitants.
On
December 31, 2012, the official population of Magdeburg was 232,660
according to the update of the State Statistical Office of Saxony-Anhalt
(only main residences and after comparison with the other state
offices). Of these, 114,384 men and 118,276 women, 8,312 residents were
foreigners, most of them from the successor states of the Soviet Union.
On December 31, 2016, the official population was 238,136. This
makes Magdeburg the largest city in Saxony-Anhalt. A further increase in
population is expected in the next few years (2015 population forecast
by the city of Magdeburg).
On August 31, 2017, the official
population was 237,714.
On December 31, 2017, 241,769 were
registered, about as many as in 1997/98.
On March 31, 2018,
241,404 residents (241,029 at the end of March 2017) were registered as
having their main residence in Magdeburg.
Not only according to
data from the state statistical offices, but also according to data from
the registration offices, Magdeburg (with 239,408) inhabitants (as of
December 31, 2020) is the second largest city in Saxony-Anhalt (after
Halle 239,870).
The independent city in the center of Saxony-Anhalt lies on the
middle Elbe and on the eastern edge of the Magdeburger Börde landscape
on old cultural soil and forms the center of the Magdeburg region (also
called Elbe-Börde-Heide). The center point for determining the location
of Magdeburg is the base of the north tower of the cathedral, which is
56 m above sea level. Magdeburg's highest elevation on the Hangelsberge,
which belongs to the Börde range of hills, is 124 m above sea level, the
lowest point is 40.8 m above sea level.
The town extends mainly
on the western high bank of the river on a step in the terrain formed by
the Domfelsen (sandstone and siltstone of the Rotliegend in an extension
of the Flechtinger ridge). Magdeburg is one of the few cities in the
North German Plain that is founded on rock alongside greywacke, a
sandstone sedimentary rock of the Paleozoic Era, and to a lesser extent
on Zechstein and Ice Age flint deposits. Part of the urban area lies on
an elongated island between the "Strom-Elbe" and the "Alte Elbe" and on
the flat eastern bank of the river. The area of the urban area is about
201 km², the city length limit including exclaves is 89.9 km long. 27.1
km of it borders on Jerichower Land, 18.3 km on Salzlandkreis and 44.5
km on Börde district.
As is typical for East German cities,
Magdeburg does not have a pronounced suburban belt and is not located
directly in a metropolitan area. However, since the city acts as a major
development engine for the surrounding region, it is classified as a
regiopolis. The nearest major cities are Wolfsburg about 64 kilometers
to the north-west, the sister city of Braunschweig about 75 kilometers
to the west, Halle (Saale) about 75 kilometers to the south and Potsdam
about 105 kilometers to the east. Berlin is 130 kilometers to the east.
The Stromelbe crosses Magdeburg over a distance of 21.1 km and the
Old Elbe over a distance of 5.3 km. Your zero level at the river bridge
is 39.99 m above sea level. NN. The city also has several lakes,
including the Salbker Seen (altogether 51.7 ha) or the Barleber See I
(103 ha) and II (71.9 ha).
According to a study from the first
quarter of 2007, of the 50 largest German cities, Magdeburg has the
second largest share of public green spaces in the city after Hanover.
The following communities, named clockwise starting in the northeast,
border on the city of Magdeburg:
in the district of Jerichower Land:
Möser, Biederitz, Gommern
in the Salzland district: Schönebeck and
Bördeland
in the district of Börde: Sülzetal, Wanzleben-Börde, Hohe
Börde, Barleben and Wolmirstedt
Around 297,000 people live in the
Magdeburg conurbation (agglomeration).
So far, 160 protected biotopes have been recorded in the Magdeburg
area, including moors, swamps, marsh, gorge and alluvial forests, groups
of pollarded trees, hedges and spring areas.
In Magdeburg, there
is the “Kreuzhorst Nature Reserve” to protect nature and the landscape
and to preserve and develop habitats. In the middle of the Elbe
lowlands, it includes one of the few near-natural alluvial forest
complexes. There is mainly a pedunculate oak forest. So far, 32 species
of mammals have been listed in the nature reserve, 16 of them on the Red
List of Saxony-Anhalt, three reptile and twelve amphibian species, six
of which are endangered, eleven fish species, around 3000 butterfly
species and 168 weevil species. It is worth mentioning the occurrence of
stag beetles, bucks, wolffish, a species threatened with extinction,
Elbe beavers and the endangered polecat.
The Middle Elbe
Biosphere Reserve is the habitat of many endangered animal species and
is of high ecological value due to the large number of backwaters. It
covers parts of the floodplain and east of the flood dike.
The average annual precipitation in Magdeburg is around 500 mm. Measured against the overall German average, this is considered low; the city is still in the rain shadow of the Harz Mountains. The average temperature in Magdeburg is 8.8 °C, which is the national average. The driest month is February, the wettest month is June. According to statistics, the warmest month is July and the coolest month is January.
In 2003, 8.8% of the population were Protestant, 4.3% Catholic and
86.9% belonged to another denomination/religion or were
non-denominational. In 2015, 8.4% were Protestant, 3.6% Catholic and
88.0% belonged to another denomination/religion or were
non-denominational. In 2018, 8.2% were Evangelical and in 2020, 8.0%
were Evangelical.
There is one Islamic community and two Jewish
communities (0.3%). These are mainly made up of immigrants from the
former Soviet Union and have around 850 members. The synagogue community
in Magdeburg, with around 500 members, is one of the largest Jewish
communities in East Germany.
The city of Magdeburg initially belonged to the diocese of Halberstadt. The Mauritius monastery was founded in Magdeburg in 937, which was converted into a cathedral chapter in 962 and thus founded the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. A second document establishing the Archdiocese dates from 968. The Archdiocese of Magdeburg initially included the suffragans of Merseburg, Zeitz-Naumburg, Meissen, Brandenburg and Havelberg, with Meissen leaving in the 15th century. The mendicant orders of the Franciscans (Franciscan monastery Magdeburg 1223) and Dominicans (Dominican monastery Magdeburg 1224) also founded important branches in Magdeburg, which existed until the introduction of the Reformation.
In 1521 the first Protestant sermon was held in Magdeburg. Three
years later, the council introduced the Reformation throughout the city.
In 1563 the archbishop also converted to Lutheran teaching and in 1567
the first Protestant sermon was held in the cathedral. The few Catholics
who remained in the city were cared for by the Agneten monastery in
Neustadt. In 1628 this monastery was re-catholicized to Our Lady in
Magdeburg. From 1685 Reformed Huguenots settled in the city, from 1689
Reformed Palatinate, so that two Reformed communities emerged, which
formed their own political communities. After the transition to Prussia
and the unification of Lutheran and Reformed congregations within
Prussia to form a unified state church (United Church) in 1817, the
Protestant congregations in Magdeburg belonged to the Evangelical Church
in Prussia or the subdivision of the Church Province of Saxony, whose
secular head was the respective king of Prussia as summus episcopus was;
general superintendents were in charge of spiritual leadership.
After the abolition of the sovereign church regime in 1918, the
Evangelical Church in Prussia changed its church order accordingly in
1922 and then called itself the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian
Union, whereby the ecclesiastical province of Saxony was retained. In
1947 this became an independent state church, the Evangelical Church of
the Church Province of Saxony, with a bishop at the top. Its episcopal
church is the Magdeburg Cathedral. On January 1, 2009, the Evangelical
Church in the Church Province of Saxony and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Thuringia merged to form the Evangelical Church in Central
Germany (EKM). The episcopal seat of the EKM is Magdeburg, where on
August 29, 2009 the first female bishop in East Germany, Ilse
Junkermann, took office.
Until 2008, the Protestant parishes in
Magdeburg belonged to the church district of Magdeburg within the
Magdeburg-halberstadt provost, whose seat was also in Magdeburg, unless
they were the parishes of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church or
the Evangelical Free Churches. Since the formation of the EKM in 2009,
the church district of Magdeburg has belonged to the Stendal-Magdeburg
provost district based in Stendal. The city's Evangelical-Reformed
congregation belongs to the Reformed Church District within the EKM.
In addition, there are several evangelical free churches in
Magdeburg with the Methodists, the Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists.
In the 19th century, the number of Catholics increased for the first
time since the Reformation. From 1821 they belonged to the diocese and
from 1930 to the archdiocese of Paderborn. After the Second World War,
it became increasingly difficult for the archbishop to carry out his
official duties in the eastern part of his archdiocese. Therefore, in
1946, a Vicar General was installed in Magdeburg, who was appointed
auxiliary bishop in 1949. Due to the reorganization of the Catholic
Church in the GDR, the areas were formally separated in 1972 and raised
to the episcopal office. A bishop directly subordinate to the Holy See
with the title of Apostolic Administrator became head of this office. On
July 8, 1994, the former Episcopal Office of Magdeburg was raised to a
diocese and again placed under the Archdiocese of Paderborn as a
suffragan. The parishes of Magdeburg thus belong to the Deanery of
Magdeburg within the diocese of the same name.
The social
initiatives of the Catholic Church are closely linked to the pastoral
efforts. The community of poor maids of Jesus Christ from Dernbach
(Westerwald) with the St. Agneshaus branch was settled here. It existed
from October 22, 1911 to October 8, 1981. The sisters ran a
kindergarten, provided outpatient nursing and pastoral care.
Magdeburg plays a special role in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. In the years 1923 until it was destroyed by the National Socialists in 1933, the German branch office of the religious community was located in today's Emanuel-Larisch-Weg (at that time "Wachtturm Straße"). Activities resumed after the war, but were banned again in 1950. In 1993, the Watchtower Society received a large portion of its property back. Today there are four wards in Magdeburg that operate two Kingdom Halls.
In the times of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, the town was headed
by a mayor appointed by the archbishop. In addition, there was the
"Burding", the organ of the community without special powers. From 1244
there was a council, which from 1294 was also able to acquire the office
of mayor. In the years that followed, the council was able to take on
more and more powers and the city was thus able to detach itself more
and more from the archdiocese without ever becoming completely free. The
mayor's office first existed in 1302. In the 15th century there was a
governing council, an old council and a senior council. After Tilly's
siege of the city in 1629, the constitution was amended. In addition to
the council, there were two mayors, later four, and from 1683 in the
Brandenburg-Prussian era, the council had three mayors over whom a mayor
stood. This office was recalled in 1743. From 1815 the Prussian town
order was introduced. After that, the administration was headed by a
mayor and a mayor as deputies. In addition, there were the city
councilors as an elected body (later the city council). In 1831 the
administration was reorganized.
During the National Socialist
era, the Lord Mayor was appointed by the NSDAP. After the collapse of
the Third Reich, the occupying forces initially took over order in the
German cities and communities. Magdeburg was initially occupied by both
American (in the western part) and Soviet troops (east of the Elbe). In
May 1945, the Americans arranged for the new magistrate to be formed and
installed the Social Democrat Otto Baer as mayor. Although the Soviet
occupation troops had appointed the independent Trumpa as provisional
mayor in their part of Magdeburg, they confirmed Otto Baer as mayor for
the whole of Magdeburg after the Americans left.
On September 8,
1946, elections to the municipal parliaments in Saxony-Anhalt were held
in accordance with a decree by the provincial government. In the
elections to the Magdeburg city parliament, the SED won the absolute
majority with 51.3%. The city council elected Rudolf Eberhard as the new
mayor, but he was dismissed in 1950 for "political unreliability" and
replaced by Philipp Daub.
The first elections for a Magdeburg
city parliament after the years of Nazi and SED rule took place on May
6, 1990: The SPD became the strongest faction in the city council with
32.98%. In the same year, the city council elected Wilhelm Polte as the
first mayor after reunification. Since 1993 the Lord Mayor has been
directly elected. The term of office of the Lord Mayor is seven years.
In 2001, Lutz Trümper (SPD) was elected Polte's successor. Trümper
was re-elected for one additional term in 2008 with 64.0% and in March
2015 with 69.2%. He left the SPD on October 14, 2015 and rejoined the
SPD on June 22, 2017.
The Lord Mayor is supported in managing the city administration by six full-time deputies who manage the individual departments. They are also elected for a seven-year term, but this is elected by the city council.
Blazon: "In silver, a crenellated red, black jointed castle with two
pointed towers, open golden gate and raised black portcullis; between
the towers is growing a virgin (maiden) dressed in green, holding up a
green wreath in her raised right hand.”
The coat of arms of
Magdeburg is a so-called talking coat of arms: the maiden (little girl)
and the castle refer to the name of the city. The Magdeburg citizenship
had already had both components in their seal since the middle of the
13th century. At that time, the female figure was still standing with
her arms raised halfway up. As a sign of a virgin, she wore kerchiefs
over her arms and her hair open. It was only later that a wreath was
given to the virgin as a sign of her purity.
The colors of the
city are green and red (§ 2 Para. 2 of the main statute).
It is
interesting that Magdeburg has a legally valid but not approved coat of
arms. The coat of arms used since 1938, which differed in its graphics
from classic predecessors, was examined in 1994 as part of an approval
process and due to its current graphics (disproportion between towers
and virgin) was rated as heraldic deficient. The Landeshauptarchiv
(LHASA) certified: The castle is too small, the maiden too big, too much
white space, which contradicts the rules of coat of arms art. However,
the approval process was circumvented by the state government certifying
that the city had a coat of arms - that is, the coat of arms was
tolerated instead of approved, which, according to the legal basis at
the time, would have required a positive opinion from the LHASA.
The city flag has green-red (1:1) stripes and the city coat of arms in
the middle. (§ 2 para. 3 of the main statutes)
The official seal
shows the pictorial representation of the coat of arms. The inscription
is determined by the official seal regulations of the city (§ 2 Para. 4
of the main statute).
Magdeburg maintains friendly contacts with numerous cities around the
world, also through clubs. In September 1977 a twinning with Sarajevo
(Bosnia and Herzegovina) was entered into. There, Magdeburg helped
rebuild the city after the end of the Bosnian War. Braunschweig followed
as another partner city in December 1987. After reunification, the Lower
Saxony city supported the city of Magdeburg in setting up local
self-government. Relations with Nashville have been established since
1998. After the Magdeburg City Council decided on March 13, 2008 to
become a town twinning with Zaporizhia, this partnership was
contractually sealed on May 29, 2008. Contacts, especially in the
economic field, had already existed in previous years. Since June 8,
2008, there has also been a town twinning with the Polish city of Radom,
since July 2, 2008 with the Chinese city of Harbin and since May 2011
with Le Havre in France.
Until 1996 there were also partnership
agreements with Donetsk (Ukraine, since 1962), Kayes (Mali, since 1966),
Hradec Králové/Königgrätz (Czech Republic, since 1972), Setúbal
(Portugal, since 1976), Liège (Belgium, since 1978), Valencia (Spain,
since 1981), Turin (Italy, since 1983) and Nagasaki (Japan, since 1987).
At the time, however, the city council decided to terminate these
partnership contracts.
Since February 2010, the city of Magdeburg has been marketing itself
to tourists and investors under the “Ottostadt Magdeburg” campaign. The
campaign is also intended to encourage Magdeburg citizens to identify
with their place of residence.
The campaign emphasizes the two
Ottos from Magdeburg's history who made the city famous. On the one hand
there is Emperor Otto the Great, who made his favorite Palatinate
Magdeburg the capital and ruled the Holy Roman Empire from there, on the
other hand Otto von Guericke, Magdeburg's mayor, politician and inventor
(barometer, vacuum technology) in the 17th century.
The campaign
is advertised, among other things, by posting short sentences describing
what “Otto” did, did or was, for example “otto is Olympic” or “otto has
history”. In 2011, an "Otto meeting" was held, which was attended by
over 400 people with the first or last name Otto. The highlight of the
meeting was an aerial photo in the Elbauenpark, in which all the
namesake should form up to the lettering ''Otto''.
However, the
umbrella campaign also encountered opponents who believe that the city's
diverse history cannot be reduced to just the two Ottos. "Everything
Otto" doesn't fit in every area, but is still used in politics, music,
business, sports and some more. Another point of criticism is that
“Otto” is first associated with other companies or people instead of
with Emperor Otto or Otto von Guericke. In addition, the expenses for
the campaign were too high and not enough subcontracts were distributed
to Magdeburg companies.
In 2013, the campaign in Berlin was
awarded “City Brand of the Year 2013”. The connection between the slogan
and science and history was praised. In the final, Magdeburg prevailed
against the two competitors Basel and Hildesheim.
In 2016, Magdeburg had a gross domestic product (GDP) of €7.813
billion, ranking 47th among German cities by economic output. The share
in the economic output of the state of Saxony-Anhalt was 13.2%. In the
same year, per capita GDP was €32,978 (Saxony-Anhalt: €26,364, Germany:
€38,180). On June 30, 2021 there were approximately 95000 employed
persons. The unemployment rate in June 2022 was 8.3%.
In the 2016
Atlas of the Future, the independent city took 224th place out of 402
districts, municipal associations and independent cities in Germany,
making it one of the places with a "balanced opportunity-risk mix" for
the future. This is the best placement in Saxony-Anhalt. In the 2003
edition, Magdeburg was still 353 out of 434. In the 2019 Atlas of the
Future, however, Magdeburg was downgraded to 290th place compared to
2016. Despite this, Magdeburg still has a leading position within
Saxony-Anhalt.
Magdeburg is one of the oldest industrial centers in Germany, which
is due to the favorable traffic situation at the intersection of Germany
and Europe with important traffic arteries and what is due to the great
fertility of the soil west of the Elbe and the mineral treasures in the
Magdeburg area, e.g. As salt, potash and lignite, is due. Up until the
19th century, trade and traffic on the Elbe were based on privileges
such as stacking, market, customs and coinage rights.
Well-known
mechanical engineering companies settled there. For example, the
"Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrt-Companie" and the machine works "Alte Bude"
opened in 1828. Due to the expansion of the rail network in Magdeburg,
the economy grew increasingly. In 1850 Bernhard Schäffer founded the
fittings factory Schäffer & Budenberg, in 1855 Hermann Gruson the
"machine factory and shipbuilding workshop H. Gruson Buckau-Magdeburg"
(Grusonwerk - from 1893 a subsidiary of Friedrich Krupp AG), Rudolf
Ernst Wolf opened a machine factory in 1862 (1928 merger to
Maschinenfabrik Buckau R. Wolf), which became one of the leading
ammunition factories alongside the Polte fittings factory, and in 1886
Fahlberg-List started the world's first saccharin factory. In the
so-called Gründerzeit of the 19th century, other companies settled in
Magdeburg.
These companies formed the foundation for the "City of
Heavy Machinery", as Magdeburg was called in the GDR. In mid-1946,
Grusonwerk first became a Soviet joint-stock company, at the end of 1953
with 11,500 employees it became VEB heavy machinery construction "Ernst
Thälmann" and finally in 1969 it became heavy machinery construction
combine "Ernst Thälmann" (SKET). In 1990, many companies that had been
expropriated in 1972 were returned to private hands, but the large
industrial combines collapsed in the course of reunification. Smaller
industrial companies remained or developed.
Nowadays there are
also new companies in the mechanical engineering sector, so that this
sector in Magdeburg u. a. plays an important role with large plants of
the companies SKET, FAM Magdeburger Förderanlagen und Baumaschinen GmbH
or Euroglass. With several Enercon subsidiaries, Magdeburg is an
important production location for wind turbines. Vestas produces
castings in the city.
As has been the case for centuries,
agriculture has benefited from the soil of the Magdeburg Börde, soil
with the best soil quality, which is a prerequisite for the food
industry. It is also necessary for the production of renewable raw
materials such as rapeseed, from which biodiesel is obtained. Due to the
fertile soil and clear spring water of the heath, Magdeburg developed
into a stronghold of beer brewing in the late Middle Ages, which was
already being practiced in the 11th century in the local monastery of
Our Lady. A civil, commercial brewery in Magdeburg was first mentioned
in a document in 1309; around 1500 there were around 500 breweries in
Magdeburg, which sold their beer as far away as Bavaria. With the switch
to industrial brewing, this situation changed quickly; numerous
breweries were closed. The later Diamant brewery, founded in 1841, on
the other hand, relied on the new organizational forms.
Schuberth
GmbH, one of the world's leading manufacturers of head protection
systems, relocated its company headquarters, administration and
production, from Braunschweig to Magdeburg in 2009 and employs around
350 people there.
The Abtshof Magdeburg is a manufacturer of
spirits and nationally known for its absinthe. As the first company in
Germany, it has been producing kosher spirits since 1993.
The
Röstfein company, which was founded in Magdeburg in 1908 and is the only
coffee manufacturer in the new federal states, employs around 150 people
in Magdeburg.
Glencore Magdeburg GmbH (formerly Prokon Bio Ölwerk
Magdeburg) produces biodiesel, rapeseed oil raffinate, pharmaceutical
glycerin, rapeseed meal and cooking oils from rapeseed. The company,
which has consisted of three oil plants since 2012, processes around
700,000 tons of rapeseed a year, from which around 233,000 tons of oil
are extracted. This means that Glencore Magdeburg is one of the largest
oil mills and biodiesel producers in Europe.
The most important
economic sectors in Magdeburg are mechanical and plant engineering,
environmental technologies, healthcare, recycling management, processing
of renewable raw materials and logistics. The service sector for the
telecommunications sector has grown rapidly since the 2010s and all
major providers operating in Germany have projects in technology or
customer service here. The scientific community is also developing and,
in addition to the two universities, includes various research
institutes.
In the last 20 years, the service sector has
developed significantly and is becoming more important as an employer.
For example, T-Systems operates its largest data center with around 750
employees in Magdeburg. In addition, the US IT group IBM opened its
first service center in Germany in the state capital. It is to become
part of the worldwide network of a total of 32 IBM centers. By 2015,
around 300 employees will work here in the areas of software consulting
and development. The central location with several universities and
colleges in the area, but also the proximity to important companies was
particularly decisive for the choice of Magdeburg as a location.
On March 15, 2022, the US semiconductor manufacturer Intel announced its
decision to build two and later six semiconductor factories in Magdeburg
from 2023.
The ten largest employers in the state of
Saxony-Anhalt based in Magdeburg, measured by the number of employees,
are: (as of December 2020)
Deutsche Bahn AG (7,885)
University
Hospital Magdeburg (3,795)
Salus Altmark Holding (2,925)
Deutsche
Telekom AG (1,600)
G+E GETEC Holding GmbH (1,500)
Klinikum
Magdeburg GmbH (1,488)
FAM GmbH (1,466)
Bosch Service Solutions
Magdeburg GmbH (1,258)
GETEC Energie Holding GmbH (1,128)
Municipal Works Magdeburg GmbH & Co. KG (770)
In the last survey in 2008, the modal split, i.e. the distribution of traffic volume among the various modes of transport, was 20.6% for public transport, 48.7% for motorized private transport, 9.8% for bicycles and 20.9% for footpaths. Magdeburg is served by long-distance and regional trains and buses. Public transport in Magdeburg is provided by the S-Bahn Mittelelbe, the Magdeburg tram, regional and city buses. The complex of four inland ports is located directly on the Elbe and other federal waterways via branch and connecting canals. In addition, the waterways and an airfield are used for leisure.
Magdeburg is the most important railway hub in northern
Saxony-Anhalt. The Magdeburg Fortress was originally located on the site
of the main train station. However, the first station in Magdeburg was
the Elbbahnhof from the years 1838/39, the building of which is still
preserved and is therefore Germany's oldest station building. The
current main station was not built until 1870 under the name
"Centralbahnhof", which it bore until 1895. The station is to be
renovated under the Magdeburg 21 project for around 300 million euros by
2022. At the same time, further modernization systems will be carried
out in the entire area around the station by 2019 for 500 million euros.
By then it should become an important hub on a new north-south corridor
that connects the important port cities in the north with the hinterland
and relieves other main traffic routes in Lower Saxony, North
Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse.
Intercity Express trains to and from
Dresden-Leipzig-Hanover-Dortmund-Cologne stop at the main station.
InterCity trains run every two hours on the lines Leipzig-Halle
(Saale)-Hanover-Bremen-Oldenburg-Norddeich Mole and
Dresden-Leipzig-Halle
(Saale)-Hanover-Bielefeld-Dortmund-Wuppertal-Cologne. Occasionally
InterCity trains run to and from Schwerin-Rostock, Berlin-Cottbus and
from Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf-Erfurt. In addition, there is the
Harz-Berlin-Express, which occasionally stops at the main train station
and runs from Berlin via Halberstadt to Thale or Goslar.
DB AG
regional express trains run in the direction of Frankfurt
(Oder)(–Cottbus) via Potsdam and Berlin, to Leipzig via Dessau and
Bitterfeld, to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, to Uelzen via Salzwedel and to
Halle (Saale) via Köthen. To Berlin (Berlin Gesundbrunnen) there was
until December 2012 the Inter-Regio-Express line operated independently
by DB AG via Berlin Südkreuz. This express connection was about 15
minutes faster than the RE 1 and also served the Südkreuz and Potsdamer
Platz stations.
In addition, RB lines of the DB Regio run to Burg
(near Magdeburg) (-Genthin) and Braunschweig via Helmstedt.
In
addition to the trains of Deutsche Bahn AG, Abellio Rail
Mitteldeutschland's regional express trains run in the direction of
Thale/Goslar/Blankenburg (Harz) via Quedlinburg/Wernigerode/halberstadt
and to Erfurt via Sangerhausen. There are also regional trains to
Oschersleben (Bode) via Osterweddingen and Langenweddingen, to Wolfsburg
via Haldensleben and Oebisfelde, to Bernburg via Calbe (Saale) and to
Aschersleben via Staßfurt.
Opened in 1974, the trains of the
S-Bahn Mittelelbe run every 30 minutes between Schönebeck-Salzelmen and
Zielitz (every second to Wittenberge). From 2007 to 2014, the S-Bahn
shared traffic with the regional trains, which took over the weekend
service.
In addition to the main train station, the Magdeburg
railway junction includes ten other stations (four passenger stations,
six stops) in the city area as well as the Magdeburg-Rothensee goods
yard and the former Magdeburg-Buckau marshalling yard, which was still
used by DB Regio as a siding. The Rothensee freight transport center at
the interface between rail, motorway and waterways or port railway is of
growing importance.
Magdeburg is a traffic hub in terms of road traffic. The important
east-west main highway A 2 (European route E 30)
Oberhausen-Dortmund-Hanover-Magdeburg-Berlin runs to the north. It has
been expanded to six lanes in Saxony-Anhalt and has a traffic control
system.
The A 2 crosses the A 14 Dresden-Leipzig-Halle
(Saale)-Magdeburg at the Magdeburg interchange, the Halle-Magdeburg
section of which was only built after 1990. A northern extension
(Altmark Autobahn) to Schwerin is planned for the A 14. This
construction project has been criticized by opponents of the expansion
because, according to them, the volume of traffic on the A 14 does not
require it to be expanded into a motorway and the existing federal
highway will meet the requirements. The 2025 interconnection forecast
for the A 14, by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban
Development, comes to a different conclusion, according to which the
expansion is justified.
The federal highway 1
Aachen-Düsseldorf-Dortmund-Brunswick-Magdeburg-Potsdam-Berlin-Küstrin-Kietz
runs through Magdeburg, which is the most important east-west connection
of the city. The B 184 begins in the east of Magdeburg in the direction
of Dessau-Bitterfeld-Leipzig. In the north-south direction, Magdeburg is
crossed by the federal roads B 71
Bremerhaven-Uelzen-Haldensleben-Magdeburg, B 81
Magdeburg-halberstadt-Netzkater and B 189 Magdeburg-Stendal-Wittstock.
These federal roads lead over the Magdeburger Ring, an elevated road to
the west of the city center from the 1970s, from which its popular name
Tangente comes. The term "ring" dates back to the 19th century, when
there was already a ring road that circumnavigated the city in a
semicircle. Together with the B1 and other roads, it is also part of the
so-called "City-Ring", a traffic concept consisting of four tangents
that are intended to direct through traffic around the city centre.
Since September 1st, 2011, there has been an environmental zone in
Magdeburg to keep fine dust levels low in the city centre. It covers
practically the entire city center. It does not apply to the Magdeburger
Ring with its ramps, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz and Maybachstrasse. This
means that through traffic on the Magdeburger Ring and access to the
main train station and central bus station are not subject to any
restrictions.
There are two relevant road tunnels in the urban
area. The first tunnel at Askanen Platz was completed in 1998 and runs
under the B 1. The second road tunnel, which leads the B 1 through under
the traffic junction, was opened at Universitätsplatz in 2005. A third
road tunnel is planned at the traffic junction
Damaschkeplatz/Hauptbahnhof. On the one hand, it is intended to relieve
traffic, since traffic jams often occur there due to traffic lights,
narrowing lanes and crossing trams. On the other hand, it should be the
basis for the renovation of the railway bridges by Deutsche Bahn.
Several lawsuits against this building were rejected by the Federal
Administrative Court on July 25, 2014 and preparatory construction work
was started.
In Magdeburg there are two bridges across the Elbe
that are approved for road traffic. The north bridge train, which
crosses the B 1, consists of the two Jerusalem bridges and the bridges
of peace. Both cross the Elbe with two adjacent bridge structures
designed for two lanes. The southern bridge consists of the new river
bridge, which has two lanes for tram traffic and four lanes for road
traffic, but only two lanes have been open to traffic for years for
structural reasons. The toll bridge and the Anna-Ebert bridge continue
across the Elbe. Since the two bridges are in a dilapidated condition,
the replacement bridge east of the new bridge is to be built from 2020
for 75.5 million euros net. A pier bridge was initially planned, but due
to the risk of flooding, as in June 2013, the decision was made to use
the more expensive cable-stayed bridge. Built for pedestrians, cyclists,
public transport and taxi traffic, the Sternbrücke crosses the Elbe in
the south of Magdeburg. It is only opened to general road traffic in
exceptional cases.
Overall, Magdeburg has a road network of
around 1100 km. The number of motor vehicles is around 117,000 vehicles
without trailers, including around 99,000 cars. This means that there
are 50.9 motor vehicles per 100 inhabitants, based on the population in
December 2009.
The Spiegelbrücke is one of the oldest documented street names in
Magdeburg. In 1284 it was mentioned as "pons speculorum". Most street
names at the time were derived from the adjacent occupational groups
(e.g. Goldschmiedebrücke).
A large number of streets in Magdeburg
end with the word "-brücke", which is not due to the bridge in the
modern sense, but rather to the cobbled paths and streets. Other types
of designation were distinctive house signs in the street, the location
of the streets on buildings or special characteristics of the streets.
From 1871 onwards, the naming of the streets was mainly based on
monarchist or historical backgrounds, militarily motivated names or
names of poets. In the Weimar Republic and during the National Socialist
period, many names went back to famous political personalities,
including Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz or Göringstrasse.
During the
post-war period many of these names disappeared again, their original
names returning. At the time of the GDR and the reconstruction after the
Second World War, old Magdeburg urban structures were not taken into
account, and many old streets and squares were built over or
disappeared. They got new names, e.g. For example, Breite Weg was
renamed Karl-Marx-Straße. After the fall of communism and the peaceful
revolution in the GDR, many squares, streets and bridges got their old
names back from 1990 onwards.
In addition to the Magdeburg public transport company, local public
transport is also provided by the PlusBus of the Saxony-Anhalt state
network. The following regional bus connections run from Magdeburg:
Line 100: Magdeburg ↔ Haldensleben ↔ Gardelegen ↔ Klötze ↔ Salzwedel
Line 602: Magdeburg ↔ Schleibnitz ↔ Wanzleben ↔ Klein Wanzleben ↔
Seehausen
Route 603: Magdeburg ↔ Hohendodeleben ↔ Wanzleben ↔ Klein
Wanzleben ↔ Oschersleben
Line 720: Magdeburg ↔ Königsborn ↔ Möckern ↔
Zeppernick ↔ Loburg
City transport in Magdeburg is operated by
the Magdeburger Verkehrsbetriebe with 10 tram lines, which run with 108
trams on a route network 64.1 km long, and on the other hand with 23 bus
lines (14 during the day / 9 at night), which cover a route network
length of 107 km with a total of 60 vehicles are on the road. In
addition, there are regional bus lines from various transport companies
that approach the central bus station (ZOB) to the west of the main
train station and thus fulfill the feeder function from surrounding
communities and towns. The ZOB is also a hub in the national
long-distance bus network.
The S-Bahn Mittelelbe and some other
regional trains also operate in Magdeburg, but only play a subordinate
role in public transport in the city. The subsidiary Magdeburger Weiße
Flotte GmbH currently operates two ferries across the Elbe in the city
and carried around 36,000 people in 2008.
A total of around 60
million people are transported over 9.6 million kilometers every year.
Since December 12, 2010, Magdeburg and the surrounding districts
have had the Magdeburg regional transport association (marego). The aim
was a uniform tariff system for all means of public transport, better
coordination of the means of transport and joint marketing.
The 1220 km long Elbe Cycle Path, one of the most popular
long-distance cycle paths in Germany, leads through the city. Another
long-distance cycle path that starts in Magdeburg because of the good
train connections is the Aller cycle path, which leads to the
Allerquelle near Oschersleben and then 248.5 km along the Aller. Within
the city and in the surrounding area, there are local and regional cycle
routes that e.g. B. are offered by the tourist information and z. T. are
signposted.
In Magdeburg, 510 km of cycle paths were managed by
the Civil Engineering Office in 2017. In 2011, there were around 494 km,
of which around 278 km were on the road and around 216 km independently.
The approximately 250 m long bicycle lane within a park at Schrote is of
a more symbolic nature. The city administration has not yet identified a
need for additional bicycle lanes. Almost all major main roads are
equipped with cycling facilities of varying quality, which are being
modernized as part of road construction projects. Basically, the city
assesses the condition as being in need of repair or renewal to a large
extent. In many side streets, especially in residential areas, the speed
limit is 30. There is a project to improve road safety using sponsored
Trixi mirrors. Modern public bicycle parking racks have been installed
in central areas in recent years. In June 2018, the parking space
statute was amended and after long discussions in the city council,
regulations on bicycle parking spaces were added.
The flat urban
area and the relatively small amounts of rain are good for cycling.
Despite these good conditions, the modal split share for bicycle traffic
in 2008 was only 9.8%. In 2013, this value was 12.6% and was below the
average of 14.8% for “flat” regional centers with fewer than 500,000
inhabitants. It is often criticized that bicycle traffic, especially
everyday traffic, hardly receives any lasting attention from local
politicians, who are not willing to take on a role model function and
advocate the promotion of bicycle traffic. In the biennial bicycle
climate tests of the ADFC, Magdeburg started in 2012 and 2014 with
overall ratings of 3.9 (according to the school grading system) and then
increased to overall ratings of 4.3 (2016), 4.2 (2018) and 4.3 (2020).
deteriorated. With the result of 2020, Magdeburg ranks 23rd out of 26
evaluated cities in the town size class of 200,000-500,000 inhabitants.
Although all major city council factions have committed themselves to
treating bicycle traffic at least on an equal footing with motorized
traffic, the city administration is criticized for not implementing the
goals it has set itself in the area of bicycle traffic and for still
treating the concept of bicycle traffic as subordinate and neglected to
motor vehicle traffic. The governing CDU rejects the promotion of
cycling through 30 km/h zones and, contrary to the provisions of the
StVO, advocates a general obligation to use cycle paths. The city also
rejected traffic light handles that a bicycle shop wanted to sponsor.
Roadworks signs that are unfriendly to cyclists are also repeatedly
criticized.
The city is consistently in the upper range of German
bicycle theft statistics in terms of thefts per capita and led these
statistics in 2013. 1,665 bicycles per 100,000 inhabitants were reported
stolen. The clearance rate was an above-average 23.9%. However, the
expansion of bicycle racks outside of "central and tourist areas" is
rejected. As part of austerity measures, the police's bicycle coding
service was discontinued in April 2015. In 2017, the ADFC started a
petition in favor of cycling. Several thousand signatures were collected
within a short time. However, the city council largely ignored the
petition, with only six of the 53 city councilors contacted giving any
response at all.
In Magdeburg, bicycles can be hired directly
from the shop or via the Call a Bike bicycle rental system. Nextbike
retired in 2018. Bicycles can be taken on MVB buses and trams outside of
the rush hour. In the regional local transport network marego and in all
local trains of Deutsche Bahn in Saxony-Anhalt, bicycles are free of
charge. The number of bicycle parking spaces at the main train station
is in the lower three-digit range - a very low value for cities of this
size. There are no bicycle parking facilities at the ZOB. The
construction of a bicycle parking garage has been under investigation
for a long time, but so far neither this nor alternative or transitional
solutions have been implemented.
For centuries, the Elbe has been an important north-west-southeast
link in the region for inland shipping, as it connects Magdeburg with
the seaports of Hamburg and Dresden. The importance of the Elbe for
freight transport has decreased sharply, from around 2 million tons in
1998 to 0.3 million tons in 2016.
The metropolitan areas of
Berlin, Hanover, Halle (Saale)/Leipzig and the Ruhr area are connected
by the Mittelland Canal north of Magdeburg, which crosses the Elbe in a
trough bridge before meeting the Elbe-Havel Canal to the east of the
waterway junction. The Sparschleuse Rothensee is part of the waterway
junction; it enables large motorized cargo ships and pushed convoys up
to 185 meters in length to call at Magdeburg Harbor from the Mittelland
Canal or switch to the Elbe. In 2006, the lock replaced the Rothensee
ship lift from 1938. However, this historic building was put back into
operation in 2013 after being closed for seven years and is now used for
sports and tourist boats. An initiative protested against the closure of
the technical monument. The Niegripp lock to the east, which is
responsible for the Elbe-Elbe-Havel canal connection, and the
Hohenwarthe lock, which compensates for the difference in height between
the two canals, also complete the waterway junction. The waterway
crossing should lead to a significant increase in the volume of goods
transported on the Elbe and on the Mittelland Canal. These forecasts
have not been confirmed.
The port of Magdeburg is the largest
inland port in the new federal states and consists of four individual
ports: canal port, industrial port, Hanseatic port and commercial port.
Due to its location, it offers a good starting point for handling
traffic. Goods of all kinds can be handled at the ports, including
grain, sugar, metals and petroleum products. In 2010, three million tons
of cargo were handled. The entire port is 655 ha. The low water lock was
opened in December 2013. This means that the Hanseatic port and the
canal port are navigable all year round, regardless of the water level
of the Elbe.
In 2018, the port operator Magdeburger Hafen GmbH
handled around 2.4 million tons (2014: 3.5 million tons, 2015: 4.1
million) of goods. The turnover was 10.5 million euros.
Touristically, Magdeburg is developed on the water by the White Fleet
with its main pier at the Petriford. Among other things, it offers round
trips on the Elbe and to the waterway crossing. River cruise ships also
call at Magdeburg regularly. There are several pleasure boat harbors in
the pleasure boating sector.
Under the leadership of Magdeburg,
the European cities of Aarhus, Białystok, Manresa, Halle (Saale),
Newcastle upon Tyne, Piraeus and Vienna have joined forces to form the
"REDIS" project (Restructuring Districts into Science Quarters). The aim
is to convert a district into a science district. They are funded by the
European Union through the "URBACT" program. Magdeburg wants to convert
the commercial port into a museum and science port in the future. In
2007, as a first step, two old granaries south of the port were
converted to office use for innovative companies and research
institutions. In 2006, the "Virtual Development and Training Center" of
the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) was
established at the old commercial port.
Magdeburg Airfield, built in 1936, is located on the southern
outskirts of the city. It can be reached via public transport (tram and
bus) or via the A14. The airfield is currently leased to the private FMB
Flugplatz Magdeburg Betriebsgesellschaft mbH and is used for air sports
(gliders, parachutists), private pilots and sightseeing flights (balloon
rides). On two runways, it recorded around 30,000 flight movements a
year (in 2012: 31,722), around 12,000 of which were powered flights.
40 kilometers south-southwest of Magdeburg is Magdeburg-Cochstedt
Airport, which was built in 1956 and has been temporarily closed since
September 1, 2016 after the operating license was suspended.
The
nearest major commercial airports are the airports in Leipzig/Halle,
Berlin Brandenburg and Hanover. Leipzig/Halle Airport can be reached
directly from Magdeburg via the InterCity connection without having to
change trains.
Magdeburg is home to the Saxony-Anhalt broadcasting center of
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) with its television and radio studios.
Regional television stations from Magdeburg are MDF.1, the open channel
and kultur MD. There are also a number of Internet-based channels,
including "kulturmd InternetTV", "CampusTV" from the University of
Magdeburg and "MD-Web TV", which, in addition to cultural programs,
mainly produces sports programs.
The only public radio station in
Magdeburg is MDR Saxony-Anhalt. With its focus on information from
Saxony-Anhalt, it is the second most listened to radio station in
Saxony-Anhalt. The main genres of music played are hits and oldies.
There are also two private radio programs that are produced in the
"Hansapark": radio SAW and Rockland Sachsen-Anhalt. Radio SAW is the
first private radio station in Saxony-Anhalt, the private radio station
with the widest reach in the east and at the same time it has the most
listeners in Saxony-Anhalt with over 258,000 listeners per hour. Across
Germany, it ranks fourth among the ten most popular radio stations. The
target group is 10 to 49 year olds. Rockland Sachsen-Anhalt also aims at
a young audience and mainly plays rock music as well as program-related
services. It was the first digital radio station in Germany. The
university also operates the radio station GUERICKE FM.
The
oldest German-language newspaper, the Magdeburgische Zeitung, was
published in Magdeburg from 1664 to 1944. It was then merged with the
Nazi newspaper Der Mitteldeutsche – Neues Magdeburger Tageblatt. The
only local daily newspaper is the Magdeburger Volksstimme (circulation
approx. 190,000). It is printed by Mitteldeutsche Verlags- und Druckhaus
GmbH. The Bild newspaper is represented by a local editorial office. The
“Magdeburger Sonntag” (circulation: approx. 130,000) and since 2009 the
“elbekurier” (circulation: approx. 110,000) have been published as
weekly advertising papers. In addition, since 1990 the
“General-Anzeiger” has been published twice a week (circulation: approx.
600,000).
The state-wide business magazine “Wirtschaftsspiegel”
has been published in Magdeburg since 1993. In addition, the Magdeburg
Chamber of Crafts and the Chamber of Crafts in Lower Saxony publish the
business newspaper Norddeutsches Handwerk (circulation: approx. 95,000).
A special feature is the weekly Catholic newspaper Tag des Herr,
published by the Archdiocese of Berlin and the dioceses in
Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Görlitz and Magdeburg.
The city
magazines “DATEs” (circulation: approx. 28,000), “port01 Magdeburg”
(circulation: 10,000), “kulturschwarmer” (circulation: 13,000) and
“Urbanite” (circulation: approx. 30,000) appear monthly. The
"Magdeburger Kurier" with the subtitle "for citizens in active
retirement" was published from 1994 to April 2017 as a monthly magazine
and has been published as a purely online edition since May 2017. The
newspaper "Magdeburg Kompakt" (founded 2012; circulation 25,000, as of
2017) has been published twice a month since 2014 and deals with special
topics relating to and from Magdeburg. Since 2006, the leisure planner
"wohin" has been published in Magdeburg with two editions for the whole
of Saxony-Anhalt.
Magdeburg is now an important administrative center for various
facilities, institutions, corporations and institutions under public
law.
After the reunification of Germany, Magdeburg was chosen as
the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt. It is therefore the seat of the
state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt as well as the state government of
Saxony-Anhalt and the state ministries. These include the State
Chancellery and Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Interior and
Sport, the Ministry of Justice and Equality, the Ministry of Finance,
the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economics, Science and
Digitization, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Integration,
the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Energy and the Ministry of
Regional Development and Transport.
The Magdeburg Justice Center
Eike von Repgow on Breite Weg is the seat of various courts. In addition
to the District Court of Magdeburg, these include the Labor Court of
Magdeburg, the Social Court of Magdeburg, the Administrative Court of
Magdeburg and the Higher Administrative Court of Magdeburg. The district
court of Magdeburg is also located in a separate building on
Halberstädter Strasse.
The General Waterways and Shipping
Directorate has a location in Magdeburg (formerly Waterways and Shipping
Directorate East). The Waterways and Shipping Authority Magdeburg with a
building on the Fürstenwall is responsible for the maintenance of the
federal waterways and the operation of the facilities. The
Wasserstrassen-Neubauamt Magdeburg (WNA Magdeburg) is responsible for
the construction projects in Project 17 of the German Unity Transport
Project (Waterways). The International Commission for the Protection of
the Elbe (IKSE) is also based in Magdeburg.
The Federal Network
Agency has a branch office in Magdeburg that is responsible for site
certificates for EMF/EMVU.
The Magdeburg-based Diocese of
Magdeburg belongs to the Roman Catholic Church of Christianity. It
emerged from the archbishopric of Magdeburg and has various deaneries
and church institutions in Saxony-Anhalt. It also maintains a
partnership with the diocese of Kaišiadorys in Lithuania. The religious
institution with the most members in Magdeburg is the Evangelical Church
in Central Germany (EKM). It is one of 20 member churches of the
Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Magdeburg is the seat of the state
bishop.
The Magdeburg Finance Directorate, which is subordinate
to the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Finance, is located on
Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse and stands out for its special architecture.
In 1991 the Telemann Society e. V. (International Association) was
founded in Magdeburg and has its headquarters here. Other institutions
in Magdeburg are the Federal Examination Office, which is one of nine
examination offices in Germany, the State Office for Consumer Protection
- Department of Hygiene, the Federal Institute for Real Estate Tasks
Magdeburg, Agency for Work in Magdeburg and the Magdeburg branch of the
Deutsche Bundesbank (the only branch in Saxony-Anhalt), which is
subordinate to the main administration in Bremen, Lower Saxony and
Saxony-Anhalt in Hanover, the investment bank in Saxony-Anhalt, the main
customs office, the Federal Police Inspectorate in Magdeburg, that of
the Federal Police Headquarters in Pirna is subordinated, the district
military replacement office and the local branch Magdeburg of the
Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW).
Magdeburg is the seat of the Otto von Guericke University, which
emerged in 1993 from the Magdeburg University of Applied Sciences, which
was founded in 1953 and later renamed Magdeburg Technical University and
Technical University, and from the Magdeburg Medical Academy, founded in
1954, and the Magdeburg University of Education. This makes the
university one of the youngest universities in Germany. The traditional
lines of the three universities are still recognizable in the focal
points of today's modern university, because its profile still includes
engineering and natural sciences as well as medicine and economics,
social sciences and humanities. However, research areas of excellence
are neuroscience, dynamic systems and automotive.
Due to its
location in the middle of Germany and its history, the Otto von Guericke
University sees itself as the bridge between Western and Eastern Europe,
which is also made clear by the internationalization of research and
teaching. The inventor, natural scientist and mayor of the city Otto von
Guericke was chosen as the namesake, as he became famous worldwide
through his groundbreaking research into vacuum and air pressure. He is
regarded as the founder of vacuum technology and also as the inventor of
the barometer and the air pump. Almost 14,000 students study at the
university in a total of nine faculties with over 70 courses.
The
central facilities of the university include the university library with
a stock of approximately 1.2 million volumes, the university language
center which offers student courses in foreign languages, and the
technology transfer center which is a central communication and service
point for the university and represents economy. Other facilities are
the audio-visual media center, the university archive, the sports
center, the university computer center, the central service facilities
of the medical faculty, the patent information center, the DIN display
office and the international meeting center.
There is also a
location for the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences in the
city. It was founded in 1991 and continues the hundred-year tradition of
engineering training, because in 1793 there was already an art school in
Magdeburg for drawing training for construction specialists. It was
later renamed the "Magdeburg Provincial, Art and Building Craft School"
and then the "Engineering School for Civil Engineering". In the 1950s, a
chemistry school was relocated to Magdeburg (water management
department). This and the engineering school for mechanical and
electrical engineering shaped the city very much. All departments can be
found on a new campus between Elbauenpark and Herrenkrug. 4800 students
are currently enrolled at the university in Magdeburg. The university
has five faculties in Magdeburg, and there are more than 30 courses on
offer, some of which are rare or unique in Germany. The head of the
university is Anne Lequy.
The Otto-von-Guericke Business School
Magdeburg, in cooperation with the Otto-von-Guericke University, offers
bachelor's and master's courses in economics in the form of further
education. The business school was founded in 2002. In addition to the
campus in Magdeburg, the Otto-von-Guericke Business School has a second
one in the Old University of Helmstedt.
In 2022, the private
Steinbeis University Berlin, which had previously been based in Berlin,
was relocated to Magdeburg.
Magdeburg is home to a large number of research institutions and has
thus established itself as a successful science location.
Founded
in 1991, the departments of the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory
Operation and Automation (IFF) focus on research and development in
engineering and economics in the fields of industrial engineering and
business informatics. The Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex
Technical Systems, founded in 1996, is the first institute of the Max
Planck Society to focus on engineering sciences. The Leibniz Association
has maintained the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LIN) in Magdeburg
since 1992, which deals with natural sciences in the field of
neuroscience and molecular biology. Europe's first 7-Tesla
ultra-high-field MRI scanner has been located there since 2005. The
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ (Aquatic Research
Section) is also located with one of six locations and the German Center
for Neurodegenerative Diseases - DZNE, which examines the possibilities
of learning to improve memory, with one of nine locations in Magdeburg.
The state capital of Magdeburg is still a "corporate supporting member"
of the Max Planck Society.
The Otto von Guericke University
Magdeburg also maintains the Center for Neuroscientific Innovation and
Technology (ZENIT) and the Center for Qualitative Education, Counseling
and Social Research (ZBBS).
Several research institutions have
settled in Magdeburg's science port district, the city's former trading
port. An example is the ifak Institute for Automation and Communication,
founded in 1991, which deals with the process industry, environmental
technology and sensor and measurement technology, among other things.
Other facilities in the Port of Science are the Experimental Factory, a
research and transfer center for application-oriented research, the
Virtual Development and Training Center (VDTC) of the Fraunhofer
Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF), a modern research
center for virtual technologies with high-tech laboratories , and the
Elbe Office, completed in 2009, as an office and research building with
modern technology and equipment.
The Gender Institute
Saxony-Anhalt (G-I-S-A) works on the bundling, realization and
coordination of research and educational activities for the
implementation of the gender mainstreaming concept. With the mechanisms
of cognitive brain functions, such as The Institute for Cognitive
Neurology and Dementia Research (IkND) deals with such issues as memory,
motivation, action, decision-making and traffic control. The focus of
the institute is on research into disruption of brain functions and
neurodegenerative diseases. Other institutes are the Institute of the
Saxony-Anhalt Fire Brigade (IdF LSA) and the Institute for Paints and
Coatings (ILF).
The following science-promoting institutions and
organizations are also located in Magdeburg:
Research and Development
Center Magdeburg (FEZ)
Founding and technology transfer center for
crafts
InnoMed – product development in the field of medical
technology and healthcare services
Innovation and Start-Up Center for
Renewable Resources (IGZ)
Rationalization board of the German economy
Technology and Vocational Training Center Magdeburg (tbz)
Technology
transfer and innovation promotion Magdeburg (tti)
Center for product,
process and process innovation GmbH (ZPVP)
Center for Telemann care
and research
In addition to the universities, various research projects also take
place at non-university scientific institutions in Magdeburg. In order
to strengthen the city as a science and research location, it became a
project partner in the URBACT project EUniverCities. The aim of this
project is to strengthen cooperation between city administrations and
universities at the local level. The project's negotiation topics are,
for example, the development of effective marketing strategies, the
promotion of technology transfer and the expansion of relationships in
business and science. The needs of a student cultural scene and of
special housing or local transport solutions are also addressed. Other
partners of the EUniverCities project are Aachen, Aveiro, Delft, Ghent,
Lecce, Linköping, Lublin, Tampere and Varna.
A project by the
city of Magdeburg is the conversion of the historic commercial port near
the university into a modern science port. As a diverse urban district
with residential use, services, leisure and tourism, a center for
science and research is to be created there. The flagship building in
the Port of Science is the think tank, which combines two former
granaries and has been converted into 4,600 m² of office space for
innovative research companies.
In addition, the OVGU works
together with other partners in Saxony-Anhalt in applied logistics and
transport research on the reference project "Transport Galileo" with the
targeted development of innovations in the transport, mobility and
logistics sector. The European satellite navigation system and other
satellite-supported and terrestrial positioning, navigation and
communication systems are used for implementation. The infrastructure of
the Galileo test field extends not only to Magdeburg but also to Halle
(Saale).
2006 was the Year of Science in Magdeburg. This was an
initiative of the city administration in cooperation with the research
facilities and other institutions from all areas of society in the city.
More than 200 events took place throughout the year, including major
events such as the kick-off event in Magdeburg's Johanniskirche, the
RoboCup Junior World Cup qualification tournament, the Science Festival
in the new science port and the European Congress of Science Cities. In
addition, annual popular science events such as The Long Night of
Science, which was held for the first time in the Science Year 2006,
have become established. Among other things, scientific lectures and
fascinating experiments will take place at various locations in the
city, which can be reached by shuttle bus. The event takes place under a
different motto every year.
Another important series of events is
the RoboCup German Open, which has been taking place in Magdeburg since
2010. At every event, several thousand visitors stream into the
Magdeburg exhibition halls to see robots from international teams
compete against each other in various disciplines such as robot soccer,
dancing and rescue.
The public city library of Magdeburg maintains the central library,
the district libraries in Magdeburg Sudenburg, Magdeburg Reform and in
the Florapark and the mobile library, which has been serving the
remaining districts and outskirts for more than 30 years, and has a
total of around 370,000 inventory units. With the administrative library
Magdeburg, a scientific special library, the university library, which
is divided into the university library on the campus at
Universitätsplatz and the central medical library on the campus of the
medical faculty and has a stock of around 1,250,000 volumes, and the
university library of the Magdeburg University of Applied Sciences
-Stendal covers Magdeburg's literature requirements in the field of
scientific training and research. The library and archive of the Center
for Telemann Care and Research have around 10,000 volumes and deal with
Georg Philipp Telemann and the music history of Magdeburg.
The
Salbker Bookmark in the Salbke district of Magdeburg represents a public
bookcase, an event stage and a noise protection wall. The concept is
that books can be taken out of the showcases and read, and then later
put back by the users or replaced with new books. Also in the Salbke
district is the "Leonardo Library", a reference library for vocational
literature.
The Saxony-Anhalt State Archive, ministerial archive
of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and archive of the former central
authorities of the Prussian province of Saxony, the Free State of Anhalt
and their predecessor territories, is a large German state archive and
has around 50 running kilometers of shelves from eleven centuries of
German history at five locations.
Other noteworthy archives are
the Magdeburg regional church archive and the Magdeburg Stasi archive,
with a total of around 7,000 running meters of written material,
topographic maps and image and sound documents from the former Magdeburg
State Security. The Diocese of Magdeburg maintains its own library with
around 2,500 volumes and its own archive. Holdings of the Magdeburg City
Archives can be accessed online in Archivportal-D.
The school landscape in Magdeburg is diverse. A total of 37 primary
schools, including e.g. B. the "Trilingual International Elementary
School", the "St. Mechthild Elementary School", 13 secondary schools,
including the sports secondary school "Hans Schellheimer" or the
"Evening Secondary School", eight high schools, e.g. the
"Werner-von-Siemens Gymnasium" with a focus on mathematics and natural
sciences and the "Sportgymnasium Magdeburg", there are also two
integrated comprehensive schools and a total of four vocational schools
in Magdeburg.
There are also ten special schools, an eco school
(school environmental center), a botany school, an adult education
center, a painting school and several music schools, including the Georg
Philipp Telemann Conservatory with around 2,600 students.
The city is a member of the nationwide Healthy Cities Network (GSM) and has a good medical infrastructure with two maximum care providers, two other hospitals and a large number of resident doctors. There are about 480 inhabitants for every doctor. The maximum care providers include the Magdeburg University Hospital with 1128 beds and the Magdeburg Hospital with over 735 beds. Basic care is provided by the Pfeiffer Foundation with 234 beds and the St. Marienstift Hospital with 125 beds. In addition, the Pfeiffer Foundation opened Saxony-Anhalt's first children's hospice in March 2013 and at the same time the first Protestant children's hospice in the new federal states. Incurably terminally ill children are cared for there within the framework of palliative medicine and care, with the support of the families being a fundamental element. The Klinik des Westens Magdeburg is an in-patient clinic with ten beds. The practice clinic Sudenburg is a medical center with four operating rooms. The Median Clinics operate the Neurological Rehabilitation Center in Magdeburg. The day clinic at Sternbrücke, Dr. Kielstein GmbH, treats addictions and psychosomatic disorders, the specialist clinic Alte Ölmühle treats addictions.
The mayor bestows honorary citizenship, the highest honor of the city of Magdeburg, on people who have made outstanding contributions to the city. It has been awarded since the 19th century. To date, 46 honorary citizen titles have been awarded in Magdeburg. Among them are, for example, Otto von Bismarck (Chancellor), Carl Gustav Friedrich Hasselbach (Mayor 1851-1880) and the only woman to date, Angela Davis (peace fighter in the USA).
Notable Magdeburg natives include: Hermann Gruson, an inventor, scientist, and industrialist; Adelbert Delbrück, the founder of Deutsche Bank; Ludwig Karl Friedrich Detroit (Mehmed Ali Pasha), Pasha in the Ottoman Empire; Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian officer and American general; Georg Philipp Telemann, important Baroque composer; Georg Kaiser, the most successful playwright of the Expressionist generation and Otto von Guericke, the founder of vacuum technology and mayor of the city of Magdeburg; and Major General Henning von Tresckow, a resistance fighter against National Socialism; Menahem Pressler, pianist.
The work of, among others, was closely connected with Magdeburg: Otto I – Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; Johann Andreas Eisenbarth – artisan surgeon who achieved fame as a surgeon; Bruno Taut - architect and urban planner; Johann Gottlob Nathusius - royal merchant and industrialist; Christian Georg Kohlrausch – German gymnastics teacher, rediscovery of the discus throw; Stefan Kretzschmar - handball player and Eike von Repgow - author of the Sachsenspiegel.
The Magdeburg originals are a group of sculptures located on the old city wall. It was created from limestone by Eberhard Roßdeutscher in 1976 and represents historical originals of the city.