Erlangen



Erlangen (East Franconian: Erlang) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach. Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Erlangen is today dominated by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the numerous branch offices of Siemens AG, as well as a large research Institute of the Fraunhofer Society and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. An event that left its mark on the city was the settlement of Huguenots after the withdrawal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

Felix Klein's Erlangen program, considering the future of research in mathematics, is so called because Klein was then at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

History
Erlangen was first mentioned in official records in 1002 under the name of Villa Erlangon. In 1361, the village was sold to Emperor Karl IV. Three years later, a city was built close to the village, which in 1374 got its own coining station (mint). In 1398, the municipal rights were confirmed. In 1402, the city came into the possession of the House of Hohenzollern as part of the principality of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (from 1603 on Brandenburg-Bayreuth), remaining under their rule until 1806. During the four year Napoleonic occupation, Erlangen was the capital of the so-called "Low County" (Unterland) of the principality, encompassing the area until Neustadt an der Aisch and separated from the "High County" (Oberland) by a land corridor. In 1810 it became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, together with the rest of former Brandenburg-Bayreuth.

While it was still part of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, the first French Huguenot refugees arrived in Erlangen in 1686. Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, built a "new town" (Neustadt) for them. In 1706, the old town (just below the site of the annual Bergkirchweih) was almost completely destroyed by a fire, but soon rebuilt. In 1812, the old and new towns were merged into one.

In 1742, Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, founded a university for his royal seat of Bayreuth, but due to the rebelliousness of the local students, the university was transferred to Erlangen. Only later did it obtain the name of "Friedrich-Alexander-University" and become a Prussian state university. Famous students of these times were Johann Ludwig Tieck and Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder.

Already during the Bavarian municipal reform of 1818, the city was endowed with its own administration. In 1862, the canton administration Erlangen was founded, from which later arose the administrative district of Erlangen. In 1972, this district was merged with the administrative district of Höchstadt. Erlangen became the capital of this newly founded district Erlangen-Höchstadt. During this municipal reform, Erlangen was effectively enlarged considerably, thus in 1974 it had more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Points of interest

 * The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität) was founded in 1742 by Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, in the city of Bayreuth, but was relocated to Erlangen the next year. Today, it features five faculties; some departments (Economics and Education) are located in Nuremberg. About 24,000 students study at this university, of which about 20,000 are located in Erlangen.
 * The Botanischer Garten Erlangen is a botanical garden maintained by the university.

Bergkirchweih
The Bergkirchweih is an annual beer festival, similar to the Oktoberfest in Munich but smaller in scale. It takes place during the twelve days before and after Pentecost; this period is called the "fifth season" by the locals. The beer is served at wooden tables in one-litre stoneware jugs under the trees of the "Berg", a small, craggy, and wooded hill with old caves (beer cellars) owned by local breweries. The cellars extend for 21 km (14 miles) throughout the hill (the "Berg") and maintain a constant cool underground temperature. Until Carl von Linde invented the electric refrigerator in 1871, this was considered to be the largest refrigerator in Southern Germany.

The beer festival draws more than one million visitors annually. It features carnival rides of high tech quality, food stalls of most Franconian dishes, including bratwurst, suckling pig, roasted almonds, and giant pretzels.

It is commonly known by local residents as the "Berchkärwa" (pronounced "bairch'-care-va") or simply the "Berch", like in "Gehma auf'n Berch!" ("Let's go up the mountain!").

This is an outdoor event frequented and enjoyed by Franconians. Despite a relatively high number of visitors, it is not commonly known by tourists, or people living outside Bavaria.

Districts

 * Am Anger
 * Alterlangen
 * Bruck, pop. 20,000
 * Büchenbach
 * Burgberg
 * Dechsendorf
 * Eltersdorf, pop. around 3,200
 * Frauenaurach
 * Häusling
 * Hüttendorf
 * Innenstadt
 * Kosbach
 * Kriegenbrunn
 * Neusses
 * Röthelheim
 * Schallershof/Sonnenblick
 * Sieglitzhof/Buckenhofer Siedlung
 * Steudach
 * Tennenlohe

Mayors of Erlangen

 * 1818–1827: Johann Sigmund Lindner
 * 1828–1855: Johann Wolfgang Ferdinand Lammers
 * 1855–1865: Carl Wolfgang Knoch
 * 1866–1872: Heinrich August Papellier
 * 1872–1877: Johann Edmund Reichold
 * 1878–1880: Friedrich Scharf
 * 1881–1892: Georg Ritter von Schuh
 * 1892–1929: Theodor Klippel
 * 1929–1934: Hans Flierl
 * 1934–1944: Alfred Groß (NSDAP)
 * 1944–1945: Herbert Ohly (NSDAP)
 * 1945–1946: Anton Hammerbacher (SPD)
 * 1946–1959: Michael Poeschke (SPD)
 * 1959–1972: Heinrich Lades (CSU)
 * 1972–1996: Dietmar Hahlweg (SPD)
 * 1996–2014: Siegfried Balleis (CSU)
 * 2014-present: Florian Janik (SPD)

International relations
Erlangen is twinned with several cities:
 * 🇸🇪 Eskilstuna, Sweden, since 1961.
 * 🇫🇷 Rennes, France, since 1964.
 * 🇷🇺 Vladimir, Russia, since 1983.
 * 🇩🇪 Jena, Thuringia, Germany, since 1987.
 * Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom, since 1989.
 * 🇳🇮 San Carlos, Nicaragua, since 1989.
 * 🇹🇷 Beşiktaş, Turkey, since 2004.
 * 🇺🇸 Riverside, California, USA, since 2011.

Further partnerships

 * 🇮🇹 Venzone, Italy
 * 🇨🇳 Shenzhen, China
 * 🇺🇸 Richmond, Virginia, USA
 * 🇮🇹 Cumiana, Italy
 * 🇲🇺 Port Louis, Mauritius