Ratzeburg is a
townA town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition...
in
Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the two historical duchies of Schleswig and Holstein...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting
isthmusAn isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. Of note, the Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North and South America , and the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connects Africa and Asia .Canals are often built on isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to...
es between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the
Kreis (district) of
LauenburgHerzogtum Lauenburg is the southernmost Kreis, or district, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , the state of Lower Saxony , and the city state of Hamburg...
.
The town was founded in the 11th century as Racisburg. The name is traditionally derived from the local
WendishThe term Wends or Wendish is used in Germanic languages for Slavs living near or within Germanic settlement areas after the migration period...
ruler, Prince
RatiborRatibor or Ratse was a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from the Polabian tribe. His capital was Racisburg, which was named in his honor....
of the
PolabiansThe Polabians were a constituent West Slavic tribe of the Obotrites who lived between the Trave and the Elbe. The main settlement of the Polabians was Racisburg , named after their Prince Ratibor...
, who was nicknamed Ratse. In the year 1044 Christian missionaries under the leadership of the monk Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery.
Ratzeburg is a
townA town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition...
in
Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the two historical duchies of Schleswig and Holstein...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting
isthmusAn isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. Of note, the Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North and South America , and the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connects Africa and Asia .Canals are often built on isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to...
es between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the
Kreis (district) of
LauenburgHerzogtum Lauenburg is the southernmost Kreis, or district, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , the state of Lower Saxony , and the city state of Hamburg...
.
History
The town was founded in the 11th century as Racisburg. The name is traditionally derived from the local
WendishThe term Wends or Wendish is used in Germanic languages for Slavs living near or within Germanic settlement areas after the migration period...
ruler, Prince
RatiborRatibor or Ratse was a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from the Polabian tribe. His capital was Racisburg, which was named in his honor....
of the
PolabiansThe Polabians were a constituent West Slavic tribe of the Obotrites who lived between the Trave and the Elbe. The main settlement of the Polabians was Racisburg , named after their Prince Ratibor...
, who was nicknamed Ratse. In the year 1044 Christian missionaries under the leadership of the monk Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery. It was destroyed in a
paganPaganism is a word with several different meanings.In its broadest definition, pagan denotes all non-Abrahamic religions, that is to say it denotes all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Other usages are:*Paganism may mean Polytheism: The group so defined includes most of the...
rebellion in 1066; the monks were stoned to death. Today monuments to the missionaries in two of the town's churches commemorate these events. Ansverus was canonised in the 12th century and his relics were entombed in the Ratzeburg cathedral.
Henry the LionHenry the Lion was a member of the Guelph dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
(
Heinrich der Löwe) became the ruler of the town in 1143 and established a
bishopricIn some forms of Christianity, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop,...
in 1154. He was also responsible for the construction of the late
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
CathedralA cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
(
Dom), built in typical north German 'red-brick' style. Henry also caused similar-looking cathedrals in
LübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World...
and
BraunschweigBraunschweig , known as Brunswiek in Low German, is a city of 245,810 people , located in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser...
to be built—his remains are interred in the latter.
Later the town became a Prince Bishopric, whose ruler was sovereign and as such had a vote at the
Imperial DietImperial Diet means the highest representative assembly in an empire, notably:* the historic institution of the Reichstag, either the estates in the Holy Roman Empire...
. The
Bishopric of RatzeburgThe Bishopric of Ratzeburg , centered on Ratzeburg in Northern Germany, was originally a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Hamburg, which transformed into the Archdiocese of Bremen in 1072....
was the last Catholic state in north Germany. After the 1550 death of its ruler Prince-Bishop
Georg von BlumenthalGeorg von Blumenthal was a German Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg and Bishop of Lebus. He also served as a Privy Councillor of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Chancellor of the University of Frankfurt , commonly called the Viadrina...
, who feuded with
Thomas AderpulThomas Aderpul was a preacher of the Protestant Reformation who taught an extreme form of egalitarian religious polity, for which the German Democratic Republic admired him as a proto-communist....
, the bishopric converted to
LutheranismLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
in 1554.
The town of Ratzeburg itself was not within the territory of the Bishopric of Ratzeburg, becoming instead part of the
Duchy of Saxe-LauenburgThe Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg , later also known as the Duchy of Lauenburg, was a Reichsfrei duchy that existed 1296–1803 and 1814–76 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein...
after the downfall of Henry the Lion. The town was almost completely destroyed in 1693, when
Christian V of DenmarkChristian V , was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 to 1699. The son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
reduced Ratzeburg to rubble by
bombardmentA bombardment is an attack by artillery fire directed against fortifications, troops or towns and buildings. In its strict sense the term is only applied to the bombardment of defenceless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, etc., by an assailant with the object of disheartening his...
. After this event it was rebuilt in
baroqueBaroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state. New architectural concerns for color, light and...
style.
Ratzeburg briefly was part of the
First French EmpireThe French Empire
, also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I in France...
during the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
and was awarded to
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
in the
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
. After being annexed in the Second Schleswig War (1864), the town became part of the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
's
Province of Schleswig-HolsteinThe Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquered by Prussia and the Austrian Empire from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864...
. The cathedral quarter finally became part of the town of Ratzeburg with the 1937 Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz.
From 1945 to 1989 the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
ran just east of the town, putting it on the border with the
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
.
Ratzeburg is known for its Olympic champion
Ratzeburg Rowing ClubThe Ratzeburg Rowing Club was founded in 1953 and is located in the town of Ratzeburg, Germany. Karl Adam was one of its founders and was head of the Rowing Academy there....
, which was responsible for training, among others, the Gold Medalists at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. The grave of
Ernst BarlachErnst Barlach was a German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him change his position, and he is mostly known for his sculptures protesting against the war...
, perhaps the most notable creative artist to have made his home in Ratzeburg, is located in one of the city's cemeteries.
Notable residents
- Ernst Barlach
Ernst Barlach was a German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him change his position, and he is mostly known for his sculptures protesting against the war...
(1870-1938), artist
- Karl Adam
Karl Adam was a Jewish German rowing coach considered one of the most successful and innovative of all time. He is widely considered to be the most important rowing coach of the 20th century....
(1912-1976), rowing coach
- Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg was a Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from the Ascanian House.-Life:Magnus was the second son of John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Dorothea of Brandenburg, daughter of Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg. During the declining years of his father he governed the country...
, buried here.
Twin towns
EsneuxEsneux is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1 2006 Esneux had a total population of 13,072. The total area is 34.05 km² which gives a population density of 384 inhabitants per km²....
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
WalcourtWalcourt is a Walloon municipality and town located in Belgium in the province of Namur.On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 17,516 inhabitants...
, Belgium
RibeRibe is the oldest town of Denmark, situated in southwest Jutland. Until 1 January 2007, it was the seat of both the surrounding Municipality, and County...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
Châtillon,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
SopotSopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
SträngnäsSträngnäs is a locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 12,296 inhabitants in 2005. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, a former Roman Catholic and present Lutheran Diocese, with the Strängnäs Cathedral, built...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
External links