Rendsburg

Rendsburg
Railway bridge
Coat of arms
Rendsburg
Location of Rendsburg within Rendsburg-Eckernförde district
Coordinates: 54°18′0″N 9°40′0″E / 54.30000°N 9.66667°ECoordinates: 54°18′0″N 9°40′0″E / 54.30000°N 9.66667°E
Country	Germany
State	Schleswig-Holstein
District	Rendsburg-Eckernförde
Government
• Mayor	Pierre Gilgenast (SPD)
Area
• Total	23.72 km^2 (9.16 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
• Total	27,266
• Density	1,100/km^2 (3,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	24768
Dialling codes	04331
Vehicle registration	RD
Website	www.rendsburg.de

Rendsburg (Danish: Rendsborg) is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernförde. As of 2006, it had a population of 28,476.

Close view of transporter bridge.

History

Rendsburg's foundation date is unknown. Rendsburg was first mentioned in 1199. An old form of its name in Danish was Reynoldsburgh.

It became a part of Holstein in the 13th century, but was transferred to Schleswig in 1460. Many times the town passed from Danish to German control and vice versa. In the German-Danish War in 1864 Rendsburg was finally seized by Kingdom of Prussia and Austria. After 1866 the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. Since that time it has remained part of Germany.

Although the Eider is navigable for small craft from its mouth on the North Sea to Rendsburg, the town's importance rose in 1895, when the Kiel Canal was finished. The much larger ships that could navigate the Kiel Canal meant that, although situated inland, Rendsburg became a seaport and a dockyard.

Main sights

The most prominent structure in town, the Rendsburg High Bridge, a railway bridge made of steel, 2,500m in length and 41m in height, was constructed in 1913 to take the Neumünster–Flensburg railway over the Kiel Canal from the relatively flat land on either side. It is the longest railway bridge in Europe (highway/rail bridge Øresund Bridge is longer): on the northern side, the bridge connects to the Rendsburg Loop to gain height and to allow trains to continue to serve the Rendsburg station. Suspended from the railway bridge, a transporter bridge - one of only twenty ever built - traverses the canal.

The German Army's Air Defence School and the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz are both located in Rendsburg.

Other sights include:

• Town hall, 16th century
• Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church), 1286
• Kiel Canal Pedestrian Tunnel, longest pedestrian tunnel in the world
• The longest bench in the world (501 m), on the banks of the Kiel Canal
• Jewish Museum Rendsburg^[2]
• Museums in the Cultural Centre (Historical Museum Rendsburg / Printing Museum)^[3]

People from Rendsburg

• Otto Bernhardt (born 1942, Rendsburg), a German politician of the CDU
• Hans-Ludwig Blohm (1927, Rendsburg), a master photographer and author
• Patrik Borger
• Ludwig Fahrenkrog, writer, playwright and artist
• Hanne Haller
• Hans Egon Holthusen (1913–1997), lyric poet, essayist, and literary scholar
• Hartmut Lutz, Professor of American and Canadian studies at the University of Greifswald
• Michael Maier (1568–1622), a physician, learned alchemist, and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg
• Theodor Mommsen, Germany's first Nobel Prize winner for literature, lived in Rendsburg for many years.
• Gerd Schwidrowski
• Christian Scriver
• Noah Wunsch, painter, photographer and designer
• Levin Moses Wallach, a German-Danish rabbi^[4]
• Dominik Götz, ambassador of peace
• Heinrich Adolph Leschen, father of gymnastics in South Australia^[5]

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Rendsburg is twinned with:

• Lancaster, United Kingdom, since 1950
• Vierzon, France, since 1954
• Aalborg, Denmark, since 1967^[6]
• Haapsalu, Estonia, since 1989
• Kristianstad, Sweden, since 1992
• Skien, Norway, since 1995
• Rathenow, Germany, since 1989
• Ledyard, Connecticut, since 2013

Friendship agreements

Rendsbug also has friendship agreements with:

• Almere, Netherlands, since 1994
• Piteå, Sweden, since 1978
• Racibórz, Poland, since 1995

References

1. "Statistikamt Nord – Bevölkerung der Gemeinden in Schleswig-Holstein 4. Quartal 2014] (XLS-file)". Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein (in German).
2. http://www.schloss-gottorf.de/juedisches-museum
3. http://www.museen-rendsburg.de
4. da:Levin Moses Wallach
5. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leschen-heinrich-adolph-13043
6. "Aalborg Twin Towns". Europeprize.net. Retrieved 19 August 2013.

External links

Media related to Rendsburg at Wikimedia Commons