Wartburgkreis

Wartburgkreis is a Kreis (district) in the south of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse. The district-free city Eisenach is nearly completely surrounded by the district.

Wartburgkreis
District
Coat of arms
CountryGermany
StateThuringia
CapitalBad Salzungen
Government
 • District admin.Reinhard Krebs (CDU)
Area
 • Total1,266.96 km2 (489.18 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2018)[1]
 • Total119,726
 • Density94/km2 (240/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registrationWAK, SLZ
Websitewww.wartburgkreis.de

History

The district was created in 1994 by merging the previous districts Eisenach and Bad Salzungen, and a few municipalities from the district Bad Langensalza. The city Eisenach left the district in 1998 and became a district-free city. The municipality Kaltennordheim passed from the Wartburgkreis to Schmalkalden-Meiningen on 1 January 2019.

The district is named after the Wartburg, a castle near Eisenach most famous as the place of residence of Ludwig, Landgrave of Thuringia and his wife, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary; and, as Martin Luther's refuge in 1521.

Geography

The district is located in the Thuringian Forest, including the Hainich national park. The main river in the district is the Werra.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms combines the symbols of the historic states which existed on the territory. In the topleft and the bottomright is the lion of the dukes of Thuringia, the fowl in the top right refers to the county Henneberg, and the black cross in the bottom left is the symbol of the imperial abbey and state of Fulda.

Towns and municipalities
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft-free townsand municipalities
  1. Bad Salzungen
  2. Bad Liebenstein
  3. Geisa
  4. Ruhla
  5. Treffurt
  6. Vacha
  7. Werra-Suhl-Tal
  1. Barchfeld-Immelborn
  2. Buttlar
  3. Dermbach
  4. Empfertshausen
  5. Gerstengrund
  6. Gerstungen
  7. Hörselberg-Hainich
  8. Krayenberggemeinde
  9. Leimbach
  1. Moorgrund
  2. Oechsen
  3. Schleid
  4. Seebach
  5. Unterbreizbach
  6. Weilar
  7. Wiesenthal
  8. Wutha-Farnroda
Verwaltungsgemeinschaften
  1. Amt Creuzburg1,2
  2. Berka vor dem Hainich
  3. Bischofroda
  4. Frankenroda
  5. Hallungen
  6. Krauthausen
  7. Lauterbach
  8. Nazza
1seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft; 2town

References
  1. "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden, erfüllenden Gemeinden und Verwaltungsgemeinschaften nach Geschlecht in Thüringen Gebietsstand: 31.12.2018". Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik (in German). September 2019.

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