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Saalfeld
Church at Saalfeld
Coat of arms	Location
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
Town subdivisions	14 Stadtbezirke
Mayor	Matthias Graul (Ind.)
Basic statistics
Area	44.72 km² (17.3 sq mi)
Elevation	235 m  (771 ft)
Population	27,861  (30/06/2006)
- Density	623 /km² (1,614 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	SLF
Postal codes	07301–07318
Area code	03671
Website	www.saalfeld.de Coordinates: 50°39′0″N 11°22′0″E / 50.65, 11.36667

Saalfeld (German: Saalfeld/Saale), a town of Germany in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia, is situated on the left bank of the Thuringian-Saale River, some 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Weimar and 130 km (81 mi) south-west of Leipzig by road. Its population in (2003) was 28,393.

Saalfeld is one of the most ancient towns in Thuringia. Once the capital of the extinct duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld, it was part of Saxe-Meiningen until 1918. The city is still partly surrounded by old walls and bastions, and contains some interesting medieval buildings, among them being a palace, built at the start of the Early Modern era in 1679 on the site of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter, which was destroyed during the Peasants' War (1525). Other notable edifices are the Gothic Church of St. John, dating from the beginning of the 13th century; the Gothic town hall, completed in 1537; and, standing on an eminence above the river, the Kitzerstein, a palace said to have been originally erected by the German King Henry I, although the present building is not older than the 16th century. But perhaps the most interesting relic of the past in Saalfeld is the ruin of the Hoher Schwarm, called later the Sorbenburg, said to have been erected in the 7th century.

The Battle of Saalfeld, part of the Napoleonic Wars, took place on October 10, 1806.

Saalfeld is situated in one of the busiest parts of Thuringia and has a number of prosperous industries, including the manufacture of machinery, bricks, colors, malt, cigars, hosiery and vinegar. Other industries are brewing, printing and iron-founding, and there are ochre and iron mines in the neighborhood.

Saalfeld is a key town in the best selling alternate history stories in Eric Flint's 1632 series, in which a small American town of 3,000 co-protagonists is suddenly transported across time and space into the Thirty Years' War, which ravaged the countryside and nearly depopulated central Germany.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Saalfeld

v • d • e Towns and municipalities in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt

Allendorf | Altenbeuthen | Arnsgereuth | Bad Blankenburg | Bechstedt | Cursdorf | Deesbach | Döschnitz | Dröbischau | Drognitz | Gräfenthal | Hohenwarte | Kamsdorf | Katzhütte | Kaulsdorf | Königsee | Lehesten | Leutenberg | Lichte | Lichtenhain/Bergbahn | Mellenbach-Glasbach | Meura | Meuselbach-Schwarzmühle | Oberhain | Oberweißbach | Piesau | Probstzella | Reichmannsdorf | Remda-Teichel | Rohrbach | Rottenbach | Rudolstadt | Saalfeld | Saalfelder Höhe | Schmiedefeld | Schwarzburg | Sitzendorf | Uhlstädt-Kirchhasel | Unterweißbach | Unterwellenborn | Wittgendorf