History

Coburg lies about 90 km south of Erfurt and about 100 km north of Nuremberg. Coburg was first mentioned in the eleventh century. Following several changes of aristocratic ownership, it came into the hands of the House of Wettin in 1353 from the House of HennebergSaxon outpost within Franconia. In 1586, it was raised to the status of capital of one of the dynasty's splintered Saxon-Thuringian territories, the new Duchy of Saxe-Coburg. with the marriage of Friedrich III, the Strong, with Katherina von Henneberg and was initially regarded by them as a

One Germany's largest castles, the mighty Veste Coburg, built in 1225, dominates the town from its hillside. Presently it is home to three museums. Downtown, the Ehrenburg, built in 1543, was gutted by fire in 1690 and rebuilt in Baroque style, with stuccowork by North Italian craftsmen that includes a famous "Hall of the Giants". Its Gothic Revival exterior was remodelled by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the 19th century. It now also houses a museum as well as a famous library.

From 1826 to 1918, Coburg was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. During the nineteenth century, dynastic marriages created ties with the royal families of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, as well as Great Britain, the last being achieved when Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, born at suburban Schloss Rosenau, married his first cousin, Queen Victoria. This marriage established the present British royal house, which renamed itself Windsor during World War I. This marriage in turn led to a union with Germany's ruling dynasty, the Hohenzollerns, when the couple's eldest child, Victoria, married the future Kaiser Friedrich III.

In 1920, two years after the abdication of the last duke, the locals voted to join Bavaria. Unlike other Saxon-Thuringian principalities, having joined Bavaria avoided later incorporation into the German Democratic Republic after World War II. As a result, the town spent the Cold War years lying right next to the Iron Curtain, surrounded by East German territory on three sides.

Coburg is a city located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2003Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920. Before 1918, it was the capital of the small duchySaxe-Coburg-Gotha. population was 42,257. Long one of the of

Coburg's Coat of Arms honoring the city's patron Saint Maurice was granted in 1493.