Wachsenburggemeinde

Wachsenburg Castle (German: Veste Wachsenburg) is a castle in Amt Wachsenburg in the Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany. It is one of the Drei Gleichen, three hilltop castles east of Gotha. It was originally built in the 10th century. The castle was extensively reconstructed in the 17th and 19th century. The well-preserved castle (most recently restored in the 1990s) now houses a museum, a hotel and a restaurant. It was built by Hersfeld Monastery. The castle is approximately 93 metres (305 ft) deep. During its history, Wachsenburg Castle has had its fair share of troubles. In 1441 CE a notorious robber baron took control of the castle and made it his base for his raids on the merchants of Erfurt.

Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other (German: gleich = like, or resembling).

Amt Wachsenburg is a municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany. The municipality is named after the Wachsenburg Castle which is located in its center. It was formed on 31 December 2012 from the former municipalities Wachsenburggemeinde and Ichtershausen. The former municipality Kirchheim was merged into Amt Wachsenburg in January 2019, and Rockhausen in December 2019. It consists of the villages Bechstedt-Wagd, Bittstädt, Eischleben, Haarhausen, Holzhausen, Ichtershausen, Kirchheim, Rehestädt, Rockhausen, Röhrensee, Sülzenbrücken, Thörey and Werningsleben.

Jonastal (Jonas Valley), situated in the Ilm-Kreis district in Germany between Crawinkel and Arnstadt and near to the town of Ohrdruf, was a scene of military construction under the National Socialist regime during the last years of the Second World War. Thousands of prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp under the command of SS General Hans Kammler were forced to dig 25 tunnels into the surrounding mountain and the whole operation was performed under the strictest secrecy. The site was not completed and construction was abandoned before the end of the war. The exact aim of the operation remains uncertain although it is now believed to have been either a potential final headquarters for the führer Adolf Hitler, a military communications post or a possible center for V-2 rocket and Wunderwaffe weapon production and research. The latter is given some credence by the fact that SS General Hans Kammler was in overall charge of the construction efforts. Ohrdruf, its forced labour camp and the nearby Jonas Valley were captured by American troops on April 4, 1945, by the 4th Armored Division and the 89th Infantry Division. The camp was the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by the U.S. Army.At the end of the war, the Soviet Army, which took over the site from the Americans, immediately classified it as a restricted zone and then used it as a military training ground. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the site was taken over by the German armed forces who continue to use the area.

Apfelstädt is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 December 2009, it is part of the municipality Nesse-Apfelstädt.

Rot (in its upper course Roth) is a river of Thuringia, Germany. The Rot springs near the district Siebleben of Gotha. It is a left tributary of the Apfelstädt in Wandersleben.

Gossel is a village and a former municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the municipality Geratal.

The Liebfrauenkirche (pronounced [liːpˈfʁaʊn̩ˌkɪʁçə], "Church of Our Lady") in the Thuringian town of Arnstadt, Germany, is a Lutheran parish church. The basilica, which was essentially erected in the 12th and 13th centuries, is considered, along with Naumburg Cathedral (now in Saxony-Anhalt), to be the most important church building of the transitional phase from Romanesque to Gothic architecture in Thuringia.

Mühlberg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the municipality Drei Gleichen.

Bach Church is the common name of a Protestant parish church in Arnstadt, Thuringia, Germany. It was officially named Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche in 1935 because of its association with the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It was in this church that Bach played a harpsichord concerto after working for Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar for 7 months. A church on the premises named after St. Boniface burned down in 1581. A new church was built from 1676 to 1683 and simply named Neue Kirche (New church). It is a Baroque hall church with three tiers on all sides. The organ builder Johann Friedrich Wender from Mühlhausen built from 1699 to 1703 on the third tier of the church an organ with two manuals and 21 stops. It was inspected in June 1703 by Johann Sebastian Bach, then 18 years old, who was hired afterwards for the post of the organist at the church, his first position as an organist. He was succeeded in 1707 by his cousin Johann Ernst Bach who held the post to 1728. The organ was changed and restored several times. A replica of the organ was installed in the church of Pontaumur, Auvergne, which is used also for a regional Bach festival, Bach en Combrailles.

Arnstadt Hauptbahnhof or Arnstadt Central Station is a railway station in the town of Arnstadt in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the meeting point of the Erfurt-Schweinfurt, Arnstadt–Saalfeld and Arnstadt-Ichtershausen lines.

The Oberkirche (pronounced [ˈoːbɐˌkɪʁçə], "Upper Church") in the Thuringian town of Arnstadt, Germany, is a former Franciscan monastery church mainly built in the 13th century. Since 1538, it has been used by the Lutheran parish of Arnstadt, which today belongs to the Arnstadt-Ilmenau church district of the Protestant Church in Central Germany. It is a listed building.