Mühlhausen

Mühlhausen, city, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany. It lies on the Unstrut River, in the Thuringian Basin (Thüringer Becken), about 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Erfurt. Originally a Germanic village and later a Frankish settlement, it was first documented in 775. It was granted royal privileges, and Philip of Swabia was elected German king there in 1198. Created a free imperial city after 1256, it joined the Hanseatic League about 1420. After the Reformation Mühlhausen became a centre of the people’s reform movement, and during the Peasants’ War (1524–25) against the feudal princes it was associated with the peasant leader Thomas Müntzer, who was executed there after the Battle of Frankenhausen. The city was subsequently deprived of its privileges but regained its independence under the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1548. From 1802 to 1945 it was in the former Prussian province of Saxony, except from 1807 to 1815, when it was attached to Westphalia. Local industries produce motor vehicle parts, electrical and radio equipment, and food products. Medieval buildings include the church of St. Mary (on the site of a Romanesque basilica), St. Blasius’s Church (with an organ constructed to the plans of Johann Sebastian Bach), and the 13th-century city hall. There are remains of medieval fortifications. Mühlhausen has a teacher-training college, a school for agriculture, and a folklore museum. Pop. (2003 est.) 37,895.