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9/10/2015
<br />Suhl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<br />The area around Suhl was settled during the later Middle Ages, nevertheless, Suhl stayed a village resp. small town
<br />of 1,000 to 2,000 inhabitants during this period. The growth of proto-industrial manufacturing businesses in 17th
<br />and 18th century led to a first increase of population up to 6,000 around 1800. During the following decades, the
<br />industrial revolution in other German regions led to an economic crisis in Suhl, because of the bad traffic conditions
<br />for exporting products. Nevertheless, the population grew further to 10,000 in the 1880s, as the city got finally
<br />connected to the railway. Compared to other upcoming cities in Germany, the growth of population stayed slight
<br />until 1935, as Suhl counted 15,000 inhabitants. Then, the arm production for World War II brought an economic
<br />boom to Suhl and a growth of population up to 26,000 in 1940, which stayed the same until the early 1960s.
<br />Between 1960 and 1988, the population grew up to 56,000, forced by the government's expansion of Suhl as a
<br />capital of one of the 14 Bezirks in GDR. After the reunification in 1990, the city lost its administrative and
<br />economic functions, which led to an extreme decline in population. It shrunk to 48,000 in 2000 and 36,000 in 2012.
<br />With a decline of more than 35% since 1988, Suhl is among the heaviest shrinking cities in Germany.
<br />The average decrease of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately 1.68% p. a, which is faster than in
<br />bordering rural regions. Suburbanization played only a small role in Suhl. It occurred after the reunification for a Evolution of population since 1870
<br />short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. During
<br />the 1990s and the 2000s, many inhabitants left Suhl to search a better life in west Germany or other major east German cities like Erfurt, Jena or Leipzig. The birth deficit,
<br />caused by the high average age of the population, is getting a bigger problem because there is no immigration to compensate it yet. Urban planning activities to tear down
<br />unused flats led to a relatively low vacancy rate of 8% (according to 2011 EU census), compared with a loss in population of more than 35% since 1988.
<br />The birth deficit was 207 in 2012, this is -5.8 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: -4.5; national average: -2.4). The net migration rate was -11.5 per 1,000 inhabitants
<br />in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6).151 The most important target regions of Suhl migrants are other Thuringian regions like Erfurt, Jena and Eisenach
<br />same as the western German conurbations.
<br />Like other eastern German cities, Suhl has only a small amount of foreign population: around 1.5% are non -Germans by citizenship and overall 3.9% are migrants
<br />(according to 2011 EU census). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Suhl are Russians and Vietnamese people. During recent years, the
<br />economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 16% in 2006 to 7% in 2013, which is one of the lowest rates among Thuringia's major cities.
<br />Due to the official atheism in former GDR, most of the population is non -religious. 12.6% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 2.5% are
<br />Catholics (according to 2011 EU census).
<br />Culture, sights and cityscape
<br />Cultural institutions
<br />There are some museums and other cultural institutions in Suhl:
<br />■ The Waffenmuseum at Friedrich-Konig-StraBe shows an exhibition about the history of arm production in Suhl.
<br />■ The Fahrzeugmuseum at Kongresszentrum hosts an exhibition of vehicles produced by Simson.
<br />■ The Galerie im Atrium at Kongresszentrum shows temporary exhibitions of art.
<br />■ The Sternwarte Suhl is the city's observatory at Hoheloh hill, south-west of the city centre.
<br />■ The Tierpark Suhl is the zoological garden of the city at Carl-Fiedler-StraBe on the eastern city border.
<br />■ The municipal orchestra, founded in 1953 and based in the Kulturhaus at Friedrich-Konig-StraBe was closed in 2009.
<br />Cityscape
<br />Suhl's cityscape is marked by the lack of flat ground to build on, which is why the city's morphology appears picked and incoherent.
<br />The city centre developed during the Middle Ages around the Marktplatz and the Steinweg (as main street) next to the confluence of
<br />Lauter and Rimbach river. Later, the city grew to the east and south to the bordering hills and valleys. After World War II, Suhl
<br />became the capital of one of the 14 Bezirks in the GDR in 1952. During the following decades, the city doubled its population, many
<br />Plattenbau settlements developed at the periphery and the centre got largely converted. The old town around Friedrich-K6nig-StraBe
<br />was demolished during the 1960s, same as the quarters east of Topfinarkt later. They got rebuild with contemporary concrete
<br />architecture and Plattenbau buildings. The new city centre with all the important public buildings was developed around Friedrich-
<br />Konig-Straf3e, even with large -scaled high-rise buildings. After the reunification, the population shrunk heavily leading to high
<br />vacancy rates. The government reacted on this by demolishing some of the Plattenbau settlements at the periphery, some buildings
<br />stood only for 20 years. Compared with other East German cities, the fight against vacancy was more simple in Suhl, because
<br />vacancy was concentrated at the periphery and not in the city centre (like in the most older cities in East Germany), which made it
<br />easy to demolish and renaturate the areas. A bigger problem is vacancy in shops in the city centre, because the retail in Suhl is also in
<br />a crisis for many years.
<br />Sights and architectural heritage
<br />Some sights in Suhl are:
<br />■ St. Mary's Church is the evangelical main parish church of Suhl, built between 1753 and 1756 in late -Baroque style
<br />■ The Holy Cross Church is the second evangelical parish church at Steinweg, built between 1731 and 1739 in Baroque style.
<br />■ The Holy Cross Chapel behind the eponymous church is one of the oldest buildings in Sum, established in 1618 Gothic style.
<br />■ The town hall at Marktplatz was built between 1812 and 1817 and modified in 1913 to Neo -Baroque style. The central mall in
<br />■ The Malzhaus at Friedrich-Konig-StraBe was built around 1650 and hosts the Waffenmusuem today.
<br />■ The Kulturhaus at Friedrich-K6nig-Straf3e was built in 1957 in Neo -Classicist style and demolished in 2013. Only the facade and the lobby remained.
<br />Fahrzeugmuseum (entrance)
<br />J
<br />The new city centre in 1974
<br />1969
<br />■ Some buildings of the former Simson factory between the Heinrichs and Mabendorf districts in Bauhaus -modern architecture of 1920s and 1930s remained.
<br />■ The new municipal library at Bahnhofstral3e was built in 2004 in form of a glass cube.
<br />■ Some older buildings remained in the district of Heinrichs (including the church, town hall and some picturesque timber -framed houses) west of the city centre.
<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suhl 315
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