COBURG, or, in German Koburg, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and, alternately with Gotha, the residence of the duke and the seat of the administration, is situated on the left bank of the Itz, an affluent of the Regen, and on the southern slope of the Frankenwald, 40 miles S.S.E of Gotha. The town is for the most part old, and contains a large number of remarkable buildings. The ducal palace, or Ehrenburg, is a fine Gothic edifice, with an extensive library, and collections of coins, paintings, and specimens in natural history; it was originally a convent of the Barefooted Friars, received its present appropriation from John Ernest in 1549, and was restored by Ernest in 1844. In front of the palace is a bronze statue of the latteι duke by Schwanthaler, and in the court-garden is the ducal mausoleum. Among the churches the most remarkable is the Moritzkirche, with a tower 335 feet high, the beauti ful Hofkirche, and the modern Roman Catholic church. The educational institutions include a gymnasium, founded in 1604 by Casimir, and thus know n as the Casimirianum; a Realschule, established in 1848, a normal college, a deaf and dumb asylum, and a school of architecture. The arsenal contains a public library; and the so-called Angus-tenstift, where the ministry of the duchy is located, has an extensive collection of objects in natural history. Coburg further possesses a town-house, Government buildings, an observatory, and a theatre. On a commanding eminence in the vicinity is the ancient castle of Coburg, which dates at least from the 11th century. Till 1348 it was the residence of the counts of Henneberg, and till 1547 belonged to the dukes of Saxony; in 1781 it was turned into a penitentiary and lunatic asylum; but in 1835-8 it received a complete ...restoration. The most interesting room in this building is that which was occupied by Luther for three months in 1530, and thus became the birthplace of his famous hymn, Eine feste Burg ist unset Gott; the bed on which he slept and the pulpit from which he preached in the old chapel are still shown. Coburg is a place of considerable industry, and possesses a large brewery, factories for the weaving of linen and cotton goods, tanneries, and dye-works; and there is an important trade in the cattle reared in the neighbourhood. Among various places of interest in the vicinity are the ducal residences of Callenberg and Rosenau, in the latter of which Albert, the Prince Consort, was born in 1819; the castle of Lauterberg; and the village of Neuses, with the house of the poet Rückert, who died there in 1866, and on the other side of the river the tomb of the poet Thümmel. Population in 1871, 12,819.
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