Buckau; the last three of these are separated from the town by the ramparts and glacis, but are all included within the new line of advanced bastions. In the Elbe, between the old town and the Friedrichstadt, lies an island called the Werder, occupied by the citadel, and united with both banks by bridges. With the exception of the Breiter Weg, a handsome thoroughfare running from north to south, tbθ streets of the town proper are narrow and crooked. Along the Elbe, however, extends a fine promenade named the Fürstenwall, at one end of which stands a monument in commemoration of the Franco-German war. To the south of the inner town is the Friedrich-Wilhelm’s Garten, a beautiful park laid out on the site of the celebrated convent of Bergen, which was founded in 937 and suppressed in 1810. By far the most important building in Magdeburg is the cathedral, a handsome and massive structure of the 13th and 14th centuries, exhibiting an interesting blending of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The two fine towers were completed about 1520. The interior contains the tombs of the emperor Otho the Great and his wife Edifha, an English princess, and the fine monument of Archbishop Ernest, executed in 1497 by Peter Vischer of Nuremberg. The Liebfrauenkirche, the oldest church in Magdeburg, is an interesting Romanesque edifice of the 12th and 13th centuries. The chief secular buildings are the town hall, built in 1691 and enlarged in 1866, the theatre, the governor’s house, the central railway station, and the exchange. The Breiter Weg and the old market contain numerous fine private houses in the style of the Renaissance. In front of the town-hall stands an equestrian statue of the emperor Otho the Great, erected towards the close of the 13th century. The favourable situation of Magdeburg, in the very heart of Germany, and on the Elbe below all its principal affluents, has made it one of the most important commercial towns in the empire, and it is also the focus of several important railways. The chief articles of commerce are agricultural and colonial products, manufactured goods, and wine. The town and its suburbs contain numerous manufactories of woollen, cotton, and silk goods, sugar, spirits, tobacco, organs and pianos, chocolate, and chicory. Magdeburg is the headquarters of the 4th corps of the German army, and the seat of the provincial court of appeal and administrative offices, of a Lutheran consistory, and of a superintendent general of the Evangelical (Reformed) Church. It also contains two gymnasia, two “Realschulen,” schools of art, medicine, surgery, and mining, and numerous scientific and charitable institutions. The population of Magdeburg in 1880 was 97,539, or, including Neustadt and Buckau, 137,109.

Magdeburg, which was in existence as a small trading settlement at the beginning of the 9th century, owes its early prosperity chiefly to the emperor Otho I., who established a Benedictine convent here in 937 (see above). In 968 it became the seat of an archbishop, who was also primate of Germany, and exercised sway over an extensive territory. By the 13th century Magdeburg had become a flourishing commercial town and an important member of the Hanseatic League. Its bench of sheriffs (Sch'oppenstuhl) became celebrated, and “Magdeburg law,” securing the administrative independence of municipalities, was adopted in many parts of Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. During the Middle Ages the citizens were almost constantly at variance with the archbishops, and by the end of the 15th century b⅛d become nearly independent of them. It should, however, be noted that Magdeburg never became a free city of the empire. The town embraced the Reformation in 1524, and was thenceforth governed by Protestant administrators or archbishops. On the refusal of the citizens to accept the “Interim,” Magdeburg was besieged by Maurice of Saxony in 1550, and capitulated in 1551 on favourable terms. During the Thirty Years’ War the city was twice besieged, and suffered terribly. It successfully resisted Wallenstein for seven months in 1629, but was stormed and sacked by Tilly in 1631. The whole town, with the exception of the cathedral, the Frauenkirche, and about 140 houses, was burned to the ground, and 30,000 of its 36,000 inhabitants were butchered without regard to age or sex. The town recovered from this deadly blow with wonderful rapidity. In 1648 the archbishopric was converted into a secular duchy, to fall to Brandenburg on the death of the last administrator, which happened in 1680. In 1806 Magdeburg was taken by the French and annexed to the kingdom of Westphalia, but it was restored to Prussia in 1814, on the downfall of Napoleon. Otto von Guericke, the inventor of the air-pump, was burgomaster of Magdeburg at the time of Tilly’s siege. Carnot died here in exile, and is buried in the cemetery, and Luther was at school here and sang in the streets for bread with other poor choristers.

See Rathmann, Geschichte der Stadt Magdeburg, 1800-17; Hoffmann, Chronik der Stadt Magdeburg, 1843-50;· Barthold, Geschichte der deutschen Städte, 1850.