STENDAL, a manufacturing town and important railway junction in Prussian Saxony, and the former capital of the Altmark, is picturesquely situated on the Uchte, 33 miles to the north-east of Magdeburg. Among the relics of its former importance are the cathedral, built in 1420-24 (though originally founded in 1188) and restored in 1857, the Gothic church of St Mary, founded in 1447, a “Roland column” of 1535, and two fortified gateways, dating from the 13th century. The last form the chief remains of the ancient fortifications, the site of which is now mostly occupied by promenades. A monument to the archaeologist Winckelmann (1717-68) commemorates his birth in the town. Stendal is the seat of a large railway workshop, and carries on various branches of textile industry, besides the manufacture of tobacco, machinery, stoves, gold-leaf, &c. The earliest printing-press in the Altmark was erected here, and published an edition of the Sachsenspiegel in 1488 as its first book. The population in 1885 was 16,186.

Stendal was founded in 1151 by Albert the Bear, on the site of a Wendish settlement, and soon afterwards acquired a municipal charter. Becoming capital of the Altmark and a frequent imperial residence, it rose to a considerable degree of prosperity, in part recently restored to it by its railway connexions. When the mark was divided in 1258, Stendal became the seat of the elder or Stendal branch of the house of Ascania, which, however, became extinct in 1320. The original Wends were gradually fused with the later Saxons, although the Platea Slavonica, mentioned in 1475, was still distinguished as the Wenden Strasse in 1567. The population still exhibits a marked Slavonic element.