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KOBLENZ
- GERMANY
Koblenz (also Coblenz and the french Coblence)
is after Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein the third largest city in Rheinland-Pfalz,
Germany. It derives from the ancient Latin name Confluentes ("confluence").
Koblenz lies in the Rhineland, 57 miles (92 kilometers) southeast of Cologne
by rail, pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Rhine at its confluence
with the Moselle. Population: (1885) 31,669; (1905) 53,902; (2002) 107,434.
Its defensive works are extensive, and
consist of strong forts crowning the hills encircling the town on the west,
and of the citadel of Ehrenbreitstein on the opposite bank of the Rhine. The
old city was triangular in shape, two sides being bounded by the Rhine and
Mosel and the third by a line of fortifications. The last were razed in
1890, and the town was permitted to expand in this direction. Immediately
outside the former walls lies the new central railway station, in which is
effected a junction of the Cologne-Mainz railway with the strategical line
Metz-Berlin. The Rhine is crossed by a road bridge and, a mile above the
town, by a beautiful bridge of two wide and lofty spans carrying the Berlin
railway referred to above. The Moselle is spanned by a Gothic freestone
bridge of 14 arches, erected in 1344, and also by a railway bridge.
The city, down to 1890, consisted of the Altstadt (old city) and the
Neustadt (new city) or Klemenstadt. Of these, the Altstadt is closely built
and has only a few fine streets and squares, while the Neustadt possesses
numerous broad streets and a handsome frontage to the Rhine. In the more
ancient part of Koblenz stand several buildings which have an historical
interest. Prominent among these, near the point of confluence of the rivers,
is the church of Saint Castor, with four towers. The church was originally
founded in 836 by Louis the Pious, but the present Romanesque building was
completed in 1208, the Gothic vaulted roof dating from 1498. In front of the
church of Saint Castor stands a fountain, erected by the French in 1812,
with an inscription to commemorate Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Not long
after, Russian troops occupied Koblenz; and St Priest, their commander,
added in irony these words: "Vu et approuvé par nous, Commandant russe de la
Ville de Coblence: Janvier 1er, 1814."
In this quarter of the town, too, is the Liebfrauenkirche, a fine church
(nave 1250, choir 1404--1431) with lofty late Romanesque towers; the castle
of the electors of Trier, erected in 1280, which now contains the municipal
picture gallery; and the family house of the Metternichs, where Prince
Metternich, the Austrian statesman, was born in 1773.
In the modern part of the town lies the palace (Residenzschloss), with one
front looking towards the Rhine, the other into the Neustadt. It was built
in 1778-1786 by Clement Wenceslaus, the last elector of Trier, and contains
among other curiosities some fine Gobelin tapestries. From it some pretty
gardens and promenades (Kaiserin Augusta Anlagen) stretch along the bank of
the Rhine, and in them is a memorial to the poet Max von Schenkendorf. A
fine statue to the empress Augusta, whose favourite residence was Coblenz,
stands in the Luisenplatz. But of all public memorials the most striking is
the colossal equestrian statue of the emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, erected
by the Rhine provinces in 1897, standing on a lofty and massive pedestal, at
the point where the Rhine and Mosel meet.
Koblenz has also handsome law courts, government buildings, a theatre, a
museum of antiquities, a conservatory of music, schools, a hospital and
numerous charitable institutions. Koblenz is a principal seat of the Mosel
and Rhenish wine trade, and also does a large business in the export of
mineral waters. Its manufactures include pianos, paper, cardboard,
machinery, boats and barges. It is an important transit centre for the Rhine
railways and for the Rhine navigation.
History of Koblenz
Koblenz (Confluentes, Covelenz, Cobelenz) was one of the military posts
established by Drusus about 9 B.C. Later it was frequently the residence of
the Frankish kings, and in 860 and 922 was the scene of ecclesiastical
synods. At the former of these, held in the Liebfrauenkirche, took place the
reconciliation of Louis the German with his half-brother Charles the Bald.
In 1018 the city, after receiving a charter, was given by the emperor Henry
II. to the archbishop of Trier (Treves), and it remained in the possession
of the archbishop-electors till the close of the 18th century. In 1249-1254
it was surrounded with new walls by Archbishop Arnold II (of Isenburg); and
it was partly to overawe the turbulent townsmen that successive archbishops
built and strengthened the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein that dominates the
city. As a member of the league of the Rhenish cities which took its rise in
the 13th century, Koblenz attained to great prosperity; and it continued to
advance till the disasters of the Thirty Years' War occasioned a rapid
decline. After Philip Christopher, elector of Trier, had surrendered
Ehrenbreitstein to the French the town received an imperial garrison (1632),
which was soon, however, expelled by the Swedes. They in their turn handed
the city over to the French, but the imperial forces succeeded in retaking
it by storm (1636).
In 1688 Koblenz was besieged by the French under Marshal de Boufflers, but
they only succeeded in bombarding the Altstadt into ruins, destroying among
other buildings the old merchants' hail (Kaufhaus), which was restored in
its present form in 1725. In 1786 the elector of Trier, Clement Wenceslaus
of Saxony, took up his residence in the town, and gave great assistance in
its extension and improvement; a few years later it became, through the
invitation of his minister, Ferdinand, Freiherr von Duminique, one of the
principal rendezvous of the French émigrés. This drew down upon the
archbishop-elector the wrath of the French republicans; in 1794 Coblenz was
taken by the French Revolutionary army under Marceau (who fell during the
siege), and, after the signing of the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) it was made
the chief town of the Rhine and Mosel department. In 1814 it was occupied by
the Russians, by the congress of Vienna it was assigned to Prussia, and in
1822 it was made the seat of government of the Prussian Rhine province.
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