DEUTSCHLAND | GERMANY |
Bundesland: Freistaat Bayern | Bavaria |
Regierungsbezirk: Oberfranken | |
Landkreis: Wunsiedel im Fichtelgebirge |
Weißenstadt is situated at an elevation of 625 m in the valley of the river Eger in the heart of the Fichtelgebirge mountains.
Alba ecclesia ('white church') was first mentioned in 1299, which makes it one of the oldest documented settlements of the region. The German version Wizzenkirchen appears in a document of 1317 and by 1353 the name Weyssenstadt had come to be used. The oldest preserved town charter dates from 1476. The privileges were later confirmed several times, such as in 1502, 1524, 1563, 1663, 1716, and 1745.
In 1348 the town was purchased by the burgraves of Nuremberg who resided at Kulmbach (later Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth). The town was besieged by the Hussites in 1429 and 1462, and again by troops of the Palatinate and from Bavaria in 1493. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) it also suffered heavily. After the abdication in 1792 of the last Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Weißenstadt became part of Prussia. Since 1810 it is part of Bavaria (1837 administrative region Oberfranken).
After World War I Weißenstadt became a well-known winter sport resort.