DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Niedersachsen	Lower Saxony
Stadt: Braunschweig

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Braunschweig is situated at an elevation of 75 m at the river Oker in southeastern Lower Saxony. The city has a population of about 245,000 and is Lower Saxony's second-largest city (following the state's capital, Hannover). Braunschweig is part of the metropolitan region Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen which is formed by the region Hannover and the cities of Braunschweig, Celle, Gifhorn, Goslar, Göttingen, Hameln, Hildesheim, Salzgitter, Wolfenbüttel and Wolfsburg).

Historically, Braunschweig was not founded as a single community but goes back to five separate communities (Altewiek, Altstadt, Hagen, Neustadt and Sack) that were founded separately and over time grew together into what we know today as Braunschweig. The 'Braunschweiger Reimchronik', a chronicle of about 1279–1292, tells the legendary origin of the city. According to this legend, duke Bruno founded the oldest settlement at this place in AD 861. According to the 'Braunschweiger Weltchronik' of around 1500, the brothers, dukes Bruno and Dankward, founded the settlement and the castle Dankwarderode, and also tells that it was Bruno who named the settlement Bruneswiek. The first written mention of the modern version of the name, Braunschweig, is found in a document of 1573, and apparently is the attempt of a translation of the Middle Saxon name Brunswiek into the High German language. Today, the seriosity of the aforementioned sources for dating the foundation of the city is disputed. The first serious source that mentions Brunesguik dates from 1031. Under Duke Heinrich 'the Lion' (b.1129/30, d.1195), Brunschweig became an important residence town. The cast bronze lion that Heinrich had ordered in 1166 (today exhibited in the castle museum) became the heraldic animal and symbol of the town. The duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg that was given to Heinrich's grandson Duke Otto 'the Child'. The duchy later was partitioned several times. The duchy Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel emerged in the 14th century. When the city of Braunschweig obtained its independence, the dukes moved their residence to Wolfenbüttel in 1430. Besides Paris and Ghent, Braunschweig was one of the most unruly cities in the late medieval and early modern times. It was only in 1671 that the city again came under the rule of the dukes; in 1753 the residence was finally moved back to Braunschweig. Following the Treaty of Tilsit (1807), Braunschweig was occupied by French troops and until 1813 was the capital of the département Oker, formed out of the duchy of Braunschweig, most of the bishopric of Hildesheim, the city of Goslar and smaller parts of the districts Magdeburg and Halberstadt. The Congress of Vienna (1814/1815) re-establised the duchy of Braunschweig. During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Braunschweig only joined Prussia towards the end of the conflict, and thus unlike Hannover could avoid being annexed by Prussia. When the last duke of Braunschweig, Wilhelm, died without heir in 1884, the duchy until 1913 was ruled by a regency commission because the Hannover line of the Welf dynasty, which in theory would have had the right of succession, faced the opposition of Prussia. Only when Prince Ernst-August of Braunschweig-Lüneburg in 1913 married Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II, Ernst August could inherit the throne of Braunschweig. On 8 November 1918 Ernst August was forced to abdicate and Braunschweig was proclaimed a Republic. During World War II almost 90% of the historic old town were destoyed. In 1946, the former duchy of Braunschweig was incorporated into the Germany's state of Lower Saxony. Until the dissolution in 1974 of the district Braunschweig, the city was the seat of the district administration although itself it was not part of the district but was administered as a district in its own right. Until 2004, when the administrative regions of Lower Saxony were dissolved, Braunschweig was the seat of the government of the administrative region Braunschweig.

The church of St. Martin (Martinikirche) [left, no.​2207: top picture, background left; right, no.​3806: left] was built in the 12th century as the parish church of Altstadt. Its construction began in 1190/95 and most likely was initiated by Heinrich the Lion. St. Martin's is the only church of Braunschweig with two towers and complete westwork. The original, Romanesque, church was enlarged by the addition of two Gothic aisles between 1250 and 1400. The choir was added in 1400, the chapel of St. Anne was built in 1434. The roof of the church and the westwork were destroyed by fire in World War II, but the interior of he church luckily was spared the destruction. The 'Eagle Bell' ('Adlerglocke', 5.000 kg) is the largest bell in the Braunschweig region.

The Old Town Market Fountain (Altstadtmarktbrunnen) [right, no.​3806: centre], located as the name tells in the old town's market square, was created 1408. The late Gothic fountain was cast in lead. The octogonal base, the surrounding basin and the circular pillar supporting the bottom of the three fountain bowls were added only in 1847. Large parts of the fountain, especially the top bowl and the tabernacle on top were destroyed during a bomb raid on 15 October 1944. The restauration was only completed in 1951.

The equestrian monument for Duke Wilhelm (Herzog-Wilhelm-Denkmal) [left, no.​2207: bottom left picture] was created in 1904 in memory of Duke Wilhelm of Braunschweig (b.1806, acc.1830, d.1884). The monument was erected in Ruhfäutchenplatz in front of the eastern side of Dankwarederode castle. The bronze scultpture was melted down during World War II.

The Victory monument (Sieges-Denkmal) [left, no.​2207: bottom right picture] was created in 1881 as a memorial to the German vitory in the French-German war of 1870/1871. The monument was erected in Siegesplatz (today named Lessingplatz). During World War II it was melted down.

Glass no. 4040 [near left] shows a view of the Braunschweiger Schloss (Brunswick Palace). Work on the first building was begun in 1718. After this building burned down in 1830, a second palace was built by Carl Theodor Ottmer, being completed in 1841. This was completely demolished in 1960 at the direction of Braunschweig's city council due to the heavy damage it had suffered in air raids during the Second World War. The Palace Park (Schlosspark) was laid out on the resulting waste ground. This was completely removed in the spring of 2005 — following another resolution of the city council in 2004 — in order to erect a large shopping centre, the so-called Schloss-Arkaden (Palace Arcades), by spring 2007 on the land that had been cleared. Its western façade was to consist of a faithful reconstruction of the facade of Ottmer's palace. The rebuilt palace was opened to the public in 2007.

The Staatstheater Braunschweig (State Theatre Braunschweig) [near left, no. 3735] was built in 1856–1861 as Herzogliches Hoftheater (Ducal Court Theatre) by the architects Carl Wolf and Hermann Ahlburg for Duke Wilhelm of Braunschweig as a successor building to the old 'Hoftheater' at another site (founded in 1690 by Duke Anton Ulrich of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel as one of the first theatres that also were open to the public, closed 1861). The interior of the new theatre was rebuilt in 1902–1904 by Heinrich Seeling. In 1919 the theatre was renamed Braunschweigisches Landestheater, in 1938 Braunschweigisches Staatstheater. Destroyed following bombings in 1944, it was rebuilt in 1945–1948 Johann Daniel Thulesius. The seating capacity originally had been 1,600, today it is 900 seats.

The New Town Hall [near left, no. 4098] was built in 1894–1900 in Gothic revival style by the architect Ludwig Winter. Plans for this 'new' town hall had already been made from 1880 onwards. Models for this building were town halls from Belgium and England, as well as the town hall of Vienna. Unlike most of the historic town centre of Braunschweig, the town hall suffered relatively little damages during World War II. A modern annex was added in 1968–1971.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunschweig, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunschweig; http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatstheater_Braunschweig; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altstadtmarktbrunnen; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Palace; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunschweiger_Rathaus]