DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Freistaat Thüringen	Thuringia
Landkreis: Kyffhäuserkreis

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Sondershausen is situated at an elevation of 208 m in the valley of the rivers Wipper and Bebra in the north of Thuringia, about 45 km northwest of Thuringia's capital, Erfurt. The municipality has a population of about 20,900 (2021).

The settlement wa first mentioned in 1125. It had been a possession of the Archbishopric of Mainz probably since around 1100. It was ruled by the Landgraves of Thuringia since 1211 followed by the Counts of Hohnstein. In 1356 it was acquired by the Counts of Schwarzburg. From 1571 until 1697 it had been seat of the county and later of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen until 1918. Sondershausen was mentioned as a town in 1304 and had a local council since 1341, which gained the low-level-cognisance. The meanwhile walled city was extended to east and west by the Neustadt, i.e. new town, in the 14th century. Sondershausen was home of the world wide known Loh Orchestra, a successor of the local music school, established in 1801. Max Bruch, Hermann Abendroth and Max Reger worked here. In the 19th century the city was again extended to the west by the new Karlstadt borough. During the 20th century the depletion of potash had been the main business line. Today, Sondershausen is the seat of the district Kyffhäuserkreis, named for the mountain Kyffhäuser.

The oldest parts of Sondershausen castle [left, no. 4302: background top] date back to the 13th century. The main structure of the present castle, i.e. the south, east and old north wings, was built in Renaissance style between the 1530s and the 1550s. Another busy building period started in the 1680s when the three Renaissance wings of the palace were altered and enlarged in Baroque style. The new west and north rococo wings were started in 1764; at that time the palace received its final architectural layout of an irregular four-wing complex. In 1836, plans were made to give the residence a completely new appearance. Financial constraints, however, limited this project to redesigning the eastern place area towards the market (palace terrace, guard house and stairs between 1837 and 1839), to rebuilding the rococo wings in the neo-classical style (1846–1851) and to erecting the new stables (1847–1849). As the last building measure a two-storey gallery, connecting the tower and the east and south wings, was added in 1914–1915. Since 1994, the former residence of the princes of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is the property of the Palace, Castle and Gardens Trust of Thuringia. Today it houses the Palace Museum of Sondershausen and the district school of music.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sondershausen; https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de-ky-so.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sondershausen_Palace]