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Lipari

Lipari (Lìpari) is a comune including six of seven islands of the Aeolian Islands (Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi and Alicudi) and it is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, Southern Italy; it is administratively part of the Metropolitan City of Messina. Its population is 12,821, but during the May to September tourist season, the total population may reach up to 20,000. It is also the name of the biggest island in the archipelago, where the main urban area of the comune is located.

Geography
Lipari Island is the largest of a chain of islands in a volcanic archipelago situated in between Vesuvius and Etna. The island has a surface area of 89.72 km2 and is 30 km from Sicily. Besides the main town, most of the year-round population resides in one of the four main villages: Pianoconte is almost due west across the island, Quattropani in the northwest, Acquacalda along the northern coast, whereas Canneto is on the eastern shore north of Lipari town. The highest point on the island is Monte Chirica at 602 m (1975 ft).

Geology
Geologists agree on the fact that Lipari (island) was created by a succession of four volcanic movements, the most extensive of which was the third one, presumably lasting from 20,000 BC to 13,000 BC. A further vast phenomenon should have happened around 9000 BC. The last recorded eruptions occurred in the 5th century AD when airborne pumice, together with volcanic ash, covered the Roman villages of the island. The volcanoes are considered active, and steaming fumaroles and hydrothermal activity may still be seen. As a result of its volcanic origin, the island is covered with pumice and obsidian. Pumice mining has become a large industry on Lipari, and the pale pumice from Lipari is shipped worldwide.

Neolithic period
In Neolithic times Lipari was, much like Sardinia, one of the few centres of trading in obsidian, a hard black volcanic glass prized by Neolithic peoples for the extremely sharp cutting edges that can be obtained. Lipari's history is rich in incidents as witnessed by the recent retrievals of several necropoli and other archaeological sites. Humans seem to have inhabited the island already in 5000 BC, though a local legend gives the eponymous name Liparus to the leader of a people coming from Campania.

Bronze Age
In the early Bronze Age, at the end of the third millennium BC, new settlers of Aeolian origin came from Mycenaean Greece, giving their name to the islands. They had already settled in Metapontum in Italy and used the islands as outposts for controlling trading routes through the strait of Messina.

In the 13th century BC, the islands were settled by Ausinian peoples from the coasts of Campania, who introduced the myth of King Liparus from whom the town’s name derives.

Successive domestic buildings have been excavated on the acropolis dating from the 18th c. BC and underlying the ancient Roman town.

Late Bronze Age
In the Mycenaean Period, Lipari has yielded pottery from LHI to LHIII.

Iron Age
Lipari's continuous occupation may have been interrupted violently when in the late 9th century BC an Ausonian civilization site was burned and apparently not rebuilt. Many household objects have been retrieved from the charred site.

Greek and Roman periods
Greek colonists from Knidos arrived at Lipara ~580 BC after their first colonization attempt in Sicily failed and their leader, Pentathlos, was killed. They settled on the site of the village now known as Castello in Magna Graecia. The colony successfully fought the Etruscans for control of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The town was initially concentrated upon the summit of the rock which played the role of acropolis, seat of religious cults and of public life, but in the course of the first century of its existence, an increase in the population necessitated an expansion into the area at the foot of the rocky slopes and on to the top of the Civita hill. A first city wall, built sometime in the 5th century BC was erected along outcrops at the bottom of the slopes of the rock, leaving outside the modern district of Diana, which was destined from the beginning to accommodate the city necropolis. A second city wall was built in the 4th century BC to enclose the new residential area bounded to the north and south by the river-beds of Santa Lucia and Ponte, which in ancient times ran into the two bays at the foot of the rock. The city wall ran near the two river-beds and then joined on to the Acropolis and the Civita hill. The mighty fortification, of which some traces are visible today in the district of Diana, divided the town from the necropolis.

Carthaginian forces succeeded in holding the site briefly during their struggles with Dionysios I, tyrant of Syracuse in 394 BC, but once they were gone the polis entered a three-way alliance which included Dionysios' new colony at Tyndaris. Lipara prospered, but in 304 BC Agathokles took the town by treachery and is said to have lost all of his pillage from it in a storm at sea.

Lipara became a Carthaginian naval base during the first Punic War, but fell to Roman forces in 252–251 BC. It was occupied by Agrippa in Octavian's campaign against Sextus Pompeius. Under the Roman Empire it was a place of retreat and exile and was enjoyed because of its thermal baths using natural springs. The Emperor Caracalla sent his wife, Fulvia Plautilla, and her brother, Plautius, into exile here for the rest of their lives.

Many objects recovered from old wrecks are now in the Aeolian Museum of Lipari.

From the Middle Ages to present
Lipari was probably an episcopal see from the 3rd century onward, with the first bishop being St. Agatone, who, according to tradition, had found the sacred remains in his cathedral. The presence of the relics has been attested since at least 546.

In the 9th century, Sicily was conquered by the Arabs, and soon Saracen pirates began to raid across the Tyrrhenian Sea, with dramatic effects for Lipari. In 839 the Saracens slaughtered much of the population, the relics of St. Bartholomew were moved to Benevento, and Lipari was eventually almost totally abandoned. The Normans conquered the Arabs throughout Sicily between 1060 and 1090, and repopulated the island once their rule was secure. The Lipari episcopal seat was reinstated in 1131.

Though still plagued by pirate raids, the island was continually populated from this time onward. Rule of the island was passed from the Normans to the Hohenstaufen Kings, followed by the Angevins, and then the Aragonese, until Carlos I, the Aragonese King, became the Spanish King, and was then quickly crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Franco-Ottoman attack
In 1544, Hayreddin Barbarossa, together with the French fleet of Captain Polin under a Franco-Ottoman alliance, ransacked Lipari and enslaved the entire population. Jérôme Maurand lamented about the depredation to his Christian fellow men during the campaign at Lipari: "To see so many poor Christians, and especially so many little boys and girls [enslaved] caused a very great pity." He also mentioned "the tears, wailings and cries of these poor Lipariotes, the father regarding his son and the mother her daughter... weeping while leaving their own city in order to be brought into slavery by those dogs who seemed like rapacious wolves amidst timid lambs".

A number of the citizens were ransomed in Messina and eventually returned to the islands.

Charles V then had his Spanish subjects repopulate the island and build the massive city walls atop the walls of the ancient Greek acropolis in 1556.

The walls created a mighty fortress still standing today. The acropolis, high above the main town, was a safe haven for the populace in the event of a raid. While these walls protected the main town, it was not safe to live on the rest of the island until Mediterranean piracy was largely eradicated, which did not occur until the 19th century.

20th century
From the 1920s to the 1940s, the Lipari islands were used for the confinement of political prisoners, including Emilio Lussu, Curzio Malaparte, Carlo Rosselli, Giuseppe Ghetti, and Edda Mussolini. During the 1930s, the islands were used to detain exiled members of the fascist, Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement.

They islands were then extensively searched by archeologists Madeleine Cavalier and Luigi Bernabò Brea after World War II.

Culture and media

 * The large archaeological museum extensively covers history of the Aeolian Islands from prehistoric to classical times, vulcanology, marine history, and the paleontology of the western Mediterranean.
 * The geographer Strabo identified Lipari with Aeolia, the island of the winds in Homer's Odyssey.
 * The ending sequence of Kaos by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani showed children sliding down the vast slopes of white pumice that flowed into the sea. Today the pumice slope stops about 1 m from the sea.
 * The annual feasts of St. Bartholomew.
 * On 25 July 2013, the mayor of Lipari issued an ordinance banning the wearing of "bikinis, thongs or other swimming costumes in the town centre" to be punished with a fine of 500 euros (equivalent to about $700 in 2014).

People

 * Peppino Mangravite - Artist
 * Christian Riganò - Football player
 * Francesco Scoglio - Football coach

title: Lipari


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Tindari

Tindari (Lu Tìnnaru ), ancient Tyndaris (Τυνδαρίς, Strab.) or Tyndarion (Τυνδάριον, Ptol.), is a small town, frazione (suburb or municipal component) in the comune of Patti and a Latin Catholic titular see.

The monumental ruins of ancient Tyndaris are a main attraction for visitors and excavations are continuing to reveal more parts of the city.

Tindari has a famous sanctuary and is also famous for the poem Vento a Tindari, written by Salvatore Quasimodo.

History

Ancient Tyndaris was strategically situated on its prominent hill overlooking the wide bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea bounded by the Capo di Milazzo on the east, and the Capo Calavà on the west. It was connected by a comparatively narrow isthmus with the lower ground inland. It thus commanded views of the summit of Mount Etna and northwards to the Lipari Islands.

It was one of the latest of all the cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by the elder Dionysius in 396 or 395 BC in Magna Graecia; the site is so strategic that it is a surprise it was not occupied earlier. The original settlers were the remains of the Messenian exiles, who had been driven from Naupactus, Zacynthus, and the Peloponnese by the Spartans after the close of the Peloponnesian War. These had at first been established by Dionysius at Messana, when he repeopled that city; but the Spartans having taken umbrage at this, he transferred them to the site of Tyndaris, which had previously been included in the territory of Abacaenum. The colonists themselves gave to their new city the name of Tyndaris, from their native divinities, the "Tyndaridae" or Dioscuri, and readily admitting fresh citizens from other quarters, soon raised their whole population to the number of 5000 citizens. The new city thus rose at once to be a place of considerable importance.

It is next mentioned in 344 BC, when it was one of the first cities that declared in favor of Timoleon after his landing in Sicily. At a later period we find it mentioned as espousing the cause of Hieron, and supporting him during his war against the Mamertines, 269 BC. On that occasion he rested his position upon Tyndaris on the left, and on Tauromenium (modern Taormina) on the right. Indeed, the strong position of Tyndaris made it an important strategic post on the Tyrrhenian sea, as Tauromenium was on the Sicilian sea, and hence we find it frequently mentioned in accounts of subsequent wars. In the First Punic War it was at first dependent upon Carthage; and though the citizens, alarmed at the progress of the Roman armies, were at one time on the point of turning to Rome, they were restrained by the Carthaginians, who carried off all the chief citizens as hostages. In 257 BC, the Battle of Tyndaris took place off the coast of Tyndaris, between the city and the Liparaean islands, in which a Roman fleet under Gaius Atilius Regulus obtained some advantage over the Carthaginian fleet, but without any decisive result. The Roman fleet is described on that occasion as touching at the promontory of Tyndaris, but the city had not yet fallen into their hands, and it was not until after the fall of Panormus (modern Palermo) in 254 BC that Tyndaris expelled the Carthaginian garrison and joined the Roman alliance.

We hear little of Tyndaris under Roman government, but it appears to have been a flourishing and considerable city. Cicero calls it nobilissima civitas and we learn from him that the inhabitants had displayed their zeal and fidelity towards the Romans upon many occasions. Among others they supplied naval forces for the armament of Scipio Africanus the Younger, a service for which he repaid them by restoring to them a statue of Mercury which had been carried off by the Carthaginians and which continued as an object of great veneration in the city, until it was stolen by the rapacious Verres. Tyndaris was also one of seventeen cities selected by the Roman senate, apparently as an honorary distinction, to contribute to certain offerings to the temple of Venus at Eryx. In other respects it had no peculiar privileges, and was in the condition of an ordinary municipal town, with its own magistrates, local senate, etc., but was certainly in the time of Cicero one of the most considerable places in the island. It, however, suffered severely from the exactions of Verres and the inhabitants, to revenge themselves on their oppressor, publicly demolished his statue as soon as he had quit the island.

Tyndaris again bore a considerable part in the Sicilian revolt between Sextus Pompeius and Octavian. It was one of the points occupied and fortified by the former, when preparing for the defence of the Sicilian straits, but was taken by Agrippa after his naval victory at Mylae, and became one of his chief posts, from which he carried on offensive warfare against Pompey. Subsequently, to this we hear nothing more of Tyndaris in history; but there is no doubt of its having continued to subsist throughout the period of the Roman Empire. Strabo speaks of it as one of the places on the north coast of Sicily which, in his time, still deserved the name of cities; and Pliny gives it the title of a Colonia. It is probable that it received a colony under Augustus, as we find it bearing in an inscription the titles of Colonia Augusta Tyndaritanorum. Pliny indeed mentions a great calamity which the city had sustained, when (he tells us) half of it was swallowed up by the sea, probably from an earthquake having caused the fall of part of the hill on which it stands, but we have no clue to the date of this event. The Itineraries attest the existence of Tyndaris, apparently still as a considerable place, in the fourth century.

Ecclesiastical History

 * Established in 498 as Diocese of Tindari (Italian) / Tyndaris (Latin) / Tyndaritan(us) (Latin adjective). In the early 7th century Sicily had no Metropolitan see, so although politically part of the Byzantine empire, all its bishoprics were in the sway of the papal ('Western') Patriarchate of Rome as (exempt) suffragan dioceses of Rome. During the conflict on Iconoclasm, Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian transferred all Sicily to his capital's Patriarchate of Constantinople (circa 732); in the 8th or 9th century, the newly created Metropolitan Archdiocese of Syracuse was given all Sicilian bishoprics as suffragans, including Tindari, where no bishops were recorded since 649.
 * Although the Notitia Episcopatuum under emperor Leo VI (early 10th century) still lists Tindari among the suffragans of Syracuse, that probably was just canonical theory, as in 836 Tindari was conquered for Islam by Arabs and nothing is heard from the diocese.
 * Formally suppressed in 880 without direct successor, but lost (some) territory in 1082 to establish the short-lived Diocese of Troina (suppressed in 1098 to establish the Diocese of Messina). When Sicilia was again conquered and Christianize by the Normans in the 11th century, the bishopric wasn't restored, its territory rather assigned to the new Diocese of Patti.

Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1968 as Latin Titular bishopric of Tindari (Curiate Italian) / Tyndaris (Latin) / Tyndaritan(us) (Latin adjective)

Remains

By the 19th century, the site of Tyndaris was wholly deserted, but the name was retained by a church, which crowned the most elevated point of the hill on which the city formerly stood, and was still called the Madonna di Tindaro. It is c. 180 m above the sea-level, and forms a conspicuous landmark to sailors. Considerable ruins of the ancient city, are also visible. It occupied the whole plateau or summit of the hill, and the remains of the ancient walls may be traced, at intervals, all round the brow of the cliffs, except in one part, facing the sea, where the cliff is now quite precipitous. It is not improbable that it is here that a part of the cliff fell in, in the manner recorded by Pliny Two gates of the city are also still distinctly to be traced.

The chief monuments, of which the ruins are still extant within the circuit of the walls, are: Numerous inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, and architectural decorations, as well as coins, vases etc. have also been discovered on the site.
 * the theatre, of which the remains are in imperfect condition, but sufficient to show that it was not of large size, and apparently of Roman construction, or at least, like that of Tauromenium, rebuilt in Roman times upon the Greek foundations
 * a propylaeum with two handsome stone arches (previously called a Gymnasium)
 * several other edifices of Roman times, but of wholly uncertain character, a mosaic pavement and some Roman tombs.

Legend
Local legend tells that the lagoon was created after a pilgrim who came to see the Madonna refused to pray to the Madonna because she was black. The woman accidentally dropped her baby into the ocean and the Madonna made the land rise to save the baby. The sands of Marinello have taken shape of the profile of the Madonna.

Cultural references
An episode of Inspector Montalbano was called "Excursion to Tindari". It ends with four of the main characters overlooking the bay. Salvatore Quasimodo, who would later win the Nobel prize for literature, in 1930 published a poem entitled "Vento a Tindari" (Wind at Tindari).

Accessibility
By car, if you come from Falcone,  of Autostrada Messina-Palermo take Palermo direction along SS 113.

But Tindari and its Church are reachable by trains run by Trenitalia, including services from Messina with the Oliveri railway station situated on the Palermo–Messina railway. Outside of the station is available a Uber service by App.

Tindari is also served by bus provided from Azienda Siciliana Trasporti.

Sources and external links

 * GCatholic - former and titular bishopric
 * Diocese of Patti on BeWeB - Beni ecclesiastici in web
 * GCatholic - former and titular bishopric
 * Diocese of Patti on BeWeB - Beni ecclesiastici in web
 * Diocese of Patti on BeWeB - Beni ecclesiastici in web

 * Bibliography

 * Rocco Pirri, Sicilia sacra, vol. I, Palermo 1733, p. 493
 * Giuseppe Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni, Venice 1870, vol. XXI, pp. 587–588
 * Francesco Lanzoni, Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604), vol. II, Faenza 1927, p. 650

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Tindari


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Talk:420 (cannabis culture)

Article title
In my area --- Phoenix, AZ --- this is known as "National Weed Day" and any references to, or uses of, "420," and even the date of "April 20," are rather inconsequential and barely mentioned in passing. Even today's [April 16, 2020] "Arizona Republic" newspaper (p. 1C) had an article titled "Where to celebrate National Weed Day in Phoenix" {my emphasis} with "420" and "April 20" only mentioned three times.

I put out a monthly informational Block Watch flyer in my neighborhood which includes dates of importantance for that month. To get those dates, I go to the respective month's article here at Wikipedia; and, I did not use the listing of "420 (cannabis culture) (international)" because I did not know what "420" meant --- non-"culture" people that I've talked with had no idea about this use --- and the additional 'tag' of "(cannabis culture)" I took to mean that this was some kind of 'event' for an extremely specialized/'limited' group of people, not for the public in general.

So, to me, the current article title plays to a smaller group as compared to "National Weed Day" which, I think, would play to, and attract, a much wider audience.

If I had seen "National Weed Day," I would'be included it in my flyer.

As such, any thoughts/comments about possibly modifying or changing the article's title?

Just curious. 2600:8800:784:8F00:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 20:00, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

 * I think the title should stay as it is. As non-american I had no idea what this was about and why this number is often banned from mentioning in YouTube chat groups, only that it is supposedly a drug reference. This article gave me the information I searched for in a few seconds also it is about the general use of the number 420 in this context, not especially about "National Weed Day", I probably would not have found this if it was titled as such. I don't know what the average reader will search for though, but imho either "National Weed Day" should forward to here, or be a whole own article (if there is enough relevant information to write about it). --Wulf 21 (talk) 05:54, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

official Waldos site
An editor recently removed two links to the official Waldos site: an inline reference (the group's first mention in High Times) and an external link at article's end. Most all sources reinforce the claim that the Waldos spurred the association of 4:20/420 with cannabis culture. Given that fact, I believe WP:EL and WP:RS support such uses of the Waldos site. I think the two recently removed links should be restored. How do others view the official Waldos site? — H ip L ibrarianship talk 17:41, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It's a commercial site that clearly does not meet WP:EL guidelines. Feel free to take it to WP:RSN. Besides, the group's first mention in High Times should be sourced to High Times., not some commercial site peddling t-shirts and memorabilia.OhNo itsJamie  Talk 21:57, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Advocacy needs to be removed
The paragraph starting with "As marijuana continues to be decriminalized and legalized around the world..." is clearly an advocacy statement. It should be revised or deleted as per WP:NOTADVOCATE, WP:PROMOTION. I'll be editing or removing this shortly unless some discussion pops up here. Nonto4567 (talk) 12:35, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't see how that's advocacy; it's a factual statement that there is a world decriminalization trend; plenty of references here. OhNo itsJamie Talk 14:59, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm not disputing the quoted fact here, but the context and how it's being used. The quote that follows literally begins, "even if our activist work were complete..."
 * The purpose of this event may be to advocate for marijuana. But the purpose of Wikipedia is not to advocate for any cause.
 * The rest of the article is basically neutral, but this paragraph only exists to advocate for the cause.
 * tl;dr It's not encyclopedic in tone and has no clear purpose in the article. Nonto4567 (talk) 17:49, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

New related page

 * Cannabis in the restaurant industry

--- Another Believer ( Talk ) 14:09, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:420 (cannabis culture)


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Tallangatta

Tallangatta is a town in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The town lies on the banks of the Mitta Arm of Lake Hume, approximately 38 km south-east of Albury-Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway. At the, Tallangatta had a population of 1,175.

History
Tallangatta was founded in the 1870s, the Post Office opening on 15 May 1871.

On the arrival of the railway it served as a rail gateway for the Mitta and Upper Murray valleys (the Upper Murray only until the railway was extended to Cudgewa). Some gold and tin mining occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century, though, unlike Beechworth, little evidence of this remains. The amount of gold produced was relatively small compared to other mines elsewhere in the region.

Since that time, Tallangatta has been a service centre for the local farming community, with a butter factory operating throughout much of the 20th century. Improved road transport links finally ended both the dairy and the rail link in the 1970s (with dairy processing operations now concentrated in Tangambalanga, about 15 km to the west).

The most distinctive aspect of the town's history is that it was moved 8 km to the west in the 1950s to a site known as Bolga to allow for the expansion of Lake Hume. Stories of the transition from old town to new town were captured in the 1988 book Slates and Suet Puddings by Carmyl Winkler. On 14 April 1955 the Post Office was renamed Tallangatta East and a new Tallangatta office opened at the new town location. The sign welcoming motorists to town reads "Tallangatta, the town that moved in the 1950s".

The grid layout of the streets of Old Tallangatta is clearly visible in Google Earth.

The Tallangatta Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990.

Population
According to the 2021 Census the population of Tallangatta is 1,175, of which:

 * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.9% of the population
 * 82.8% of people were born in Australia. 3.2% of the population were born in England, 0.9% in Malaysia, 0.7% in the United States of America, 0.6% in Scotland and 0.5% in Samoa.
 * 89.7% of people spoke only English at home, with the next most common language being Samoan, spoken by 1.0% of the population.
 * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.1%, Anglican 18.2% Catholic 14.4%, and Uniting Church 5.4%.

Economy
Beef and dairy cattle farming is the dominant industry, with a small abattoir. In 2016, Tallangatta was declared a "Notable Town", by Heritage Australia. The main street is long for a town of its size and is quite unique. The unique architecture is home to a thriving retail and hospitality sector that contributes to local employment and tourism. Services include a small hospital, and two primary schools, a secondary school and an integrated childcare, library and community centre. A considerable number of residents now commute to work in Albury–Wodonga.

The decline of the water frontage of Lake Hume, due to sporadic drought conditions and the privatisation of Australia waterways, has had an impact on the town. Although through initiatives, such as the Tallangatta Tomorrow project funded by state government, the township is experiencing a new lease on life.

Several community-focused initiatives operate within the township including Tallangatta Food Swap, Boomerang Bags Tallangatta, the Tallangatta Community Theatre Group, the Uniting Church Op Shop, and Plasticwise Tallangatta.

The town has a high proportion of retirees, with some elderly people cared for at Bolga Court Hostel. This heritage is celebrated in the popular annual Tallangatta Fifties Festival; however, as of June 2018, has ended due to financial concerns and feedback.

Transport
There is no scheduled public transport in Tallangatta, other than school buses which are not available to the general public. The town is mainly accessed via the Murray Valley Highway; the northern terminus of the Omeo Highway to Omeo is approximately 5 km east of the town.

The High Country Rail Trail passes through the town; it follows the route of the Cudgewa railway line, which closed in 1981.

Sport
Tallangatta has an Australian rules football team, the Tallangatta Football Club competing in the Tallangatta & District Football League.

Golfers play at the Tallangatta Golf Club on Coorilla Street.

Notable residents

 * Phillip Law, scientist and Antarctic explorer was born in Tallangatta in 1912
 * Doug Smith, North Melbourne footballer grew up in Tallangatta
 * William Yates, a politician who served in both the British and Australian parliaments, spent his last years in Tallangatta
 * Ian Trevaskis, writer and author; Children's Book Council of Australia award-winning author

title: Tallangatta


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Weimar

Weimar is a city in the German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, 80 km southwest of Leipzig, 170 km north of Nuremberg and 170 km west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouring cities of Erfurt and Jena, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia, with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. The city itself has a population of 65,000. Weimar is well known because of its cultural heritage and importance in German history.

The city was a focal point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading literary figures of Weimar Classicism, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. In the 19th century, composers such as Franz Liszt made Weimar a music centre. Later, artists and architects such as Henry van de Velde, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, and Walter Gropius came to the city and founded the Bauhaus movement, the most important German design school of the interwar period.

The political history of 20th-century Weimar was volatile: it was the place where Germany's first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War, giving its name to the Weimar Republic (1918–33). It was also one of the cities mythologized by Nazi propaganda.

Until 1948, Weimar was the capital of Thuringia. Many places in the city centre have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, either as part of the Classical Weimar complex (containing monuments to the classical period of Weimar in 18th and 19th centuries) or the Bauhaus complex (containing buildings associated with the Bauhaus art school). Heritage tourism is one of the leading economic sectors of Weimar.

Noted institutions in Weimar are the Bauhaus University, the Liszt School of Music, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, and two leading courts of Thuringia (the Supreme Administrative Court and Constitutional Court). In 1999, Weimar was the European Capital of Culture.

Prehistoric times
Archaeological finds dating back to the Thuringii epoch (3rd to 6th centuries) show that the Weimar part of the Ilm valley was settled early. A tight network of settlements occupied much of the area of today's city.

Middle Ages
The oldest records regarding Weimar date to 899. Its name changed over the centuries from Wimares through Wimari to Wimar and finally Weimar; it is derived from Old High German wīh- (holy) and -mari (standing water, swamp). The place was the seat of the County of Weimar, first mentioned in 949, which was one of the most powerful jurisdictions in early Middle Ages Thuringia. In 1062 it was united with the County of Orlamünde into the new County of Weimar-Orlamünde, which existed until the Thuringian Counts' War in 1346. It fell to the Wettins afterwards.

The Weimar settlement emerged around the count's wooden castle and two small churches, dedicated to Saint Peter (which later became the main church), and to Saint James, respectively. In 1240, the count founded the dynasty's monastery in Oberweimar, run by Cistercian nuns. Soon after, the counts of Weimar founded the town, which was an independent parish since 1249 and called civitas in 1254. From 1262, the citizens used their own seal. The regional influence of the Weimar counts was declining as the influence of the Wettins in Thuringia increased. Hence, the new small town was relatively marginal in a regional context, also due to the fact that it was located far from relevant trade routes, such as the Via Regia. The settlement around Saint James Church developed into a suburb during the 13th century.

After becoming part of Wettin territory in 1346, urban development improved. The Wettins fostered Weimar by abolishing socage and granting privileges to the citizens. Now Weimar became equal to other Wettinian cities like Weißensee and grew during the 15th century, with the establishment of a town hall and the current main church. In 1438 Weimar acquired trade privileges for woad, a plant from which blue dye was made. The castle and the walls were finished in the 16th century, making Weimar into a full city.

Early Modern Period
After the Treaty of Leipzig (1485) Weimar became part of the electorate of the Ernestine branch of Wettins with Wittenberg as capital. The Protestant Reformation was introduced in Weimar in 1525; Martin Luther stayed several times in the city. As the Ernestines lost the Schmalkaldic War in 1547, their capital Wittenberg went also to the Albertines, so that they needed a new residence. As the ruler returned from captivity, Weimar became his residence in 1552 and remained as such until the end of the monarchy in 1918. The first Ernestine territorial partition in 1572 was followed by various ones, nevertheless Weimar stayed the capital of different Saxe-Weimar states. The court and its staff brought some wealth to the city, so that it saw a first construction boom in the 16th century. The 17th century brought decline to Weimar, because of changing trade conditions (as in nearby Erfurt). Besides, the territorial partitions led to the loss of political importance of the dukes of Saxe-Weimar and their finances shrunk. The city's polity weakened more and more and lost its privileges, leading to the absolutist reign of the dukes in the early 18th century. On the other hand, this time brought another construction boom to Weimar, and the city got its present appearance, marked by various ducal representation buildings. The city walls were demolished in 1757 and during the following decades, Weimar expanded in all directions. The biggest building constructed in this period was the Schloss as the residence of the dukes (north and east wing: 1789–1803, west wing 1832–1835, south wing: 1913–1914). Between 1708 and 1717 Johann Sebastian Bach worked as the court's organist in Weimar.

Golden or Classical Age (1758–1832)
The period from the start of the regencies of Anna Amalia (1758–1775) and her son Carl August (1775–1828) through to Goethe's death in 1832 is denoted as the "golden" or the "classical" age because of the high level of cultural activity in Weimar. The city became an important cultural centre of Europe, having been home to literary figures including Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wieland and Bertuch; and in music the piano virtuoso Hummel. It has been a site of pilgrimage for the German intelligentsia since Goethe first moved to Weimar in 1775. Goethe was also active in civic duties while living there. He served as Privy Councilor to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach for an extended period. The tombs of Goethe and Schiller, as well as their archives, may be found in the city. Goethe's Elective Affinities (1809) is set around the city of Weimar. In comparison to many major German states, the dukes' policy was liberal and tolerant in this period. The liberal Saxe-Weimar constitution was brought into effect in 1816.

Silver Ages and The New Weimar (1832–1918)
The time after Goethe's death is denoted as the "silver" age because Weimar remained an influential cultural centre. The first emphasis was fostering music. In 1842, Franz Liszt moved to Weimar to become the Grand Ducal court conductor. Liszt organized the premiere of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin (1850) as well as the world première of Saint Saëns' opera Samson et Delilah (1877) in the city. The Weimar School of Music was founded in 1872 as Germany's first orchestra school. Richard Strauss worked in Weimar between 1889 and 1894 as second conductor in the acclaimed Staatskapelle Weimar (the court orchestra founded in 1491). Several of his encores for works such as Don Juan and Macbeth were performed by the Staatskapelle Weimar. He also premièred Humperdinck's opera Hänsel and Gretel 1893 in Weimar. Friedrich Nietzsche moved to Weimar in 1897, and died there three years later.

In 1860 the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School, the precursor of today's Bauhaus University, was founded. This was the beginning of academic arts education in Weimar. The institution created its own painting style, the Weimar School of painting with representatives such as Max Liebermann and Arnold Böcklin. The Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar was found by Henry van de Velde with the support of Grand Duke William Ernest in 1902 and represents the other root of Bauhaus, known as "Das Neue Weimar" ("The New Weimar") around Harry Graf Kessler. It was a foundation against Prussia's restrictive arts policy favouring Historicism instead of international Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau.

As early as the 19th century, the curation of Weimar and its heritage started. Many archives, societies and museums were founded to present and conserve the cultural sights and goods. In 1846, Weimar was connected by the Thuringian Railway. In the following decades, the city saw a construction and population boom (like most late-19th century cities in Germany). Nevertheless, Weimar did not become industrialised, and remained a city of clerks, artists and rentiers. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the last reigning grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, William Ernest, had to abdicate and went in exile to Heinrichau in Silesia.

Weimar Republic
The period in German history from 1919 to 1933 is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic, as the Republic's constitution was drafted there rather than Berlin. The capital was considered too dangerous for the National Assembly to use as a meeting place because of street rioting during the Spartacist uprising. Reich President Friedrich Ebert favored Weimar because he hoped it would remind the victorious Allies of Weimar Classicism while they were deliberating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Since the calm and centrally located Weimar had a suitable place of assembly (the theatre), hotels and infrastructure, it was chosen as the host city.

In 1920, the federal state of Thuringia was founded by an association of eight former microstates (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Reuss-Gera and Reuss-Greiz) and Weimar became its capital. Due to that fact, the city experienced another period of growth.

In 1919, Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus School by a merger of the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School with the Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar. The Bauhaus in Weimar lasted from 1919 to 1925, when it moved to Dessau, after the newly elected right-wing Thuringian council put pressure on the school by withdrawing funding and forcing its teachers to quit. Many buildings in Weimar today have influences from the Bauhaus period. However, only one original Bauhaus building was constructed during 1919–1925, the Haus am Horn, now used for exhibitions and events on Bauhaus culture.

The Weimar Republic era was marked by a constant conflict between progressive and Völkisch forces, the former represented by Harry Graf Kessler and the latter by Adolf Bartels in Weimar. The Weimarer Zeitung was published in Weimar as a local newspaper. After 1929, the right-wing forces prevailed and Weimar became an early centre of Nazism.

Nazi Germany and World War II
Weimar was important to the Nazis for two reasons: first, it was where the hated Weimar Republic was founded, and second, it had been a centre of German high culture in recent centuries. In 1926, the NSDAP held its party convention in Weimar. Adolf Hitler visited Weimar more than forty times prior to 1933. In 1930, Wilhelm Frick became minister for internal affairs and education in Thuringia – the first NSDAP minister in Germany. In 1932, the NSDAP came to power in Thuringia under Fritz Sauckel. In 1933, the first Nazi concentration camps were established around Weimar in Nohra (the first one in Germany) and Bad Sulza. Most prisoners at this time were communists and social democrats. After Kristallnacht in 1938, harassment of Jews became more intense, so that many of them emigrated or were arrested. The Weimar Synagogue was destroyed in 1938.

During the 1930s, the barracks in Weimar was greatly extended. One famous person serving as a soldier in Weimar was Wolfgang Borchert, later a well known poet and playwright. As it was the capital of Thuringia, the Nazis built a new Roman-fascist-style administrative centre between the city centre and the main station. This, designed by Hermann Giesler, was the only Nazi governmental building completed outside Berlin (though there were plans for all German state capitals). Today it hosts the Thuringian State Administration. Other Giesler buildings are the, the governor's palace and the in the city centre.

In 1937, the Nazis established Buchenwald concentration camp 8 km from Weimar city centre. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in the camp by the Nazi regime, including 168 Western Allied POWs. The number of deaths in Buchenwald is estimated at 56,545. The Buchenwald concentration camp provided slave labour for local industry, including the Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werk arms factory.

The city centre was partially damaged by US Air Force bombing in 1945 with some 1,800 people killed and many historic buildings destroyed. Nevertheless, most of the destroyed buildings were restored soon after the war because of their importance in German cultural history. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Weimar in April 1945, and the city surrendered to the US 80th Infantry Division on 12 April 1945. The residents of Weimar were ordered to walk through Buchenwald, to see what had been happening so close to the city, as documented in Billy Wilder's film Death Mills. The city ended up in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, so US troops were soon replaced by Soviet forces.

Since 1945
From 1945 to 1950, the Soviet Union used the occupied Buchenwald concentration camp as a NKVD special camp to imprison defeated Nazis and other Germans. The camp slogan remained Jedem das Seine. On 6 January 1950, the Soviets handed over Buchenwald to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In 1948, the East German government declared Erfurt as Thuringia's new capital, and Weimar lost its influence on German contemporary culture and politics. (The state of Thuringia itself was dissolved in 1952 and replaced by three Bezirke (districts) in a local government reform; Weimar belonged to the Bezirk of Erfurt.) The city was the headquarters of the Soviet Union's 8th Guards Army as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Due to its fame and importance for tourism, Weimar received more financial subsidies from the GDR government and remained in better condition than most East German cities.

After German reunification in 1990, Weimar experienced significant economic hardship, but funding restored much that had deteriorated. In 1991, the city hosted the first trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland giving its name to the Weimar Triangle format. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 (Bauhaus) and 1998 (Classical Weimar). The European Council of Ministers selected the city as European Capital of Culture for 1999. Tourism has become an important economic factor over the decades. Weimar is now a popular residence of people working in Erfurt and Jena, both less than 20 minutes away.

In 2004, a fire broke out at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. The library contains a 13,000-volume collection including Goethe's masterpiece Faust, as well as the duchess's music collection. An authentic Luther Bible from 1534 was saved from the fire. The library is one of the oldest in Europe, dating back to 1691, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over one million volumes were housed in the library, of which forty to fifty thousand were damaged beyond repair. A number of books were shock-frozen in Leipzig to save them from rotting. The library was reopened in 2007.

Topography
Weimar is situated within the valley of the Ilm river, a tributary of the Saale river on the southern border of the Thuringian Basin, a fertile agricultural area between the Harz mountains 70 km to the north and the Thuringian Forest 50 km to the southwest. The municipal terrain is hilly; the height of the city centre in the Ilm valley is approximately 200 m of elevation. To the north, the terrain rises to Ettersberg, the city's backyard mountain, 482 m in height. The range of hills in the south of Weimar rises up to 370 m and is part of the Ilm Saale Plate Muschelkalk formation. The eastern, central and western parts of the municipal territory are in agricultural use, whereas the Ettersberg and some southern areas are wooded.

Climate
Weimar has a humid continental climate (Dfb) or an oceanic climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 23 C and lows of 12 C. Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of 2 C and lows of -3 C. The city's topography creates a microclimate caused through the basin position with sometimes inversion in winter (quite cold nights under -20 C). Annual precipitation is only 574 mm with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall occurs, mainly from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long.

Administrative division
Weimar abuts the district of Weimarer Land with the municipalities Berlstedt, Ettersburg, Kleinobringen, Großobringen and Wohlsborn in the north, Kromsdorf, Umpferstedt and Mellingen in the east, Vollersroda, Buchfart, Hetschburg, Bad Berka and Troistedt in the south and Nohra, Daasdorf am Berge, Hopfgarten and Ottstedt am Berge in the west.

The city itself is divided into 10 inner urban and 11 suburban districts. The centre is formed by the district Altstadt (old town) and the Gründerzeit districts Nordvorstadt in the north, Parkvorstadt in the east and Westvorstadt in the south and west. Later additions are Südstadt in the south and Schönblick in the southwest. Finally, there are the Plattenbau settlements, constructed during the GDR period, Weststadt and Nordstadt as well as two industrial areas in the north and west.

The 11 suburban districts are villages which became incorporated during the 20th century; however, they have mostly stayed rural to date:
 * Gaberndorf (incorporated in 1994)
 * Gelmeroda (1994)
 * Legefeld/Holzdorf (1994)
 * Niedergrunstedt (1994)
 * Oberweimar/Ehringsdorf (1922)
 * Possendorf (1994)
 * Schöndorf (1939)
 * Süßenborn (1994)
 * Taubach (1994)
 * Tiefurt (1922)
 * Tröbsdorf (1994)

Demographics

Over the centuries, Weimar remained a small town of less than 5,000 inhabitants. When it became the capital of Saxe-Weimar in 1572, population growth was stimulated and the population increased from 3,000 in 1650 to 6,000 in 1750. Around the year 1800, Weimar had 7,000 inhabitants. Their number grew constantly over the years to 13,000 in 1850, 28,000 in 1900 and 35,000 at the beginning of World War I. During the interwar period, the new capital of Thuringia saw a population boom, which led to 65,000 inhabitants in 1940. Since that time, the population levels have stagnated. The years 2009 to 2012 brought a moderate growth of approximately 0.35% per year, whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Weimar. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders.

The birth surplus was +3 in 2012, this is +0.0 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: −4.5; national average: −2.4). The net migration rate was +4.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin are rural areas of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Like other eastern German cities, Weimar has a relatively small foreign population (compared to the German average): circa 4.0% are non-Germans by citizenship, while 7.9% have a migrant background (according to 2011 EU census). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Weimar are Vietnamese people, Russians and Ukrainians. During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 20% in 2005 to 5.1% in 2019. Due to the official atheism in the former GDR, most of the population is non-religious. 21.1% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 6.8% are Catholics (according to 2011 EU census).

World Heritage Sites
Two World Heritage Sites converge in Weimar:
 * The Classical Weimar World Heritage Site consists of 11 sites related to Weimar as a European centre of the Enlightenment during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
 * The Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau World Heritage Site comprises six separate sites, two in Weimar, which are associated with the Bauhaus art school, which had a revolutionary influence on 20th century architectural and aesthetic thinking and practice.

Museums
Weimar has a great variety of museums:
 * The Goethe-Nationalmuseum at Frauenplan shows the life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his former residence.
 * Goethe's garden house in the Park an der Ilm shows an exhibition about Goethe and his connection to nature.
 * The Schiller-Museum at Schillerstraße shows the life of Friedrich Schiller in his former residence.
 * The Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv at Hans-Wahl-Straße collects the estate of Goethe, Schiller and other various artists. In 2001, it became a member of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
 * The Wittumspalais at Theaterplatz shows early-modern court lifestyle with items like furniture and porcelain.
 * The Liszt-Haus at Marienstraße shows the life of Franz Liszt in his former summer residence.
 * The Nietzsche-Archiv at Humboldtstraße shows the life and estate of Friedrich Nietzsche.
 * The Gedenkstätte Buchenwald in former Buchenwald concentration camp commemorates the victims of Nazi terror.
 * The Bauhaus-Museum at Theaterplatz shows an exhibition about the Bauhaus design school.
 * The Schlossmuseum inside the residence castle exhibits early-modern antiques and other objects of court life.
 * The Duchess Anna Amalia Library at Platz der Demokratie is an important early-modern library with various print objects.
 * The Neues Museum at Weimarplatz shows an exhibition of contemporary art.
 * The Stadtmuseum at Karl-Liebknecht-Straße exhibits the municipal history of Weimar.
 * The Kunsthalle Harry Graf Kessler at Goetheplatz hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary artists.
 * The Haus am Horn at Am Horn street was the first building designed entirely on the design principles of the Bauhaus art school.
 * The Fürstengruft at the historic cemetery is a mausoleum of famous Weimar citizens like Goethe and Schiller as well as the dukes of Saxe-Weimar.
 * The Museum für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Thüringens (museum of pre- and protohistory of Thuringia) at Humboldtstraße exhibits various objects of early Thuringian history such as archaeological finds.
 * The Deutsches Bienenmuseum (German bee museum) at Ilmstraße in Oberweimar district hosts the only pure exhibition about bees and apiculture in Germany.

Cityscape
The historic city centre of Weimar is situated between the Ilm river in the east, Grabenstraße in the north, Goetheplatz and Theaterplatz in the west and Schillerstraße in the south. Its two central squares are the Marktplatz in the south (with the town hall) and the Herderplatz in the north (with the main church). Despite its medieval origin, there are only a few medieval buildings, many being destroyed by frequent fires throughout the city's history. Most buildings in this area date back to the 17th and 18th century. Furthermore, Weimar has two old suburbs: in the north, the Jakobsvorstadt around St. James' Church (medieval origin) and another one in the south around Frauenplan square. The majority of buildings in these areas are also of 17th- and 18th-century origin. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Weimar grew in all directions. Because of its function as an "officials' city", the houses in these areas are more substantial than in many comparable Gründerzeit quarters in Germany. The most uptown areas are those right and left of the Park an der Ilm in the southeast, whereas the western and northern quarters are more basic and mixed with industrial areas in their outer parts. During the GDR period, two new Plattenbau settlements were developed in the west and the north of the city. After 1990, suburbanization occurred for a short time and the rural districts of Weimar saw significant growth as part of the larger city.

Religious buildings
The city's main church is the Evangelical St. Peter and Paul on the Herderplatz (known as Die Herderkirche). It was rebuilt in late Gothic style after a fire around 1500. Between 1726 and 1735, the interior underwent a Baroque remodelling by Johann Adolf Richter. Johann Gottfried Herder was the dean of the church between 1766 and 1803. The second old Evangelical church of Weimar is St. James on Rollplatz, rebuilt in 1712 in Baroque style. The Roman Catholic parish church of Weimar is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and was built between 1888 and 1891 in historicist forms imitating Florence Cathedral. Another church is the Russian Orthodox Chapel within the historic cemetery. It was built in 1862 as the funerary chapel of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and was one of the first Russian-styled buildings in Germany.

Interesting churches in the suburban districts are the Lutheran parish church of Gelmeroda, which was the inspiration for many paintings by Lyonel Feininger, and the Lutheran parish church of Oberweimar, which was a former monastery, and is a good example of Gothic architecture in Weimar.

Castles and palaces
Due to its function as a ducal residence, Weimar is rich in early-modern castles and palaces. The biggest one is the Stadtschloss at Burgplatz in the city centre. Today's four-wing building was started after a great fire in 1774. The tower and the Bastille building at its south-western edge are relics of older castles in this place.

The Fürstenhaus at Platz der Demokratie was the first parliament building in Weimar, established in the 1770s. Today it is in use by the Weimar School of Music. The Green Castle next to the Fürstenhaus was built in the 1560s in Renaissance style and hosts today the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. The Yellow Castle at Grüner Markt was built in 1703 and is the municipal library today. The neighbouring Red Castle is also part of the library and was built in the 1570s. The Wittumspalais is a smaller widow mansion near Theaterplatz, established in 1768. Outbildings of the ducal residence are the Husarenstall (1770), the later residence of Charlotte von Stein at Ackerwand street, the Marstall (1870s) at Kegelplatz, today used as Thuringian State Archive and the Reithaus (1710s) within the Park an der Ilm.

Other sights

 * The town hall at Marktplatz was built between 1837 and 1841 in Neo-Gothic style by Heinrich Heß after the former one (15th-century) burnt down.
 * The two main buildings of Bauhaus University at Marienstraße are icons of 20th-century early-modern architecture. Both were built by Henry van de Velde between 1904 and 1911. They mark the transition from older Historicism and Art Nouveau to the new international modern style in Germany by their functional forms (e. g. skylights for better working conditions inside).
 * The German National Theatre at Theaterplatz was built in 1906/07 in neo-classicist forms. Two predecessors were in use after 1779 and 1825 as ducal court theatres during Weimar's golden age. In 1919, the Weimar National Assembly developed the Weimar Constitution in this theatre.
 * The Gauforum at Weimarplatz is a Roman-fascist style representative government district between the city centre and the main station. This Gauforum, designed by Hermann Giesler, was the only realized Nazi government district outside Berlin (whereas there were plans for all German state capitals). Today it hosts the Thuringian Administration State Department.
 * The Park an der Ilm is the city's largest park along Ilm river between the ducal palace and the district of Oberweimar. It was established between 1778 and 1833 and is an English landscape garden today, part of UNESCO world heritage. Sights inside the park are Goethe's garden house (1690s) and Römisches Haus (in the style of a Roman temple, 1790s).
 * The Historic Cemetery at Karl-Haußknecht-Straße was opened in 1818 and hosts the graves of Goethe, Schiller and many other famous people from Weimar.
 * The Goethe-Schiller-Denkmal at Theaterplatz is the most famous memorial in Weimar. It was made by Ernst Rietschel between 1852 and 1857 and is dedicated to Goethe and Schiller, the most important poets of German classical literature.
 * A rather unknown monument is the Lenin-light-box inside the theatre hall "La Redoute". It's a copy of a stained window by Alexander Leonidovich Korolev that shows Lenin in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).

Events
The Onion Market (Weimarer Zwiebelmarkt) is an annual festival held in October in Weimar and it is Thuringia's largest festival. The festival is held over 3 days and approximately 500 stalls and more than 100 stage performances are put up across the city.

Weimar first celebrated the Onion Market in 1653. Stalls typically offer onion plaits, themed arts and crafts and numerous onion-based foods, including onion cakes, onion soups and onion breads. The festival also hosts numerous beer gardens, live music, fairground attractions and a Ferris wheel.

There are several clubs with live music once or twice a week. There is also a student club in the city centre which also features disco and live music events on Friday- and Saturday nights (Kasseturm). There are several smaller theatre and cabaret venues other than the large "DNT" (Deutsches National Theater). There are four cinemas including a 3-D cinema, and a Bowling Alley in the Weimar Atrium, the local mall.

Agriculture, industry and services
The area around Weimar is relatively fertile and 48% of the municipal surface are used for agricultural production. Most common agricultures are cereals, maize and rapeseed, while famous agricultural products from the Weimar region are potatoes (especially from Heichelheim, 7 km to the north) for dishes with Thuringian dumplings (Knödel from potatoes), onions (from Heldrungen and Oldisleben, 45 km to the north), which are sold at Weimar Onion Market in October, and Saale-Unstrut wine from Bad Sulza, 25 km to the north-east.

Industry has never been dominant in Weimar, nevertheless there were several big factories from different sectors until 1990. After reunification, nearly all factories got closed, either because they failed the adoption of free market economy or because the German government sold them to west German businessmen who closed them to avoid competition to their own enterprises. On the other hand, the federal government started early in the 1990s to subsidize the foundation of new companies, but it took long time before the economic situation got stabilized around 2006. Since this time, unemployment decreased and overall, new jobs develop. Today, there are many small and medium-sized companies in Weimar with electro-technics and engineering in focus. Nevertheless, settlement of new factories isn't much in focus of the local government, because it concentrates itself on developing tourism and services. The biggest companies with production in Weimar are Bayer (pharmaceutical factory), Coca-Cola (beverages) and Hydrema (dump truck factory). A new big commercial zone was established in the 1990s in the neighbouring municipality of Nohra with focus on logistics and distribution.

Due to its tradition as a capital, Weimar is a centre of governmental services to date. Furthermore, creative branches like media, advertising, architecture and design are important for Weimar's economy. The most important sector is tourism with 3,500 hotel beds, 350,000 visitors and 650,000 overnight stays in hotels in 2012 and a large number of German one-day visitors. Other services like retail, trade fairs and specialized hospitals are more brought by the near neighbour cities Erfurt and Jena with their infrastructure.

By rail
Weimar is connected by the Thuringian Railway to Leipzig in the east and to Frankfurt/Kassel in the west. Furthermore, there are some regional railways to Gera via Jena and to Kranichfeld via Bad Berka. Today, there are long-distance trains to Frankfurt via Erfurt and Fulda and to Dresden via Leipzig and regional trains to Göttingen and Eisenach via Erfurt, to Halle via Naumburg, to Altenburg, Glauchau, Zwickau and Greiz via Jena and Gera and to Kranichfeld. After the new Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway was opened in 2015, Weimar was disconnected from the German long-distance train network. However the regional train service are augmented to connect Weimar with ICE-stops in Erfurt, Halle and Leipzig.

In freight transport exists an intermodal terminal in Vieselbach (Güterverkehrszentrum/GVZ) with connection to rail and Autobahn, 15 km west of Weimar.

By road
Weimar is located at the Bundesautobahn 4 (Frankfurt–Dresden). Furthermore, there are two federal roads to Erfurt and Jena (Bundesstraße 7) and to Rudolstadt and Kölleda (Bundesstraße 85) as well as some regional roads to Sömmerda, Oßmannstedt and Magdala. A bypass road around Weimar was built in the 2000s in the north and west; the eastern and southern continuation are in discussion, but not in definite planning because of some difficulties in routing.

By aviation
The Erfurt-Weimar Airport lies approximately 30 km west of Weimar. It was largely extended in the 1990s, but the anticipated rise in passengers did not occur so that there is only rare air traffic, mostly to Mediterranean holiday regions. Other flights are carried out via Frankfurt Airport, which can be reached in 3 hours, and via Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is also about 3 hours away.

By bike
Biking is becoming more popular since the construction of quality cycle tracks began in the 1990s. For tourism, there are the Ilm track and the Thuringian city string track (Radweg Thüringer Städtekette). Both connect points of tourist interest, the first along the Ilm valley from the Thuringian Forest to the Saale river and the second close to medieval Via Regia from Eisenach via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, and Jena to Altenburg. Additionally, there are themed routes like the Goethe cycle track and the Feininger cycle track. For inner city everyday traffic, some cycle lanes exist along several main streets. Bike rental is offered in the city centre.

Bus service
For a small city, Weimar is well served by city bus routes, which also serve all of the surrounding towns and villages. An hourly bus route serves the Buchenwald Memorial and oldtimer buses operate in the city's historical centre. All bus routes are connected at Goethe Square in the city centre, and many also serve the main railway station. Trams served the city from 1899 to 1937. Trolleybus service started in 1948 and was discontinued in 1993.

Education
After the reunification, the educational system was realigned. Some academies were combined into the new Bauhaus University, founded in 1996 with approximately 4,200 students and focus on architecture, design and media. The Liszt School of Music is a university focussed on music and music education founded in 1872 with 850 students today. Furthermore, there are three regular Gymnasiums, the Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere, an elite boarding school with focus on music, and the Thuringia International School with an international (and foreign language) curriculum.

The most important archives in Weimar are the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv (member of UNESCO Memory of the World Programme) with focus on German literary history and the Thuringia Main State Archive with governmental documents from last 500 years. The Duchess Anna Amalia Library hosts books and documents of German literary and cultural history.

Mayor and city council
The most recent mayoral election was held on 15 April 2018, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 24,973 ! 99.1 ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 232 ! 0.9 ! colspan=3| Total ! 25,205 ! 100.0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 51,778 ! 48.7
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Peter Kleine
 * align=left| Independent (CDU/Weimarwerk)
 * 15,069
 * 60.3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Stefan Wolf
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party
 * 5,359
 * 21.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Jan Kreyßig
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
 * 3,800
 * 15.2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Hagen Hultzsch
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party
 * 745
 * 3.0
 * align=left| Hagen Hultzsch
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party
 * 745
 * 3.0
 * colspan=5| Source: Wahlen in Thüringen
 * }
 * }

The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 30,686 ! 96.4 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 1,155 ! 3.6 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Total ! 31,841 ! 100.0 ! ! 42 ! ±0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 51,736 ! 61.5 ! 11.9 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
 * align=left| Ann-Sophie Bohm-Eisenbrandt
 * 16,830
 * 18.5
 * 3.0
 * 8
 * 1
 * align=left| Weimarwerk Citizens' Alliance
 * align=left| Wolfgang Hölzer
 * 16,325
 * 17.9
 * 3.5
 * 7
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
 * align=left| Peter Krause
 * 15,972
 * 17.5
 * 6.1
 * 7
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
 * align=left| Jana Körber
 * 14,812
 * 16.2
 * 3.2
 * 7
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
 * align=left| Thomas Hartung
 * 12,050
 * 13.2
 * 4.9
 * 6
 * 2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
 * align=left| Heike Gnatowski
 * 10,074
 * 11.0
 * New
 * 5
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
 * align=left| Hagen Hultzsch
 * 3,322
 * 3.6
 * 0.4
 * 1
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)
 * align=left| Oliver Kröning
 * 1,797
 * 2.0
 * 0.9
 * 1
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)
 * align=left| Oliver Kröning
 * 1,797
 * 2.0
 * 0.9
 * 1
 * ±0
 * ±0
 * colspan=8| Source: Wahlen in Thüringen
 * }
 * }

Lord Mayor
List of mayors and lord mayors (since 1793)

The years behind the names indicate the years of office, whereby the year of office did not correspond to the calendar year.

Since 1838, the city has had a lord mayor.

 * 1793–1797: Johann Heinrich Siegmund Rentsch
 * 1798–1811:
 * 1811–1813: Daniel Wilhelm Brunnquell
 * 1813:
 * 1814–1820: Bernhard Friedrich Rudolph Kuhn
 * 1820–1838:
 * 1838–1850: Carl Georg Hase
 * 1851–1866:
 * 1867–1873: Otto Schäffer
 * 1873–1875: (conservative)
 * 1875–1910: Karl Pabst (liberal)
 * 1910–1920: (non-party)
 * 1920–1937: (non-party)
 * 1937–1945: (NSDAP)
 * 15–30 April 1945: (non-party)
 * 1 April–5 November 1945: (SPD)
 * 1945–1946: (SPD/SED)
 * 1946–1948: Gerhard Hempel (LDP)
 * 1948–1953: (CDU)
 * 1953–1959: (CDU)
 * 1960–1969: Luitpold Steidle (CDU)
 * 1969–1970: (CDU)
 * 1970–1982: (CDU)
 * 1982–1989: Gerhard Baumgärtel (CDU)
 * 1989–1990: (acting) (SED)
 * 6–2 June. July 1990: Wolfgang Hentzschel (CDU)
 * 27 July 1990 – 1994: Klaus Büttner (CDU)
 * 1994–2006: Volkhardt Germer (non-party)
 * 2006–2018: (SPD)
 * since 1 July 2018: Peter Kleine (independent, for CDU and Weimarwerk Civic Alliance)

Twin towns – sister cities
Weimar is twinned with:

 * 🇫🇷 Blois, France
 * 🇫🇮 Hämeenlinna, Finland
 * 🇮🇹 Siena, Italy
 * 🇩🇪 Trier, Germany
 * 🇵🇱 Zamość, Poland

Friendly cities
Weimar also has friendly relations with:
 * 🇩🇪 Fulda, Germany
 * 🇯🇵 Kamakura, Japan
 * 🇮🇷 Shiraz, Iran

title: Weimar


text:
4 Vesta

Vesta (minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of 525 km. It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology.

Vesta is thought to be the second-largest asteroid, both by mass and by volume, after the dwarf planet Ceres. Measurements give it a nominal volume only slightly larger than that of Pallas (about 5% greater), but it is 25% to 30% more massive. It constitutes an estimated 9% of the mass of the asteroid belt. Vesta is the only known remaining rocky protoplanet (with a differentiated interior) of the kind that formed the terrestrial planets. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters occupying much of Vesta's southern hemisphere. Debris from these events has fallen to Earth as howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, which have been a rich source of information about Vesta.

Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. It is regularly as bright as magnitude 5.1, at which times it is faintly visible to the naked eye. Its maximum distance from the Sun is slightly greater than the minimum distance of Ceres from the Sun, although its orbit lies entirely within that of Ceres.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 for a one-year exploration and left the orbit of Vesta on 5 September 2012 en route to its final destination, Ceres. Researchers continue to examine data collected by Dawn for additional insights into the formation and history of Vesta.

Discovery
Heinrich Olbers discovered Pallas in 1802, the year after the discovery of Ceres. He proposed that the two objects were the remnants of a destroyed planet. He sent a letter with his proposal to the British astronomer William Herschel, suggesting that a search near the locations where the orbits of Ceres and Pallas intersected might reveal more fragments. These orbital intersections were located in the constellations of Cetus and Virgo. Olbers commenced his search in 1802, and on 29 March 1807 he discovered Vesta in the constellation Virgo—a coincidence, because Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta are not fragments of a larger body. Because the asteroid Juno had been discovered in 1804, this made Vesta the fourth object to be identified in the region that is now known as the asteroid belt. The discovery was announced in a letter addressed to German astronomer Johann H. Schröter dated 31 March. Because Olbers already had credit for discovering a planet (Pallas; at the time, the asteroids were considered to be planets), he gave the honor of naming his new discovery to German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, whose orbital calculations had enabled astronomers to confirm the existence of Ceres, the first asteroid, and who had computed the orbit of the new planet in the remarkably short time of 10 hours. Gauss decided on the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.

Name and symbol
Vesta was the fourth asteroid to be discovered, hence the number 4 in its formal designation. The name Vesta, or national variants thereof, is in international use with two exceptions: Greece and China. In Greek, the name adopted was the Hellenic equivalent of Vesta, Hestia (4 Εστία); in English, that name is used for 46 Hestia (Greeks use the name "Hestia" for both, with the minor-planet numbers used for disambiguation). In Chinese, Vesta is called the 'hearth-god(dess) star', 灶神星 zàoshénxīng, naming the asteroid for Vesta's role, similar to the Chinese names of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Upon its discovery, Vesta was, like Ceres, Pallas, and Juno before it, classified as a planet and given a planetary symbol. The symbol represented the altar of Vesta with its sacred fire and was designed by Gauss. In Gauss's conception, now obsolete, this was drawn Vesta symbol (original, fixed width).svg: his form is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1F777 🝷. The asteroid symbols were gradually retired from astronomical use after 1852, but the symbols for the first four asteroids were resurrected for astrology in the 1970s. The abbreviated modern astrological variant of the Vesta symbol is Vesta symbol (fixed width).svg (U+26B6 ⚶).

After the discovery of Vesta, no further objects were discovered for 38 years, and during this time the Solar System was thought to have eleven planets. However, in 1845, new asteroids started being discovered at a rapid pace, and by 1851 there were fifteen, each with its own symbol, in addition to the eight major planets (Neptune had been discovered in 1846). It soon became clear that it would be impractical to continue inventing new planetary symbols indefinitely, and some of the existing ones proved difficult to draw quickly. That year, the problem was addressed by Benjamin Apthorp Gould, who suggested numbering asteroids in their order of discovery, and placing this number in a disk (circle) as the generic symbol of an asteroid. Thus, the fourth asteroid, Vesta, acquired the generic symbol ④. This was soon coupled with the name into an official number–name designation, ④ Vesta, as the number of minor planets increased. By 1858, the circle had been simplified to parentheses, (4) Vesta, which were easier to typeset. Other punctuation, such as 4) Vesta and 4, Vesta, was also used, but had more or less completely died out by 1949.

Early measurements
Photometric observations of Vesta were made at the Harvard College Observatory in 1880–1882 and at the Observatoire de Toulouse in 1909. These and other observations allowed the rotation rate of Vesta to be determined by the 1950s. However, the early estimates of the rotation rate came into question because the light curve included variations in both shape and albedo.

Early estimates of the diameter of Vesta ranged from 383 km in 1825, to 444 km. E.C. Pickering produced an estimated diameter of 513 ± in 1879, which is close to the modern value for the mean diameter, but the subsequent estimates ranged from a low of 390 km up to a high of 602 km during the next century. The measured estimates were based on photometry. In 1989, speckle interferometry was used to measure a dimension that varied between 498 and 548 km during the rotational period. In 1991, an occultation of the star SAO 93228 by Vesta was observed from multiple locations in the eastern United States and Canada. Based on observations from 14 different sites, the best fit to the data was an elliptical profile with dimensions of about 550 ×. Dawn confirmed this measurement. These measurements will help determine the thermal history, size of the core, role of water in asteroid evolution and what meteorites found on Earth come from these bodies, with the ultimate goal of understanding the conditions and processes present at the solar system's earliest epoch and the role of water content and size in planetary evolution.

Vesta became the first asteroid to have its mass determined. Every 18 years, the asteroid 197 Arete approaches within $1,325.86 d$ of Vesta. In 1966, based upon observations of Vesta's gravitational perturbations of Arete, Hans G. Hertz estimated the mass of Vesta at $572.6 km$ (solar masses). More refined estimates followed, and in 2001 the perturbations of 17 Thetis were used to calculate the mass of Vesta to be $525.4 km$. Dawn determined it to be $8.66 km2$.

Orbit
Vesta orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, within the asteroid belt, with a period of 3.6 Earth years, specifically in the inner asteroid belt, interior to the Kirkwood gap at 2.50 AU. Its orbit is moderately inclined (i = 7.1°, compared to 7° for Mercury and 17° for Pluto) and moderately eccentric (e = 0.09, about the same as for Mars).

True orbital resonances between asteroids are considered unlikely; due to their small masses relative to their large separations, such relationships should be very rare. Nevertheless, Vesta is able to capture other asteroids into temporary 1:1 resonant orbital relationships (for periods up to 2 million years or more); about forty such objects have been identified. Decameter-sized objects detected in the vicinity of Vesta by Dawn may be such quasi-satellites rather than proper satellites.

Rotation
Vesta's rotation is relatively fast for an asteroid (5.342 h) and prograde, with the north pole pointing in the direction of right ascension 20 h 32 min, declination +48° (in the constellation Cygnus) with an uncertainty of about 10°. This gives an axial tilt of 29°.

Coordinate systems
Two longitudinal coordinate systems are used for Vesta, with prime meridians separated by 150°. The IAU established a coordinate system in 1997 based on Hubble photos, with the prime meridian running through the center of Olbers Regio, a dark feature 200 km across. When Dawn arrived at Vesta, mission scientists found that the location of the pole assumed by the IAU was off by 10°, so that the IAU coordinate system drifted across the surface of Vesta at 0.06° per year, and also that Olbers Regio was not discernible from up close, and so was not adequate to define the prime meridian with the precision they needed. They corrected the pole, but also established a new prime meridian 4° from the center of Claudia, a sharply defined crater 700 meters across, which they say results in a more logical set of mapping quadrangles. All NASA publications, including images and maps of Vesta, use the Claudian meridian, which is unacceptable to the IAU. The IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements recommended a coordinate system, correcting the pole but rotating the Claudian longitude by 150° to coincide with Olbers Regio. It was accepted by the IAU, although it disrupts the maps prepared by the Dawn team, which had been positioned so they would not bisect any major surface features.

Physical characteristics
Vesta is the second most massive body in the asteroid belt, although it is only 28% as massive as Ceres, the most massive body. Vesta is however the most massive body that formed in the asteroid belt, as Ceres is believed to have formed between Jupiter and Saturn. Vesta's density is lower than those of the four terrestrial planets but is higher than those of most asteroids, as well as all of the moons in the Solar System except Io. Vesta's surface area is about the same as the land area of Pakistan, Venezuela, Tanzania, or Nigeria; slightly under 900000 km2. It has a differentiated interior. Vesta is only slightly larger ($7.497 km3$ ) than 2 Pallas ($2.59 kg$) in mean diameter, but is about 25% more massive.

Vesta's shape is close to a gravitationally relaxed oblate spheroid, but the large concavity and protrusion at the southern pole (see 'Surface features' below) combined with a mass less than $3.456 g/cm3$ precluded Vesta from automatically being considered a dwarf planet under International Astronomical Union (IAU) Resolution XXVI 5. A 2012 analysis of Vesta's shape and gravity field using data gathered by the Dawn spacecraft has shown that Vesta is currently not in hydrostatic equilibrium.

Temperatures on the surface have been estimated to lie between about −20 C with the Sun overhead, dropping to about −190 C at the winter pole. Typical daytime and nighttime temperatures are −60 C and −130 C, respectively. This estimate is for 6 May 1996, very close to perihelion, although details vary somewhat with the seasons.

Surface features
Before the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft, some Vestan surface features had already been resolved using the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes (e.g., the Keck Observatory). The arrival of Dawn in July 2011 revealed the complex surface of Vesta in detail.

Rheasilvia and Veneneia
The most prominent of these surface features are two enormous impact basins, the 500 km-wide Rheasilvia, centered near the south pole; and the 400 km wide Veneneia. The Rheasilvia impact basin is younger and overlies the Veneneia. The Dawn science team named the younger, more prominent crater Rheasilvia, after the mother of Romulus and Remus and a mythical vestal virgin. Its width is 95% of the mean diameter of Vesta. The crater is about 19 km deep. A central peak rises 23 km above the lowest measured part of the crater floor and the highest measured part of the crater rim is 31 km above the crater floor low point. It is estimated that the impact responsible excavated about 1% of the volume of Vesta, and it is likely that the Vesta family and V-type asteroids are the products of this collision. If this is the case, then the fact that 10 km fragments have survived bombardment until the present indicates that the crater is at most only about 1 billion years old. It would also be the site of origin of the HED meteorites. All the known V-type asteroids taken together account for only about 6% of the ejected volume, with the rest presumably either in small fragments, ejected by approaching the 3:1 Kirkwood gap, or perturbed away by the Yarkovsky effect or radiation pressure. Spectroscopic analyses of the Hubble images have shown that this crater has penetrated deep through several distinct layers of the crust, and possibly into the mantle, as indicated by spectral signatures of olivine.

The large peak at the center of Rheasilvia is 20 to(-) high and 180 km wide, and is possibly a result of a planetary-scale impact.

Other craters
Several old, degraded craters rival Rheasilvia and Veneneia in size, although none are quite so large. They include Feralia Planitia, shown at right, which is 270 km across. More-recent, sharper craters range up to 158 km Varronilla and 196 km Postumia.

Dust fills up some craters, creating so-called dust ponds. They are a phenomenon where pockets of Dust are seen in Celestial bodies without a significant atmosphere. These are smooth deposits of dust accumulated in depressions on the surface of the body (like craters), contrasting from the Rocky terrain around them. On the surface of Vesta, we have identified both type 1 (formed from impact melt) and type 2 (electrostatically made) dust ponds within 0˚–30°N/S, that is, Equatorial region. 10 craters have been identified with such formations.

"Snowman craters"
The "snowman craters" are a group of three adjacent craters in Vesta's northern hemisphere. Their official names, from largest to smallest (west to east), are Marcia, Calpurnia, and Minucia. Marcia is the youngest and cross-cuts Calpurnia. Minucia is the oldest.

Troughs
The majority of the equatorial region of Vesta is sculpted by a series of parallel troughs designated Divalia Fossae; its longest trough is 10 – wide and 465 km long. Despite the fact that Vesta is a one-seventh the size of the Moon, Divalia Fossae dwarfs the Grand Canyon. A second series, inclined to the equator, is found further north. This northern trough system is named Saturnalia Fossae, with its largest trough being roughly 40 km wide and over 370 km long. These troughs are thought to be large-scale graben resulting from the impacts that created Rheasilvia and Veneneia craters, respectively. They are some of the longest chasms in the Solar System, nearly as long as Ithaca Chasma on Tethys. The troughs may be graben that formed after another asteroid collided with Vesta, a process that can happen only in a body that, like Vesta, is differentiated. Vesta's differentiation is one of the reasons why scientists consider it a protoplanet. Alternatively, it is proposed that the troughs may be radial sculptures created by secondary cratering from Rheasilvia.

Surface composition
Compositional information from the visible and infrared spectrometer (VIR), gamma-ray and neutron detector (GRaND), and framing camera (FC), all indicate that the majority of the surface composition of Vesta is consistent with the composition of the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite meteorites. The Rheasilvia region is richest in diogenite, consistent with the Rheasilvia-forming impact excavating material from deeper within Vesta. The presence of olivine within the Rheasilvia region would also be consistent with excavation of mantle material. However, olivine has only been detected in localized regions of the northern hemisphere, not within Rheasilvia. The origin of this olivine is currently unclear. Though olivine was expected by astronomers to have originated from Vesta's mantle prior to the arrival of the Dawn orbiter, the lack of olivine within the Rheasilvia and Veneneia impact basins complicates this view. Both impact basins excavated Vestian material down to 60–100 km, far deeper than the expected thickness of ~30–40 km for Vesta's crust. Vesta's crust may be far thicker than expected or the violent impact events that created Rheasilvia and Veneneia may have mixed material enough to obscure olivine from observations. Alternatively, Dawn observations of olivine could instead be due to delivery by olivine-rich impactors, unrelated to Vesta's internal structure.

Features associated with volatiles
Pitted terrain has been observed in four craters on Vesta: Marcia, Cornelia, Numisia and Licinia. The formation of the pitted terrain is proposed to be degassing of impact-heated volatile-bearing material. Along with the pitted terrain, curvilinear gullies are found in Marcia and Cornelia craters. The curvilinear gullies end in lobate deposits, which are sometimes covered by pitted terrain, and are proposed to form by the transient flow of liquid water after buried deposits of ice were melted by the heat of the impacts. Hydrated materials have also been detected, many of which are associated with areas of dark material. Consequently, dark material is thought to be largely composed of carbonaceous chondrite, which was deposited on the surface by impacts. Carbonaceous chondrites are comparatively rich in mineralogically bound OH.

Geology
A large collection of potential samples from Vesta is accessible to scientists, in the form of over 1200 HED meteorites (Vestan achondrites), giving insight into Vesta's geologic history and structure. NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (NASA IRTF) studies of asteroid suggest that it originated from deeper within Vesta than the HED meteorites.

Vesta is thought to consist of a metallic iron–nickel core 214–226 km in diameter, an overlying rocky olivine mantle, with a surface crust. From the first appearance of calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (the first solid matter in the Solar System, forming about 4.567 billion years ago), a likely time line is as follows:

Vesta is the only known intact asteroid that has been resurfaced in this manner. Because of this, some scientists refer to Vesta as a protoplanet. However, the presence of iron meteorites and achondritic meteorite classes without identified parent bodies indicates that there once were other differentiated planetesimals with igneous histories, which have since been shattered by impacts.

On the basis of the sizes of V-type asteroids (thought to be pieces of Vesta's crust ejected during large impacts), and the depth of Rheasilvia crater (see below), the crust is thought to be roughly 10 km thick. Findings from the Dawn spacecraft have found evidence that the troughs that wrap around Vesta could be graben formed by impact-induced faulting (see Troughs section above), meaning that Vesta has more complex geology than other asteroids. Vesta's differentiated interior implies that it was in hydrostatic equilibrium and thus a dwarf planet in the past, but it is not today. The impacts that created the Rheasilvia and Veneneia craters occurred when Vesta was no longer warm and plastic enough to return to an equilibrium shape, distorting its once rounded shape and prohibiting it from being classified as a dwarf planet today.

Regolith
Vesta's surface is covered by regolith distinct from that found on the Moon or asteroids such as Itokawa. This is because space weathering acts differently. Vesta's surface shows no significant trace of nanophase iron because the impact speeds on Vesta are too low to make rock melting and vaporization an appreciable process. Instead, regolith evolution is dominated by brecciation and subsequent mixing of bright and dark components. The dark component is probably due to the infall of carbonaceous material, whereas the bright component is the original Vesta basaltic soil.

Fragments
Some small Solar System bodies are suspected to be fragments of Vesta caused by impacts. The Vestian asteroids and HED meteorites are examples. The V-type asteroid 1929 Kollaa has been determined to have a composition akin to cumulate eucrite meteorites, indicating its origin deep within Vesta's crust.

Vesta is currently one of only eight identified Solar System bodies of which we have physical samples, coming from a number of meteorites suspected to be Vestan fragments. It is estimated that 1 out of 16 meteorites originated from Vesta. The other identified Solar System samples are from Earth itself, meteorites from Mars, meteorites from the Moon, and samples returned from the Moon, the comet Wild 2, and the asteroids 25143 Itokawa, 162173 Ryugu, and 101955 Bennu.

Exploration
In 1981, a proposal for an asteroid mission was submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA). Named the Asteroidal Gravity Optical and Radar Analysis (AGORA), this spacecraft was to launch some time in 1990–1994 and perform two flybys of large asteroids. The preferred target for this mission was Vesta. AGORA would reach the asteroid belt either by a gravitational slingshot trajectory past Mars or by means of a small ion engine. However, the proposal was refused by the ESA. A joint NASA–ESA asteroid mission was then drawn up for a Multiple Asteroid Orbiter with Solar Electric Propulsion (MAOSEP), with one of the mission profiles including an orbit of Vesta. NASA indicated they were not interested in an asteroid mission. Instead, the ESA set up a technological study of a spacecraft with an ion drive. Other missions to the asteroid belt were proposed in the 1980s by France, Germany, Italy and the United States, but none were approved. Exploration of Vesta by fly-by and impacting penetrator was the second main target of the first plan of the multi-aimed Soviet Vesta mission, developed in cooperation with European countries for realisation in 1991–1994 but canceled due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, NASA initiated the Discovery Program, which was intended to be a series of low-cost scientific missions. In 1996, the program's study team recommended a mission to explore the asteroid belt using a spacecraft with an ion engine as a high priority. Funding for this program remained problematic for several years, but by 2004 the Dawn vehicle had passed its critical design review and construction proceeded.

It launched on 27 September 2007 as the first space mission to Vesta. On 3 May 2011, Dawn acquired its first targeting image 1.2 million kilometers from Vesta. On 16 July 2011, NASA confirmed that it received telemetry from Dawn indicating that the spacecraft successfully entered Vesta's orbit. It was scheduled to orbit Vesta for one year, until July 2012. Dawn arrival coincided with late summer in the southern hemisphere of Vesta, with the large crater at Vesta's south pole (Rheasilvia) in sunlight. Because a season on Vesta lasts eleven months, the northern hemisphere, including anticipated compression fractures opposite the crater, would become visible to Dawn cameras before it left orbit. Dawn left orbit around Vesta on 4 September 2012 to travel to Ceres.

NASA/DLR released imagery and summary information from a survey orbit, two high-altitude orbits (60–70 m/pixel) and a low-altitude mapping orbit (20 m/pixel), including digital terrain models, videos and atlases. Scientists also used Dawn to calculate Vesta's precise mass and gravity field. The subsequent determination of the J2 component yielded a core diameter estimate of about 220 km assuming a crustal density similar to that of the HED.

Dawn data can be accessed by the public at the UCLA website.

Observations from Dawn
Vesta comes into view as the Dawn spacecraft approaches and enters orbit:

True-color images
Detailed images retrieved during the high-altitude (60–70 m/pixel) and low-altitude (~20 m/pixel) mapping orbits are available on the Dawn Mission website of JPL/NASA.

Visibility
Its size and unusually bright surface make Vesta the brightest asteroid, and it is occasionally visible to the naked eye from dark skies (without light pollution). In May and June 2007, Vesta reached a peak magnitude of +5.4, the brightest since 1989. At that time, opposition and perihelion were only a few weeks apart. It was brighter still at its 22 June 2018 opposition, reaching a magnitude of +5.3. Less favorable oppositions during late autumn 2008 in the Northern Hemisphere still had Vesta at a magnitude of from +6.5 to +7.3. Even when in conjunction with the Sun, Vesta will have a magnitude around +8.5; thus from a pollution-free sky it can be observed with binoculars even at elongations much smaller than near opposition.

2010–2011
In 2010, Vesta reached opposition in the constellation of Leo on the night of 17–18 February, at about magnitude 6.1, a brightness that makes it visible in binocular range but generally not for the naked eye. Under perfect dark sky conditions where all light pollution is absent it might be visible to an experienced observer without the use of a telescope or binoculars. Vesta came to opposition again on 5 August 2011, in the constellation of Capricornus at about magnitude 5.6.

2012–2013
Vesta was at opposition again on 9 December 2012. According to Sky and Telescope magazine, this year Vesta came within about 6 degrees of 1 Ceres during the winter of 2012 and spring 2013. Vesta orbits the Sun in 3.63 years and Ceres in 4.6 years, so every 17.4 years Vesta overtakes Ceres (the previous overtaking was in April 1996). On 1 December 2012, Vesta had a magnitude of 6.6, but it had decreased to 8.4 by 1 May 2013.

2014
Ceres and Vesta came within one degree of each other in the night sky in July 2014.

title: 4 Vesta


text:
Karl Koch

Karl Koch may refer to:
 * Carl Koch (director) (1892–1963), also spelled Karl Koch, German film director, writer
 * Karl Koch (botanist) (1809–1879), German botanist
 * Karl Koch (cyclist) (1910–1944), German cyclist
 * Karl Koch (Fallschirmjäger) (1918–1944), member of the Fallschirmjäger during World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
 * Karl Koch (hacker) (1965–1989), German computer hacker from the 1980s
 * Karl Koch (Weezer assistant) (born 1969), roadie and historian of the band Weezer
 * Karl-Otto Koch (1897–1945), commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald
 * Karl-Rudolf Koch (born 1935), German geodesist
 * Karl Christian Koch (born 1952), Danish swimmer

title: Karl Koch