MARBURG

in full Marburg An Der Lahn, city, Hesse Land (state), central Germany, on the Lahn River. The name Marburg (meaning frontier fortress), was first used in 1130, when the site belonged to the landgraves of Thuringia. Chartered, according to tradition, in 1211, it became the seat of the first landgraves of Hesse in 1248. The city's early history is associated with St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who, arriving from the Wartburg in 1228, spent the remaining three years of her life there in charitable works. Until the Reformation her bones were preserved in the shrine in her honour, a masterpiece of the Rhenish goldsmiths' craft, in the church of St. Elizabeth (123583), which also contained the remains of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg during World War II. The city is dominated by the Gothic castle of the Hessian landgraves; its Rittersaal (Knights' Hall) and chapel were begun in 1277, and the building was completed in 1493. The Rittersaal was the scene of the Marburg disputations between Luther and Zwingli and other Protestant Reformers in 1529. The Philipps-Universitt, founded (1527) in the city, was Europe's first Protestant university. In 1567 Marburg became the centre of independent Hesse-Marburg, which in 1604 was divided between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel. German and other dramatic classics are produced annually at the Grauerholz Festival in the open-air theatre in the castle grounds. Marburg's economy depends on tourist traffic and several industries in applied arts, particularly art potteries. Chemicals and precision instruments are manufactured, and the city is a popular conference and exhibition centre. Pop. (1989 est.) 70,905.