Erfurt

History

Prehistory and antiquity

To the west of Erfurt in Frienstedt, a large Germanic village, which was found during the construction of a highway, where the oldest Germanic word ever discovered in Central Germany was found written in runic script on a comb from a sacrificial shaft. From the Roman era, 200 coins dating back to the third century were found, plus 150 Roman ceramic fragments and more than 200 fibulae. 11 inhumation graves of the Haßleben-Leuna group were also discovered.

The Melchendorf dig in the southern city part showed a settlement from the Neolithic period. The Thuringi inhabited the Erfurt area in c. 480 and gave their name to Thuringia in c. 500.

Middle Ages

The town is first mentioned in 742 under the name of "Erphesfurt": in that year, Saint Boniface wrote to Pope Zachary to inform him that he had established three dioceses in central Germany, one of them "in a place called Erphesfurt, which for a long time has been inhabited by pagan natives." All three dioceses (the other two were Würzburg and Büraburg) were confirmed by Zachary the next year, though in 755 Erfurt was brought into the diocese of Mainz. That the place was populous already is borne out by archeological evidence, which includes 23 graves and six horse burials from the sixth and seventh centuries.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Erfurt was an important trading town because of its location, near a ford across the Gera river. Together with the other five Thuringian woad towns of Gotha, Tennstedt, Arnstadt and Langensalza it was the centre of the German woad trade, which made those cities very wealthy. Erfurt was the junction of important trade routes: the Via Regia was one of the most used east–west roads between France and Russia (via Frankfurt, Erfurt, Leipzig and Wrocław) and another route in the north–south direction was the connection between the Baltic Sea ports (e. g. Lübeck) and the potent upper Italian city-states like Venice and Milan.

During the tenth and eleventh centuries both the Emperor and the Electorate of Mainz held some privileges in Erfurt. The German kings had an important monastery on Petersberg hill and the Archbishops of Mainz collected taxes from the people. Around 1100, some people became free citizens by paying the annual "Freizins" (liberation tax), which marks a first step in becoming an independent city. During the 12th century, as a sign of more and more independence, the citizens built a city wall around Erfurt (in the area of today's Juri-Gagarin-Ring). After 1200, independence was fulfilled and a city council was founded in 1217; the town hall was built in 1275. In the following decades, the council bought a city-owned territory around Erfurt which consisted at its height of nearly 100 villages and castles and even another small town (Sömmerda). Erfurt became an important regional power between the Landgraviate of Thuringia around, the Electorate of Mainz to the west and the Electorate of Saxony to the east. Between 1306 and 1481, Erfurt was allied with the two other major Thuringian cities (Mühlhausen and Nordhausen) in the Thuringian City Alliance and the three cities joined the Hanseatic League together in 1430. A peak in economic development was reached in the 15th century, when the city had a population of 20,000 making it one of the largest in Germany. Between 1432 and 1446, a second and higher city wall was established. In 1483, a first city fortress was built on Cyriaksburg hill in the southwestern part of the town.

Early modern period

In 1501 Martin Luther (1483–1546) moved to Erfurt and began his studies at the university. After 1505, he lived at St. Augustine's Monastery as a friar. In 1507 he was ordained as a priest in Erfurt Cathedral. He moved permanently to Wittenberg in 1511. Erfurt was an early adopter of the Protestant Reformation, in 1521.

In 1530, the city became one of the first in Europe to be officially bi-confessional with the Hammelburg Treaty. It kept that status through all the following centuries. The later 16th and the 17th century brought a slow economic decline of Erfurt. Trade shrank, the population was falling and the university lost its influence. The city's independence was endangered. In 1664, the city and surrounding area were brought under the dominion of the Electorate of Mainz and the city lost its independence. The Electorate built a huge fortress on Petersberg hill between 1665 and 1726 to control the city and instituted a governor to rule Erfurt.

In 1682 and 1683 Erfurt experienced the worst plague years in its history. In 1683 more than half of the population died because of the deadly disease.

In Erfurt, witch-hunts are known to have taken place from 1526 to 1700. There are 18 records of trials for witchcraft in this period.

During the late 18th century, Erfurt saw another cultural peak. Governor Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg had close relations with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Johann Gottfried Herder, Christoph Martin Wieland and Wilhelm von Humboldt, who often visited him at his court in Erfurt.

Erfurt during the Napoleonic Wars

Erfurt became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802, to compensate for territories Prussia lost to France on the Left Bank of the Rhine. In the Capitulation of Erfurt, the city, its 12,000 Prussian and Saxon defenders under William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, 65 artillery pieces, and the Petersberg Citadel and Cyriaksburg Citadel Cyriaksburg, were handed over to the French on 16 October 1806. At the time of the capitulation, Joachim Murat, Marshal of France, had about 16,000 troops near Erfurt. With the attachment of the Saxe-Weimar territory of Blankenhain, the city became part of the First French Empire in 1806 as the Principality of Erfurt, directly subordinate to Napoleon as an "imperial state domain" (French: domaine réservé à l'empereur), separate from the Confederation of the Rhine, which the surrounding Thuringian states had joined. Erfurt was administered by a civilian and military Senate (Finanz- und Domänenkammer Erfurt) under a French governor, based in the Kurmainzische Statthalterei, previously the seat of the city's governor under the Electorate. Napoleon first visited the principality on 23 July 1807, inspecting the citadels and fortifications. In 1808, the Congress of Erfurt was held with Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia visiting the city.

During their administration, the French introduced street lighting and a tax on foreign horses to pay for maintaining the road surface. The Peterskirche suffered under the French occupation, with its inventory being auctioned off to other local churches – including the organ, bells and even the tower of the Corpus Christi chapel (Fronleichnamskapelle) – and the former monastery's library being donated to the University of Erfurt (and then to the Boineburg Library when the university closed in 1816). Similarly the Cyriaksburg Citadel was damaged by the French, with the city-side walls being partially dismantled in the hunt for imagined treasures from the convent, workers being paid from the sale of the building materials.

In 1811, to commemorate the birth of the Prince Imperial, a 70-foot (21-metre) ceremonial column (Die Napoleonsäule) of wood and plaster was erected on the common. Similarly, the Napoleonshöhe – a Greek-style temple topped by a winged victory with shield, sword and lance and containing a bust of Napoleon sculpted by Friedrich Döll – was erected in the Stiegerwald woods, including a grotto with fountain and flower beds, using a large pond (lavoratorium) from the Peterskirche, inaugurated with ceremony on 14 August 1811 after extravagant celebrations for Napoleon's birthday, which were repeated in 1812 with a concert in the Predigerkirche conducted by Louis Spohr.

Since 1815

After the 1848 Revolution, many Germans desired to have a united national state. An attempt in this direction was the failed Erfurt Union of German states in 1850.

The Industrial Revolution reached Erfurt in the 1840s, when the Thuringian Railway connecting Berlin and Frankfurt was built. During the following years, many factories in different sectors were founded. One of the biggest was the "Royal Gun Factory of Prussia" in 1862. After the Unification of Germany in 1871, Erfurt moved from the southern border of Prussia to the centre of Germany, so the fortifications of the city were no longer needed. The demolition of the city fortifications in 1873 led to a construction boom in Erfurt, because it was now possible to build in the area formerly occupied by the city walls and beyond. Many public and private buildings emerged and the infrastructure (such as a tramway, hospitals, and schools) improved rapidly. The number of inhabitants grew from 40,000 around 1870 to 130,000 in 1914, and the city expanded in all directions.

The "Erfurt Program" was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during its congress at Erfurt in 1891.

Between the wars, the city kept growing. Housing shortages were fought with building programmes and social infrastructure was broadened according to the welfare policy in the Weimar Republic. The Great Depression between 1929 and 1932 led to a disaster for Erfurt, nearly one out of three became unemployed. Conflicts between far-left and far-right-oriented milieus increased and many inhabitants supported the new Nazi government and Adolf Hitler. Others, especially some communist workers, put up resistance against the new administration. In 1938, the new synagogue was destroyed during the Kristallnacht. Jews lost their property and emigrated or were deported to Nazi concentration camps (together with many communists). In 1914, the company Topf and Sons began the manufacture of crematoria later becoming the market leader in this industry. Under the Nazis, JA Topf & Sons supplied specially developed crematoria, ovens and associated plants to the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps. On 27 January 2011 a memorial and museum dedicated to the Holocaust victims was opened at the former company premises in Erfurt.

During World War II, Erfurt experienced more than 27 British and American air raids, about 1600 civilians died. Bombed as a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, Erfurt suffered only limited damage and was captured on 12 April 1945, by the U.S. 80th Infantry Division. On 3 July, American troops left the city, which then became part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and eventually of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). In 1948, Erfurt became the capital of Thuringia, replacing Weimar. In 1952, the Länder in the GDR were dissolved in favour of centralization under the new socialist government. Erfurt then became the capital of a new "Bezirk" (district). In 1953, the Hochschule of education was founded, followed by the Hochschule of medicine in 1954, the first academic institutions in Erfurt since the closing of the university in 1816.

Geography

Topography

Erfurt is situated in the south of the Thuringian basin, a fertile agricultural area between the Harz mountains 80 km (50 mi) to the north and the Thuringian Forest 30 km (19 mi) to the southwest. Whereas the northern parts of the city area are flat, the southern ones consist of hilly landscape up to 430 m of elevation. In this part lies the municipal forest of Steigerwald with beeches and oaks as main tree species. To the east and to the west are some non-forested hills so that the Gera river valley within the town forms a basin. North of the city are some gravel pits in operation, while others are abandoned, flooded and used as leisure areas.

Climate

Erfurt has an oceanic climate (Cfb) bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 23 °C (73 °F) and lows of 12 °C (54 °F). Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of 2 °C (36 °F) and lows of −3 °C (27 °F). The city's topography creates a microclimate caused by the location inside a basin with sometimes inversion in winter (quite cold nights under −20 °C (−4 °F)) and inadequate air circulation in summer. Annual precipitation is only 535 mm (21.1 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long.

The Erfurt (Erfurt–Weimar Airport) weather station has recorded the following extreme values:

Its highest temperature was 37.9 °C (100.2 °F) on 27 June 2026.

Its lowest temperature was −25.0 °C (−13.0 °F) on 11 January 1982.

Its greatest annual precipitation was 766.9 mm (30.19 in) in 2002.

Its least annual precipitation was 295.6 mm (11.64 in) in 1982.

The longest annual sunshine was 2,039.4 hours in 2022.

The shortest annual sunshine was 1,341 hours in 1977.

Administrative divisions

Erfurt abuts the districts of Sömmerda (municipalities Witterda, Elxleben, Walschleben, Riethnordhausen, Nöda, Alperstedt, Großrudestedt, Udestedt, Kleinmölsen and Großmölsen) in the north, Weimarer Land (municipalities Niederzimmern, Nohra, Mönchenholzhausen and Klettbach) in the east, Ilm-Kreis (municipalities Kirchheim, Rockhausen and Amt Wachsenburg) in the south and Gotha (municipalities Nesse-Apfelstädt, Nottleben, Zimmernsupra and Bienstädt) in the west.

The city itself is divided into 53 districts. The centre is formed by the district Altstadt (old town) and the Gründerzeit districts Andreasvorstadt in the northwest, Johannesvorstadt in the northeast, Krämpfervorstadt in the east, Daberstedt in the southeast, Löbervorstadt in the southwest and Brühlervorstadt in the west. More former industrial districts are Ilversgehofen (incorporated in 1911), Hohenwinden and Sulzer Siedlung in the north. Another group of districts is marked by Plattenbau settlements, constructed during the East Germany period: Berliner Platz, Moskauer Platz, Rieth, Roter Berg and Johannesplatz in the northern as well as Melchendorf, Wiesenhügel and Herrenberg in the southern city parts.

Eventually, there are many villages with an average population of approximately 1,000 which were incorporated during the 20th century; they have mostly retained a rural character to date, however:

Erfurt-Southeast (German: Erfurt-Südost) is the collective name for a series of prefabricated housing areas that emerged in the southeast of Erfurt in the last ten years of East Germany. After Erfurt-Nord, Erfurt-Südost is the second-largest prefabricated building area in the city. The problems associated with large housing estates are not as pronounced in the southeast as in the north, but they are still present.

The districts of Melchendorf, Herrenberg and Wiesenhügel belong to Erfurt-Südost, all of which were formed from the former local area of Melchendorf. The village of Melchendorf with around 1,000 inhabitants lies between the prefabricated building areas. In addition to the old village, the district of Melchendorf also includes the prefab housing areas of Drosselberg and Buchenberg as well as several four-story apartment blocks from the 1950s and 1960s on Kranichfelder Straße. Around 24,000 people still live in the large settlement, which was once designed for almost 40,000 inhabitants.

Population

Around the year 1500, the city had 18,000 inhabitants and was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The population then more or less stagnated until the 19th century. The population of Erfurt was 21,000 in 1820, and increased to 32,000 in 1847, the year of rail connection as industrialization began. In the following decades Erfurt grew up to 130,000 at the beginning of World War I and 190,000 inhabitants in 1950. A maximum was reached in 1988 with 220,000 persons. In 1991, after the German reunification and when Erfurt became the capital of Thuringia state, it had a population of about 205,000. The bad economic situation in eastern Germany after the reunification resulted in a decline in population, which fell to 200,000 in 2002 before rising again to 206,000 in 2011. The average growth of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately 0.68% p. a., whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Erfurt. It occurred after reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. Erfurt is also the 10th-largest city in Germany by area with area of 269.17 km2 (103.93 sq mi).

The birth deficit was 200 in 2012, this is −1.0 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: −4.5; national average: −2.4). The net migration rate was +8.3 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: −0.8; national average: +4.6). The most important regions of origin of Erfurt migrants are rural areas of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Syria, Afghanistan and Hungary. Erfurt is today one of the popular cities in former East Germany due to its universities and broadcasting companies.

Like other cities within the area of former East Germany, foreigners account only for a small share of Erfurt's population: c. 3.0 % are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 5.9% are migrants (according to the 2011 European Union census).

Due to the official atheism of the former communist East German regime, most of the population is non-religious. 14.8% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 6.8% are Catholics (according to the 2011 EU census). The Jewish community consists of 500 members. Most of them migrated to Erfurt from Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s.

Culture, sights and cityscape

Residents notable in cultural history

The theologian, philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328) entered the Dominican monastery (Predigerkloster) in Erfurt when he was aged about 18 (around 1275). Eckhart was the Dominican prior at Erfurt from 1294 until 1298, and Vicar of Thuringia from 1298 to 1302. After a year in Paris, he returned to Erfurt in 1303 and administered his duties as Provincial of Saxony from there until 1311.

Martin Luther (1483–1546) studied law and philosophy at the University of Erfurt from 1501. He lived in St Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt, as a friar from 1505 to 1511.

Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) served as organist at the Predigerkirche (Preachers Church) in Erfurt from June 1678 until August 1690. Pachelbel composed approximately seventy pieces for organ while in Erfurt.

The city is the birthplace of one of Johann Sebastian Bach's cousins, Johann Bernhard Bach, as well as Johann Sebastian Bach's father Johann Ambrosius Bach. Bach's parents were married in 1668 in the Kaufmannskirche (Merchant's Church) that still exists on the main square of Anger.

Max Weber (1864–1920) was born in Erfurt. He was a sociologist, philosopher, lawyer, and political economist whose ideas have profoundly influenced modern social theory and social research.

After 1906 the composer Richard Wetz (1875–1935) lived in Erfurt and became the leading person in the city's musical life. His major works were written here, including three symphonies, a Requiem and a Christmas Oratorio.

The textile designer Margaretha Reichardt (1907–1984) was born and died in Erfurt. She studied at the Bauhaus from 1926 to 1930, and while there worked with Marcel Breuer on his innovative chair designs. Her former home and weaving workshop in Erfurt, the Margaretha Reichardt Haus, is now a museum, managed by the Angermuseum Erfurt.

Famous contemporary musicians from Erfurt are Clueso, the Boogie Pimps and Yvonne Catterfeld.

Museums

The Stadtmuseum (municipal museum) shows aspects of Erfurt's history with a focus on the Middle Ages, early modern history, Martin Luther and the university. Other parts of the Stadtmuseum are the Neue Mühle (new mill), an old water mill still in operation, and the Benaryspeicher (Benary's magazine) with an exhibition of old printing machines.

The Alte Synagoge (Old Synagogue) is one of the oldest synagogue buildings in Europe. It is now a museum of local Jewish history, showing facsimiles of medieval Hebrew manuscripts and the Erfurt Treasure, a hoard of coins and goldsmiths' work that is assumed to have belonged to Jews who hid them in 1349 at the time of the Black Death pogroms.

The Erinnerungsort Topf & Söhne (Topf and Sons Memorial) is on the site of the factory of the company which designed crematoria for Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Its exhibitions outline the collaboration of a civilian company with the fascist regime of National Socialism in the Holocaust.

Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse ("Stasi Museum"). On the site of the former Erfurt Stasi prison, where over 5000 people were held. On 4 December 1989, the building was occupied by local residents. It was the first of many such takeovers of Stasi buildings in then East Germany. Today it has exhibitions on the history of East Germany and the activities of its regime.

The Angermuseum is one of the main art museums of Erfurt, named after Anger Square, where it is located. It focuses on modern graphic arts, medieval sculpture and early modern artisanal handicraft.

The Kunsthalle Erfurt (Erfurt City Art Gallery) has exhibitions of contemporary art, of local, national and international artists.

The Margaretha Reichardt Haus is the home and workshop of the textile designer and former Bauhaus student, Margaretha Reichardt (1907–1984).

The Peterskirche (St Peter's Church) houses an exhibition of concrete art, i. e. totally abstract art (not art made out of concrete).

Theatre

Since 2003, the modern opera house is home to Theater Erfurt and its Philharmonic Orchestra. The "grand stage" section has 800 seats and the "studio stage" can hold 200 spectators. In September 2005, the opera Waiting for the Barbarians by Philip Glass premiered in the opera house. The Erfurt Theatre has been a source of controversy. In 2005, a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel stirred up the local press since the performance contained suggestions of pedophilia and incest. The opera was advertised in the programme with the addition "for adults only".

On 12 April 2008, a version of Verdi's opera Un ballo in maschera directed by Johann Kresnik opened at the Erfurt Theatre. The production stirred deep controversy by featuring nude performers in Mickey Mouse masks dancing on the ruins of the World Trade Center and a female singer with a painted on Hitler toothbrush moustache performing a straight arm Nazi salute, along with sinister portrayals of American soldiers, Uncle Sam, and Elvis Presley impersonators. The director described the production as a populist critique of modern American society, aimed at showing up the disparities between rich and poor. The controversy prompted one local politician to call for locals to boycott the performances, but this was largely ignored and the première was sold out.

Sport

Notable types of sport in Erfurt are athletics, ice skating, cycling (with the oldest velodrome in use in the world, opened in 1885), swimming, handball, volleyball, tennis and football. The city's football club FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is a member of the Regionalliga Nordost and is based in the Steigerwaldstadion. The Gunda-Niemann-Stirnemann Halle was the second indoor speed skating arena in Germany. It hosted the 2002 edition of the European Speed Skating Championships (German: Eisschnelllauf-Mehrkampfeuropameisterschaft).

Cityscape

Erfurt's cityscape features a medieval core of narrow, curved alleys in the centre surrounded by a belt of Gründerzeit architecture, created between 1873 and 1914. In 1873, the city's fortifications were demolished and it became possible to build houses in the area in front of the former city walls. In the following years, Erfurt saw a construction boom. In the northern area (districts Andreasvorstadt, Johannesvorstadt and Ilversgehofen) tenements for the factory workers were built whilst the eastern area (Krämpfervorstadt and Daberstedt) featured apartments for white-collar workers and clerks and the southwestern part (Löbervorstadt and Brühlervorstadt) with its beautiful valley landscape saw the construction of villas and mansions of rich factory owners and notables.

During the interwar period, some settlements in Bauhaus style were realized, often as housing cooperatives.

After World War II and over the whole GDR period, housing shortages remained a problem even though the government started a big apartment construction programme. Between 1970 and 1990 large Plattenbau settlements with high-rise blocks on the northern (for 50,000 inhabitants) and southeastern (for 40,000 inhabitants) periphery were constructed. After reunification the renovation of old houses in city centre and the Gründerzeit areas was a big issue. The federal government granted substantial subsidies, so that many houses could be restored.

Compared to many other German cities, little of Erfurt was destroyed in World War II. This is one reason why the centre today offers a mixture of medieval, Baroque and Neoclassical architecture as well as buildings from the last 150 years.

Public green spaces are located along Gera river and in several parks like the Stadtpark, the Nordpark and the Südpark. The largest green area is the Egapark, a horticultural exhibition park and botanic garden established in 1961.

Sights and architectural heritage

The city centre has about 25 churches and monasteries, most of them in Gothic style, some also in Romanesque style or a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic elements, and a few in later styles. The various steeples characterize the medieval centre and led to one of Erfurt's nicknames as the "Thuringian Rome".

The Allerheiligenkirche (All Saints' Church) is a 14th-century Gothic church in Marktstraße (Market Street), which hosts a columbarium.

The Dom St. Marien (St Mary's Cathedral) perches above Domplatz, the Cathedral Square. It is the episcopal see and one of the main sights of Erfurt. It combines Romanesque and Gothic elements and has the largest free-swinging medieval bell in the world, which is named Gloriosa. One of the works of art inside the cathedral is Lucas Cranach the Elder's 'The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine' painted around 1520.

The Lorenzkirche (St Lawrence's Church) is a small 14th-century Gothic parish church at Anger Square.

The Martinikirche (St Martin's Church) was built in the 15th century in Gothic style and in 1755–58 converted to Baroque style. It was both a Cistercian nunnery and a parish church of Brühl, a medieval suburban zone.

The Neuwerkskirche St. Crucis ("church of the new facility", Holy Cross Church) is a 15th-century Gothic church at Neuwerkstraße, that was later converted to Baroque style. Until the 13th century, it was used by a convent of Augustinian nuns.

The Schottenkirche St. Nikolai und St. Jakobi (Scots Monks' Church of St Nicholas and St James) is an 11th-century Romanesque monastery church with a Baroque façade, which was later used as a parish church.

The Severikirche (St Severus' Church) is the second-largest parish church after the cathedral and stands next to it on the Domberg hill. It is in Gothic style and was built around 1300.

Economy and infrastructure

During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 21% in 2005 to 9% in 2013. Nevertheless, some 14,000 households with 24,500 persons (12% of population) are dependent upon state social benefits (Hartz IV).

Agriculture, industry and services

Farming has a great tradition in Erfurt: the cultivation of woad made the city rich during the Middle Ages. Today, horticulture and the production of flower seeds is still an important business in Erfurt. There is also growing of fruits (like apples, strawberries and sweet cherries), vegetables (e.g. cauliflowers, potatoes, cabbage and sugar beets) and grain on more than 60% of the municipal territory.

Industrialization in Erfurt started around 1850. Until World War I, many factories were founded in different sectors like engine building, shoes, guns, malt and later electro-technics, so that there was no industrial monoculture in the city. After 1945, the companies were nationalized by the GDR government, which led to the decline of some of them. After reunification, nearly all factories were closed, either because they failed to successfully adopt to a free market economy or because the German government sold them to west German businessmen who closed them to avoid competition to their own enterprises. However, in the early 1990s the federal government started to subsidize the foundation of new companies. It still took a long time before the economic situation stabilized around 2006. Since this time, unemployment has decreased and overall, new jobs were created. Today, there are many small and medium-sized companies in Erfurt with electro-technics, semiconductors and photovoltaics in focus. Engine production, food production, the Braugold brewery, and Born Feinkost, a producer of Thuringian mustard, remain important industries.

Erfurt is an Oberzentrum (which means "supra-centre" according to Central place theory) in German regional planning. Such centres are always hubs of service businesses and public services like hospitals, universities, research, trade fairs, retail etc. Additionally, Erfurt is the capital of the federal state of Thuringia, so that there are many institutions of administration like all the Thuringian state ministries and some nationwide authorities. Typical for Erfurt are the logistic business with many distribution centres of big companies, the Erfurt Trade Fair and the media sector with KiKa and MDR as public broadcast stations. A growing industry is tourism, due to the various historical sights of Erfurt. There are 4,800 hotel beds and (in 2012) 450,000 overnight visitors spent a total of 700,000 nights in hotels. Nevertheless, most tourists are one-day visitors from Germany. The Christmas Market in December attracts some 2,000,000 visitors each year.

Transport

The ICE railway network puts Erfurt 11⁄2 hours from Berlin, 21⁄2 hours from Frankfurt, 2 hours from Dresden, and 45 minutes from Leipzig. In 2017, the ICE line to Munich opened, making the trip to Erfurt main station only 21⁄2 hours.

There are regional trains from Erfurt to Weimar, Jena, Gotha, Eisenach, Bad Langensalza, Magdeburg, Nordhausen, Göttingen, Mühlhausen, Würzburg, Meiningen, Ilmenau, Arnstadt, and Gera.

In freight transport there is an intermodal terminal in the district of Vieselbach (Güterverkehrszentrum, GVZ) with connections to rail and the autobahn.

The two Autobahnen crossing each other nearby at Erfurter Kreuz are the Bundesautobahn 4 (Frankfurt–Dresden) and the Bundesautobahn 71 (Schweinfurt–Sangerhausen). Together with the east tangent both motorways form a circle road around the city and lead the interregional traffic around the centre. Whereas the A 4 was built in the 1930s, the A 71 came into being after the reunification in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to both motorways there are two Bundesstraßen: the Bundesstraße 7 connects Erfurt parallel to A 4 with Gotha in the west and Weimar in the east. The Bundesstraße 4 is a connection between Erfurt and Nordhausen in the north. Its southern part to Coburg was annulled when A 71 was finished (in this section, the A 71 now effectively serves as B 4). Within the circle road, B 7 and B 4 are also annulled, so that the city government has to pay for maintenance instead of the German federal government. The access to the city is restricted as Umweltzone since 2012 for some vehicles. Large parts of the inner city are a pedestrian area which can not be reached by car (except for residents).

The Erfurt public transport system is marked by the area-wide Erfurt Stadtbahn (light rail) network, established as a tram system in 1883, upgraded to a light rail (Stadtbahn) system in 1997, and continually expanded and upgraded through the 2000s. Today, there are six Stadtbahn lines running every ten minutes on every light rail route.

Additionally, Erfurt operates a bus system, which connects the sparsely populated outer districts of the region to the city center. Both systems are organized by SWE EVAG, a transit company owned by the city administration. The public service, managed by SWE/EVAG, is guaranteed by buses and trams in service from morning until late evening, with a night service starting from midnight until 4AM.

Education

After reunification, the educational system was reorganized. The University of Erfurt, founded in 1379 and closed in 1816, was refounded in 1994 with a focus on social sciences, modern languages, humanities and teacher training. Today there are approximately 6,000 students working within four faculties, the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, and three academic research institutes. The university has an international reputation and participates in international student exchange programmes.

The Fachhochschule Erfurt, is a university of applied sciences, founded in 1991, which offers a combination of academic training and practical experience in subjects such as social work and social pedagogy, business studies, and engineering. There are nearly 5,000 students in six faculties, of which the faculty of landscaping and horticulture has a national reputation.

The International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef – Bonn (IUBH), is a privately run university with a focus on business and economics. It merged with the former Adam-Ries-Fachhochschule in 2013.

The world renowned Bauhaus design school was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar, approximately 20 km (12 mi) from Erfurt, 12 minutes by train. The buildings are now part of a World Heritage Site and are today used by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, which teaches design, arts, media and technology-related subjects.

Higher secondary education is provided at eight Gymnasien, of which six are state-owned, one is Catholic (Edith-Stein-Schule) and one Protestant (Evangelisches Ratsgymnasium Erfurt). Among the state-owned schools are a Sportgymnasium, a boarding school for students highly talented in athletics, swimming, ice skating or football, and the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium featuring boarding-school classes with additional focus on mathematics, natural sciences and computer science, in addition to the common curriculum.

Media

The German national public television children's channel KiKa is based in Erfurt.

MDR, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, a radio and television company, has a broadcast centre and studios in Erfurt.

The Thüringer Allgemeine is a statewide newspaper that is headquartered in the city.

Politics

Mayor and city council

The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was Manfred Ruge of the Christian Democratic Union, who served from 1990 to 2006. From 2006 to 2024, Andreas Bausewein of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was mayor. Andreas Horn (CDU) was elected in 2024. The most recent mayoral election was held on 26 May 2024, with a runoff held on 9 June, and the results were as follows:

The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows:

Twin towns – sister cities

Erfurt is twinned with:

Notable people

See: List of people from Erfurt