Bad Köstritz
Bad Köstritz is a town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the White Elster river, 7 km northwest of Gera. Bad Köstritz is known for the Köstritzer brewery and its Schwarzbier.
History
The settlement was first mentioned in 1364 as Kostricz, a place of Slavic foundation. There has been a castle since the middle of the 13th century. The city has emerged from two medieval manors.Within the German Empire, Köstritz was part of the Principality of Reuss-Gera. Köstritz Castle, a four-winged building around a courtyard built between 1687 and 1704, was the seat of a side wing of the ruling House of Reuss, named counts and princes Reuss-Köstritz. The castle was demolished in 1972 under the government of East Germany, with only the gatehouse left. Today, a modern hotel has been built on the site. In January 2023 Bad Köstritz absorbed the former municipality Hartmannsdorf.
Local council
Election in May 2014:- CDU: 9 seats
- The Left: 3 seats
- Free voters : 4 seats
Sights
- Heinrich Schütz House
- Municipal park
Sons and daughters of the town
- Heinrich Schütz, German composer of the early Baroque
- Heinrich IX, Count Reuss of Köstritz, founder of the middle branch family Reuss-Köstritz
- Julius Sturm, important German poet of late Romanticism, pastor in Köstritz 1856–1885, honorary citizen of Köstritz 1885
- Gustav von Hüfner, German chemist
- Heinrich Sturm, German jurist, politician and from 1908 to 1917 mayor of Chemnitz