Quedlinburg [key], city (1994 pop. 26,853), Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, at the foot of the lower Harz Mts. It is an industrial center and an agricultural market. Manufactures include engineering products, vehicles, paper, and precision instruments. The city is also a center for seed, flower, and sugar beet cultivation. One of the oldest German cities, Quedlinburg was fortified in 922 by Henry I (Henry the Fowler). It later became a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1698 the city passed to Brandenburg. The beautiful castle, church, and convent (secularized 1803) dominate the city from a hill; the age of the structures varies from the 10th to the 14th cent. Henry I and his wife, St. Matilda (who with her son, Emperor Otto I, founded the celebrated convent in 936), are buried in the castle church. Other historic structures in Quedlinburg include 14th-century fortifications, several early Gothic churches, and a 17th-century city hall. The city is the birthplace of the poet Klopstock (1724) and the geographer Karl Ritter (1779).
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