The Chronicle of Magdeburg

Magdeburg in the new millennium (Years 2000 to 2017)


2000	• Elbe cycle route opens • Laying of foundation stone for construction of new university library • Magdeburg is the venue of the “Festival of the Reformation” organised by the “Sites of the Reformation” tourism association • Inauguration of the Guericke Memorial in the Johanniskirche Church • Motorway A14, the first new motorway built in Eastern Germany, is opened
2001	• Unveiling of a memorial commemorating the victims of the concentration camp subcamp “Magda” in Magdeburg-Rothensee • Magdeburg hosts the new Telemann music competition • The municipality of Beyendorf-Sohlen is incorporated into Magdeburg • The handball players of SC Magdeburg win the European Cup • Exhibition “Otto the Great – Magdeburg and Europe” in the Museum of Cultural History (over 300,000 visitors saw the unique medieval exhibits)
2002	• As part of the Otto von Guericke Year, a total of 35 hemispheres were erected around the city. (The hemispheres commemorate the most famous experimentby the great scientist and famous son of our city.) • Archaeologists expose a crypt from the 10th century on Domplatz • SC Magdeburg becomes the first German club to win the Handball Champions League o On 13 August, the historic flood starts to make its presence felt o The level the Petriförder rises from 2.88 to 3.34 metres in 24 hours. The river reaches the high water mark of 6.70 metres on 19 August, o causing millions of Euros of damage. • Magdeburg wins the national “Our city is blossoming” competition.
2003	• Dr Willi Polte is named an honorary citizen of the City of Magdeburg • The charter of the “Emperor Otto Culture Foundation” is handed over by Interior Minister Klaus Jeziorsky • Magdeburg joins the Hanseatic League (“Die Hanse”) • City partnership with the City of Nashville • Archaeologists discover 11 graves and foundations on Domplatz that clear up a misunderstanding. What was thought to be the imperial palace is likely the remains of the Ottonic cathedral • Double boxing world champion Sven Ottke is made an “Honorary Ambassador of the City of Magdeburg” • The Schinkel Hall is opened in the Society House at Klosterbergarten • Main national celebration on the anniversary of German Unification is held in Magdeburg for the first time • The civic monument in honour of the Monday demonstrations in autumn 1989 is inaugurated at the cathedral • Opening of a historic structure: the Magdeburg waterway junction • Official start of building work on the “Green citadel”, the last work by architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser
2004	• Refurbishment of the viewing tower in the Rotehornpark begins • Restoration of Johanniskirche completed. Top of the Johanniskirche’s southern tower restored after destruction by bombs in the Second World War
2005	• Magdeburg celebrates the city’s anniversary - 1200 years with 12 highlights and many other project and events • Handover of the reconstructed Sternbrücke bridge • Saxony-Anhalt Day in Magdeburg with 580,000 visitors • 6th International Puppet Theatre Festival in Magdeburg Presentation of the first Kaiser Otto Award to former German President Richard von Weizsäcker • Theatre in Otto von Guericke Straße is reopened • Road tunnel under Universitätsplatz opens • Inauguration of the Hundertwasser building “Green Citadel” • Handover of the refurbished Old Town Hall • Inauguration of the Roland statue outside the Old Town Hall
2006	• Foundation stone laid for new Marietta district at Breiter Weg • Events for “Science Year” • New row of shops opened in the Allee-Center • 1. FC Magdeburg wins State Football Cup • New “Thiem 20” Cultural Centre opens on Thiemplatz • Closure of the ship lift for shipping traffic and start of a major signature campaign to rescue the ship lift • Reopening of the viewing tower in Rotehornpark • Exhibition “1000 years of baptism” in the cathedral • Temporary exhibition “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation 962 to 1806” in the Museum of Cultural History • Seven-year reconstruction of university gynaecological clinic is completed • Inauguration of the new stadium
2007	• First “Stolpersteine” (commemorative cobblestones) laid in Magdeburg • A mutual baptism recognition declaration is signed by representatives of eleven churches for all of Germany for the first time • First multi-generation house in Magdeburg is opened in Neustädter Feld area • Official inauguration of the “new” major district hospital in Olvenstedt, integrating the Altstadt hospital • 1050th anniversary of Olvenstedt • Romanesque Information Centre opened on Magdeburg’s Domplatz • Celebration of the 800th anniversary of Mechthild von Magdeburg with a Theatre Festival • Unveiling ceremony for new statues of three of the four allegorical figures on Zollbrücke bridge
2008	• Installation of the last of the four allegorical figures on the Zollbrücke bridge. • Inauguration of the new cathedral organ. • Twinning agreement with the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia and the Chinese city of Harbin • Exhibition “Spectacle of power – Rituals in Ancient Europe 800-1800” in the Museum of Cultural History • Symbolic groundbreaking for the Sterntor gate. • Presentation of the “Building of the Year 2007” Award of the Association of Architects and Engineers for the Bastion Cleve and the Romanesque House • Bells of Johanniskirche church recommissioned after over 60 years
2009	• Polish Foreign Minister W. Bartoszewski honoured with the Emperor Otto Award • Completion of the new Northern Fire Station in Peter-Paul Straße • 13,000 Magdeburg citizens attend 200 events during the “Science Night” • Inauguration ceremony for the Queen Luise memorial in Geschwister Scholl Park • State exhibition “Dawn of the Gothic era – Magdeburg Cathedral and the late Staufer period” • In honour of deceased champion trainer of 1. FC Magdeburg, Heinz Krügel, the square outside the stadium is named after him • Festival celebrating the 800th anniversary of the cathedral • Pianist Menahem Pressler named honorary citizen of Magdeburg
2010	• Start of the umbrella brand campaign “Ottostadt Magdeburg” (Magdeburg City of Otto) • Presentation year of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) entitled “Living beside and with the River Elbe” • Largest national Robo-Cup Tournament (German Open) hosted with more than 1,000 participants • Refurbishment of schools through PPP investments and funding from Economic Stimulus Package II • Performance of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical “Evita” on Domplatz as Magdeburg Theatre’s summer open air show • The Town Hall Festival celebrating 20 years of German Unification welcomes many guests and visitors • Relocation of the remains of Queen Editha to Magdeburg Cathedral • The global elite of men’s table tennis comes together for the Men’s World Cup in the Bördelandhalle
2012	• To commemorate the 1100th birthday of Otto the Great on 22 November 912 and the 1050th anniversary of his coronation in Rome on 2 February 962, Magdeburg – City of Otto celebrates the Emperor Otto Year • After the two European Council Exhibitions in 2001 and 2006, the Magdeburg Museum of Cultural History completes the major trilogy of exhibitions with the Saxony-Anhalt state exhibition “Otto the Great and the Roman Empire - Imperial Rule from Ancient Times to the Middle Ages” • After completion of the refurbishment work, the Art Museum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen (Abbey of Our Lady) opens with an official ceremony • The new research building of the Institute for Expertise in AutoMobility (IKAM) as an interface between science and business is opened on the campus of the Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg • Tenth largest non-commercial music festival “Fête de la Musique” opens in the Stadtpark • The Puppet Theatre Centre of Central Germany in “villa p.” of the Puppet Theatre, one of the largest collections of theatre puppets in Central Germany, opens • Establishment of a writer-in-residence scholarship, awarded to Berlin-based author Bernd Wagner, as part of application for the title “Cultural Capital of Europe” • First Adelheid Award of the State Capital of Magdeburg for social commitment presented to the Head Ward Nurse of University Hospital Magdeburg, Sabine Körber
2013	• Magdeburg’s City Festival becomes the Magdeburg “Europe Festival” • Magdeburg experiences its greatest flooding catastrophe. o The high water mark is reached on 9 June at 7.48 metres o By way of comparison: The high water mark during the historic flood of 2002 was 6.72 metres o The Elbe generally carries less than 2 metres of water in the Magdeburg city district • After eight months of construction, the children’s hospice of the Pfeiffersche Stiftungen care institution opens • Opening ceremony for the Magdeburg City Archive in the former sugar factory in Mittagstraße 16 • The “LuMa” team from Werner von Siemens Higher Secondary School is world champion in the international RoboCup World Cup in Eindhoven • The “robOTTO” student team from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is first runner up in the worldwide Logistics League • Egon Bahr is honoured with the Emperor Otto Award of the State Capital of Magdeburg • The water tower in Salbe and the refurbished pump house are officially handed over to the H²O Turmpark e.V. association for use • Robert Stieglitz, a professional boxer from Magdeburg, wins the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight world championship fight in the Getec Arena and is recognised with the title “Honorary Ambassador of the State Capital of Magdeburg” • The Oskar Patzelt Foundation chooses Magdeburg as its “Municipality of the Year”, the City of Otto campaign is “City Brand of the Year” and the German Energy Agency (dena) recognises Magdeburg as an Energy Efficient Municipality for its energy and climate protection management – the first major city to bear this label • The oldest residential building in the city, a 400-year-old half-timbered building in Remtergang 1, is restored to its former glory after renovation
2014	• State Capital Magdeburg hosts the fifth RoboCup German Open • After almost two years of building, the redesigned Magdeburg Domplatz and fountain are officially opened • State Capital Magdeburg is the first city in Saxony-Anhalt authorised to bear the title “Fair Trade Town” • The “Market 1814” festival at Ambrosiusplatz in Sudenburg commemorates the 200th anniversary of liberation from Napoleonic rule • The first Magdeburg Voluntary Commitment Fair takes place in the Old Town Hall • The tenth Magdeburg Puppet Theatre Festival “blickwechsel” (change of perspective), one of the largest puppet theatre festivals in Germany, begins with “La Notte” in Buckau for the first time with two performances per evening and the première of the Family Festival Day in the Puppet Theatre • For the first time, the Christopher Street Day Parade, which supports love in same-sex relationship through celebration, ends right outside Magdeburg’s Town Hall, followed by a street festival on the Alter Markt • Memorial for Heinz Krügel, champion trainer of 1. FC Magdeburg, unveiled on the 40th anniversary of the European Cup win, on Heinz Krügel Platz outside the MDCC Arena • New ape enclosure in Magdeburg Zoo is a crowd puller • The most urgent infrastructure construction project in Magdeburg is the replacement construction of the Strombrücke bridge system. The preliminary planning for the new bridge structures is completed • Magdeburg is recognised as Eastern German “Municipality of the Year” by the Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband association of financial institutions in Potsdam • The temporary exhibition “The Eve of the Reformation. Everyday Life and Piety in Central Germany” in the Museum of Cultural History once again highlights Magdeburg’s significance as a cultural centre of the Reformation
2015	• 70th anniversary of the bombing of Magdeburg on 16 January 2015 • Mayoral elections – Dr Lutz Trümper is re-elected as Lord Mayor of Magdeburg. • The court clears the way for construction of a tunnel under the bridges at the Central Railway Station • Reconstruction of the memorial to educational reformer Johann Bernhard Basedow south of the IBA Shop in Regierungsstraße • Inauguration of Magnus Hirschfeld Weg in the north of Magdeburg. It commemorates the doctor, scientist and co-founder of the homosexual movement, who died 80 years previously, and whose practice was very close to Nachtweide • 1. FC Magdeburg celebrates its 50th anniversary and returns to the 3rd League • Waltraut Zachhuber is recognised with the Honorary Ring of the State Capital Magdeburg at a ceremony in the Old Town Hall for her life’s work and her long-standing dedication as a volunteer • The 2nd European Choir Games & Grand Prix of Nations take place in Magdeburg, for the first time in Germany. • The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) becomes the first institution to be honoured with the Emperor Otto Award of the State Capital Magdeburg • New two-storey IC train is christened “Magdeburger Börde” at Magdeburg’s Central Railway Station. From 13 December, the vehicle travels on the route from Leipzig via Halle, Magdeburg, Hanover and Bremen to Norddeich and back • Flooding protection facilities are upgraded in the Oststraße, Zollstraße and Turmschanzenstraße
2016	• The reconstruction of the Deutsche Bahn tracks between Damaschkeplatz and the Central Railway Station and the work for the City Tunnel start with the demolition of the bridges at Kölner Platz • Pastor Jörg Uhle-Wettler from Bad Düben is the successor to outgoing cathedral dean Giselher Quast • The new Africambo Lodge in the Zoo opens • Unidentified thieves steal the replica of the Holy Lance from the cathedral. The Quedlinburg Association “Kaiserfrühling” (Spring of the Empire) donates an existing replica of the “Holy Lance” as a replacement • The handball players of SC Magdeburg win the German DHB Cup • The old prefabricated building “Blauer Bock” in Ernst Reuther Allee is demolished, to be replaced by a new headquarters for the public utility company (SWM)in the city centre • To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the final destruction of the Katharinenkirche church, the portal, demolished in 1966 was re-erected near its historical location after comprehensive restoration • Rent contract for the Cathedral Museum signed. After reconstruction of the former State Bank, the Cathedral Museum and the headquarters of Wobau move in • The Ape House in the Zoo opens to visitors after full reconstruction, with new inhabitants. Instead of chimpanzees, the house is now home to mandrills, golden-bellied mangabeys, northern talapoins, birds and other exotic animals • The City of Magdeburg applies to be Cultural Capital of Europe 2025 • A 110 kilometre-long twinned cities cycle path between Magdeburg and Braunschweig opens • 7,000 visitors attend the first Christmas Carol Singing in the MDCC Arena
2017	• The National and State Governments provide roughly 36 million Euros for the expansion of Magdeburg’s port, to make the industrial port less dependent on the level of the Elbe. It is connected to the low-water lock and thus to the European canal network • After various discussions, the Cathedral Museum now has a name: “Dommuseum Ottonianum Magdeburg” - abbreviated to D.O.M. • For 500th anniversary of the Reformation, a “Church Congress on the Move” is held with 400 events in Magdeburg. An audience of 6,000 saw the open-air theatrical performance “Our Lord’s Chancellery. Magdeburg on the River of the Reformation.” • To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of composer Georg Philipp Telemann from Magdeburg, Magdeburg celebrates “Telemania” with many events and projects • Karen Stone named General Director of Magdeburg Theatre until July 2022 • Three more windows in the south end of Johanniskirche are fitted with panes by Dresden-based artist Max Uhlig • Construction for the Strombrücke bridge system across the Zollelbe and Alte Elbe starts (without the originally planned bridge extension) • “Kubus 2025” is the public centre for Magdeburg’s application to be “European Cultural Capital 2025”. Interested citizens can learn about Magdeburg’s cultural landscape there • Construction for further buildings in the new Magdeburg Altstadt district begins • The flooding protection facilities in Zollstraße and Turmschanzenstraße are officially inaugurated. In future, they are to protect the Magdeburger Werder (an island in the river) against flooding up to a level of 7.80 metres • The “Gröninger Bad” of Magdeburg association Aktion Musik in Gröninger Straße 2 is refurbished. The association offers new activities in the music and media centre • An IKEA store opens on the site of the former milk collection and processing company.