GOTHA  , a

town of Germany, alternately with Coburg the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in a pleasant situation on the Leine canal, 6 m . N. of the slope of the Thuringian forest, 17 M . W. from Erfurt, on the railway to Bebra-Cassel . Pop . (1905) 36,906 . It consists of an old inner town and encircling suburbs, and is dominated by the castle of Friedenstein, lying on the Schlossberg at an elevation of 1100 ft . With the exception of those in the older portion of the town, the streets are hand-some and spacious, and the beautiful gardens and promenades between the suburbs and the castle add greatly to the town's attractiveness . To the south of the castle there is an extensive and finely adorned park . To the north-west of the town the Galberg--on which there is a public pleasure garden—and to the south-west the Seeberg rise to a height of over 1300 ft. and afford extensive views . The castle of Friedenstein, begun by Ernest the Pious, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1643 and completed in 1654, occupies the site of the old fortress of Grimmenstein . It is a huge square building flanked with two wings, having towers rising to the height of about 140 ft . It contains the ducal cabinet of coins and the ducal library of nearly 200,000 volumes, among which are several rare editions and about 6900 manuscripts .

The picture

gallery, the cabinet of engravings, the natural history museum, the Chinese museum, and the cabinet of art, which includes a collection of Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman and German antiquities, are now included in the new museum, completed in 1878, which stands on a terrace to the south of the castle . The principal other public buildings are the church of St Margaret with a beautiful portal and a lofty tower, founded in the 12th century, twice burnt down, and rebuilt in its present form in 1652; the church of the Augustinian convent, with an altar-piece by the painter Simon Jacobs; the theatre; the fire insurance bank and the life insurance bank; the ducal palace, in the Italian villa style, with a winter garden and picture gallery; the buildings of the ducal legislature; the hospital; the old town-hall, dating from the 11th century; the old residence of the painter Lucas Cranach, now used as a girls' school; the ducal stable; and the Friedrichsthal palace, now used as public offices . The educational establishments include a gymnasium (founded in 1524, one of the most famous in Germany), two training schools for teachers, conservatoires of music and several scientific institutions . Gotha is remarkable for its insurance societies and for the support it has given to cremation . The crematorium was long regarded as a model for such establishments . Gotha is one of the most active commercial towns of Thuringia, its manufactures including sausages, for which it has a great reputation, porcelain, tobacco, sugar, machinery, mechanical and surgical instruments, musical instruments, shoes, lamps and toys . There are also a number of nurseries and market gardens . The book trade is represented by about a dozen firms, including that of the great geographical house of Justus Perthes, founded in 1785 . Gotha (in old chronicles called Gotegewe and later Gotaha) existed as a village in the time of Charlemagne . In 930 its lord Gothard abbot of Hersfeld surrounded it with walls . It was known as a town as early as 1200, about which time it came into the possession of the landgraves of Thuringia . On the extinction of that line Gotha came into the possession of the electors of Saxony, and it fell later to the Ernestine line of dukes .

After the

battle of Muhlberg in 1547 the castle of Grimmenstein was partly destroyed, but it was again restored in 1554 . In 1567 the town was taken from Duke John Frederick by the elector Augustus of Saxony . After the death of John Frederick's sons, it came into the possession of Duke Ernest the Pious, the founder of the line of the dukes of Gotha; and on the extinction of this family it was united in 1825 along with the dukedom to Coburg . See Gotha and seine Umgebung (Gotha, 1851); Kiihne, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Entwickelung der socialen Zustande der Stadt and des Herzogtums Gotha (Gotha, 1862); Humbert, Les Villes de la Thuringe (Paris, 1869), and Beck, Geschichte der Stadt Gotha (Gotha, 1870) .