Eichstätt

Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Coordinates
Administration
Country Germany
State Bavaria
Admin. region Upper Bavaria
District Eichstätt
Lord Mayor Arnulf Neumeyer (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area 47.84 km2 (18.47 sq mi)
Elevation 371-534 m
Population 13,788 (31 December 2010)[1]
 - Density 288 /km2 (746 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate EI
Postal codes 85072, 85067
Area code 08421
Website www.eichstaett.de

Eichstätt (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪçʃtɛt], formerly also Eichstädt or Aichstädt) is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The K-U was founded in 1980, and was granted full rights of a university, including Ph.D. and Habilitation degrees by the State of Bavaria.[2]

St. Willibald founded the Bishopric of Eichstätt on the site of an old Roman station in 741. The city was chartered in 908 and ruled by a prince-bishop until secularization in 1802, and became a part of Bavaria in 1806. In 2008, the city celebrated the 1100th anniversary of its charter. Eichstätt was included as part of the Landgraviate of Leuchtenberg, which Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria granted to his son-in-law Eugène de Beauharnais in 1817 and an episcopal see was reestablished in 1821. The town reverted back to Bavaria in 1855. Eichstätt is famous for the quarries of Solnhofen Stone and Jurassic limestone. On the Blumenberg the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx was found by Jakob Niemeyer. Hortus Eystettensis (Garden at Eichstätt) is the name of an important botanical book first published in 1613, see entry of author Basilius Besler

Mayor of Eichstätt is Arnulf Neumeyer (SPD). The current bishop is Gregor Maria Franz Hanke, O.S.B (appointed 14, Oct. 2006)

References