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1250 years of Gotha: Exhibition celebrates the legendary court calendar!
Discover the important history of the Gotha court calendar, whose exhibition “ADEL MACHT STAAT” is being presented in Gotha on the occasion of the city's 1250th anniversary.
1250 years of Gotha: Exhibition celebrates the legendary court calendar!
The city of Gotha is celebrating a very special anniversary this year: On the occasion of the 1250th anniversary, an impressive chapter of aristocratic history is being opened as part of an exhibition entitled “ADEL MACHT STATE” in the Gotha Research Library at the University of Erfurt. This exhibition is dedicated to the Gotha Court Calendar, also known as GOTHA, the most important aristocratic encyclopedia in Europe, which was published for almost 200 years. According to [uni-erfurt.de], the Göttingen-based Justus Perthes Verlag, known for atlases and maps, presented the GOTHA as its longest published product. This annual publication cycle not only occupied an important place in the book and publishing culture of the 18th century, but also as a standard genealogical work for the European nobility.
The long history and challenges of researching GOTHA are vividly discussed in the show. Over the years, the court calendar experienced a constant expansion of its target group, so that it became increasingly interesting for a middle-class audience. As a model for many later media, including travel journals and fashion magazines, the GOTHA emerges as a product that far outgrew its original function.
Exhibits and research projects
Exciting exhibits can be seen in the exhibition, including an editorial work schedule and a remarkable letter to the editor from 1867. In this letter, Carl Muquardt asked for information about the death of Emperor Maximilian to be deleted in order to spare Princess Charlotte of Belgium. Dr. Petra Weigel, head of department at the Gotha Research Library, studied the history of the Franciscan Order in her doctorate and brings this expertise to the exhibition. Sven Ballenthin looks after the archive of the Perthes Collection and is also dedicated to researching the Gotha court calendar.
Current events in Gotha
But Gotha has even more to offer! Mayor Knut Kreuch is organizing an interesting series of events with the overarching theme “Is our civilization capable of surviving?” This series opens on October 6, 2025 and includes several exciting lectures, including from Prof. Dr. Bernd Hill, a leading bionics researcher. The future dates are promising:
- Vortrag über technische Fiktion: 27. Oktober 2025
- Vortrag über Klassiker der Bildgeschichte: 10. November 2025
- Vortrag über Künstliche Intelligenz: 24. November 2025
- Vortrag über Selbstsorge und Teilhabe im Alter: 15. Dezember 2025
- Vortrag über Katastrophenschutz im Landkreis Gotha: 19. Januar 2026
- Vortrag über Bertha von Suttner: 2. Februar 2026
- Vortrag über die Gothaer Mundart: 9. März 2026
- Vortrag über Herzog Ernst II. von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg: 30. März 2026
All events take place in the Hanns Cibulka Hall of the Heinrich Heine City Library on Friedrichstr. 2-4, Gotha, and are barrier-free accessible. Access from Karolinenhof allows everyone to take part in these enriching events.
The Gotha court calendar not only shaped the book and publishing world, but also influenced the cultural life of the city of Gotha and beyond. In the current exhibition and the planned lectures it is clear that the connection between history and the present remains alive. A connection that also continues in the Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, the successor to Gotha, which provides many details about noble families from the former Holy Roman Empire, as can be read on [wikipedia.org].