  heilbad heiligenstadt is a spa town in thuringia, germany. it is the capital of the eichsfeld district. ==geography== heiligenstadt is approximately 14&nbsp;km east of the tripoint where the states of thuringia, hesse and lower saxony meet. an upper reach of the river leine, a tributary of the aller, flows through the town from east to west and is joined near the centre of the town by the river geislede. south of the town is the iberg, a 453.2&nbsp;m tall peak located in the heiligenstadt stadtwald, which forms part of the naturpark eichsfeld-hainich-werratal. ===local subdivisions=== *kalteneber *rengelrode *gÃ¼nterode *flinsberg, the geographical centre of germany. ==history== *heiligenstadt was first mentioned in 973. *in 1227, the town received town rights from the archbishop of mainz. *in 1540 heiligenstadt became the capital of eichsfeld *in the thirty years' war of 1618&ndash;1648, the city was devastated several times. *in 1929 the salt-water hydropathic baths were built and in 1950 the town was designated a spa. *on 9 november 1938, the town synagogue was desecrated. the event is commemorated in a plaque on the building, which is now a residence. *in october 1989, demonstrations began in heiligenstadt as part of the peaceful revolution in the gdr. *in 1994, heiligenstadt became the capital of the new district of eichsfeld, formed by the amalgamation of the districts of heiligenstadt and worbis. ===name of the town=== despite the official designation of the town as a spa in 1929 and a 1950 decision by the town council to append the word soleheilbad (salt-water spa) to its name, it remained officially simply heiligenstadt throughout the gdr years. in 1990 the city government still used only heiligenstadt. however, the post office used heilbad heiligenstadt, as did post card companies and the local savings bank. in fact between 1950 and 1990, the town had the distinction of being referred to in 3 different ways: as heiligenstadt, heilbad heiligenstadt, or heiligenstadt (eichsf.) (for eichsfeld). in 1990, t
Province_of_Saxony Spa_towns_in_Germany Towns_in_Thuringia