Eutin

Coat of arms

Eutin

Location of Eutin within Ostholstein district

Coordinates: 54°8′16″N 10°37′5″E / 54.13778°N 10.61806°ECoordinates: 54°8′16″N 10°37′5″E / 54.13778°N 10.61806°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Klaus-Dieter Schulz

Area

• Total

41.4 km² (16.0 sq mi)

Elevation

33 m (108 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

16,979

• Density

410/km² (1,100/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

23701

04521

Website

Eutin (German pronunciation: [ɔʏˈtiːn]) is the district capital of Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2005, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants.

The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic origin. Its meaning is not quite clear; it is probably derived from the personal name "Uta". The Slavic Obotrites tribe settled eastern Holstein in the 7th/8th centuries A.D. and built a castle on Pheasant Island in the lake now called the Großer Eutiner See.

The originally Slavonic settlement of Utin was populated in the twelfth century by Dutch settlers. In 1156 Eutin became a market town. Town rights were granted in the year 1257. It later became the seat of the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, as Lübeck itself was an imperial free city. When the bishopric was secularized in 1803, Eutin became part of the Duchy of Oldenburg. As a result of the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Eutin passed from the Free State of Oldenburg to the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein. After World War II, it became part of the modern Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein.

Eutin is birthplace of composer Carl Maria von Weber. To honor him, an open-air theater (Freilichtbühne) was built in the park of Eutin Castle in 1951, and operas are performed there in July and August during the Eutin Opera Summer Festival (Eutiner Festspiele). The seating capacity of this open-air stage counts about 2000 people. The festival includes music students in Eutin as well as students from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, US, which is twin city of Eutin.

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Wikipedia