Sonnefeld

Sonnefeld
Town hall
Coat of arms
Sonnefeld
Location of Sonnefeld within Coburg district
Coordinates: 50°13′N 11°7′E / 50.217°N 11.117°E / 50.217; 11.117Coordinates: 50°13′N 11°7′E / 50.217°N 11.117°E / 50.217; 11.117
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Oberfranken
District	Coburg
Government
• Mayor	Rainer Marr (CSU)
Area
• Total	34.69 km2 (13.39 sq mi)
Elevation	318 m (1,043 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	4,815
• Density	140/km2 (360/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	96242
Dialling codes	09562
Vehicle registration	CO
Website	www.sonnefeld.de

Sonnefeld is a municipality in the district of Coburg in Bavaria in Germany.

Sonnefeld lies on Bundesstraße 303 between Coburg and Kronach and also between the Thuringian Forest and the Lichtenfels Forest.

The municipality of Sonnefeld is divided in eleven districts:

The first documented mention of Sonnefeld was in the year 1252. In 1260, a Cistercian convent was founded in Ebersdorf bei Coburg by Henry II von Sonneberg with the help from the nuns from Maidbronn. Three years later, in 1263, the nearby hamlet of Hofstädten became the property of the convent. When the convent burned to the ground in 1287, a new convent was built and consecrated in Hofstädten for the nuns. In 1299, the villages of Weidhausen and Trübenbach were given to the Sonnefeld Monastery in an exchange of properties with Bamberg. A church was added between 1330 and 1349 in the High Gothic style and became the Klosterkirche (Monastery Church). But, in 1526, the monastery was dissolved as a result of the Reformation. Since then, Sonnefeld was an Evangelical Lutheran parish. The Thirty Years War destroyed most of the houses and buildings in Sonnefeld and Hofstädten so the reconstruction was slow but steady. It got a big boost from the grant of market privileges by Duke Albert V, Duke of Saxe-Coburg. In 1705, the district of Sonnefeld came to the Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1769, the parish church was rebuilt. In 1826, the district of Sonnefeld was given to the Duchy of Saxe Coburg and Gotha in the redistribution of lands between the surviving Saxon Duchies. On 1 May 1851 the cantor Karl Herold founded a children's festival. On 23 June 1889 Sonnefeld and Hofstädten were merged as a single town under the name of Sonnefeld. In the same year, a war memorial was unveiled in the town square (Marktplatz), and the first railway line opened at Sonnefeld in 1901. During World War I, Sonnefeld had to surrender three church bells and the pipes of the church's organ to the war effort but they were replaced and ordained, respectively, in 1919 and 1924. On 1 June 1920, the dissolution of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha sent the district of Coburg, including Sonnefeld, to Bavaria. Before World War II, 1400 people were counted in Sonnefeld but, in 1966, the population was down to 980 residents in 556 households. However, the subsequent additions, a total of 10 villages, to the municipality increased the population to 5,300.