Eisenach is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located 50 kilometres (31 miles) W of Erfurt, 70 km (43 miles) SE of Kassel and 150 km (93 miles) NE of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering north-eastern Hessian regions, situated near the former Inner German border. An important sight is the Wartburg castle, which has been designated as UNESCO world heritage in 1999. Nevertheless, the medieval city centre hosts further interesting sights.
Eisenach has been an early capital of Thuringia in 12th and 13th century, as the Ludowingians had their seat at Wartburg castle resp. the city. The holy Elizabeth lived at their court between 1211 and 1228. Later, Martin Luther came to Eisenach and translated the Bible into German here which was an important step both for the German Reformation and the development of a consistent German standard language. In 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the world's most famous composers, was born here. During the early-modern period, Eisenach has been a residence of the Ernestine Wettins. In 1869, the SDAP, one of the two precursors of the SPD was founded in Eisenach by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht.
The city's economy is based on car production. The Automobilwerk Eisenach was founded in 1896 and taken over by BMW, which was prior a sheer motor producer and joined the car production in Eisenach with the Dixi, in 1928. During the GDR period, the Wartburg was the produced car in Eisenach. Since 1990, the factories belong to Opel (General Motors) and Bosch.
Eisenach is situated at the Hörsel river, a tributary of the Werra between the Thuringian Forest in the south, the Hainich mountains in the north-east and the East Hesse Highlands in the north-west.