EISENACH, a town of Germany, in Thuringia ; lies at the north-west foot of the Thuringian forest, at the confluence of the Nesse and Horsel, 32 m. by rail W. from Erfurt. Pop. Interesting buildings include the formal ducal palace built in 1742 ; the late-Gothic St. Georgenkirche; the Nikolai kirche, built about 1 150 and restored in 1887; the Klemda, a small castle dating from 1260; the Lutherhaus, in which the reformer stayed with the Cotta family in 1498; the house in which Sebastian Bach was born, and that (now a museum) in which Fritz Reuter lived (1863-1874). Eisenach has a school of forestry, a school of design, a Gymnasium containing the Thuringian museum and a Wagner museum. The most important industries of the town are worsted-spinning, carriage and wagon building, and the making of colours and pottery. Among others are the manufacture of cigars, cement pipes, iron-ware and machines, alabaster ware, shoes, leather, etc., cabinet-making, brewing, granite quarrying and working.
The natural beauty of the district attracts summer visitors. Magnificently situated on a precipitous hill, 600 ft. above the town to the south, is the historic Wartburg (q.v.), the ancient castle of the landgraves of Thuringia, famous as the scene of the contest of Minnesingers immortalized in Wagner's Tann hauser, and as the place where Luther, on his return from the diet of Worms in 1521, was kept in hiding and made his transla tion of the Bible.
Eisenach (Isenacum) was founded in 1070 by Louis II. the Springer, landgrave of Thuringia. The Klemda, mentioned above, was built by Sophia (d. 1284), daughter of the landgrave Louis IV., and wife of Duke Henry II. of Brabant, to defend the town against Henry III., margrave of Meissen, during the succession contest that followed the extinction of the male line of the Thuringian landgraves in 1247. The principality of Eisenach fell to the Saxon house of Wettin in 1440, and in the partition of 1485 formed part of the territories given to the Ernestine line. It was a separate Saxon duchy from 1S96 to 1638, from 164o to 1644, and again from 1662 to 1741, when it finally fell to Saxe Weimar. The town of Eisenach, by reason of its associations, has been a favourite centre for religious propaganda.