Glückstadt

Glückstadt, a town in the Prussian province of Sleswick-Holstein, on the right bank of the Elbe, 32 miles by rail NW. of Hamburg. Founded in 1616 by Christian IV. of Denmark, it is a pretty town, regularly built, and intersected by canals, its chief building the Rathhaus (1642; restored 1874). Its harbour remains open in winter, when the Elbe higher up is frozen, and has been much improved since 1880. During the Thirty Years' War Glückstadt successfully withstood three sieges; its fortifications were demolished in 1815. Pop. 5983.