Naumburg

Naumburg, a quaint old town of Prussian Saxony, on the Saale, in an amphitheatre of vine-clad hills, 30 miles by rail SW. of Leipzig. Of its six churches, the triple-towered cathedral (1207-42) is a noble Romanesque and Gothic structure. The manufactures include ivory carvings, combs, hosiery, wine, &c. The yearly 'cherry feast' commemorates the raising of the siege of Naumburg by the Hnssite leader Procopius in response to the supplication of the children (28th July 1432); but recent historians cast doubt on the whole episode. The seat of a bishopric (1059-1564), Naumburg suffered much in the Thirty Years' War; in 1814 it came to Prussia. Pop. (1875) 16,258; (1885) 19,107. See works by Puttrich (1843) and Mitzschke (1881).