Erfurt vs Timișoara

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Erfurt ( AIR-furt, AIR-foort; German pronunciation: [ˈɛʁfʊʁt] (listen)) is the capital and largest city in the state of Thuringia, central Germany. It is located in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, within the wide valley of the Gera river. It is located 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Leipzig, 300 km (186 mi) south-west of Berlin, 400 km (249 mi) north of Munich and 250 km (155 mi) north-east of Frankfurt. Together with a string of neighbouring cities Gotha, Weimar, Jena and others, Erfurt forms the central metropolitan corridor of Thuringia called Thüringer Städtekette (German "Thuringian city chain") with over 500,000 inhabitants. Erfurt's old town is one of the best preserved medieval city centres in Germany. Tourist attractions include the Krämerbrücke (Merchants' bridge), the Old Synagogue, the ensemble of Erfurt Cathedral and Severikirche (St Severus's Church) and Petersberg Citadel, one of the largest and best preserved town fortresses in Europe. The city's economy is based on agriculture, horticulture and microelectronics. Its central location has led to it becoming a logistics hub for Germany and central Europe. Erfurt hosts the second-largest trade fair in eastern Germany (after Leipzig) as well as the public television children's channel KiKa.

The city is situated on the Via Regia, a medieval trade and pilgrims' road network. Modern day Erfurt is also a hub for ICE high speed trains and other German and European transport networks. Erfurt was first mentioned in 742, as Saint Boniface founded the diocese. Although the town did not belong to any of the Thuringian states politically, it quickly became the economic centre of the region and it was a member of the Hanseatic League. It was part of the Electorate of Mainz during the Holy Roman Empire, and later became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802. From 1949 until 1990 Erfurt was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The University of Erfurt was founded in 1379, making it the first university to be established within the geographic area which constitutes modern-day Germany. It closed in 1816 and was re-established in 1994, with the main modern campus on what was a teachers' training college. Martin Luther (1483–1546) was its most famous student, studying there from 1501 before entering St Augustine's Monastery in 1505. Other noted Erfurters include the medieval philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328), the Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) and the sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920).

Source: Wikipedia

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Timișoara (UK: , US: , Romanian: [timiˈʃo̯ara] (listen); German: Temeswar [ˈtɛmɛʃvaːɐ̯], also Temeschburg or Temeschwar; Hungarian: Temesvár [ˈtɛmɛʃvaːr] (listen); Serbian: Темишвар; Turkish: Temeşvar) is the capital city of Timiș County, the third largest city in Romania and the main social, economic and cultural centre in western Romania. Nicknamed the Little Vienna or the City of Flowers, Timișoara is considered the informal capital city of the historical Banat. The country's third most populous city is the economic hub of the region, with 319,279 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It is home to almost a half-million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, as well as ca. 50,000 students from over 50 countries.Today, Timișoara, like many other large cities in Romania, is a medical tourism service provider especially for dental care. It also offers excellent academic institutions, attracting thousands of international students annually, mainly at its medical school.

As a technology hub, the city has one of the most powerful IT sectors in Romania alongside Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, and Brașov, becoming a popular tech destination according to Financial Times. In 2013 Timișoara had the fastest internet download speed in the world. Along with Oradea, Timișoara is part of the Art Nouveau European Route.It was the first city in the Habsburg Monarchy with street lighting (1760) and the first European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It opened the first public lending library with a reading room in the Habsburg Empire and built a municipal hospital 24 years before Vienna. Also, it published the first German newspaper in Southeast Europe (Temeswarer Nachrichten). It has been an important centre for music in Europe since the 19th century. The Romanian Revolution began in Timișoara.The city will be the next European Capital of Culture in 2023.

Source: Wikipedia