Kyritz

The town is situated near the {{ill|Kyritzer Seenkette|de}}, literally "Kyritz chain of lakes". The town is nicknamed "Kyritz an der Knatter" (Kyritz at the Rattle). The noise of numerous water mills along a stream parallel to the river Jäglitz was the reason for this nickname. This river channel does not exist anymore. The town includes the districts Berlitt, Bork, Drewen, Gantikow, Ganz, Holzhausen, Kötzlin, Lellichow, Mechow, Rehfeld and Teetz.

The oldest document mentioning the area around Kyritz as "Chorizi" was written in 948.{{cite web | url=https://www.brandenburg-lese.de/vorgestellt/staedte-und-gemeinden/kyritz/ | title=Kyritz }} The region was called "Prignitz". The name is derived from the Slavic word "pregynica" meaning "inaccessible woods". A castle was built here in 1148, and little by little a town developed close to the castle. In the year 1225 a Franciscan friary was established here (dissolved in 1552). The first document in which the name "Kyritz" was mentioned dates from 1232. It obtained municipal status in 1237 and got the privilege to produce its own coins. A wall around the town was built in the 14th century. Kyritz became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1359. The merchants living in Kyritz sold wheat, clothes, wood, wool, linnen and hop to other member towns of the Hanseatic League and they bought metals, spices, wine and fish from other places. Goods from Lübeck, the headquarters of the Hanseatic League, were sold duty-free in Kyritz. In 1488 the first brewery was founded in Kyritz. The beer was named "Mord und Totschlag" (Murder and Manslaughter) and it is still brewed in Neuzelle.

In 1600 Count Hans Christoff von Königsmarck was born in Kötzlin, a leading Swedish general in the Thirty Years' War who is most famous for attempting to conquer Prague in 1648. In 1626, 800 citizens of Kyritz died from the bubonic plague. From 1806 to 1814 Kyritz was occupied by French soldiers. After Napoleon's defeat n 1814 the "Peace Oak" was planted in the Market Place.

From 1815 to 1945, Kyritz was part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. From 1952 to 1990, it was part of the Bezirk Potsdam of East Germany.

St. Mary's Church was founded in the 14th century. It burnt down in the Thirty Years' War in 1622 and was not rebuilt before 1714. Inside there is a pulpit dating from 1714 and a baptismal font from the 16th century.Karl Baedeker GmbH: Deutschland 2000, p. 480. Ostfildern 2000 The Town Hall was built with a clock tower in 1879 and renovated in 1994 and 2013. The Oak of Peace in the Market place was planted in 1814 after Napoleon's defeat. There are various half-timbered houses in Kyritz dating from the 18th and 19th century, e.g. Eichhorstsches Haus in Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Str. dating from 1663 which is famous its wood-carvings. A part of the medieval wall consisting of bricks around the town is well-preserved. The wall was renovated in 2013. At the end of Mauerstraße a half round defensive tower was transformed into a residential building, a house of this kind is called "Wiekhaus" in German.

{{Weather box

| location = Kyritz (1991–2020 normals)

| metric first = Y

| single line = Y

|collapsed = Y

|Jan high C = 3.5

|Feb high C = 4.5

|Mar high C = 9.0

|Apr high C = 15.2

|May high C = 19.4

|Jun high C = 22.8

|Jul high C = 24.8

|Aug high C = 24.5

|Sep high C = 20.0

|Oct high C = 13.9

|Nov high C = 7.8

|Dec high C = 4.4

| year high C = 14.3

|Jan mean C = 1.0

|Feb mean C = 1.5

|Mar mean C = 4.5

|Apr mean C = 9.4

|May mean C = 13.7

|Jun mean C = 17.0

|Jul mean C = 18.9

|Aug mean C = 18.5

|Sep mean C = 14.4

|Oct mean C = 9.5

|Nov mean C = 5.0

|Dec mean C = 2.1

|year mean C = 9.7

|Jan low C = -1.8

|Feb low C = -1.8

|Mar low C = 0.3

|Apr low C = 3.5

|May low C = 7.4

|Jun low C = 10.7

|Jul low C = 13.0

|Aug low C = 12.6

|Sep low C = 9.1

|Oct low C = 5.4

|Nov low C = 2.1

|Dec low C = -0.4

| year low C = 5.0

| precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 51.0

|Feb precipitation mm = 35.0

|Mar precipitation mm = 37.0

|Apr precipitation mm = 24.8

|May precipitation mm = 47.2

|Jun precipitation mm = 62.5

|Jul precipitation mm = 76.3

|Aug precipitation mm = 58.4

|Sep precipitation mm = 52.3

|Oct precipitation mm = 48.3

|Nov precipitation mm = 43.5

|Dec precipitation mm = 44.1

| year precipitation mm = 591.7

| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 16.9

|Feb precipitation days = 13.4

|Mar precipitation days = 13.4

|Apr precipitation days = 10.5

|May precipitation days = 13.0

|Jun precipitation days = 13.5

|Jul precipitation days = 14.7

|Aug precipitation days = 13.6

|Sep precipitation days = 12.0

|Oct precipitation days = 14.1

|Nov precipitation days = 15.8

|Dec precipitation days = 18.1

|year precipitation days = 169.2

|Jan sun = 59.3

|Feb sun = 89.8

|Mar sun = 146.6

|Apr sun = 192.0

|May sun = 218.9

|Jun sun = 240.2

|Jul sun = 253.3

|Aug sun = 235.2

|Sep sun = 183.7

|Oct sun = 108.5

|Nov sun = 62.5

|Dec sun = 46.6

|year sun = 1835.4

|Jan humidity = 87.7

|Feb humidity = 83.6

|Mar humidity = 78.5

|Apr humidity = 69.7

|May humidity = 69.7

|Jun humidity = 70.4

|Jul humidity = 71.2

|Aug humidity = 72.8

|Sep humidity = 78.2

|Oct humidity = 85.1

|Nov humidity = 90.4

|Dec humidity = 90.0

| source 1 = World Meteorological Organization{{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231012161411/https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/1.1/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Germany/CSV/Kyritz_10267.csv

| archive-date = 12 October 2023

| url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/1.1/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Germany/CSV/Kyritz_10267.csv

| title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020

| work = World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020)

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = 12 October 2023}}

}}

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Kyritz.pdf|Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi Germany; Red Background: Time of communist East Germany)

File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Kyritz.pdf|Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the Census in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line); for 2020-2030 (green line)

{{historical populations

|align=none | cols=3 | percentages=pagr

|title = Kyritz: Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Population_projection_Brandenburg Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons]

| 1875 | 7639

| 1890 | 7911

| 1910 | 7960

| 1925 | 8656

| 1939 | 8839

| 1950 | 13575

| 1964 | 11653

| 1971 | 12477

| 1981 | 12076

| 1985 | 12085

| 1990 | 11727

| 1995 | 11442

| 2000 | 10847

| 2005 | 10158

| 2010 | 9537

| 2015 | 9100

| 2016 | 9192

| 2017 | 9375

| 2018 | 9303

| 2019 | 9260

| 2020 | 9281

}}

Kyritz is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|FRA}} Bailleul, France
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Svalöv, Sweden
• {{flagicon|POL}} Wałcz, Poland
• {{flagicon|GER}} Werne, Germany

File:Kyritz_Berliner_Volksbank.jpg|Oak of Peace and bank in the Market Place

File:Kyritz_Bach_Str_44.jpg|Half-timbered house dating from 1663

File:Kyritz_Bach_Str_36.jpg|Half-timbered house dating from 1682

File:KyritzHolzhausenerStr.jpg|Holzhausen Street, St. Mary's Church

File:KyritzMarktWestseite.jpg|Market Place

KyritzHamburgerStr.jpg|Hamburg Road

KyritzWiekhaus.jpg|Medieval wall

KyritzWiekhausVonWesten.jpg|Medieval wall

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Cities and towns in Ostprignitz-Ruppin (district)}}

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Category:Localities in Ostprignitz-Ruppin

Category:Members of the Hanseatic League