Alkersleben

In Alkersleben, a castle once secured the crossing of the road leading from Arnstadt in the direction of Lobeda via the Wipfra. A quadrilateral hill still bears witness to this past fortification.[2]

The place was first recorded in 1257 as Alkersleibin. There was previously a Manor, whose lords, along with representatives from the Church, dictated life in the village. In 1816 a family acquired the manor. In 1844 the stone bridge crossing over the Wipfra was built.

Until 1920 the village belonged to the Arnstadt department in the principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (Oberherrschaft), and on the 1 July 1950 the village incorporated the independent municipality of Ettischleben.

The religious establishment Dorfkirche St. Greogrius is traced back to a chapel from the 12th century and houses grand paintings from the baroque era. The cemetery was also classified as a protected monument.

Alkersleben is considered to be an agricultural village.

Since the end of the 2005, a Dutch investor had been planning to erect a large pig farm with 22,500 animals and a slurry tank with a capacity of 6,500 cubic metres on the site of a former dairy farm, which had held 2,000 cows until the Wende. Owing to the controversy of the project, in particular the possible risk of odour nuisance over a wide area, more than 2000 objections were raised by citizens and organisations.[6] The plans were accepted by the state administration office of Thuringia at the beginning of April 2009, and have since been realised.

Roads from Alkersleben lead to Dornheim and Osthausen-Wülfershausen. To the east of the village the airfield Arnstadt-Alkersleben is situated, where Historical Flight Days and Speed Days regularly take place.[7]

• Udo Eggert (1848–1893), German university lecturer and political scientist
• Johann Friedrich Christoph Ernesti (1705–1758), German theologian (Evangelical Lutheran)
• Johann Arnold Zeitfuchs (1671–1742), German theologian (Evangelical Lutheran)