History:

The earliest written records of Erfurt are from 742 A.D., when a diocese was established in the town of "Erphesfurt."It then grew into an important trading and warehousing center over the next few centuries. During the middle ages Erfurt prospered by selling the plant-based blue dye (known as "the golden fleece of Thuringia") throughout Europe until indigo came along in the 16th century. Erfurt also played an important part in the Reformation; Martin Luther became a monk and entered the priesthood in Erfurt. Erfurt then became capital the capital of Thuringia in 1991, two years after the reunification of Germany.