Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley.
The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen limestone. This is a very fine-grained limestone from the Jurassic period Lagerstätte that preserves detailed fossil specimens. Alois Senefelder used specially prepared blocks of the fine Solnhofen limestone for the process of lithography which he invented in 1798. The quarrying of this lithographic limestone subsequently yielded spectacular finds, including Archaeopteryx, commemorated in the bird's full name Archaeopteryx lithographica. All 13 known specimens have come from the Solnhofen area.
Solnhofen is located on the Altmühl in Bavaria. It contains two districts: Hochholz and Eßlingen. It is adjacent to the municipalities Pappenheim, Langenaltheim, and Mörnsheim.
Solnhofen was known as "Husen" in the eighth century. In 750/51 Saint Solus created a church there. His grave church (Sola-Basilika) was later built on the site. In honor of him Husen was renamed "Solnhofen". In 1420 Solnhofen was burnt down during the Bavarian War. It also suffered through the Thirty Years' War. From 1649 to the 18th century there was a glass industry in Solnhofen. In 1785 the St Veit church was erected partly on the ruins of the old grave church. In 1870 the train station was opened. From 1903 to 1905 the Catholic St Sola church was built. In 1970 the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum was opened.
The Sola Basilica dating from the Carolingian period is one of the finest architectural monuments in Germany. It is the grave church of Saint Solus. Close to it is the St Veit church that was built in 1785.
As well as celebrating its role as the "hometown" of Archaeopteryx, Solnhofen also commemorates the work of Alois Senefelder with a statue of the inventor by Hippolyte Maindron
The Bürgermeister Müller Museum in Solnhofen displays the history of lithography, the story of the limestone quarries, and the spectacular fossil finds from the area, including the most recently discovered Archaeopteryx specimen.
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The Solnhofen Limestone or Solnhofen Plattenkalk, formally known as the Altmühltal Formation, is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies. The most familiar fossils of the Solnhofen Plattenkalk include the early feathered theropod dinosaur Archaeopteryx preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world.
A Lagerstätte (ˈlaːɡɐˌʃtɛtə, from Lager 'storage, lair' Stätte 'place'; plural Lagerstätten) or fossil bed is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These formations may have resulted from carcass burial in an anoxic environment with minimal bacteria, thus delaying the decomposition of both gross and fine biological features until long after a durable impression was created in the surrounding matrix.
Archaeopteryx (ˌɑːrkiːˈɒptərᵻks; old-wing), sometimes referred to by its German name, "Urvogel" ( Primeval Bird), is a genus of avian dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (archaīos), meaning "ancient", and (ptéryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, Archaeopteryx was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird (member of the group Avialae). Older potential avialans have since been identified, including Anchiornis, Xiaotingia, and Aurornis.