an important center of Die Wende in southern Thuringia in 1989. Among the many events were a total of 25 demonstrations with 1,000-25,000 participants. After German reunification in 1990, Meiningen became the district town of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. In the Dreißigacker district, new businesses and the new Meiningen Hospital were constructed. In the 1990s, there was a new construction boom in the town, with many houses being renovated and embellished. In July 1994, Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl visited the town, Angela Merkel did so in April 2012. The new Justizzentrum (court house) was built in 2000. In 2003, the town was connected to the Bundesautobahn 71. With the opening of the new Kammerspiele in June 2008, the town created another theater venue, underlining its national significance as a cultural town. In 2013, the new industrial area Rohrer Berg near the motorway junction Meiningen-North was created. Geography and climate The town is situated in the valley of the Werra river between the Thuringian Forest and the Rhön Mountains. Meiningen lies east of Fulda, south of Erfurt and north of Würzburg, across the former frontier between West and East Germany. Subdivisions Meiningen has three subdivisions. The urban districts are town center, North, East, South, Jerusalem (Meiningen), the rural communities are Helba (amalgamated in 1923) and Welkershausen (1936), as Dreißigacker (1990) and Herpf (2010). The former municipalities Henneberg, Wallbach and Walldorf were merged into Meiningen in January 2019, and Stepfershausen in December 2019. Meiningen abuts the following municipalities: Wasungen, Utendorf, Kühndorf, Rohr, Thuringia, Ellingshausen, Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal, Untermaßfeld, Sülzfeld, Grabfeld, Mellrichstadt (Bavaria), Rhönblick, Rippershausen and Mehmels. Climate The relation to the surrounding mountain ranges of the Rhön mountains and the Thuringian Highland deep and sheltered Werra valley and the dense town buildings provide a regional level, for a mild climate in Meiningen. The following values are averages from 1990 until 2012. The average annual temperature is . Temperature extremes since 1960 at Meiningen have ranged from on August 7, 2015, down to on February 12, 2012. The rainfall is 656 millimeters and the sun shines 1,559 hours per year. Demographics The town has about 25,000 (2021) inhabitants. Together with neighbouring Untermaßfeld, Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal, Einhausen, Sülzfeld, Rippershausen, Ritschenhausen, Mellrichstadt, Wasungen and Utendorf, Meiningen forms a small conurbation with a population of about 70,000. Economy Agriculture, industry and services Meiningen offers over 14,500 jobs in around 3,200 small and medium-sized companies, medical facilities, cultural institutions and administrations. The largest