© Janin Arntzen

In the first half of the 17th century, a war raged in Central Europe that brought an unimaginable amount of suffering to the people. The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 as a religious conflict and grew into a conflict over hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and in Europe. It brought with it the destruction of entire regions, plundering, hunger, murder and expulsion. It was not only the people who longed for peace. There was also a growing desire on the part of the warring parties to end this extremely costly war with its heavy losses.

A peace congress, which lasted from 1643 to 1648 and was held in the cities of Osnabrück and Münster in protracted negotiations that were often threatened with failure, finally brought about the peace that went down in history as the Peace of Westphalia.

The three peace treaties concluded in Osnabrück and Münster between 15 May and 24 October 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War in Germany and the Eighty Years' War of Independence in the Netherlands, are known as the Peace of Westphalia.
Osnabrück was the negotiating centre for the Swedes, the emperor's envoys and the Protestant imperial estates, while the envoys of France, the emperor and the Catholic imperial estates met in Münster. Both Protestant Sweden and Catholic France demanded a negotiating venue where their envoys could practise their faith. The proximity of the two cities also ensured a rapid exchange of information. They also had an intact urban infrastructure to accommodate the delegations travelling from all parts of the empire and neighbouring European countries.

© Uwe Lewandowski

The peace treaty between the Swedes, the Imperial Estates and the Emperor, the Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis (IPO), was concluded on 6 August 1648 in the residence of the Swedish negotiator Axelsson Oxenstierna. The peace was solemnly sealed here with the so-called Osnabrück handshake.

This treaty was signed together with the Peace of Münster, the Instrumentum Pacis Monasteriensis, concluded between the Emperor and France on 24 October 1648 in Münster. The Spanish-Dutch Partial Peace had already been concluded in Münster on 15 May 1648. The peace treaty and thus the end of the Thirty Years' War was finally proclaimed on 25 October 1648 from the steps of Osnabrück town hall. An event that is commemorated today with numerous events every year.