The university town of Freiberg is a large district town and
mining town roughly in the middle of the Free State of Saxony
between Dresden and Chemnitz. It is the administrative seat of the
district of Central Saxony, formed in 2008, and with the Freiberg
Mining Academy founded in 1765, it is the seat of the oldest still
existing technical and mining science university in the world.
The entire historic city center is a listed building. Together
with local monuments of mining history such as the Reichen Zeche, it
has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ore Mountains Mining
Region since 2019. Until 1969, the city was characterized by mining
and the iron and steel industry for around 800 years. In the last
few decades there has been a structural change to a high-tech
location in the field of semiconductor manufacturing and solar
technology, making Freiberg part of Silicon Saxony. According to the
city administration, 39,318 inhabitants lived in the actual city
without districts as of December 31, 2015.
The Brandenburger Theater is the city theater. It has
not had its own ensemble since the mid-1990s, but it has its own
symphony orchestra. It is the home of the Brandenburg Symphony
Orchestra and has guest performances.
The Event Theater is a
free theater in the city that operates, for example, the
Fontaneklub, a cultural center that is home to a cabaret, a cinema
and a restaurant. The Stahlpalast is Brandenburg's largest
multi-purpose event hall. Among other things, it is used for
concerts.
The events of the
Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra are an integral part of Brandenburg's
cultural life. In Brandenburg an der Havel the symphony concerts and
special concerts u. a. In the industrial museum, Brandenburg
Cathedral, St. Pauli monastery or the open air at Beetzsee fixed
program items in the city's cultural life.
The orchestra not
only acts as a symphony orchestra, but also at opera performances in
Brandenburg an der Havel and has played for years in the opera
productions of the Rheinsberg Castle Chamber Opera. The
Brandenburger Symphoniker perform regularly in Berlin (Konzerthaus,
Philharmonie), Potsdam (Nikolaisaal), Frankfurt (Oder) (Kleist
Forum), Stendal (Theater der Altmark) as well as in other cities in
the state of Brandenburg, but also make guest appearances throughout
Germany and in Foreign countries. Guest appearances have taken the
orchestra to the USA, Japan, South Africa, Spain and China. The
Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra are regular guests at the
MúsicaMallorca Festival in Palma de Mallorca.
The Jacaranda
Ensemble (founded in 1997) is a German instrumental ensemble made up
of five musicians and soloists from the Brandenburg Symphony
Orchestra. The ensemble wants to build a bridge between the cultures
of the world with its music. Concert tours have taken the Jacaranda
Ensemble across Europe, the USA and Asia.
The
home of the Brandenburger Theater is the CulturCongressCentrumm in
Grabenstrasse. Outside the theater, this can be used for various
events. Trade fairs and celebrations take place in the premises.
The Officers' House (BTE) is a socio-cultural center that
regularly hosts concerts, dance events and workshops. A large number
of well-known artists have already performed in the BTE.
The State Archaeological Museum in the Paulikloster was
opened on September 24, 2008. It presents around 130,000 years of
history in the Brandenburg region.
The cathedral museum in
the cathedral exam houses, among other things, the documents of the
first mention of the cities of Kölln and Berlin. Above all, it
preserves sacred art such as chalices and liturgical vestments.
The Brandenburg Industrial Museum is located in the former VEB
steel and rolling mill on the silo canal. The steelworks was the
last in Western Europe that produced steel using the Siemens-Martin
process until 1993. In addition to the old technology for the
Siemens-Martin process, the industrial museum houses the “Brennabor
in Brandenburg” exhibition, which offers an insight into the
company's history. With the museum, the city is also part of the
European Route of Industrial Culture.
The Brandenburg City
Museum is located at two locations. The museum in the Frey-Haus as a
branch of the city museum houses the city history museum. This is
located in the former Frey House of Colonel Ewald Weding von Massow
at Ritterstraße 96 in the old town of Brandenburg. It was created
after the industrialist Ernst Paul Lehmann made the Frey House
building available in 1922. Among other things, it houses the
so-called Katte sword. In the permanent exhibition The Climbing
Monkey Tom, mechanical tin toys manufactured in Brandenburg are
shown, among others from the Lehmanns toy factory. The museum in the
Steintorturm, which is also affiliated with the city museum, offers
permanent exhibitions on the Brandenburg Havel shipping. In
addition, the gate tower is an observation tower with a view over
the city.
The Brandenburg an der Havel Museum Harbor was set up at the port
of the former Wiemann an der Havel shipyard between the old town and
Neustadt. Ships on display are, for example, the steam tugs
Nordstern from Nordstern Reederei and Luise from Historischer Hafen
Brandenburg a. d. Havel e. V.
The Brandenburg Memorials
Foundation maintains the Brandenburg-Görden prison memorial and the
memorial for the victims of the euthanasia murders in the city.
In the psychiatric-neurological Asklepios Fachklinikum
Brandenburg in the Görden district, a psychiatry museum is open to
the public.
The tram museum of Verkehrsbetriebe Brandenburg
in a former depot in Bauhofstrasse shows exhibits from the over
100-year history of the tram in Brandenburg.
The Slawendorf
open-air museum on the right bank of the Havel river downstream from
the old town is operated by the Brandenburg UG, founded for this
purpose, together with BAS, which is active in various areas of
social work. Various village and other buildings from the medieval
Slav period before 1157 were reproduced in it.
In the list of architectural monuments in Brandenburg an der Havel,
in the list of architectural monuments in Brandenburg an der Havel
(outside areas) and in the list of ground monuments in Brandenburg
an der Havel are the cultural monuments entered in the list of
monuments of the state of Brandenburg.
The city is a member
of the working group "Cities with Historic Town Centers" and part of
the European Route of Brick Gothic.
Churches
The cathedral
of St. Peter and Paul rises on the cathedral island, until the 20th
century this was the separate municipality of Brandenburg Cathedral.
The parish church for the secular residents of Brandenburg Cathedral
has been the St. Petri Chapel since 1320, which emerged from the
castle chapel of the Margrave's seat, which, however, had been
relocated to Brandenburg Neustadt in 1230.
The St. Katharinen
Church is the Protestant parish church of Neustadt and an
outstanding example of brick Gothic from the 15th century. The
Dominican monastery and church of St. Pauli is located on the site
of the former margravial court in the southwest of the new town.
After the reconstruction of the monastery complex, which was badly
damaged in World War II, the complex has been home to the State
Archaeological Museum since November 2007.
St. Gotthardt, the
Protestant parish church in the old town, is one of the oldest
church buildings in the city and was also used as a bishop's church
before the cathedral was built. It includes three architectural
styles. The portal was built in Romanesque style, the nave is
Gothic, the tower is Baroque. St. Johannis is located on the
southwestern edge of the old town and was the church of the
Franciscan monastery. It stands at the so-called Salzhof on the
north bank of the Havel. Badly damaged in World War II, it was only
restored for the 2015 Federal Horticultural Show.
Medieval
churches were also built in front of the city gates. The
Nikolaikirche is just 300 m in front of the Plauer Tor in the old
town. The Romanesque brick basilica with an open roof was built from
1170. It is said to have been intended for the only documented
settlement of Luckenberg, possibly a merchant town that was then not
realized. The St. Jacob Chapel, located about 400 m west of the New
Town's stone gate, is popularly known as the Crazy Chapel, as the
entire structure was moved eleven meters to the west as part of a
road widening in 1892. In January 2005 the Jakobskapelle was named
“Monument of the Month” by the working group “Cities with Historic
Town Centers”. From 1220 to April 20, 1722, the four-tower St.
Mary's Church was located on the Harlunger- or Marienberg, a
well-known pilgrimage church with an attached Premonstratensian
canon monastery.
The Catholic parish church of the Holy
Trinity in the New Town was furnished with modern glass art, a cycle
by the London artist Graham Jones creation. from dark to light
(2005/2006). The catholic church St. Elisabeth auf dem Görden
belongs to the Trinity parish. The Catholic St. Bernhard Chapel in
the listed rolling mill settlement was profaned in 2014.
The Evangelical Christ Church, which was built in the New
Objectivity style, is located in the rolling mill settlement. The
Protestant Church of the Resurrection is on the Görden. The most
modern church building in Brandenburg is the New Apostolic Church on
Mühlengraben, consecrated in 2011.
The parish church of Plaue
was built in the late Romanesque style at the beginning of the 13th
century and expanded into a two-aisled hall church in the 16th
century in the brick Gothic style. She was the burial place of
several noble families who owned Schloss Plaue. Crypts and the tomb
of Lily Countess von Koenigsmarcks remind of this. The Catholic
Church of the Holy Spirit in Kirchmöser belongs to the parish of St.
Marien in Genthin in Saxony-Anhalt and to the diocese of Magdeburg.
The background is the fact that Kirchmöser historically belonged to
the district of Jerichow II in the Prussian province of Saxony.
Several village churches came to the city area in the course of
incorporation. The Neuendorf village church is a small baroque hall
church. There is a neo-baroque school and prayer house in
Wilhelmsdorf. The lower parts of the tower of the Klein Kreutz
village church date from the Gothic period, while the rest of the
church was rebuilt in the 19th century in a mixed neo-Romanesque and
neo-Gothic style in place of the previous building. In the church
there is a Marian altar and picture panels from the previous
building. The Mahlenzien village church is a Romanesque stone
church. It dates from the 13th century. The baroque interior of the
church dates from the 18th century. What is striking is the lack of
paint on the pulpit altar, the patronage and other church stalls and
the gallery.
The completely separate
medieval wall rings of Brandenburg's old town and new town have been
preserved in parts. There are also four city gate towers. The town
fortifications of the old town include the Rathenower Gate Tower and
the Plauer Gate Tower, named after the destinations of the country
roads that begin here. The other two gate towers belong to the
Neustadt: The Steintorturm is the largest gate tower in Brandenburg
and has controlled traffic in the south-west via the Heerstrasse to
Magdeburg. The exit over the Mühlendamm to the cathedral and further
to the northeast was monitored from the Neustadt Mühlentorturm.
The old town hall on the old town market is an outstanding
example of 15th century brick Gothic. In contrast to the New Town
Hall, it remained undamaged in the Second World War and is now home
to the city council and the mayor's office. The adjoining
Ordonnanzhaus at Schusterstraße 6 is a Gothic building, the oldest
parts of which date from the 14th century. It is considered the
oldest civil secular building in the Mark Brandenburg. Other
buildings on the market are the Secretariat and Syndikatshaus, a
twin house with an impressive Renaissance gable, and the Inspector's
House, a single-storey baroque building with a mansard roof.
The Gothic House on the corner of Ritterstraße and
Johanneskirchgasse in the old town is one of the most important
examples of secular architecture in the north German brick Gothic
with its almost completely original, late medieval cubature and
structure. Another important building is the Quitzowhaus on
Bäckerstraße, at the corner of Schusterstraße, as the only surviving
Renaissance half-timbered building with decorative half-timbering in
Lower Saxony in Brandenburg. At the beginning of the 20th century,
the renaissance portal of Carpzow's house from the new town was
added to the old school building of the old town Latin school
Saldria on Gotthardtkirchplatz. The house of the manufacturer Ernst
Paul Lehmann on Plauer Strasse has been an outstanding example of
Art Nouveau architecture since the renovation and furnishing by the
Berlin architect Bruno Möhring (* 1863; † 1929)
Carpzow's
house at Steinstrasse 57, the ancestral seat of the learned Carpzov
family, is one of the secular buildings of the new town. The house
is a gable-independent Renaissance building from 1563. The old
Neustadt school of scholars on Katharinenkirchplatz is an early
classical building and houses the town's registry office. In the
Packhofstrasse there is a former tattersall (stable for guest
horses), which was acquired by the New Apostolic congregation in
1939 and used as a church until 2008.
The Brandenburg Cathedral retreat goes back to the Romanesque
period. One of the Gothic wings has retained its character, one was
redesigned in a simple baroque style, and one was replaced by a
neo-Gothic school building in the 19th century. Cathedral Curia V
has an elaborately designed Gothic brick gable and, despite changes
from the 20th century, has Gothic details on the long sides as well.
The other cathedral curiae are kept in a simple baroque style. One
is the rectory of the cathedral parish.
In addition to
individual buildings of remarkable architectural history, the city
of Brandenburg also has some architecturally closed city quarters:
The oldest of these quarters and at the same time the oldest
settlement core in the city is the cathedral island. Here are:
the cathedral,
the St. Peter's Chapel,
the cathedral exam
(cathedral monastery)
Cathedral curia or canon houses,
Remains
of Brandenburg Castle
The Temnitz district between
Sankt-Annen-Strasse and the Paulikloster is a successful work of
modern reconstruction after the Second World War. After heavy
fighting in the last days of the Second World War, the old monastery
district was completely destroyed. Between 1952 and 1958 it was
rebuilt as a compact, uniformly styled ensemble. The planning
competition, the 1st prize of which was won by Professor Wagner from
the Weimar University of Architecture and the 2nd prize by the
Brandenburg architects Kluge and Stolze, required strict alignment
with the requirements of Berlin's Stalinallee. Even though
significantly fewer funds were available for decorating the facades
than was the case with Stalinallee, the sculptor Hans Klakow was
still able to design it Episode has been removed. In the course of
the incorporation, several castles and mansions came to the city
over the decades. Plaue Castle was built in the early 18th century
in the Baroque style, but it goes back to a medieval castle, which
in turn had its origins in a Slavic rampart. The Gollwitz manor,
which is also baroque, dates from the second half of the 18th
century. The Mahlenzien manor is a classicist building from the
early 19th century.
Some of the high-rise buildings in the
city of Brandenburg an der Havel are also exemplary for their era.
Like many other buildings in the newer residential areas, they were
extensively renovated from the 1990s onwards by the municipal
housing company Wobra, the legal successor to the former VEB
Gebäudewirtschaft of the City of Brandenburg. The skyscraper
Sankt-Annen-Strasse, formerly Friedensstrasse, at the southern
entrance to the city of Neustadt (Sankt-Annen-Strasse 10–12), was
built in 1959 and 1960 according to the designs of the architect
Gerhard Herrmann. An eleven-story building on Brielower Strasse at
the northeast entrance to the city was built in 1963 under the same
architect. As the largest of the Brandenburg skyscrapers, the
so-called book skyscraper was built in 1977 in today's
Kreyssigstrasse, also an eleven-storey house with 108 residential
units in prefabricated construction. With their barely neoclassical
handwriting with special consideration of local traditions, the
architects were able to implement an "adapted, site-specific
expression", "which one cannot claim to have 'Stalinist
architectural forms'."
Roland
The Roland von Brandenburg was erected in 1474 on the market square
of the Neustadt and is 5.35 meters high. In 1716, the sandstone
figure was moved to the town hall because it disturbed the Prussian
garrison troops while they were exercising. Since the Roland had
been relocated and buried in an external property of the city since
1941 during the Second World War, it was not affected by the
destruction of the New Town Hall in the bombing in 1945 and found
its current place in 1946 next to the portal of the Old Town Hall.
In addition to emphasizing urban independence, the establishment of
the Brandenburg Roland was also an expression of the city's economic
prosperity. This Roland from 1474 had a probably wooden predecessor
from 1402. A copy of the Brandenburg Roland was made in 1905 for the
Märkisches Museum Berlin and erected in front of the entrance
portal.
By plane
The nearest airports are Dresden-Klotzsche Airport (IATA:
DRS) , 45 km and Leipzig Halle Airport (IATA: LEJ), 110 km.
By
train
The train station Freiberg (Sachs) is located south of the old
town (walking distance from Obermarkt approx. 15 minutes). Freiberg is
on the railway line from Dresden to Werdau (on to Hof;
Sachsen-Franken-Magistrale), on which lines RE 3, RB 30 and S 3 operate.
Here the non-electrified branch line branches off to Holzhau. All other
railway lines that used to lead to the area around Freiberg (e.g. to
Nossen (still traditional trains), Langenau and Halsbrücke) are no
longer operated as planned.
The following lines stop in Freiberg
(Sachs):
RE 3: Hof Hbf - Plauen - Zwickau Hbf - Chemnitz Hbf -
Freiberg - Dresden Hbf (every 60 minutes)
RB 30: Zwickau Hbf -
Chemnitz Hbf - Freiberg - Dresden Hbf (every 60 minutes)
S 3:
Freiberg – Klingenberg-Colmnitz – Tharandt – Freital – Dresden Hbf (only
Mon–Fri during rush hour; every 60 minutes)
FEG: Freiberg – Mulda –
Holzhau (Mon-Fri every 60 minutes, Sat-Sun every 120 minutes)
By
bus
Bus transport in the district of Mittelsachsen is carried out by
the company Regiobus. Regiobus operates the regional bus lines as well
as city bus services in Freiberg and other central Saxon cities.
Freiberg can also be reached several times a day by bus line 400 from
the directions of Dresden and Annaberg-Buchholz.
On the street
Freiberg can be reached comfortably from afar via the Siebenlehn exit of
the A4 motorway and the subsequent B101 federal road. The federal
highway B173 also runs from the direction of Dresden and Chemnitz. Its
eastern part from Dresden is part of the Silberstraße, which then
continues south on the B101 federal road into the Ore Mountains.
There are several multi-storey car parks on the outskirts of the city
centre, e.g. B. at Tivoli and next to the Kornhaus.
The city has a six-line bus network. All lines go to the central
train and bus stations:
Line A: (Seilerberg -) Wasserberg - train
station - bus station - Tuttendorf - Halsbrücke (daily, Mon-Fri every 30
minutes, Sat/Sun every 60 minutes Wasserberg - bus station and
individual trips to Halsbrücke)
Line B: Friedeburg - train station -
bus station - Zug - Brand-Erbisdorf (daily, Mon-Fri every 30 minutes to
Zug and every second trip to Brand-Erbisdorf, Sat/Sun as a call line
taxi with service to the city center)
Line C: train station - bus
station - university premises - Friedeburg - Wasserberg - Häuersteig
(daily, Mon-Fri every 20 minutes, Sat/Sun every 60 minutes)
Line D:
(Train -) Seilerberg - train station - bus station - Frauensteiner
Straße - Reiche Zeche (daily, Mon-Fri every 30 minutes, Sat/Sun every 60
minutes)
Line F: Brand-Erbisdorf - industrial area north - Häuersteig
- train station - bus station (daily, Mon-Fri every 30 minutes (some
trips via Wasserberg), Sat/Sun every 60 minutes as a continuation of
line D)
Line I: Donatsring - Friedeburg - Wasserberg - train station
- bus station - industrial area south - industrial area Saxonia -
industrial area Pulvermühlenweg (excluding journeys during the shift
times of the companies in the commercial/industrial areas, all journeys
as call line taxis)
The tariff of the Verkehrsverbund
Mittelsachsen (VMS) applies, the Freiberg city area is in tariff zone
10. In the VMS tariff area, association tickets are valid in all public
transport of the respective tariff zone, which can be purchased from the
bus driver or in the mobility center at the bus station. The Saxony
(Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia) ticket is also valid on all means of
transport in the VMS.
In Freiberg's old town, all the main areas
are within walking distance, the streets Petersstrasse, Erbische Strasse
and Burgstrasse are designated as pedestrian zones.
In the center of Freiberg there are many small shops and boutiques that invite you to go shopping. In addition, on the outskirts in the direction of Brand-Erbisdorf (directly on the B101) is the retail park Häuersteig, with a supermarket and a hardware store, among other things.
Pubs and restaurants of different price levels and tastes are well
distributed in the old town of Freiberg. Meißner Gasse in the lower town
has developed into a "bar mile".
Culinary specialty
Freiberg
is famous for its Freiberger Eierschecke, which differs from the Dresden
version in both appearance and taste. You can try it in bakeries in the
village and the surrounding area.
Café Andelt, Untermarkt 26,
09599 Freiberg.
Bakery Auerbach, Humboldtplatz. 1, 09599 Freiberg
Medium
Stadtwirtschaft, Burgstraße 18. Tel.: +49 3731 692469,
e-mail: post@stadtwirtschaft.de. bohemian cuisine. Open: daily from 11
a.m.
Pfeffersack, Kirchgasse 15c (in the Schönbergschen Hof, directly
at the cathedral). Tel.: +49 3731 458676, fax: +49 3731 458680, e-mail:
freiberg@historische-gastwirtschaft-pfeffersack.de. Historical inn.
Open: Tue to Sat from 12.00 - 2.30 p.m. and 6.00 - 12.00 p.m., Sun from
12.00 - 2.30 p.m. and 6.00 - 10.00 p.m., Monday: closed.
Potato
house, Berggasse 7. Tel.: +49 3731 355600, fax: +49 (0)3731 202249,
e-mail: info@kartoffelhaus-freiberg.de. home-style regional cuisine.
Open: daily from 5 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.
Upscale
Ratskeller,
Obermarkt 16. Tel.: +49 3731 22151, fax: +49 3731 22153, e-mail:
post@ratskeller-freiberg.de. home-style regional cuisine. Open: daily
from 10 a.m. to midnight.
Medium
1 Hotel Alekto, Am Bahnhof 3, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37
31 79 40. Feature: ★★★★. Price: single room from €62, double room from
€92.
Hotel am Obermarkt, Weisenhausstr. 2, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49
37 31 26 37 0. Price: SR from €51, DR from €80.
2 Hotel Kreller,
Fischerstr. 5, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 35 40 0. Features: ★★★★,
WiFi. Price: single room from €62, double room from €89.
Hotel
"Mauck'sches Gut", Hornstr. 20, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 33 97 8.
Price: SR from €54, SR from €72.
Altstadt-Hotel, Donatsgasse 3, 09599
Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 20 70 30. Price: SR from €65, DR from €85.
Hotel Regenbogenhaus, Brueckenstr. 5, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 79
85 0. Price: SR from €51, DR from €70.
Hotel Silberhof, Silberhofstr.
1, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 26 88 0. Price: SR from €55.10, DR
from €70.10.
Hotel Garni "Blaue Blume", Donatsgasse 25, 09599
Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 26 56 0. Price: SR from €55, DR from €75.
Hotel Brauhof, Körnerstr. 2, 09599 Freiberg. Tel.: +49 37 31 35 30 0.
Price: SR from €54, DR from €67.
Upscale
Schlossvilla
Freiberg, Beethovenstr. 11, 09599 Freiberg. Phone: +49 37 31 20 63 05.
The Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF), founded in
1765, is the fifth oldest mining university in the world. It has six
faculties:
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science (Faculty
1)
Faculty of Chemistry and Physics (Faculty 2)
Faculty of Earth
Sciences, Geotechnics and Mining (Faculty 3)
Faculty of Mechanical,
Process and Energy Engineering (Faculty 4)
Faculty of Materials
Science and Technology (Faculty 5)
Faculty of Economics (Faculty 6)
Freiberg district hospital, Donatsring 20. Tel.: +49 3731 770, fax: +49 3731 77 2399. The district hospital provides comprehensive medical care for the population of Central Saxony. It is an academic teaching hospital at the TU Dresden.
Tourist Information, Schloßplatz 6. Tel.: +49 3731 273664, fax: +49 3731 273665, e-mail: tourist-info@freiberg.de. Open: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. 10:00-18:00, Wed. 10:00-14:00, Sat.-Sun. 10:00-12:30 and 13:15-16:00 (01.01.-14.03. Sat. only 10:00-13:00, Sun. closed).
The town, whose history is closely linked to mining, came into being
around 1162/1170. Between 1156 and 1162, Margrave Otto von Meißen had
several Waldhufendörfer laid out for the Altzelle monastery, including
Christiansdorf. In 1168 silver ore was discovered near Christiansdorf.
The Margrave then obtained the royal right to dispose of the natural
resources in his country, which were actually subject to the royal
mountain regime. The assurance of special freedoms for the miners, such
as u. the freedom of the person and the exemption from various
compulsory taxes and services, attracted numerous miners, traders and
craftsmen, along with their families, to the Ore Mountains. Due to the
wave of immigration, the city of "Vriberge" (1195), 1218 "Friberch",
1227 in the city seal "Vriberch" and 1328 "Fryberg" developed within two
decades. In 1466 the terms "Freiberg" and "Freyberg" were used for the
first time. This name is derived from the important feature, the freedom
of mining introduced by Margrave Otto, i.e. the mining rights of every
immigrant. For a fee, anyone could dig for the silver ore and anyone
could obtain permission to mine it. The silver could only be sold to the
margravial mint.
In the high Middle Ages, Freiberg was the
largest city in the Mark Meissen and an important trading location. Its
wealth of silver and the important mint made the Electorate of Saxony a
prosperous state. The famous Freiberg city and mining law (ius
Fribergensis), first mentioned in 1233, gained great importance for the
Ore Mountains in written form from 1307 onwards. The Bergakademie was
founded in 1765, one of the world's oldest mining engineering
universities. In 1913 silver mining ceased due to the fall in the price
of silver. Started again before the Second World War, mining activities
for lead, zinc and tin were increased again until 1969.
Freiberg
is the namesake for the mineral Freibergit, named by Gustav Adolf
Kenngott in 1853.
An American air raid on Freiberg, especially on
the station suburb, on October 7, 1944 claimed 172 lives.
In
2015, there was a bomb attack on a home for asylum seekers in Freiberg
and xenophobic riots against a convoy of refugees, causing the place to
be in the media nationwide.
Memorial with names and dates for the soldiers of Reserve Jäger
Battalion 26 who died or went missing in World War I on Bebelplatz.
Memorial stone on the Soviet Cemetery of Honor on Himmelfahrtsgasse
(previously on the Donatsfriedhof) for the victims of fascism in the
countries occupied by Germany during the Second World War, for eleven
unknown concentration camp prisoners from a satellite camp of Buchenwald
concentration camp who were killed in April 1945 by SS men were
murdered, as well as for the first post-war mayor Karl Günzel, a former
Buchenwald prisoner
Memorial at the Platz der Oktoberopfer, where 27
demonstrators were killed and 25 injured by Reichswehr units during a
demonstration on October 27, 1923.
Commemorative plaque at the
Sächsische Porzellanwerk GmbH, where political opponents of the regime
were interned and tortured by the Nazi authorities in the spring of
1933. The panel was removed after 1990.
Commemorative plaque at the
district office on Frauensteiner Strasse, commemorating the 1,000 Jewish
female prisoners in a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp and
Polish women forced laborers who were deported to Germany during the
Second World War and became victims of forced labor.
Memorial plaque
in the same place for the Jewish director of the porcelain factory, Dr.
Werner Hofmann, who escaped persecution in 1939 by committing suicide.
Commemorative plaque for Werner Hartenstein (1879-1947), who was mayor
of the city from 1924 to 1945 and who saved the city from unnecessary
losses at the end of the war in 1945. Arrested by the NKVD in June 1945,
Hartenstein died on February 11, 1947 in the Jamlitz special camp.
The city lies on the northern slope of the Ore Mountains with most of
the city area west of the Ostliche or Freiberger Mulde. The city is
partly embedded in the valleys of the Münzbach and the Goldbach. The
center with the train station is about 412 m above sea level. NHN. The
lowest point is the Münzbach on the city limits at 340 m above sea
level. NHN, the highest point is at 491 m above sea level. NHN on a
mining dump. Freiberg lies within an old clearing landscape that was
used and shaped by mining and is surrounded by forests in the north,
south-east and south-west and by fields and meadows in the other
directions. At the beginning of the 21st century, a zone of urbanization
tended to emerge with the towns of Nossen, Roßwein, Großschirma,
Freiberg and Brand-Erbisdorf. This includes about 75,000 inhabitants.
Freiberg is about 31 km west-southwest of Dresden, about 31 km
east-northeast of Chemnitz, about 82 km south-east of Leipzig, about 179
km south of Berlin and about 120 km north-west of Prague. Freiberg is
about 8.4 km west of the geographical center of the Free State and is
therefore the city with its center closest to this point.
Freiberg lies on the border between two forms of the Saxon dialect:
south-east Meissen to the east and south-Meissen to the west, both of
which can be assigned to the five Meissen dialects, and just north of
the dialect area of the Eastern Ore Mountains.
The nucleus of the town, the former Waldhufendorf Christiansdorf,
lies in the valley of the Münzbach. The high medieval town of Freiberg
(the free mountain) developed from the former farming settlement. The
walled town center was built on its slopes and on the ridge to the west.
One of the consequences of this was that the roads branching off to the
east of the old main road axis (today Erbische Straße and Burgstraße
from the former Erbisches Tor at Postplatz to Freudenstein Castle), some
of which lead to the opposite slope of the Münzbach valley, are steep.
The part to the east of the main street axis is referred to as the lower
town with the associated lower market. The western area is the Oberstadt
with the Obermarkt. The city center is surrounded by the ring systems
running along the old city wall. In the west, these, in which the cross
ponds are embedded, widen like a park. Immediately north of the city
center are the remains of the city wall with several wall towers and the
key pond in front of Freudenstein Castle. The remains of the wall
continue in an easterly direction with breakthroughs up to the
Donatsturm. The historical moat dominates in this area. The southern
border of the old town center is partly characterized by buildings from
the Gründerzeit. The federal highway 101 flanks the west as Wallstraße,
the federal highway 173 as Schillerstraße and Hornstraße the south of
the old town.
Freiberg's north is characterized by the campus of
the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Its main parts on both sides of Leipziger
Strasse (the most important traffic connection in this area as the B
101) were built in the 1950s and 1960s. There are also the districts of
Loßnitz, Lößnitz and Kleinwaltersdorf, which do not directly reach the
urban development limits. Between Kleinwaltersdorf and Lößnitz lies the
Nonnenwald and east of Leipziger Straße is an industrial area.
The east of Freiberg includes the right, eastern slope of the Münzbach
valley, the valley of the Freiberger Mulde and parts of the plateau to
the east. Since intensive mining was carried out there for centuries,
this area is mainly characterized by the open-pit mines, their heaps and
industrial plants from different periods. Large parts of the mining
heaps were greened from the 1960s and are now forested. The district of
Halsbach on the B 173 is an old scattered settlement on the east slope
of the Mulde, in which mainly miners lived with their families. Between
the 1960s and 1990s there were a total of six chimneys between 120 and
200 m high in Halsbrücke and Muldenhütten, which largely shaped the
Freiberg city silhouette. Towards the east, the
Sachsen-Franconia-Magistrale initially runs in a deep incision, in a
curve open to the north out of the city, in order to take the direction
of Dresden after passing the Muldenhütten railway viaduct. A country
road leads south-east out of the city in the direction of the Eastern
Ore Mountains and the Czech Republic. The closed residential development
in the eastern part of the city mainly dates from the second half of the
19th and the first half of the 20th century. North of Dresdner Strasse
between the Donat Tower and the former Freiberg (East) train station is
the Donat Cemetery, which is several hundred years old. Other cemeteries
are located north of it.
Freiberg's south is primarily determined
by the east-west railway line, which crosses the north-running valleys
of Münzbach and Goldbach on high embankments. In the south, this railway
line, with its formerly important goods yard, intersects with the
increasingly steep slopes leading to the Ore Mountains. The above-ground
facilities of old ore mines were located between the train station and
the old town. This terrain has occupied the station suburb since the
last third of the 19th century. There are old industrial areas around
the train station and the bus station is on Wernerplatz. in the eastern
part were the old Jüdenberg (Jewish suburb) and several outworks.
Southwest of the city center, to the south of Chemnitzer Straße (B 173),
is Freibergsdorf. South of the railway line is a settlement area that
was laid out in the 1930s. Between this, the railway line and the
district of Zug, the residential areas of Seilerberg and Wasserberg were
laid out between the 1960s and 1980s. The west-east tangent runs through
these residential areas, relieving the city center of long-distance
traffic. Today, Zug is a residential area characterized by small mining
heaps with many single-family houses. Shopping centers and commercial
areas are located on the B 101, Annaberger Straße. Almost imperceptibly,
the area of Zug merges into the urban area of Brand-Erbisdorf. The
district of Langenrinne in the southeast in the valley of the Münzbach
was formerly characterized by agriculture and is now a residential area
with a looser structure. The solar industry has found a location between
Langenrinne and the Seilerberg.
The west is the preferred
residential area with the city park, a leisure center and one of the two
German temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(colloquially called Mormons). It was built from 1983 to 1985 and
consecrated on June 29, 1985. Larger villas were built there at the end
of the 19th century, and single-family houses were built during the GDR
era. The district of Friedeburg is a mixture of villa colonies,
residential buildings from the 1980s and 1990s and more recent
loosened-up development. There the country road leads out of the city in
the direction of Hainichen and Mittweida. In the southwest, the city is
bordered by the Hospitalwald, in which there is an open-air swimming
pool and a campsite. The railway line runs through this forest towards
the west.
In the Freiberg area there are industrial sites as well as agriculture, forests and local recreation areas. Companies from the metallurgical and metalworking industries are located at the Muldenhütten and Halsbrücke sites, and companies from the paper industry are located in Weißenborn, Großschirma and Reinsberg. The young town of Großschirma is located north of Freiberg on the federal highway 101. The municipality of Halsbrücke adjoins the Freiberg urban area to the north-east. Further to the east is the municipality of Bobritzsch-Hilbersdorf. Also northeast of the city is the local recreation area of Tharandter Forest. The municipality of Weißenborn, located in the south-east, belongs to the administrative community of Lichtenberg-Weißenborn with the town of Frauenstein, which is even further away. The large district town of Brand-Erbisdorf and the Freiwald are located on the federal highway 101, which leads south out of Freiberg. To the south, to the ridge of the Ore Mountains, and to the north in the direction of Nossen and Meißen, the facilities of the Freiberg district watercourse facility, which are interesting from a technical and nature conservation point of view, extend. To the west are Oberschona and Oederan.
In terms of regional geology, the Freiberg area belongs to the Ore
Mountain central zone within the Fichtelgebirge-Ore Mountain anticline
zone. The hard rock base consists of orthogneiss of Proterozoic age
(also called "Freiberger Graugneis", "Freiberger Kerngneis" or
"Freiberger Gneiss Dome"). The gneiss consists of about 40% feldspar
(potassium feldspar and plagioclase), 33% quartz and 27% mica (biotite
and muscovite). The mineral components are mostly elongated due to the
regional metamorphic overprint, which gives the gneiss its typical
slate-platelike ("flaky") rock texture. The gneiss has been the source
of building material for a large number of buildings in and around
Freiberg since the city was founded until recently (see photograph of
the Annenkapelle). The solid rock body is traversed by two systems of
tectonic fracture structures. These were formed during the Varistic and
Alpid orogeny. The polymetallic ore veins of the Freiberg deposit
district were formed through the sale of hydrothermal solutions in these
deep-reaching fissure systems. The ore veins were mined from the High
Middle Ages until the second third of the 20th century, with silver
being the predominant extraction component. Mining had a lasting impact
on the character and importance of the city of Freiberg (see main
article Freiberg vein ore deposit).
A northwest-southeast
trending rhyolite dike is noteworthy as a volcanic rock that touches the
city area to the northeast. Depending on the morphology, the upper edge
of the solid rock is usually only a few meters below the surface of the
terrain. Due to its slate-like texture, gneiss weathers into flat pieces
of grit and decomposes into silty-sandy weathered loam if the intensity
of weathering persists. As a result of relocation processes, mixed areas
of weathering and slope loam as well as scree are formed, which cover
the hard rock surface and the weathering zone in varying thicknesses.
Holocene formations only occur in a narrow area along the Münzbach in
the form of alluvial loam. Recent soil formations are present as
hillside sand loam-brown soil and Staugleye.
Street
Freiberg can be reached via the A 4 motorway, exit
Siebenlehn and the federal highway 101, from Dresden or Chemnitz via the
federal highway 173. From the direction of Leipzig, the A 14 motorway,
exit Nossen-Ost and the federal highway 101 lead to Freiberg. Coming
from Prague, the connection is via the A 17, exit Dresden-Gorbitz via
the federal highway 173. Freiberg is the crossing and starting point of
several state roads in the direction of Reinsberg, Halsbrücke,
Dippoldiswalde, Frauenstein, Altenberg (Ore Mountains), Brand-Erbisdorf,
Kleinschirma and Hainichen. Sections of the federal roads 173 and 101
are part of the silver road. This was an old post road with the
Silberwagenweg between Annaberg and Freiberg. The course of the state
road in the direction of Frauenstein corresponds in part to the Alte
Freiberg-Teplitzer Poststraße. The traffic-related importance of
Freiberg can be measured, among other things, by the three Saxon Post
Milestones that still exist. No other place today has such a density of
postal columns.
A 13.5 km long bypass from Freiberg, starting
from the B 173 east of Halsbach via the B 101 in the south, via the B
173 in the west to the B 101 in the northwest, was in the planning
approval process. This was decided by the Federal Administrative Court
on July 14, 2011, AZ. 9 A 12/10, declared illegal and not enforceable.
railroad
Freiberg is located with its two operating train
stations Bahnhof Freiberg (Sachs) at 413 m above sea level. NN and the
train station Muldenhütten (about 395 m above sea level. NN) on the
Sachsen-Franconia-Magistrale on its part of the railway line
Dresden-Werdau. The Nossen–Moldau railway runs from Freiberg into the
Ore Mountains on the section that is still in operation to Holzhau. In
the direction of Nossen, to the north, is the disused Kleinwaltersdorf
station (about 395 m above sea level). This route is operated in the
south by the Freiberger Eisenbahn, which belongs to Transdev SE & Co.
KG, on behalf of the Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen. The
Freiberg–Halsbrücke railway line with Freiberg (Sachs) Ost station, 422
m above sea level. NN, is decommissioned.
air traffic
The
nearest airports are Dresden-Klotzsche (45 km), Leipzig-Altenburg (85
km) and Leipzig/Halle (110 km). There is a special landing site near
Großschirma or Langhennersdorf.
public transport
Public
transport is provided by the Regiobus Mittelsachsen. This operates nine
city bus lines (lines A–I) in the city, which lead to Brand-Erbisdorf,
Zug, Halsbrücke and Oberschona, among other places. The central transfer
point is the bus station next to the Freiberg train station. Here you
can transfer between all city buses and many regional buses. In off-peak
hours, at night and sometimes at weekends, the city bus lines are
supplemented by the on-call line taxi.
Freiberg is part of the
network area of the Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen with tariff zone 10.
Between 1902 and 1919 the Freiberg municipal tram in Saxony operated in
the city of Freiberg with a gauge of 1000 millimetres.
Freiberg silver mining was based on the occurrence of around 1,000
ore veins. Around 180 different minerals were found in the Freiberg
mining area. Mining promoted the development of the city decisively, but
was not the only decisive factor for the founding of the city, because
at about the same time the development of the southern part of the
Meissen Mark was promoted. Ore mining, which was later expanded to
include other metals, ore processing and smelting, the closely related
trades, services and processing industries as well as science,
especially mining and geosciences, shaped the city's economic
development for over 800 years. One example is the German Fuel
Institute, which was responsible for the gas industry.
In
addition to mining, the town was also used for the processing and
smelting of almost all non-ferrous metals, trace elements and precious
metals. Freiberg and Muldenhütten were mints. Semiconductor materials
are manufactured and single crystals are grown in Freiberg. Mechanical
engineering (paper machines), lightweight metal construction,
electronics, precision engineering and the optical industry, the leather
industry, textile production, the porcelain industry and the food
industry are or were represented in the city.
The most important
employer in the city is currently the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. A
promising economic alternative to the branches of industry traditionally
based in Freiberg seems to be developing with resource-saving energy
production and the production of corresponding technical systems. So far
there are the following facilities:
Local wind turbines
Two
citizen power plants
Use of solar thermal energy in a retirement home
Hydroelectric power plant in the Muldental in Halsbach
Wood gas
combined cycle power plant Siebenlehn
Photovoltaic systems on
Freiberg industrial buildings
Private photovoltaic systems on
Freiberg roofs
Construction of a natural gas filling station when
converting to natural gas vehicles at Stadtwerke Freiberg
geothermal
Freiberg Hospital: Clean air from the mines is used for cooling in the
summer and heating in the winter
Heat pumps as heating for hot water
preparation.
Provisional insolvency administration was ordered on
July 6, 2011 for the company Choren Industries, which was the first
company in the world to use subsidies to operate a plant for the
production of synthetic BtL fuel through biomass processing (residual
forest wood, waste wood). The insolvency of the former model company was
the trigger for numerous media reports.
Deutsche Solar AG
(SolarWorld) (until bankruptcy in 2018), Siltronic AG and Freiberger
Compound Materials GmbH are/were active in the field of high technology.
With the branch of Deutsche Solar AG in Freiberg, the largest integrated
solar cell factory in Germany, which produced solar cells with a total
output of 600 megawatts a year, was created in direct continuation of
wafer production. In 2020, former Solarworld production sites were taken
over by Meyer Burger Technology and will be converted into a modernized
plant for solar module production. Silicon has been processed at the
Freiberg site since VEB trace metals Freiberg was founded in 1957.
ACTech GmbH Freiberg, founded in 1995, combines prototype production
and part development with the foundry trade as a service provider in the
field of casting development, now also with locations in the USA and
India.
Another focus is tourism. Due to the sights and the
historic mining facilities, Freiberg, which is located on the Saxon
"Silver Route", is a destination above all for educational tourists
interested in technology, history and art history. The terra mineralia
exhibition has been in Schloss Freudenstein since October 2008. The
intention to apply for the mining region of the Ore Mountains to be
included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites is giving new
impetus.
Manufacturers of precision mechanical devices and
measuring devices are also based in Freiberg.
WECO manufactured
pyrotechnic products with 100 employees and will close at the end of
2021.
The food industry is represented by Freiberger Brauhaus AG
and the Hainichen-Freiberg dairy, which is operated as a joint venture
(50% each) by Ehrmann AG and Käserei Champignon Hofmeister. Freiberg
also has a service sector, and above all the city specializes in
scientific services in the field of geosciences and geoinformatics,
which goes beyond the usual tasks of a medium-sized center.
In
addition to numerous private owners, the municipal housing company
Freiberg, which is majority owned by the city, is an important player in
the housing industry with around 4,000 apartments.
In 1223 there was the St. Johanni Hospital, the first hospital in Freiberg. The Freiberg District Hospital gGmbH celebrated its 150th anniversary on November 8, 2011. The main shareholder of the hospital is the district of Mittelsachsen, another shareholder is Sana Kliniken AG. Since 1998 it has been one of ten primary care hospitals in Saxony. The hospital has a certified stroke center. In 2010, the hospital became an academic teaching hospital for the medical faculty of the Technical University of Dresden.
There is a rescue station at the district hospital in Freiberg, which is assigned to the Brand-Erbisdorf branch. In this, an emergency doctor vehicle is manned 24 hours a day, another from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. As of January 2019, three ambulances are stationed in Freiberg, two of which are manned 24 hours a day, the third is manned Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 24 hours a day. Furthermore, 4 ambulances are available for transporting patients to and from examinations. Until January 31, 2020, the guard was operated by the DRK district association Freiberg. On February 1, there was a change of operator to Malteser Hilfsdienst gGmbh for the first time - but only as an interim award, as the DRK district association raised an objection.
The volunteer fire brigade Freiberg "Moritz Braun" is the volunteer
fire brigade with full-time employees of the city of Freiberg. Their
fire station has been located in the Freiberg district of Freiberg Süd
on Brander Straße 29 since 1997. It was founded as a fire-fighting group
in 1861 following a city council decision from the ranks of the Turner.
Since the 1940s, firefighters have been employed directly by the city,
in 1950 the professional fire brigade Freiberg was founded, which was
then converted back into a volunteer fire brigade with full-time
employees in 1990, since, in addition to a shortage of personnel, the
requirements for when a city must have a professional fire brigade then
80,000 inhabitants, were no longer fulfilled. This is how today's
structure was created as a volunteer fire brigade with full-time staff,
which includes the permanently manned Freiberg fire station, the local
fire brigades in Freiberg, Kleinwaltersdorf and Zug. The fire brigade in
the district of Halsbach, which until recently occupied a KLF on Barkas
B1000, was dissolved in 2008.
The fire brigade of the city of
Freiberg has a total of 225 members: 136 active comrades, 55 youth fire
brigade members and 34 in the senior and honor department. There are
currently 26 full-time employees working three 24-hour shifts, some of
whom are also active in the volunteer fire brigades. Since 2021, all
local fire brigades have had their own youth fire brigade and the
Kleinwaltersdorf local fire brigade has had a children's fire brigade.
Since July 1, 1997, the Technical Relief Organization has had a local branch with 60 active helpers and 9 young helpers in Freiberg, which is located in the district of Zug. It belongs to the Chemnitz regional office and consists of a platoon, the 1st salvage group, the specialist group for emergency supplies and emergency repairs and the specialist groups for clearing, location and heavy salvage.
Television: Stadtfernsehen Freiberg “eff3” (insolvent since June
2015)
Press: Free Press, Wochenspiegel - Freiberger Anzeiger,
Freiberger Readers (1998-2011)
Radio: InPulz - Your city radio
The Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg is the oldest mining
scientific educational institution in the world that still exists. It
was founded in 1765, in the Age of Enlightenment, by Prince Xavier as a
training center for miners in Freiberg, when Saxony had to force mining
after the defeat in the Seven Years' War in order to pay reparations.
One of her most famous former students is Alexander von Humboldt.
The Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Freiberg was founded in 1515 as a
municipal Latin school, making it the first humanistic grammar school in
Saxony. It has the valuable Andreas Möller library, two choirs, the wind
group Musica Concordia and numerous sports groups. The grammar school
consists of two school buildings, the reconstruction and modernization
of which was completed in 2002 and 2004, respectively. The Albertinum is
the main building and, in addition to the school administration, houses
grades 9 to 12, the Dürer House, named after the painter Albrecht Dürer,
houses grades 5 to 8.
The Ulrich-Rülein-Gymnasium was created in
1992 from the Lenin and Gorki polytechnic high schools. In 2007, the
grammar school was merged with the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium and
briefly continued as the Rülein building of the
Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium.
The Freiberg College is a state
institution for second-chance education in the state of Saxony. It
offers adults the opportunity to acquire a general higher education
entrance qualification after completing full-time vocational training.
Founded in 1949, the Freiberg College is the oldest of the three
colleges in Saxony. Around 230 students are currently studying here.
Applicants with a migration background have the opportunity to obtain
the higher education entrance qualification through additional DaZ
courses.
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) as a
branch of the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf
Fraunhofer
Technology Center for High-Performance Materials (THM) as a branch of
the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems Dresden
garrison
Until 1945, Freiberg was a garrison town for the Saxon Army,
the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht. Among other things, the King Friedrich
August barracks.