Nerchau is a town and a former municipality in the

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

district, in the

Free State of Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is a part (''Ortschaft'') of the town

Grimma Grimma (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south of Wurz ...

. It is situated on the river

Mulde The Mulde () is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and is long. The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde (running through Zwickau) and the Freiberger Mulde (wit ...

, 7 km northeast of

, and 30 km east of

(centre).

Events

* Schützenfest (July/August) * Mulde Regatta (August) * Mulde Valley half marathon (April)

History and economy

Nerchau is known for its paint factory which was established by the Hessel brothers in 1834. By 1880 it employed over 100 people. In 1945 the paint factory was nationalized by

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. After

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

the factory was sold a number of times and now belongs to Schoenfeld GmbH (Düsseldorf), which produces artists' paints ''Lukas'' since 1862. The town has suffered from depopulation in recent years. In January 2013 Daler-Rowney purchased Lukas and Nerchau, two German brands, with the intention of developing them further in their home country and far further afield. In February 2016, Daler-Rowney was acquired by the Milan-based F.I.L.A. Group, who also owns the U.S. Dixon Ticonderoga Company.

Transport

The Autobahn A 14 runs nearby.

Famous people

* The

Kessler Twins Alice and Ellen Kessler (born 20 August 1936), usually credited as the Kessler Twins (; ), are German twin sisters who as singers, dancers and actresses were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s. The Kess ...

(Alice and Ellen, b. 1936), dancers, actresses and entertainers * Thomas Grimm (b. 1973), swimmer, participant in the paralympic games

References

External links

Former municipalities in Saxony Grimma {{Leipzig-geo-stub