Mittelsachsen ("Central Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

The district was established by merging the former districts of

Döbeln Döbeln ( hsb, Doblin) is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Mittelsachsen district, on both banks of the river Freiberger Mulde. History * 981: First written mention of Döbeln (Margravate of Meissen). * Around 1220: Döbeln is describe ...

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

and

Mittweida Mittweida () is a town in Saxony, Germany, in the Mittelsachsen district. Geography Mittweida is situated on the river Zschopau, 18 km north of Chemnitz, and 54 km west of Dresden. Embedded within the steep hills and valleys of the riv ...

as part of the district reform of August 2008.

Geography

The district stretches from the Erzgebirge ("Ore Mountains") on the Czech Republic–Germany border to the plains between

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. The district borders (from the west and clockwise) the state

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

, the districts of

Nordsachsen Nordsachsen ("North Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of August 2008. On 10 December 200 ...

Meißen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrech ...

Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains (german: Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge) is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. It is named after the mountain ranges Saxon Switzerland and Eastern Ore Mountains. History The district was estab ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge ("Ore Mountains"), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border. I ...

, the urban district Chemnitz, and the district of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

. The geography of the district varies considerably, stretching from the northern part which almost reaches the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balt ...

, to the southern part in the mountainous Erzgebirge region. The lowest point is at 140 metres above sea level, in the valley of the Freiberger Mulde near Leisnig. The highest point is 855 metres above sea level on the Czech border. The most important rivers in Mittelsachsen are the Zwickauer and Freiberger Mulde, and the

Zschopau Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany. Geography The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the Ore Mountains, on both banks of the Zschopau River, about south-east from Chemnitz. The highest point ...

river. Other notable rivers include Bobritzsch, Striegis, Gimmlitz and Flöha. The district also contains the reservoirs Kriebstein, Lichtenberg and Rauschenbach. Part of the Erzgebirge/

Vogtland Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...

national park is located in the southern part of Mittelsachsen.

Politics

Coat of arms

In 2008, upon the creation of the Mittelsachsen district, the heraldic society "Schwarzer Löwe" in Leipzig, in collaboration with graphics studio Eberhard Heinicker, put forward several proposals for a new coat of arms. Six proposals in total were put to the district council. The district council eventually chose the current design on 10 June 2009. The coat of arms shows the lion of Meißen, representing the

Margravate of Meissen The Margravate of Meissen (german: Markgrafschaft Meißen) was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast '' Marca Geronis'' ( Sax ...

, and a hammer and pick representing the local mining heritage. The blue waves are derived from the coat of arms of Mittweida, and the three black lozenges from the former arms of Döbeln.

District council

The elections for the Mittelsachsen district happened on 7 June 2015. The former mayor of Mittweida, Matthias Damm ( CDU), won with an absolute majority (65.74% of votes).

Transport

Road

The district is crossed by three

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

s: A4, A14, and A72. Several

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

n (federal highways) also cross through Mittelsachsen, including the 101 (Berlin to Aue) and 7 (Düsseldorf to Chemnitz).

Rail

Several railways cross through the Mittelsachsen district, most notably the

Dresden–Werdau railway The Dresden–Werdau railway is an electrified, double-track main line in the German state of Saxony. It runs from Dresden via Freiberg, Chemnitz and Zwickau to Werdau wye, where it joins the Leipzig-Hof railway. The line was opened in severa ...

servicing Freiberg and Flöha, among others. There are no long distance railway connections in Mittelsachsen, but such connections are easily reachable by taking regional trains to Dresden, Chemnitz or Leipzig. Freiberg is included in the

Dresden S-Bahn The Dresden S-Bahn is a network of S-Bahn-type commuter train services in Dresden and the surrounding area. It is commissioned by Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) from DB Regio ''Verkehrsbetrieb Südostsachsen'' and currently consists of three se ...

network. The entire district is served by the Verkehrsbund Mittelsachsen.

Flight

The closest airports for commercial travel are Leipzig–Altenburg Airport (15 km),

Dresden Airport Dresden Airport is the international airport of Dresden, the state capital of Saxony, Germany. It is located in Klotzsche, a district of Dresden north of the city centre. It was formerly also known in German as ''Flughafen Dresden-Klotzsche''. ...

(28 km), and

Leipzig/Halle Airport Leipzig/Halle Airport (German: ''Flughafen Leipzig/Halle'') is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, Germany and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. It is Germany's 14th largest airport by passengers and ...

(58 km). However, there is an airfield at Langhennersdorf which is used for recreational flight.

Academic Education

The Landkreis is home to two universities, the '' TU Bergakademie'' in

(focused on Geo-science) and the University of Applied Sciences in

(MINT, Social, Media).Landkreis Website
/ref>

Towns and municipalities

References

External links

* (German) {{Authority control