Axien is a village and a former municipality in the

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

district in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town

Annaburg Annaburg () is a small town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' Annaburg-Prettin. Constituent communities The town Annaburg consists of the following ''Ortschaften'' or mu ...

Geography and transport

The community lies about 35 km southeast of

and about 20 km north of

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces firs ...

in the lowlands on the east bank of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...

on an old, now dry, arm of that river. West of the community runs Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 182, and to the north is the B 187. It lies on the "Mid-Germany Church Road". In the south, the community borders on

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 ...

History

The village of Axien is first documented in the 10th century. The village, however, must have been older, a castle by the name of ''Wazgrini'' in Axien having been mentioned in 865. It was used as a fortified

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken ove ...

at a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

on the Elbe.

Subdivisions

* Axien * Kähnitzsch (since 10 January 1938) * Gehmen

Sightseeing

* Well known is the brick church with ceiling paintings from the 12th century. * Atonement Cross in Kähnitzsch

References

Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Annaburg {{Wittenberg-geo-stub