Bad Düben (), until 1948 Düben is a town in the district of

Nordsachsen Nordsachsen (, ) is a district (''Districts of Germany, Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch (district), Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of Au ...

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 ...

. It is situated at the southern end of the

Düben Heath Nature Park The Düben Heath Nature Park (), which covers large areas of the eponymous Düben Heath, was the first nature park in Germany that resulted from a citizen's initiative and not from a government office. Around 1990, in order to prevent the further ...

(

Düben Heath The Düben Heath () is a landscape in Germany in eastern Saxony-Anhalt and northern Saxony, between the rivers Elbe and the Mulde, on the northern edge of the Leipzig Bay. It is bounded in the west by the town of Dessau, in the north by the Elb ...

), between the rivers

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

and

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 ...

, which runs through the city center.

History

Bad Düben's history goes back at least 1,000 years and traces its origins to the

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

castle of ''Dibni'', with the first documented mention in 981. Fortifications around the castle led in time to the formation of the town at the Mulde. The town was the site of several historical events, including a battle in 1450 in the feud between Friedrich and Wilhelm von Thüringen, in which the old castle was completely destroyed. The legendary dispute between

Hans Kohlhase Hans Kohlhase (c. 1500 – 1540), according to early modern German accounts, was a merchant whose grievance against a Saxon nobleman developed into a full-blown feud against the state of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony, thus infringing the Ewiger L ...

and Günter von Zaschnitz was settled in a court established in the town in 1533. In 1631, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

Gustav Adolf II and

John George I, Elector of Saxony John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45-year reign. Biography Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector C ...

met in the town to forge an alliance against

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, Hungary, and List of Croatian monarchs, Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II, Archduke of Austr ...

. In 1813,

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and his troops spent a night in the Burg Düben before heading towards Leipzig where the

Battle of the Nations A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

would later take place. After the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

in 1815, Bad Düben was ceded to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, becoming a part of the

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (), also known as Prussian Saxony (), was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merger of various territories ceded ...

. In 1948, the town of Düben was awarded the title of "Bad", which means

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

. Following the administrative reform and subsequent disbandment of Saxony–Anhalt in 1952, Bad Düben became a part of the newly formed Leipzig District. In July 1990, Bad Düben became a part of the reformed

and was incorporated into the District of

Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...

, which became a part of

(Northern Saxony) following the administrative reform of 2008.

Personalities who have worked locally

* Bärbel Wachholz (1938–1984), DDR-pop singer *

Christoph Hein Christoph Hein (; born 8 April 1944) is a German author and translator. He grew up in the town Bad Düben near Leipzig. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule (EOS) in the GDR, he received secondary educ ...

(born 1944), author and honorary citizen, grew up in the city * Elke Dopp (born 1965), professor of hygiene and environmental medicine, born in Bad Düben * Norman Liebold (born 1976), author, artist and actor, went to school in Bad Düben

Main sights

* Castle Bad Düben, a medieval castle located in the southern part of the town * St Nicolas Church, a former

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and now

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church located near the town's main square

References

Nordsachsen Spa towns in Germany {{Nordsachsen-geo-stub