Dohna is a town in the

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 establ ...

district,

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 (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 ...

. It is located south of

Heidenau Heidenau is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, 13 km southeast of Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbia ...

, in the Müglitz valley and lies at the northeastern foot of the

Eastern Ore Mountains The Eastern Ore Mountains (german: Osterzgebirge) form a natural region of Saxony that covers the eastern part (in area almost the eastern half) of the Saxon Ore Mountains range. Together with the Western and Central Ore Mountains, it is part of ...

. It is accessed by the

Pirna Pirna (; hsb, Pěrno; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as ...

interchange of highway A17, and by the ''Dohna (Sachs)'' and ''Köttewitz'' stations of the

Müglitz Valley Railway Müglitz may refer to: *''Müglitz'', the German name for Mohelnice, a town in the eastern Czech Republic *''Böhmisch Müglitz'', the German name for Mohelnice, a former village in the northwestern Czech Republic *Müglitz (Altenberg), a village ...

History

Dohna is one of the oldest towns in Saxony. Traces of settlement dating back to the 16th century BC (

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

) have been found. The

Dohna Castle Dohna Castle (german: Burg Dohna, cz, hrad Donín) on the once important medieval trade route from Saxony to Bohemia was the ancestral castle seat of the . Of the old, once imposing double castle only a few remnants of the walls remain. The ru ...

on a strategic hill at the entrance to the Müglitz valley was probably already built in the middle of the 10th century. The town Dohna was first documented as ''Donin'' in 1040. The name comes from ''Property of Doň'' from the Bohemian first name Zdoň. The town and its castle controlled two roads from

to Bohemia: one through the Müglitz valley, and one over the heights to Kulm. The

burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

s of Dohna controlled a large territory between the

Margraviate 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 the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

, stretching from Rabenau in the west to

Gottleuba The Gottleuba (Rybný potok in the Czech Republic) is a small river in the Czech Republic and in Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe. The Gottleuba's source is in the eastern part of the Ore Mountains, north of Ústí nad Labem. ...

in the east. The burgraves of Dohna were defeated in 1402 in the

Dohna Feud The Dohna Feud (german: Dohnaische Fehde) was a 14th-century dispute between the burgraves of Dohna, who resided in the Eastern Ore Mountains of Central Europe, on the one hand and Saxon nobleman, John of Körbitz (''Hans von Körbitz'') and the Me ...

, and the town was given to vassals of the Wettin Margrave of Meissen. After 1460, when the seat of administration moved to

Sonnenstein Castle The Sonnenstein Castle is a castle in Pirna, near Dresden, Germany. It housed a mental hospital, which operated from 1811 to the end of World War II in 1945. During the War, it functioned as an extermination centre for the Nazi ''Aktion T4'' pro ...

, the castle fell into ruins. In 1587 Fabien I, Burgrave of Dohna, was involved in the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mil ...

- commanding Protestant mercenaries which were funded by

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

and the

King of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe ...

and confronting the Catholic forces of King

Henry III of France Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke o ...

at the

Battle of Vimory The Battle of Vimory, occurred on 26 October 1587 between the French royal (Catholic) forces of King Henry III of France commanded by Henry of Guise and German and Swiss mercenaries commanded by Fabien I, Burgrave of Dohna and William-Robert de l ...

. The city of Dohna was devastated by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n troops during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

(1813). The primary and secondary school was opened in 1891. It was named after

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

in 1969. In 1994, Köttewitz and Krebs joined Dohna. In 1999, Meusegast and Röhrsdorf joined Dohna.Gebietsänderungen vom 01.01. bis 31.12.1999

Statistisches Bundesamt The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...

In January 2000, Dohna became the seat of ''

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (german: Verwaltungsgemeinschaften) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''sti ...

'' ''Dohna-Müglitztal'', which also includes the municipality

Müglitztal Müglitztal is a municipality in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. References

{{SächsischeSchweizOsterzgebirge-geo-stub ...

Municipality subdivisions

*Borthen *Bosewitz *Burgstädtel *Dohna *Gamig *Gorknitz *Köttewitz *Krebs *Meusegast *Röhrsdorf *Sürßen *Tronitz

Main sights

ruins, and a tower constructed in the 19th century *

Saxon post milestone A Saxon milepost (german: kursächsische Postmeilensäule, colloquially ''sächsische Postmeilensäule'' or ''Postsäule'') was a milepost in the former Electorate of Saxony that gave distances expressed as journey times to the nearest eighth of ...

(''Postmeilensäule''), erected in 1731 *Old Chemist's (''Alten Apotheke''), built in 1690, a local historical museum since 1992.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge