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Freiberg () is a
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and former mining town in
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, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and Ore Mountains, stretching from
Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...
in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
in the northeast. It sits on the Freiberger Mulde, a tributary of the Mulde River. It is a '' Große Kreisstadt'' (large district town), and the administrative seat of ''
Landkreis Mittelsachsen Mittelsachsen (, ) is a district (''Districts of Germany, Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Döbeln (district), Döbeln, Freiberg (district), Freiberg and Mit ...
'' (district Central Saxony). Freiberg is connected to Dresden by the S3 line of the Dresden S-Bahn. The entire historic center of the Silver City is under monument protection, and together with local monuments of mining history such as the ''Reiche Zeche'' ore mine, it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region since 2019 due to its exceptional testimony to the development of mining techniques across many centuries. Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (''Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg''), founded in 1765, is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. Until 1969, the town was dominated for around 800 years by the
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
and
smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
industries. Since then it has restructured into a
high technology High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...
site in the fields of
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...
manufacture and solar technology, part of Silicon Saxony. Freiberg Cathedral is one of the most richly furnished houses of worship in Saxony and contains important works of art such as the tulip pulpit, two Gottfried Silbermann organs, the choir, which was converted into a burial place for the Albertines, and the Golden Gate (''Goldene Pforte''), of which exist three replicas in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moscow and Budapest. Freiberg's christmas market ''Freiberger Christmarkt'' is typical for christmas markets in the Ore Mountain region, which are characterized by a strong connection to mining and the typical christmas decorations of this region like '' Raachermannel'', '' Schwibbögen'' and Christmas pyramids.


Geography


Location

The town lies on the northern declivity of the Ore Mountains, with the majority of the borough west of the Eastern or Freiberger Mulde river. Parts of the town are nestled in the valleys of Münzbach and Goldbach streams. Its centre has an altitude of about (at the railway station). Its lowest point is on Münzbach on the town boundary at ; its highest point is on an old mining tip at . Freiberg lies within a region of old forest clearances, subsequently used by the mining industry which left its mark on the landscape. The town is surrounded to the north, southeast and southwest by woods, and in the other directions by fields and meadows. Since the beginning of the 21st century an urbanised area has gradually developed which is formed by the towns of Nossen, Roßwein, Großschirma, Freiberg and Brand-Erbisdorf. It currently has about 75,000 inhabitants. Freiberg is located about west-southwest of
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, about 31 kilometres east-northeast of Chemnitz, about southeast of
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 ...
, about south of
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, and about northwest of
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. Freiberg lies on a boundary between two variants of the Upper Saxon dialect: the Southeast Meissen dialect (''Südostmeißnisch'') to the east and the South Meissen dialect (''Südmeißnisch'') to the west of the town, both belonging to the five Meissen dialects, as well as just north of the border of the dialect region of '' East Erzgebirgisch''.


Expansion of the town

The nucleus of the town, the former forest village of Christiansdorf lies in the valley of the Münzbach stream. The unwalled town centre grew up on its two slopes and on the ridge to the west. This means ''inter alia'' that the roads radiating outwards east of the old main road axis (today ''Erbische Straße'' and ''Burgstraße'' running from the former Erbisch Gate (''Erbischer Tor'') on ''Postplatz'' to Freudenstein Castle), some of which run as far as the opposite side of the Münzbach valley, are very steep. The area located east of the main road axis is called ''Unterstadt'' ("Lower Town"), with its lower market or ''Untermarkt''. The western area is the ''Oberstadt'' ("Upper Town") where the ''Obermarkt'' or "Upper Market" is situated. The town centre is surrounded by a green belt running along the old town wall. In the west, this belt, in which the ponds of the ''Kreuzteichen'' are set, broadens out into an area like a park. Just north of the town centre is Freudenstein Castle as well as the remnants of the town wall with several wall towers and ''Schlüsselteich'' pond in front of them. The remains of the wall run eastwards, in sections, to the ''Donats Tower''. This area is dominated by the historic
moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
. The southern boundary of the old town is characterised in places by buildings from the '' Gründerzeit'' period. The B 101 federal road, here called ''Wallstraße'', flanks the west of the town centre, the B 173, as ''Schillerstraße'' and ''Hornstraße'', bounds it to the south. Freiberg's north is dominated by the campus of its University of Mining and Technology. The main part of the campus on either side of ''Leipziger Straße'' (as the B 101 road, the most important transport link in this district) emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, the districts of ''Lossnitz'', ''Lößnitz '' and ''Kleinwaltersdorf'' are found here, extending almost out to the boundary of the borough. Between ''Kleinwaltersdorf'' and ''Lößnitz'' is the ''Nonnenwald'' wood, and east of ''Leipziger Straße'' is a trading estate.


Surrounding area

In the area around Freiberg there are both industrial estates as well as agricultural and recreational areas. Smelting and metalworking firms are based at Muldenhütten and Halsbrücke and paper manufacturers at Weißenborn and Großschirma. Northeast of the town is the recreational area of the Tharandt Forest The town of Großschirma lies north of Freiberg on the B 101 federal road. To the northeast the municipality of Halsbrücke borders on the territory of Freiberg's borough and, to the east, is the municipality of Bobritzsch-Hilbersdorf. The municipality of Weißenborn to the southeast belongs to the ''
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (, , ) 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 ''stipulated municipal association ...
'' of Lichtenberg/Erzgebirge. On the B 101 south of Freiberg is the '' Große Kreisstadt'' of Brand-Erbisdorf and to the east is the municipality of Oberschöna.


Town subdivisions and residential areas


History

The town was founded around 1168, after a silver discovery led to the first Berggeschrey, and has been a centre of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries. A symbol of that history is the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, often just known as the Mining Academy (''Bergakademie''), established in 1765 and the oldest extant university of mining and metallurgy in the world. Freiberg also has a notable cathedral containing two famous Gottfried Silbermann organs. There are two other organs made by Gottfried Silbermann in the town – one at the St. Peter's Church (''Petrikirche'') and the other one at the St. James' Church (''Jakobikirche''). The
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
part of Freiberg, built after a fire destroyed the town in 1484, stands under heritage protection. In 1913, silver mining was discontinued due to the decline in the price of silver. Resumed before the Second World War, mining activities for lead, zinc and tin extraction continued until 1969. In 1944, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was built outside the town of Freiberg. It housed over 500 female survivors of other camps, including Auschwitz. Altogether 50 or so SS women worked in this camp until its evacuation in April 1945. The female survivors eventually reached Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. In 1985, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the Freiberg Germany Temple here because of the large number of members in the region. The building of this temple is considered quite historic by church members given the political climate in Eastern Europe at the time. The Freiberg Germany Temple serves members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from all over Eastern Germany and a majority of Eastern Europe. On 6 July 2019, the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region including Freiberg was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Regular events

Every year in Freiberg the Mining Town Festival (''Bergstadtfest'') is held on the last weekend in June with a procession by the historic Miners' and Ironworkers' Guilds, the so-called Miners' and Ironworkers' Parade. The Freiberg
Christmas Market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...
takes place during Advent, when a so-called '' Mettenschicht'' is held with a parade by the Miners' and Ironworkers' Guilds and the SAXONIA Miners Music Corps. This includes a traditional Sermon on the Mount in St. Peter's Church and waiting by the miners on the second Saturday in Advent. Firmly established is the potter's gathering on a weekend in the second half of April on the Upper Market (''Obermarkt''). Every year on the ''Drei Brüder Schacht'' mineshaft in the quarter of Zug there is a model steam engine gathering. Other annual events include the Freiberg Art Award and the election of the Mining Town Queen (''Bergstadt-Königin'').


Education

The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Freiberg University of Mining and Technology or Freiberg Mining Academy, University of Technology) was established in 1765 by Prince Franz Xaver, regent of Saxony, based on plans by Friedrich Wilhelm von Oppel and Friedrich Anton von Heynitz, and is the oldest extant university of mining and metallurgy in the world. * The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Freiberg University of Mining and Technology or Freiberg Mining Academy, University of Technology) was established in 1765 by Prince Franz Xaver, regent of Saxony, based on plans by Friedrich Wilhelm von Oppel and Friedrich Anton von Heynitz, and is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. File:Untermarkt-Freiberg-kol.jpg, Untermarkt (Lower Market) File:Freiberg Obermarkt Rathaus.jpg, Obermarkt (Upper Market) with Town hall File:Freiberg katedra mpazdziora.JPG, The electoral box of the Polish king Augustus II the Strong in the Freiberg Cathedral File:Petrikirche Freiberg 01.JPG, St. Petri church File:Schloss Freudenstein Freiberg.jpg, Freudenstein Castle File:Nikolaikirche Freiberg.jpg, St. Nikolas church File:Glueck.jpg, Campus of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg File:Freiberger Eierschecke.jpg, A Freiberg ''Eierschecke'' cake


Twin towns – sister cities

Freiberg is twinned with: * Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany (1995) *
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
, Germany (1990) *
Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
, Netherlands (1986) * Gentilly, France (1960) * Ness Ziona, Israel (1996) * Příbram, Czech Republic (1999) * Wałbrzych, Poland (1999)


Freemen

* 2000 Günter Blobel, biochemist, Nobel Prize 1999 * 2014 Michael Federmann, investor


Notable people

* Günter Bartusch (1943–1971), motorcycle racer * August Bebel (1840–1913), politician * Fritz Bleyl (1880–1966), architect, painter of Expressionism * Günter Blobel (born 1936), biologist, Nobel laureate, sponsor of the reconstruction of neo-historic buildings in Saxony * Kwasi Boakye (1827–1904), from Ashanti, Dutch mining engineer, student in Freiberg (also: Boachi) * Rolf Emmrich (1910–1974), internist and university teachers * Theodoric of Freiberg (c. 1250–c. 1311), theologian, philosopher and physicist who gave an accurate explanation for the rainbow * Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt (1791–1873), mineralogist * Leopold von Buch (1774–1853), geologist * Hans Carl von Carlowitz (1645–1714), Saxon Oberberg Chief * Christoph Demantius (1567–1643), composer *
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
(1749–1832), natural scientist, writer and statesman *
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
(1769–1859), naturalist and explorer * Friedrich Robert Helmert (1843–1917), surveyor, mathematician, the Helmert transformation is named after him, it is the chi-squared distribution attributed * Herbert Jobst (1915–1990), writer * Edward Johnson (1840–1903), local historian and editor of the '' Vogtländische Gazette '' * Helmut Kirchberg (1906–1983), mining scientist * Theodor Körner (author) (1791–1813), poet, freedom fighter * Wilhelm August Lampadius (1772–1842), metallurgist, chemist * Friedrich Mohs (1773–1839),
Mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
, creator of the Mohssche Härteskala * Carl Friedrich Naumann (1797–1873), geologist * Novalis (1772–1801), poet * Max Roscher (1888–1940), politician, Reichstag deputy * Bernd Schröder (born 1942), football coach * Clara Schumann (1819–1896), pianist * Gottfried Silbermann (1683–1753), organ builder * Alfred Wilhelm Stelzner (1840–1895), geologist * Christian Heinrich Spiess (1755–1799), actor, playwright and author, co-founder of the Gothic novel * Emil von Sydow (1812–1873), officer, geographer and cartographer * André Tanneberger (born 1973), known as ATB, trance DJ * Jakob Ullmann (born 1958), composer and university lecturer * Karl Eduard Vehse (1802-1870), historian * Robert Volkmann (1815–1883),
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
*
Christian Leopold von Buch Christian Leopold von Buch (26 April 1774 – 4 March 1853), usually cited as Leopold von Buch, was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the mos ...
(1774–1853), geologist * Bernhard von Cotta (1808–1879), geologist * Kunz von Kaufungen (1410–1455), abductor of the Saxon
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
s Albrecht and Ernst, executed in Freiberg * Eberhard Wächtler (1929–2010), economic historian * Julius Weisbach (1806–1871), mathematician and engineer * Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), co-founder of the modern geoscience * Jacob Benjamin Wiesner Heckerin (1758–1842), metallurgist, expand the mining practices to Latin America, economic supporter of Colombian independence * Clemens Winkler (1838–1904), chemist, discoverer of
germanium Germanium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid or a nonmetal in the carbon group that is chemically ...
* Johann Heinrich Zedler (1706–1751), bookseller and publisher * Gustav Zeuner (1828–1907), engineer


Notes and references

*Cziborra, Pascal. ''KZ Freiberg. Geheime Schwangerschaft''. Lorbeer Verlag. Bielefeld. 2008.


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Towns in the Ore Mountains Mittelsachsen Mining communities in Germany