Riesa (; ) is a town in the district of Meißen 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 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 located on the river

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 ...

, approximately northwest 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 ...

History

The name ''Riesa'' is derived from Slavic ''Riezowe''. This name, romanised as "Rezoa", appears first in October 1119 in a document from

Pope Callixtus II Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II ( – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy ...

. The world's first 110 kV power line was installed between Riesa and

Lauchhammer Lauchhammer (, ) or Łuchow is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden. History From 1815 to ...

in 1912. Between 1952 and 1994, Riesa was the seat of a district. During the 1980s, Riesa was the headquarters of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany's 9th Tank Division. On the 11th of January 2025 the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

party AfD held their federal party conference in Riesa. Around 12,000 people protested the conference and blocked entrances to the town.

Population history

The town grew from the start of the 20th century due to industrialisation. The population declined after

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1989. The local steel works shut and the population fell from 52,000 to 31,000.

Sights

Riesa has a 25 m tall, 234 tonne,

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

(GGG 40) sculpture of an

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

trunk, named ''Elbquelle'', which means source of the

, by Jörg Immendorff, erected in 1999. Local folk call the sculpture by many other names, most notably "Rostige Eiche", which means "Rusty Oak". In Riesa there are two notable churches. The minster St. Marien was built in 1261 as an addition to the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Abbey. The Trinitatis Church was completed in 1897.

Culture

Riesa is well known locally for its pasta, which is produced at ''Teigwaren Riesa GmbH''. Another symbol of Riesa are the ''Riesaer Zündhölzer'', the

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

es which were traditionally manufactured there. The steel production in Riesa is also well known.

Sport

Riesa is home to a football club,

BSG Stahl Riesa BSG Stahl Riesa is a German association football club from Riesa in Saxony. History The club was founded as ''SC Riesa'' in 1903 in the cellar of the local pub "Bodega" and was renamed ''Riesaer SV'' two years later. In 1917, they fused with ...

, featuring a blue and white crest, which also represents the club colors. They compete in the Landesliga Sachsen, the sixth tier of German football. Riesa is known locally for the '' SACHSENarena'', a large hall that hosted the European Sumo Wrestling Championship in October 2003 and the World Sumo Wrestling Championship in October 2004. Since 2015, it has also been the home of the International Darts Open, one of the many events on the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

's European Tour.

Twin towns – sister cities

Riesa is twinned with: *

Głogów Głogów (; , rarely , ) is a city in western Poland. It is the county seat of Głogów County, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Głogów is the sixth largest town in the Voivodeship; its population in 2021 was 65,400. Among the oldest towns in Po ...

, Poland * Lonato del Garda, Italy *

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

, Germany *

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

, England, United Kingdom * Sandy, United States * Villerupt, France * Wuzhong (Suzhou), China

Transport

Riesa railway station is located north of the town's centre, it offers both regional and long-distance services. Riesa is located on Bundesstraße 169, which ensures access to federal motorways A 14 (close to

Döbeln Döbeln (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Mittelsachsen district. It sits on the banks of the Freiberger Mulde, Freiberger Mulde river. Location and geography Döbeln is situated in the Central Saxon Hills, Central Saxon Hill co ...

, approx. 25 km) and A 13 (close to Ruhland, approx. 50 km).

Notable people

* Adolph von Carlowitz (1858–1928), Saxon officer, general of the infantry and war minister * Johannes Müller (1864–1949), theologian * Rolf Moebius (1915–2004), actor * Dieter Noll (1927–2008), writer *

Jürgen Schmieder Jürgen Schmieder (born 23 June 1952) is a politician, originally from East Germany, who came to prominence during the months immediately preceding German reunification. At the end of January in 1990 he became Chairman (leader) of the short liv ...

(born 1952), politician * Monika Zehrt (born 1952), athlete * Olaf Jentzsch (born 1958), cyclist * Heiko Peschke (born 1963), footballer *

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

(born 1965), footballer *

Rüdiger Heinze Rüdiger Heinze (born December 14, 1971, in Riesa, East Germany) is a film producer and screenwriter. Life and work In 1997 he went to Ludwigsburg to study film direction and later film production at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. In 2003 ...

(born 1971), film producer and screenwriter *

Maximilian Arnold Maximilian Arnold (born 27 May 1994) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, which he Captain (association football), captains. An academy graduate of Wolfs ...

(born 1994), footballer

Associated with the town

* Walter Fritzsch (1920–1997), football coach * Wolfgang Lischke (born 1947), footballer * Peter Kotte (born 1954), footballer * Harald Czudaj (born 1963), bobsledder * Ralf Hauptmann (born 1968), footballer

References

External links

Official websiteRiesa tourism siteOfficial Web site of Stahl Riesa Footballclub
* {{Authority control Meissen (district) Populated riverside places in Germany Populated places on the Elbe