Schneeberg is a 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 ...

’s district of

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Ore Mountains (German: ''Erzgebirge''), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republi ...

. It has roughly 16,400 inhabitants and belongs to the Town League of Silberberg (''Städtebund Silberberg''). It lies 4 km west of Aue, and southeast of

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

Geography

Location

Schneeberg lies on the Silver Road in the upper western

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

. Visible from afar is the prominent church of St. Wolfgang. The heart of the town lies on the ''Schneeberg'', which reaches 470 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and is also the town’s namesake. Among the surrounding peaks are the ''Gleesberg'' (593 m) to the east and the ''Keilberg'' (557 m) to the north.

History

Schneeberg’s more than 500-year-long history has been shaped by

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 ...

more than anything else, laying the very groundwork for the town’s founding. The original

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

mining also yielded

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

and

bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element; it has symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs nat ...

mining by the mid 16th century. When

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mining was being undertaken between 1946 and 1958, the town’s population quickly rose, leading to Schneeberg’s status as a district-free town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') between 1952 and 1958. Afterwards it once again belonged to the district of Aue. Between 1952 and 1990, Schneeberg was part of the

Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt The Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, also known as Bezirk Chemnitz, was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The district existed from 1952 until the Reunification of Germany in 1990. The administrative seat and the main town was Karl-Marx-Stadt, ren ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Amalgamations

* 1939 Bergstadt Neustädtel, near which lies the popular outing destinations Gleesberg and Filzteich * 1952 Community of Griesbach, northwest of Schneeberg * 1999 Community of Lindenau

Population development

Development of population figures ''(as of 1960 on 31 December)'': ¹ 29 October
² 31 August

Culture and sightseeing

The ''St. Wolfgangskirche'' is one of the biggest and architecturally most mature churches built in the Late Gothic style, and is an earlier type of

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

church construction. Inside are found works by

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...

and the Crodel family of painters, whom the ''Krodel-Brunnen'' (fountain), demolished in late 2005, commemorated. Among the other sights to be seen are the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

Town Hall, newly built in the mid 19th century, various

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

buildings and mining memorials.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

In Schneeberg ends ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

'' (Federal Highway) 93 from

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 ...

, which once led further, across the border, to Karlsbad (now

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). Furthermore, ''Bundesstraße'' 169 runs through the town 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 ...

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. From 1859 to 1952, the town had a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connection afforded by a 5-km-long

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

leading to Niederschlema on the

- Schwarzenberg-

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt (, ) is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized hea ...

-Karlsbad railway line.

State institutions

Schneeberg was until 31 March 2008 headquarters of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

’s ''Gebirgsjägerbataillon'' (“Mountain Rangers’ Battalion”) 571 and ''Versorgungskompanie'' (“Supply Company”) 370.

Education

Schneeberg had at its disposal a lyceum, out of which grew a Gymnasium. Moreover, the town was home to a lace tatting school, an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

, a vocational Gymnasium and a teachers’ college. Schneeberg's ''Johann-Gottfried-Herder Gymnasium'' was chosen in 2004-2005 as “Saxony’s best Gymnasium” in the course of a study by the magazine ''

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

''. It enjoys an outstanding reputation even beyond Germany's borders.

Notable people

Andreas Musculus Andreas Musculus (Latinized name, Latinized for Andreas Meusel; 29 November 1514 – 29 September 1581) was a German Lutheran theologian and Protestant reformer. Musculus was born in Schneeberg, Saxony, Schneeberg, "generally called only Musculus ...

(1514–1581), professor at the University of

Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Marchian dialects, Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With a ...

and ''Generalsuperintendent'' of the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

Ambrosius Lobwasser Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515–1585) was a German humanist and translator, born in Saxony. He served as professor of jurisprudence at the University of Königsberg from 1563 until his retirement in 1580, but is best known for his ''Psalter des Köni ...

(1515–1585), humanistic writer and translator * Auguste Peltz (1824–1900), founder of the Schneeberg Doll Factory *

Petrus Albinus Petrus Albinus (German name: Peter von Weiße; 1543–1598) was a professor at Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Wittenberg in Germany and is known as the father of Saxon historiography. Life Petrus Albinus was born on 18 June 1543 in Schneeberg (Ore Mou ...

(1543–1598), vice chancellor of the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

and

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, historian * Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld, (1764-1841), portraitist *

Heinrich Stölzel Heinrich David Stölzel (7 September 1777 – 16 February 1844) was a German horn player who developed some of the first valves for brass instruments. He developed the first valve for a brass musical instrument, the Stölzel valve, in 1818, a ...

(1777–1844), musician *

Egon Günther Egon Günther (30 March 1927 – 31 August 2017)
in: Tagesspiegel, 31 August 2017. ...

(1927–2017), German film director * Enrico Kern (born 1979), German footballer with

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

Partner towns

Schneeberg's partner towns are: *

Herten Herten (; Westphalian: ''Hiätten'') is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the industrial Ruhr Area, some west of Recklinghausen. Geography Town area Herten cov ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Veresegyház Veresegyház is a town in Gödöllő district, Pest county, Hungary. Location This village first appeared as Vesereghatz in maps made by Hungarian clerk Lazarus Secretarius between 1510 and 1520. The town lies in the Gödöllő-Hills near ...

in Pest County *

Jáchymov Jáchymov (; or ''Joachimsthal'') is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants. Jáchymov has a long mining tradition, thanks to which it used to be the second most popu ...

Karlovy Vary Region The Karlovy Vary Region () is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the westernmost part of the country. It is named after its capital Karlovy Vary. It is known for spas, which include Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně. ...

References

External links

Schneeberg’s website

Mining brotherhood
at "Schneeberger Bergparade" e. V.

Facebook {{Authority control Schneeberg, Saxony, Erzgebirgskreis