Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, administrative center of the
MittelsachsenMittelsachsen is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.- History :The district was established by merging the former districts of Döbeln, Freiberg and Mittweida as part of the district reform of August 2008.- Geography :...
district.
History
The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries. A symbol of this history is the
Technische Universität Bergakademie FreibergThe Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg is a small German University of Technology with about 5000 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony...
(famously known as the Mining Academy), established in 1765 and the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. Freiberg also has a notable
cathedralThe Freiberg Cathedral or Cathedral of St Mary is a Lutheran church in Freiberg, Saxony. It is called a cathedral in English even though it has never been the seat of a bishop.-History:...
containing two famous
Gottfried SilbermannGottfried Silbermann was an influential German constructor of keyboard instruments. He built harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos; his modern reputation rests mainly on the latter two.-Life:...
organs. Furthermore there are two other organs made by Gottfried Silbermann - one at the St. Peter's Church (Petrikirche) and the other one at the St. James' Church (Jacobikirche). The medieval part of Freiberg stands under heritage protection.
The river, Freiberger Mulde, flows through the township of Freiberg, not the city itself.
In 1944 the
Flossenburg concentration campKonzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
oversaw a subcamp built outside the city of Freiberg. It housed over 500 female survivors of other camps, including Auschwitz Birkenau. Altogether 50 or so SS women worked in this camp until its evacuation in April 1945. The female survivors later reached the Mauthausen concentration camp in
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
In 1985 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the
Freiberg Germany TempleThe Freiberg Germany Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany...
here because of the large number of members in the region.
The Freiberg Germany Temple serves Latter-day Saints from all over Eastern Germany, and majority of the East Europe today.
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 takes place during Advent. During that time a so-called
MettenschichtThe Mettenschicht is an old German mining custom in the Ore Mountains. It is the name given to the last shift worked before Christmas, which ends early with a celebration and meal....
is held with a parade by the miners' and ironworkers' guilds and the SAXONIA Miners Music Corps. This includes a traditional
sermon on the mountThe Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
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 gatheringA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
. Every year the Freiberg Art Award is given and the Mining Town Queen (
Bergstadt-Königin) is chosen.
Twin towns—Sister cities
Freiberg is twinned with: Wałbrzych,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
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GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
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