Bad Düben (), until 1948 Düben is a town in the district of

Nordsachsen Nordsachsen ("North Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of August 2008. On 10 December 20 ...

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 situated at the southern end of the Düben Heath Nature Park ( Düben Heath), between the rivers

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) 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 Rep ...

and

Mulde The Mulde () is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and is long. The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde (running through Zwickau) and the Freiberger Mulde ( ...

, which runs through the city center.

History

Bad Düben's history goes back at least 1,000 years and traces its origins to the Slavic castle of ''Dibni'', with the first documented mention in 981. Fortifications around the castle led in time to the formation of the town at the Mulde. The town was the site of several historical events, including a battle in 1450 in the feud between Friedrich and Wilhelm von Thüringen, in which the old castle was completely destroyed. The legendary dispute between

Hans Kohlhase Hans Kohlhase (c. 1500 – 1540), according to early modern German accounts, was a merchant whose grievance against a Saxon nobleman developed into a full-blown feud against the state of Saxony, thus infringing the Eternal Peace of 1495. The ca ...

and Günter von Zaschnitz was settled in a court established in the town in 1533. In 1631, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

Gustav Adolf II and

John George I, Elector of Saxony John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45 year reign. Biography Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector Ch ...

met in the town to forge an alliance against

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. His parents were d ...

. In 1948, the town of Düben was awarded the title of "Bad", which means

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneothe ...

Personalities who have worked locally

* Bärbel Wachholz (1938-1984), DDR-pop singer * Christoph Hein (born 1944), author and honorary citizen, grew up in the city * Elke Dopp (born 1965), professor of hygiene and environmental medicine, born in Bad Düben * Norman Liebold (born 1976), author, artist and actor, went to school in Bad Duben

References

Nordsachsen Spa towns in Germany {{Nordsachsen-geo-stub