university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
and former
mining town
A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry.
Historic mining communities
Australia
* Ballarat, Victoria
* Bendigo, ...
in
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. It is a so-called ''
Große Kreisstadt
''Große Kreisstadt'' (, "major district town") is a term in the municipal law ('' Gemeindeordnung'') of several German states. In some federal states the term is used as a special legal status for a district-affiliated town—as distinct from an ...
'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of
Mittelsachsen
Mittelsachsen ("Central Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') 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 ...
district.
Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage conservation and is a part of the
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
known as the
Ore Mountain Mining Region
The Ore Mountain Mining Region (officially Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region; german: Montanregion Erzgebirge, cs, Montanregion Krušné hory) is an industrial heritage landscape, over 800 years old, in the border region of the Ore Mountai ...
, due to its exceptional testimony to the development of mining techniques across many centuries. Until 1969, the town was dominated for around 800 years by the
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
and
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
industries. In recent decades it has restructured into a high technology site in the fields of
semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
Silicon Saxony
Silicon Saxony is a registered industry association of nearly 300 companies in the microelectronics and related sectors in Saxony, Germany, with around 40,000 employees. Many, but not all, of those firms are situated in the north of Dresden.
Wit ...