Möhlau is a village and a former municipality in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

district in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town

Gräfenhainichen is a town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography The town was the seat of the offices of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Tor zur Dübener Heide until it was disbanded in January 2011. It lies a ...

. It was part of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of

Tor zur Dübener Heide Tor zur Dübener Heide ("Gateway to the Düben Heath") was a ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ("administrative community") in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated southwest of Wittenberg. The seat of the ''Verwaltungsge ...

Geography

The community lies on the southern edge of Wittenberg district about 9 km west of the former district seat of Gräfenhainichen and about 18 km southeast of

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

, right on the border with

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 ...

Geology

The municipal area is strongly marked by

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

. Most of the old pits have flooded since they were shut down and are now used as bathing ponds.

Subdivisions

Möhlau consists of the subdivisions of Golpa, Rothehaus, Großmöhlau, and Kleinmöhlau.

History

Möhlau is said to have been settled originally by

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. It had its first documentary mention on 12 December 1200 when a church was consecrated in

Wörlitz is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau. The historic p ...

, about 25 km away.

References

Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Gräfenhainichen {{Wittenberg-geo-stub