The Zwickauer Mulde () is a river in
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, 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 ...
, Germany. It is the left tributary of the
Mulde and in length.
The source of the river is in the
Ore Mountains, near
Schöneck, in the
Vogtlandkreis
The Vogtlandkreis () is a ''Landkreis'' (rural district) in the southwest of Saxony, Germany, at the borders to Thuringia, Bavaria, and the Czech Republic. Neighboring districts are (from south clockwise) Hof, Saale-Orla, Greiz, Zwickau and Erz ...
. It runs northeast to
Aue, then northwest to
Zwickau
Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
(hence the name), and further north through
Glauchau,
Rochlitz and
Colditz
Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II.
Geography
Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of th ...
. A few kilometers north of Colditz, the Zwickauer Mulde is joined by the
Freiberger Mulde
The Freiberger Mulde ( cs, Freiberská Mulda, also called the ''Östliche Mulde'' or Eastern Mulde) is the right-hand, headstream of the river Mulde, whose catchment covers an area of in the Czech Republic and Germany in central Saxony. It has ...
to form the united
Mulde. The Mulde is a tributary of the
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 Re ...
.
History
Cultural landscape development
The valleys in the catchment area of the Mulde were presumably used from the end of the last cold stage as access routes into the Ore Mountains that was covered in dense, ancient forests. This is evinced by the remains of artifacts left behind by
Old Stone Age hunters, as well as
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
and
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
discoveries as far as the higher regions of the Ore Mountains.
Later, the western Ore Mountains became the territory of
Germanic and
Slavic tribes. Paths, trade routes and military roads, linked the old settlement areas around Leipzig and Altenburg with Bohemia. The mule tracks, however, avoided the rivers in favour of the ridges. At unavoidable river crossings, (
fords, later ferries and bridges) and at intersections castles, villages and monasteries were established. Of the palaces and manor houses,
Rochsburg,
Rochlitz, , , Forderglauchau, Hinterglauchau and
Osterstein have survived. Of the castles,
Wiesenburg
Wiesenburg ( official name: ''Wiesenburg/Mark'') is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 10 km west of Bad Belzig, and 34 km southwest of Brandenburg. It is located in the High Flä ...
,
Stein Castle and the
Isenburg remain. Fortifications constructed in the side valleys include , and
Schwarzenberg. With the discovery of the rich silver deposits in the late Middle Ages, settlements grew up around the source streams in the upper Ore Mountains and the
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
* Be ...
s emerged.
Sights and structures
*
Eibenstock Dam
Eibenstock Dam (german: Talsperre Eibenstock) near Eibenstock in the Ore Mountains, Germany, is the largest dam in the Saxony, Free State of Saxony in terms of the height of the dam above the valley floor, and its reservoir is the largest in volum ...
* in the side of the valley below Bad Schlema (Poppenwald)
*
Stein Castle and
* ''
Schloss Wolfsbrunn
Schloss Wolfsbrunn is the local name for an imposing hotel building in the village of Stein in the borough of Hartenstein (Sachsen) , Hartenstein in the south of Landkreis Zwickau, Zwickau district in the German state of Saxony. It was built in 19 ...
'' in Hartenstein
* Annual demonstration timber rafting on the Muldenberg rafting waterway system
* Above Zwickau, in , the Mulde cuts the ''Rußkohlenflöz'' (soot coal seam). This outcrop of a permanently exposed coal seam is unique in Saxony. It is also a rare example in Europe of an outcrop representing three
geological time periods (the
Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...
, the
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, wh ...
and the
Upper Carboniferous). It is protected as a
geotope
A geotope is the geological component of the abiotic matrix present in an ecotope. Example geotopes might be an exposed outcrop of rocks, an erratic boulder, a grotto or ravine, a cave, an old stone wall marking a property boundary, and so forth. ...
and geological
natural monument.
[Ordinance of the independent town of Zwickau to establish the geological natural monument (#5)''Steinkohlenausbiss (Rußkohlenflöz)'' on the banks of the Mulde by the Cainsdorf Bridge dated 27 January 2000 (iaw § 21 of the Saxon Nature Conservation Act (SächsNatSchG)]
*
Osterstein Castle in Zwickau
See also
*
List of rivers of Saxony
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
{{Authority control
Rivers of Saxony
Rivers of the Ore Mountains
Rivers of Germany