The Weißeritzkreis is a former district (''Kreis'') in the south of

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, 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 ...

. Neighboring districts were (from west clockwise)

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

Meißen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechts ...

, the district-free city

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Sächsische Schweiz, and to the south it bordered the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

History

The district was created in 1994 when the two districts Dippoldiswalde and Freital were merged. In August 2008, as a part of the district reform in Saxony, the districts of Sächsische Schweiz and Weißeritzkreis were merged into the new district

Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains (german: Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge) is a district (''Districts of Germany, Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. It is named after the mountain ranges Saxon Switzerland and Eastern Ore Mountains. History Th ...

Geography

The district is located in the Ore Mountains, the central part is the

Tharandt Forest The Tharandt Forest (german: Tharandter Wald) is a landscape in the centre of the German Free State of Saxony and lies southwest of the forest town of Tharandt, south of the town of Wilsdruff, roughly between the cities of Freiberg and Dresde ...

. The district got its name after the two rivers

Wild Weißeritz The Wild Weißeritz (german: Wilde Weißeritz, cs, Divoká Bystřice) is a river in the Czech Republic and in the German state of Saxony which drains the eastern Ore Mountains. It is the longest tributary of the Weißeritz. The valley of the ...

and

Red Weißeritz The Red Weißeritz (german: Rote Weißeritz) is a river of Saxony, Germany. The Red Weißeritz is the right headstream of the Weißeritz. It is long. The river's source is the Eastern Ore Mountains near Altenberg at a height of about 787 met ...

, who merge near Freital into the

Weißeritz The Weißeritz (also: ''Vereinigte Weißeritz'' in German i.e. United Weißeritz, ''Bystrica'' in Sorbian) is a river of Saxony, Germany. It is long and a left tributary of the Elbe. The river is formed by the confluence of the Wild Weißeritz ...

river, and then mouths into 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 Repu ...

in Dresden. The highest elevation is the

Kahleberg Kahleberg (''Bald Mountain'') is a mountain of Saxony, southeastern Germany. History Kahleberg is located 2 kilometres south-west of the mining town Altenberg, which is on the border of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simpl ...

at . During the flooding in August 2002 the Weißeritz river had to drain many times the normal amount of water, and did destroy a lot of buildings in the river valley - houses, streets and bridges.

Partnerships

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 in ...

Berchtesgadener Land Berchtesgadener Land (Central Bavarian: ''Berchtsgoana Land'') is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the district of Traunstein and by the state of Austria. History Middle ages and early modern era The southern a ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

Zollernalbkreis The Zollernalbkreis is a Districts of Germany, ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The district is located in the Swabian Alb, and contains the second highest elevation of this range, the high ''Oberhohenberg'' ...

Coat of arms

Towns and municipalities

External links

* (German)
Website about the 2002 Flooding
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Weisseritzkreis Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge History of the Ore Mountains