Altenberg () is a town in the

Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains (, ) is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. It is named after the mountain ranges Saxon Switzerland and Eastern Ore Mountains. History The district was established by merging the former districts ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

The town is situated in the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

, 32 km south of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, and 15 km northwest of

Teplice Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...

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

. The village of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld registered the lowest annual mean temperature (4.9 °C) of all inhabited places in Germany during the period 1961–1990. Additionally, it also holds the German record for the highest amount of precipitation recorded in one day, 312 mm. The highest snow depth ever recorded was 163 cm in 2005.

Municipal divisions

The town Altenberg consists of the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Altenberg
§ 18, June 2021. *Altenberg (incl. Hirschsprung) * Bärenfels * Bärenstein * Falkenhain (incl. Waldidylle) * Fürstenau (incl. Gottgetreu and Müglitz) *

Fürstenwalde Fürstenwalde/Spree (; ) is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Geography The town is situated in the glacial valley (''Urstromtal'') of the Spree river north of the Rauen Hills, about east of ...

* Geising (incl. Löwenhain) * Kipsdorf * Lauenstein * Liebenau * Oberbärenburg (incl. Waldbärenburg) * Rehefeld-Zaunhaus (incl. Neurehefeld and Neuhermsdorf) * Schellerhau *

Points of interest

* The Great Pinge (''Große Pinge'') of Altenberg is a giant '' pinge'' or collapsed mineshaft above old mining excavations (mainly

tin ore Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains t ...

digging) throughout the last centuries. Today this 12 ha area (150 m deep and 450 m in diameter), bordering the town area, is considered to be one out of 77 of the most important geotopes in Germany. * DKB-Eiskanal: The Altenberg bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track venue (official name until 2012: Rennschlitten- und Bobbahn Altenberg (RSBB)). * The basalt mountain

Geisingberg The Geisingberg is a striking basalt mountain in the eastern Ore Mountains in the German federal state of Saxony. Location and surrounding area The Geisingberg lies in the upper Eastern Ore Mountains between the mining town of Altenberg and t ...

(824 m) with mountain hut, tower and look-out. On the flanks of the hill, at the Geisingberg Meadows preserve area, there are important populations of globe-flowers and wild orchids, blooming in spring and early summer. * Botanischer Garten Schellerhau, a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

* Cross-border Mining Education Trail File:Altenberg (Erzgebirge) Rathaus (01).jpg, Altenberg Town hall File:Altenberg Pyramide auf dem Bahnhofsvorplatz 2011-11-15.JPG, Christmas pyramid at the station File:Saxonia Museum fuer saechsische Vaterlandskunde IV 51.jpg, Altenberg 1839

Sport

It is home of the Altenberg bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track that has been in use since 1987. The FIBT World Championships 2008 ran February 11–24, 2008 in Altenberg, Saxony, for the fifth time, having done so in 1991 (bobsleigh), 1994 (skeleton), 1999 (skeleton), and 2000 (men's bobsleigh). It was the first time Altenberg has hosted all of the events at one championship

Sons and daughters of the town

* Friedrich Leibniz (also Leibnütz), (1597-1652), jurist, philosopher, father of

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to ...

Horst Koschka Horst Koschka (born 8 September 1943 in Altenberg) is a retired East German biathlete. He represented the sports club Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo / SG Dynamo Zinnwald. References 1943 births Living people People from Altenb ...

(born 1943), biathlete * Manfred Beer (born 1953), biathlete *

Michael Rösch Michael Rösch (born 4 May 1983) is a German and Belgian (since 2014) former biathlete. Life and career He is the son of the former biathlete Eberhard Rösch. He was junior world champion four times, three times in the relay and once in the ...

(born 1983), Olympic champion with the biathlon men's relay at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

References

External links

Altenberg
(German) Populated places in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Towns in the Ore Mountains Mining communities in Germany {{Ore-mountains-stub