Königstein (, ) is a town on the river

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

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 ...

. Königstein lies in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge District and had a population of 2,089 in 2018. It includes land on both banks of the Elbe, but the centre and most of the town lies to the south of the river. The Königstein Fortress is situated above and to the south-west of the town.

Geography

Königstein is located in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. The town lies in between Pirna and the Czech border at the confluence of the Biela with the

. Königstein was damaged during the flooding of the Elbe in 2002.

History

The town of Königstein was first mentioned in 1379 as a settlement near the castle of Königstein. It was named after a

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, but eventually passed to the Saxon

Margrave Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...

s of Meißen. However, Königstein still retains the double-tailed lion of Bohemia in its

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

for Allied officers, Oflag IV-B, was located in the castle.

Transport

Königstein (Sächsische Schweiz) station, on the Dresden S-Bahn and the Dresden to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

railway, is located in the centre of the town. Königstein is also a stop for the Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt ships, including historic paddle steamers, operating on the Elbe between Dresden and the Czech border. Bus services in the Königstein area are operated by the Regionalverkehr Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, who also operate the Königstein to Halbestadt passenger ferry that crosses the river to the Halbestadt quarter on the north bank.

References

External links

Municipal website
Populated places in Saxon Switzerland Populated riverside places in Germany Populated places on the Elbe {{SächsischeSchweizOsterzgebirge-geo-stub