Schneeberg is a town 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 ...

’s district of

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Ore Mountains (German: ''Erzgebirge''), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republi ...

. It has roughly 16,400 inhabitants and belongs to the Town League of Silberberg (''Städtebund Silberberg''). It lies 4 km west of Aue, and southeast of Zwickau.

Geography

Location

Schneeberg lies on the Silver Road in the upper western

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 ...

. Visible from afar is the prominent church of St. Wolfgang. The heart of the town lies on the ''Schneeberg'', which reaches 470 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and is also the town’s namesake. Among the surrounding peaks are the ''Gleesberg'' (593 m) to the east and the ''Keilberg'' (557 m) to the north.

History

Schneeberg’s more than 500-year-long history has been shaped by

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

more than anything else, laying the very groundwork for the town’s founding. The original

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

mining also yielded

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

and bismuth mining by the mid 16th century. When

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mining was being undertaken between 1946 and 1958, the town’s population quickly rose, leading to Schneeberg’s status as a district-free town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') between 1952 and 1958. Afterwards it once again belonged to the district of Aue. Between 1952 and 1990, Schneeberg was part of the Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Amalgamations

* 1939 Bergstadt Neustädtel, near which lies the popular outing destinations Gleesberg and Filzteich * 1952 Community of Griesbach, northwest of Schneeberg * 1999 Community of Lindenau

Population development

Development of population figures ''(as of 1960 on 31 December)'': ¹ 29 October
² 31 August

Culture and sightseeing

The ''St. Wolfgangskirche'' is one of the biggest and architecturally most mature churches built in the Late Gothic style, and is an earlier type of

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

church construction. Inside are found works by

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...

and the Crodel family of painters, whom the ''Krodel-Brunnen'' (fountain), demolished in late 2005, commemorated. Among the other sights to be seen are the neo-Gothic Town Hall, newly built in the mid 19th century, various

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

buildings and mining memorials.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

In Schneeberg ends '' Bundesstraße'' (Federal Highway) 93 from

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, which once led further, across the border, to Karlsbad (now

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

in the

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 ...

). Furthermore, ''Bundesstraße'' 169 runs through the town from

Plauen Plauen (; ; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany with a population of around 65,000. It is Saxony's 5th most populated city after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest cit ...

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. From 1859 to 1952, the town had a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connection afforded by a 5-km-long spur leading to Niederschlema on the Zwickau- Schwarzenberg- Johanngeorgenstadt-Karlsbad railway line.

State institutions

Schneeberg was until 31 March 2008 headquarters of the Bundeswehr’s ''Gebirgsjägerbataillon'' (“Mountain Rangers’ Battalion”) 571 and ''Versorgungskompanie'' (“Supply Company”) 370.

Education

Schneeberg had at its disposal a lyceum, out of which grew a Gymnasium. Moreover, the town was home to a lace tatting school, an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

, a vocational Gymnasium and a teachers’ college. Schneeberg's ''Johann-Gottfried-Herder Gymnasium'' was chosen in 2004-2005 as “Saxony’s best Gymnasium” in the course of a study by the magazine '' Capital''. It enjoys an outstanding reputation even beyond Germany's borders.

Notable people

* Andreas Musculus (1514–1581), professor at the University of

Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Marchian dialects, Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With a ...

and ''Generalsuperintendent'' of the Margraviate of Brandenburg * Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515–1585), humanistic writer and translator * Auguste Peltz (1824–1900), founder of the Schneeberg Doll Factory * Petrus Albinus (1543–1598), vice chancellor of the University of Wittenberg and

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, historian * Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld, (1764-1841), portraitist * Heinrich Stölzel (1777–1844), musician * Egon Günther (1927–2017), German film director * Enrico Kern (born 1979), German footballer with FC Hansa Rostock

Partner towns

Schneeberg's partner towns are: * Herten in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

* Veresegyház in Pest County * Jáchymov in Karlovy Vary Region

References

External links

Schneeberg’s website

Mining brotherhood
at "Schneeberger Bergparade" e. V.

Facebook {{Authority control Schneeberg, Saxony, Erzgebirgskreis