Königstein Fortress in Saxony

1 May 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  15 minutes

Königstein Fortress © Fritz-Gerald Schröder

Königstein Fortress © Fritz-Gerald Schröder

Königstein Fortress, the “Saxon Bastille“, is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, above the town of Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the table hill of the same name. The 9.5 hectare rock plateau rises 240 metres above the Elbe and has over 50 buildings, some over 400 years old, that bear witness to the military and civilian life in the fortress. The rampart run of the fortress is 1,800 metres long with walls up to 42 metres high and steep sandstone faces. In the centre of the site is a 152.5 metre deep well, which is the deepest in Saxony and second deepest well in Europe. The fortress, which for centuries was used as a state prison, is still intact and is now one of Saxony‘s foremost tourist attractions, with 700,000 visitors per year.   read more…

Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar

29 March 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Rudolf Klein/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

© Rudolf Klein/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

The Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar houses a major collection of German literature and historical documents. The library contains 1,000,000 books, 2,000 medieval and early modern manuscripts, 600 ancestral registers, 10,000 maps, and 4,000 musical scripts. The research library today has approximately 850,000 volumes with collection emphasis on the German literature. Among its special collections is an important Shakespeare collection of approximately 10,000 volumes, as well as a 16th-century Bible connected to Martin Luther. Today, the library is a public research library for literature and art history. One of the library’s most famous patrons was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who worked there from 1797 to 1832. The library also includes the world’s largest Faust collection. The Duchess’s significant 13,000-volume music collection is also available in the library.   read more…

Theme Week Potsdam – Sanssouci Park

23 December 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Berlin, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Sanssouci © Mbzt/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sanssouci © Mbzt/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in the structure. A baroque flower garden with lawns, flower beds, hedges and trees was created. In the hedge quarter 3,000 fruit trees were planted. The greenhouses of the numerous nurseries contained oranges, melons, peaches and bananas. The goddesses Flora and Pomona, who decorate the entrance obelisk at the eastern park exit, were placed there to highlight the connection of a flower, fruit and vegetable garden. With the expansion of the site after the creation of more buildings, a 2.5 km long straight main avenue was built. It began in the east at the 1748 obelisk and over the years was extended all the way to the New Palace, which marks its end in the west. In 1764 the picture gallery was constructed, followed by the New Chambers in 1774. They flank the palace and open the alley up to rondels with the fountains, surrounded by marble statues. From there paths lead in a star pattern between tall hedges to further parts of the gardens.   read more…

Silicon Saxony in Dresden

3 August 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  5 minutes

© silicon-saxony.de

© silicon-saxony.de

Silicon Saxony is a registered industry association of nearly 300 companies in the microelectronics and related sectors in Saxony, Germany, with around 40,000 employees. Many, but not all, of those firms are situated in the north of Dresden. With a name chosen referring to Silicon Valley, the area and the union — in many aspects — represent the only meaningful European center of microelectronics. Many of those firms have very research and capital intensive business models competing with subsidized global players, mainly from Asia.   read more…

Barby on the Elbe

12 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Town hall © Mazbln/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town hall © Mazbln/cc-by-sa-3.0

Barby is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe river, near the confluence with the Saale, approx. 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Magdeburg. Since an administrative reform of 1 January 2010 it comprises the former municipalities of the administrative community Elbe-Saale, except for Gnadau, that joined Barby in September 2010. The burgward of Barby was first mentioned in a 961 deed by German king Otto I. Since the 12th century, the area was enfeoffed to the Counts of Barby descending from nearby Arnstein, who achieved Imperial immediacy in 1497. Upon the extinction of the line in 1659, the County of Barby fell to the Duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels, ruled by a cadet branch of the electoral Saxon House of Wettin.   read more…

The Holy Lake in Potsdam

16 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  5 minutes

Heiliger See, with Marble Palace © Matthias v.d. Elbe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Heiliger See, with Marble Palace © Matthias v.d. Elbe/cc-by-sa-3.0

Heiliger See (English: Holy Lake) is a lake within the city limits of Potsdam, located northeast of the city center and bordering the historic park known as the New Garden. Together with the lakes Sacrower See and Groß Glienicker See to the north it forms a chain of lakes resulting from a glacial tunnel valley. The lake is 1.33 km long and 300 metres wide on average.   read more…

Bernburg on river Saale

24 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Bernburg Castle © Franzfoto

Bernburg Castle © Franzfoto

Bernburg is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the district of Salzlandkreis. It is situated on the river Saale, approx. 30 km downstream from Halle. The town is dominated by its huge Renaissance castle featuring a museum as well as a popular, recently updated bear pit in its moat.   read more…

Bitterfeld-Wolfen in the southeast of Saxony-Anhalt

16 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Villa Bernstein and Bernsteinsee (Lake Amber) © Katrin Perl

Villa Bernstein and Bernsteinsee (Lake Amber) © Katrin Perl

Bitterfeld-Wolfen is a town in the district Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt. It is situated in south-eastern Saxony-Anhalt, west of the river Mulde, in an area that is dominated by heavy industry and lignite mining. The town was formed by merger of the towns Bitterfeld and Wolfen and the municipalities Greppin, Holzweißig and Thalheim on 1 July 2007.   read more…

Freital in Saxony

14 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

© Kolossos/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Kolossos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Freital is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on a small river, the Weißeritz, and is 8 kilometres southwest of Dresden. Freital is located southwest of Dresden in the Döhlen Basin, through which the Weißeritz flows from south-west to north-east. The Windberg hill, is the town’s local mountain and well-known landmark, rising about 100 metres above the valley floor. The lowest part of the town is the point where the Weißeritz enters the territory of the city of Dresden.   read more…

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