1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
States of Germany
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Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
4.
Saxony
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Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germanys sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres, located in the middle of a large, formerly all German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, the area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony is divided into 10 districts,1. After a reform in 2008, these regions - with some alterations of their respective areas - were called Direktionsbezirke, in 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen. The Erzgebirgskreis district includes the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district includes Saxon Switzerland, the largest cities in Saxony according to the 31 December 2015 estimate. To this can be added that Leipzig forms a metropolitan region with Halle. The latter city is located just across the border to Saxony-Anhalt, Leipzig shares for instance an S-train system and an airport with Halle. Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy of the states of the former East Germany and its economy grew by 1. 9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains above the German average, the eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an Objective 1 development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business competition and entrepreneurial support organisation, has been in operation since 2002. Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region the nickname Silicon Saxony, the publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are no longer significant. Today the automobile industry, machinery production and services contribute to the development of the region. Saxony is also one of the most renowned tourist destinations in Germany - especially the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, new tourist destinations are developing, notably in the lake district of Lausitz. Saxony reported an unemployment of 8. 8% in 2014. By comparison the average in the former GDR was 9. 8% and 6. 7% for Germany overall, the unemployment rate reached 8. 2% in May 2015. The Leipzig area, which recently was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate, could benefit greatly from investments by Porsche. With the VW Phaeton factory in Dresden, and many part suppliers, zwickau is another major Volkswagen location
5.
Districts of Germany
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A German district is an administrative subdivision known as Landkreis, except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where it is known simply as Kreis. Most major cities in Germany are not part of a rural district, in this context, those cities are referred to as Kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis. Rural districts are at a level of administration between the German states and the municipal governments. They correspond to level 3 administrative units of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, previously, the similar title Reichskreis was given to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term Landeskommissariat was used for administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are rural districts of which there are 295, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not usually belong to a district, but take over district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities. These are known as urban districts —cities which constitute a district in their own there are currently 107 of them. As of 2011, approximately 25 million people live in these 107 urban districts, in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Neuss and Moers. Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are part of a larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, the classification as midsize town is usually based on a towns registered population, but varies from state to state. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district, urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council is the highest institution of a district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of rural districts are not situated within the district proper. Most of those districts are named after this central city as well. Moers is the biggest city in Germany that is neither an urban district, in parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt. In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by a mayor, rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative commission called Kreisausschuss
6.
Mittelsachsen
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Mittelsachsen is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. The district was established by merging the districts of Döbeln, Freiberg. The district stretches from the Erzgebirge on the Czech Republic–Germany border to the plains between Leipzig and Dresden, the main rivers of the district are the Freiberger Mulde and Zschopau. Media related to Landkreis Mittelsachsen at Wikimedia Commons Official website
7.
Burgomaster
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The name in English was derived from the Dutch burgemeester. In some cases, Burgomaster was the title of the head of state and head of government of a sovereign city-state, contemporary titles are commonly translated into English as mayor. Bürgermeister, in German, in Germany, Austria, and formerly in Switzerland, in Switzerland, the title was abolished mid-19th century, various current titles for roughly equivalent offices include Gemeindepräsident, Stadtpräsident, Gemeindeamtmann, and Stadtamtmann. Oberbürgermeister is the most common version for a mayor in a big city in Germany, the Ober- prefix is used in many ranking systems for the next level up including military designations. The mayors of cities, which comprise one of Germanys 112 urban districts usually bear this title. Urban districts are comparable to independent cities in the English-speaking world, however, also the mayors of some cities, which do not comprise an urban district, but often used to comprise one until the territorial reforms in the 1970s, bear the title Oberbürgermeister. In the Netherlands nominated by the council but appointed by the crown. In theory above the parties, in practice a high-profile party-political post, bourgmestre in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bürgermeister Burmistras, derived from German. Burmistrz, a title, derived from German. The German form Oberbürgermeister is often translated as Nadburmistrz, the German-derived terminology reflects the involvement of German settlers in the early history of many Polish towns. Borgmästare, kommunalborgmästare, the title is not used in Sweden in present times, boargemaster Pormestari In history in many free imperial cities the function of burgomaster was usually held simultaneously by three persons, serving as an executive college. One of the three being burgomaster in chief for a year, the second being the prior burgomaster in chief, präsidierender Bürgermeister is now an obsolete formulation sometimes found in historic texts
8.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
9.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
10.
Freiberg
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Freiberg is a university and mining town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called Große Kreisstadt and the centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under conservation and is a chosen site for the proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Ore Mountain Mining Region. Until 1969, the town was dominated for around 800 years by the mining and smelting industries, in recent decades it has restructured into a high technology site in the fields of semiconductor manufacture and solar technology, part of Silicon Saxony. The town lies on the declivity of the Ore Mountains. Parts of the town are nestled in the valleys of Münzbach and Goldbach streams and its centre has an altitude of about 412 m above NHN. Its lowest point is on Münzbach on the boundary at 340 m above NHN. Freiberg lies within a region of old forest clearances, subsequently used by the industry which left its mark on the landscape. The town is surrounded to the north, southeast and southwest by woods, since the beginning of the 21st century an urbanised area has gradually developed which is formed by the towns of Nossen, Roßwein, Großschirma, Freiberg and Brand-Erbisdorf. It has currently about 75,000 inhabitants, the nucleus of the town, the former forest village of Christiansdorf lies in the valley of the Münzbach stream. The unwalled town centre grew up on its two slopes and on the ridge to the west. This means inter alia that the roads radiating outwards east of the old main road axis, the area located east of the main road axis is called Unterstadt, with its lower market or Untermarkt. The western area is the Oberstadt where the Obermarkt or Upper Market is situated, the town centre is surrounded by a green belt running along the old town wall. In the west, this belt, in which the ponds of the Kreuzteichen are set, just north of the town centre, is Freudenstein Castle as well as the remnants of the town wall with several wall towers and Schlüsselteich pond in front of them. The remains of the wall run eastwards, in sections, to the Donats Tower and this area is dominated by the historic moat. The southern boundary of the old town is characterised in places by buildings from the Gründerzeit period, the B101 federal road, here called Wallstraße, flanks the west of the town centre, the B173, as Schillerstraße and Hornstraße, bounds it to the south. Freibergs north is dominated by the campus of its University of Mining, the main part of the campus on either side of Leipziger Straße emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, the districts of Lossnitz, Lößnitz and Kleinwaltersdorf are found here, between Kleinwaltersdorf and Lößnitz is the Nonnenwald wood, and east of Leipziger Straße is a trading estate
11.
Chemnitz
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Chemnitz, known from 1953 to 1990 as Karl-Marx-Stadt, is the third-largest city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county, located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The citys economy is based on the sector and manufacturing industry. Chemnitz University of Technology has around 10,000 students, Chemnitz is named after the river Chemnitz, a small tributary of the Zwickau Mulde. The word Chemnitz is from the Sorbian language, and means stony, the word is composed of the Slavic word kamen meaning stone and the feminine suffix -ica. It is known in Czech as Saská Kamenice and in Polish as Kamienica Saska, there are many other towns named Kamenica or Kamenice in areas with past or present Slavic settlement. An early Slavic tribes settlement was located at Kamienica, and the first documented use of the name Chemnitz was the 1143 site of a Benedictine monastery around which a settlement grew, circa 1170 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted it the rights of an imperial city. In 1307, the town became subordinate to the Margraviate of Meissen, in medieval times, Chemnitz became a centre of textile production and trade. More than one third of the worked in textile production. By the early 19th century Chemnitz had become an industrial centre, in 1913, Chemnitz had a population of 320,000 and, like Leipzig and Dresden, was larger at that time than today. After losing inhabitants due to the first World War Chemnitz grew rapidly again, before the world economic crises, it was supposed that the city would keep on growing and would become a Millionenstadt by incorporating also fast growing smaller towns and municipalities around it. During World War II, Chemnitz contained factories that produced military hardware, 2/3–5 March, USAAF bombers attacked the marshalling yards. 5 March,760 RAF bombers attacked, the headquarters of the auto manufacturer Auto Union were also based in Chemnitz since 1932 and its buildings were also badly damaged. At the end of the war, the companys executives fled and relocated the company in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, the World War II bombings left most of the city in ruins, and post-war, the East German reconstruction included large low rise housing. Some tourist sites were reconstructed during the East German era and after German reunification and it was occupied by Soviet troops on 8 May 1945. After dissolution of the states in the GDR in 1952, Chemnitz became seat of a district, on 10 May 1953, the city was renamed by decision of the East German government to Karl-Marx-Stadt after Karl Marx. GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl said, The people who live here, do not look back and they look with love and devotion to the founder of the socialist doctrine, the greatest son of the German people, to Karl Marx. I hereby fulfill about the governments decision, I carry out the solemn act of renaming the city and declare, From now on, this city bears the proud name and mandatory Karl-Marx-Stadt
12.
Dresden
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Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
13.
Sorbs
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Sorbs, known also by their former autonyms Lusatians and Wends, are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting their homeland in Lusatia, a region divided between Germany and Poland. They traditionally speak the Sorbian languages, closely related to Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Sorbian is an officially recognized minority language of Germany. The Sorbs are linguistically and genetically closest to the Czechs and Poles, the community is divided religiously between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. An indicator of the degree of assimilation is the fact that the Prime Minister of Saxony is at present a Sorb, the ethnonym Sorbs derives from the medieval tribe, Sorbs. The original ethnonym, Srbi, was retained by the Sorbs and Serbs in the Balkans, by the 6th century, Slavs occupied the area west of the Oder formerly inhabited by Germanic peoples. The Sorbs are first mentioned in the 7th century, in the 19th century the autonym of the Slavic population of Lusatia was Lusatians. According to a study published in May 2011, Sorbs show the greatest genetic similarity to Poles, followed by Czechs. They show subtle evidence of genetic isolation but less than Sardinians, demographic history of the Sorb population since 1700, Sorbs are divided into two ethnographical groups, Upper Sorbs, who speak Upper Sorbian. Lower Sorbs, who speak Lower Sorbian, the dialects spoken vary in intelligibility in different areas. Sorbs arrived in the area extending between the Bober, Kwisa, and Oder rivers to the East and the Saale and Elbe rivers to the West during the 6th century, in the north, the area of their settlement reached Berlin. The earliest surviving mention of the tribe was in 631 A. D. when Fredegars Chronicle described them as Surbi and as under the rule of a Dervan, an ally of Samo. The Annales Regni Francorum state that in 806 A. D. Sorbian Duke Miliduch fought against the Franks and was killed, in 840, Sorbian Duke Czimislav was killed. In 932, Henry I conquered Lusatia and Milsko, gero II, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, reconquered Lusatia the following year and, in 939, murdered 30 Sorbian princes during a feast. As a result, there were many Sorbian uprisings against German rule, a reconstructed castle, at Raddusch in Lower Lusatia, is the sole physical remnant from this early period. Lusatian tribes are noted in the work of the Bavarian Geographer, the document contains a list of the tribes in Central-Eastern Europe east of the Elbe and north of the Danube to the Volga rivers to the Black and Caspian Sea most of them of Slavic origin. Having settled by the Elbe, Spree and Neisse in the 6th century, Sorbs living on the swampy broads of the Lower Spree have taken their name from the word marsh. The Milceni settled on fertile soil around Upper Spree, the name derives from the word měl’, the two groups were separated from each other by a wide and uninhabited forest range. The rest of the tribes settled themselves between the Elbe and Saale, among the many Slavic tribes, the Bavarian Geographer also noted a few Lusatian tribes, Glomacze - Dolomici, Milceni, Chutizi and Sitice
14.
Rhine Franconian dialects
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Rhine Franconian, or Rhenish Franconian, is a dialect family of West Central German. It comprises the German dialects spoken across the regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, northwest Baden-Wurttemberg. It is also spoken in northeast France, in the part of the département of Moselle in the Lorraine region. Hessian Palatinate German Lorraine Franconian Saarland, Moselle Franconian Hughes, Stephanie, bilingualism in North-East France with specific reference to Rhenish Franconian spoken by Moselle Cross-border workers. In Preisler, Bent, et al. eds, the Consequences of Mobility, Linguistic and Sociocultural Contact Zones. Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde Universitetscenter, Institut for Sprog og Kultur
15.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
16.
Weaving
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Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, felting, and braiding or plaiting, the longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. The method in which these threads are inter woven affects the characteristics of the cloth, cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth can also be using other methods, including tablet weaving, back-strap. The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave, the majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves, plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be plain, or can be woven in decorative or artistic design, in general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right angles to each other, the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft that crosses it. One warp thread is called an end and one weft thread is called a pick, the warp threads are held taut and in parallel to each other, typically in a loom. There are many types of looms, Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions, also called the primary motion of the loom. Beating-up or battening, where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed. The warp is divided into two overlapping groups, or lines that run in two planes, one another, so the shuttle can be passed between them in a straight motion. Then, the group is lowered by the loom mechanism. Repeating these actions form a fabric mesh but without beating-up, the distance between the adjacent wefts would be irregular and far too large. The warp-beam is a wooden or metal cylinder on the back of the loom on which the warp is delivered, the threads of the warp extend in parallel order from the warp-beam to the front of the loom where they are attached to the cloth-roll. Each thread or group of threads of the passes through an opening in a heddle. The warp threads are separated by the heddles into two or more groups, each controlled and automatically drawn up and down by the motion of the heddles, where a complex design is required, the healds are raised by harness cords attached to a Jacquard machine. Every time the harness moves up or down, an opening is made between the threads of warp, through which the pick is inserted, traditionally the weft thread is inserted by a shuttle. On a conventional loom, the thread is carried on a pirn. A handloom weaver could propel the shuttle by throwing it from side to side with the aid of a picking stick, the picking΅ on a power loom is done by rapidly hitting the shuttle from each side using an overpick or underpick mechanism controlled by cams 80-250 times a minute
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
18.
Miniature park
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A miniature park is an open space that displays miniature buildings and models, and is usually open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a city or town, often called a miniature city or model village. They have been developed as recreational and tourist attractions, with roots in Japanese miniature gardens. Most examples are located in landscaped outdoor spaces, but the definition has widened in recent years to encompass large-scale miniature landscapes indoors. There is evidence to suggest the existence of model villages and miniature parks since the 19th century. Early examples include Bekonscot in the UK and Madurodam in The Hague, most model villages and parks are built to a consistent scale, varying from 1,76 as used by the intricately detailed Pendon in England up to the 1,9 scale of Wimborne Model Town. Continental Europe and Asia have tended to favour the scale of 1,25, whilst North American and UK examples have been based upon 1,12 and other variants. PIPKA There has been a move away from the village concept since the mid- to late 20th century towards a miniature park concept. Model villages are typically larger-scale, sit in a miniature landscape and allow viewing and physical interaction with the exhibits, such as publicly accessed streets. Miniature parks however, are concerned with the display of exhibits in their own right. Model railways, rivers and roads may provide a continuation between miniature parks exhibits, the most common forms are model railroads and dollhouses. Diorama with miniature replicas of Mexico´s wonders and monuments, tiny Town in Morrison, Colorado opened in 1921, is an amusement park. Tiny Town in Springfield, Missouri, opened in 1925, is the first miniature park village, Miniature train and village at the Germany Pavilion in Epcot at Disney World. Agilitynut feature The Gauge One Model Railway Association The Miniature Plant Files Database at All Things Miniature
19.
Ore Mountains
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The Ore Mountains or Ore Mountains Range in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for around 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest of the mountain range, the highest peaks are the Klínovec, which rises to 1,244 metres above sea level and the Fichtelberg. The Ore Mountains are a Hercynian block tilted so as to present a steep face towards Bohemia. They were formed during a process, During the folding of the Variscan orogeny, metamorphism occurred deep underground, forming slate. In addition, granite plutons intruded into the metamorphic rocks, by the end of the Palaeozoic era, the mountains had been eroded into gently undulating hills, exposing the hard rocks. As the rock of the Ore Mountains was too brittle to be folded, it shattered into an independent fault block which was uplifted and tilted to the northwest. This can be clearly seen at a height of 807 m above sea level on the mountain of Komáří vížka which lies on the Czech side, east of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld. This process is known as dissection, the Ore Mountains is geologically considered to be one of the most heavily researched mountain ranges in the world. The main geologic feature in the Ore Mountains is the Late Paleozoic Eibenstock granite pluton and this pluton is surrounded by progressive zones of contact metamorphism in which Paleozoic slates and phyllites have been changed to spotted hornfels, andalusite hornfels, and quartzites. Late Tertiary faulting and volcanism gave rise to basalt and phonolite dikes, Ore veins include iron, copper, tin, tungsten, lead, silver, cobalt, bismuth, uranium, plus iron and manganese oxides. The soils consist of rapidly leaching grus, in the western and central areas of the mountains it is formed from weathered granite. Phyllite results in a loamy, rapidly weathered gneiss in the east of the mountains producing a light soil, today the land is predominantly used for pasture. But it is not uncommon to see near-natural mountain meadows, to the north of the Ore Mountains, west of Chemnitz and around Zwickau lies the Ore Mountain Basin which is only really known geologically. Here there are deposits of coal where mining has already been abandoned. A similar but smaller basin with abandoned coal deposits, the Döhlen Basin, is located southwest of Dresden on the edge of the Ore Mountains. It forms the transition to the Elbe Valley zone, the Ore Mountains are part of a larger mountain system and adjoin the Fichtel Mountains to the west and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to the east. Past the River Elbe, the chain continues as the Lusatian Mountains. While the mountains slope gently away in the part, the southern slopes are rather steep
20.
Hall church
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A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke. This form of construction has a long history but reached its height in the late Gothic period, especially in German Sondergotik. The design also found favour in the Angevin lands of western France, one example of a neo-Gothic hall church is St. Francis de Sales Church in Saint Louis, Missouri, designed by Viktor Klutho and completed in 1908. This was particularly popular in Britain in inner city areas from the 1960s onwards, the listed churches are identical with the national lists in Czech, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish Wikipedias
21.
Gottfried Silbermann
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Gottfried Silbermann was a German builder of keyboard instruments. He built harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos, his reputation rests mainly on the latter two. Very little is known about Silbermanns youth and he was born in Kleinbobritzsch as the youngest son of the carpenter Michael Silbermann. They moved to the town of Frauenstein in 1685. He moved to Straßburg in 1702, where he learnt organ construction from his brother and he returned to Saxony as a master craftsman in 1710, and opened his own organ workshop in Freiberg one year later. His second project in Germany was the Grand Organ in the Freiberg Cathedral of St. Mary, in 1723 he was bestowed the title Königlich Polnischen und Churfürstlich Sächsischen Hof- und Landorgelmachers by Frederick I. Silbermann died in Dresden in 1753, probably as the result of a tin-lead poisoning, the organs that Silbermann and his brother Andreas Silbermann built show a clear and distinctive style, both in architecture and in their music qualities. Silbermann never deviated from this style, Silbermanns ability to earn money with organ construction was remarkable, leading him to uncommon wealth. His economic operation and slow consolidation of his position created a near monopoly. His apprentices had to never to work in Central Germany. Silbermann designed and built approximately 50 organs,29 of which are still in existence in Saxony, the Hofkirche organ and that of Freiberg Cathedral are considered his greatest works. The organ in Freiberg Cathedral has three manuals and 41 stops divided between Oberwerk, Hauptwerk, Brustwerk and Pedal. Silbermanns organs are characterised by the use of reeds, a broad range of stops, and pipes with a high tin content. Silbermann was also a figure in the history of the piano. He transmitted to later builders the crucial ideas of Bartolomeo Cristofori, ensuring their survival, evidence from the Universal-Lexicon of Johann Heinrich Zedler indicates that Silbermann first built a piano in 1732, only a year after Cristoforis death. Silbermann may have found out about Cristoforis invention as follows, in 1709, Scipione Maffei did research on the newly invented piano, including an interview with Cristofori, and published his findings in a 1711 Italian journal article. In 1725, this article was translated into German by the Dresden court poet Johann Ulrich König, in his mature pianos, Silbermann scrupulously copied the complex action found in Cristoforis last instruments, failing only to produce a correct copy of the back check. Silbermann also copied another ingenious Cristofori invention, the inverted wrest plank, in other respects, Silbermann relied on his own experience as a harpsichord builder
22.
Minna Planer
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Christine Wilhelmine Minna Planer was a German actress and the first wife of composer Richard Wagner, to whom she was married for 30 years, although for the last 10 years they often lived apart. At an early age, she had a daughter with a Royal Saxon Army officer. After a stormy courtship, which involved infidelities on both sides, she married Richard Wagner in 1836. In the early years Minna was the wage earner in the household. After Wagners affair with Mathilde Wesendonck in 1857, Minna mostly lived apart from him, in later years she developed a heart condition which ultimately claimed her life. Minna Planer was born on 5 September 1809 to a former Army trumpeter, Gotthelf Planer, in Oederan, Kingdom of Saxony. She was brought up in poverty and then at the age of fifteen was seduced by Ernst Rudolf von Einsiedel, a captain in the King of Saxonys Guards, who abandoned her after making her pregnant. Minna was sent to her relatives in the country to conceal the pregnancy, Minna pursued a career as an actress, specialising in female juvenile lead roles in tragedies. She was in demand by many German theatre companies, and appeared in Dessau, Altenburg, Magdeburg and Dresden before she met Richard Wagner. In a letter dated December 27,1833, Minna sets out her conditions for employment, she would not accept guest appearances and her fee was 600 thaler plus travelling expenses. While she was praised for her abilities as an actress, her physical charms also brought her admiration, One anonymous suitor wrote to her, When Nature created you, O Fair One, she broke the mold and never more may create so fair an image. Ah, I have known you long, you splendid creature, beautiful in youth, in 1834 Minna was appearing as part of Heinrich Eduard Bethmanns Magdeburg Theatre Company during a summer season at Bad Lauchstädt, a spa resort near Halle. The 21-year-old Wagner changed his mind and accepted the contract in order to pursue her, Minnas relationship with Wagner was stormy, Wagner was jealous and possessive and there were frequent loud arguments which usually ended with Minna in tears. In November 1835 Minna, dissatisfied with the Magdeburg troupe and probably with Wagner as well, Wagner was wild with despair and implored her to come back and marry him. Minna eventually agreed to return, but stayed only to the end of the season in Magdeburg before heading to Königsberg to join the theatre company. Failing in this, he joined Minna in Königsberg and accepted a position as a junior conductor. Minna married Wagner in Tragheim Church on 26 November 1836, where they argued even in front of the minister who was to marry them, Minna soon found that being Wagners wife was not the route to respectability that she craved. Wagner continued to run up debts, and she frequently had to deal with not only from Königsberg
23.
Richard Wagner
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works and he described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and his advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music, Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival, until his final years, Wagners life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century, his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, Richard Wagner was born to an ethnic German family in Leipzig, where his family lived at No. 3, the Brühl in the Jewish quarter and he was baptized at St. Thomas Church. He was the child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, Johanna Rosine. Wagners father Carl died of typhus six months after Richards birth, afterwards his mother Johanna lived with Carls friend, the actor and playwright Ludwig Geyer. In August 1814 Johanna and Geyer probably married—although no documentation of this has found in the Leipzig church registers. She and her family moved to Geyers residence in Dresden, until he was fourteen, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. He almost certainly thought that Geyer was his biological father, Geyers love of the theatre came to be shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in his performances. In his autobiography Mein Leben Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel, in late 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzels school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher. He struggled to play a scale at the keyboard and preferred playing theatre overtures by ear. Following Geyers death in 1821, Richard was sent to the Kreuzschule, at the age of nine he was hugely impressed by the Gothic elements of Carl Maria von Webers opera Der Freischütz, which he saw Weber conduct. At this period Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright and his first creative effort, listed in the Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis as WWV1, was a tragedy called Leubald. Begun when he was in school in 1826, the play was influenced by Shakespeare
24.
Igor Mitoraj
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Igor Mitoraj was a Polish artist born in Oederan, Germany. Mitoraj studied painting at the Kraków Academy of Art under Tadeusz Kantor, after graduating, he had several joint exhibitions, and held his first solo exhibition in 1967 at the Krzysztofory Gallery in Poland. In 1968, he moved to Paris to continue his studies at the National School of Art, shortly afterwards, he became fascinated by Latin American art and culture, spending a year painting and travelling around Mexico. The experience led him to take up sculpture and he returned to Paris in 1974 and two years later he held another major solo exhibition at the Gallery La Hune, including some sculptural work. The success of the show persuaded him that he was first and foremost a sculptor. Having previously worked with terracotta and bronze, a trip to Carrara, Italy, in 1979 turned him to using marble as his primary medium and in 1983 he set up a studio in Pietrasanta. In 2006, he created the new doors and a statue of John the Baptist for the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. In 2003 he returned to Poland, in 2005 he received the Golden Medal of Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis 2012 he received the Commanders Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Mitorajs sculptural style is rooted in the tradition with its focus on the well modelled torso. However, Mitoraj introduced a post-modern twist with ostentatiously truncated limbs, often his works aim to address the questions of human body, its beauty and fragility as well as deeper aspects of human nature, which as a result of the passing of time undergo degeneration. Video by Leandro Manuel Emede shot in Roma at Mercati di Traiano more pics of Mitorajs sculptures Igor Mitoraj, rzeźba i rysunek Eros Tied in Krakow. Archived from the original on October 21,2007, contini Art UK Igor Mitoraj at Art Gallery Katarzyna Napiórkowska in Poland
25.
Augustusburg
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Augustusburg is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 12 km east of Chemnitz, augustusburg is known for its Jagdschloss, the hunting lodge of the same name. Augustusburg is located in the Ore Mountains, approx,15 km east of Chemnitz,5 km south east of Flöha,20 km south west of Freiberg and 9 km north of Zschopau in the district of Mittelsachsen. Augustusburg is situated on a ridge between the valleys Zschopau and the Flöha rivers, the town is primarily surrounded by forests. The highest point is the Schellenberg, at 516 m on which the castle is found, the lowest point is the Zschopautal at about 300 m
26.
Geringswalde
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Geringswalde is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 12 km northwest of Mittweida, and 27 km north of Chemnitz, the town was first mentioned in 1233 in a document confirming the establishment of a Benedictine nuns convent as Gerungeswalde as a deserted oppidum together with a destroyed castle. After the Protestant reformation, the convent was dissolved and transformed into a manor, an orthodox Lutheran school was funded in 1566, but closed again in 1568 due to the founder and the rector being accused of Gnesio-Lutheranism. 134 freeholders were counted in 1587, but in 1764 there were only 36 freeholders and 168 smallholders, a stream traversing the grounds of the town was dammed in the middle ages, forming a large pond known as Großteich. Until the 19th century, the economy was based on agriculture. After industrialization Geringswalde was known for the production of furniture and cutting tools, the manor was dissolved after World War II and most of its buildings demolished. Geringswalde was part of Kreis Rochlitz from 1945 to 1994, of Landkreis Mittweida from 1994 to 2008, from 1893 to 1997, the town was served by the standard-gauge railway line Waldheim - Rochlitz. Traditional occupations were agriculture, weaving of linen, legwear knitting, tannery, industrialisation in the 19th century brought large-scale furniture making and metalworking to the town. There were also a brickyard and a cigar factory, the brewery closed in the 1920s. After World War II until the early 1990s the economy of the town was dominated by tool making, furniture making, some smaller factories produced clothes, cosmetics, electronic circuits, animal fodder, and concrete parts. Most factories closed in the early 1990s, but the tradition of metalworking in particular is still continued by several small, a number of wind turbines has been erected on the heights surrounding the town since the 2000s. The neogothic Martin Luther church of 1890 replaces a former romanesque church, the neo-baroque town hall was opened in 1905, the school house in neo-renaissance style in 1894. An observation tower named after Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, situated north of the town, a copy of the 1727 Saxon post milestone stands near the town centre. The original is kept in a museum in Rochlitz, a castle in the nearby forest was destroyed in the Middle Ages, only minuscule remains of its basement walls are left. The village church of Altgeringswalde houses a wooden altar which was made around 1510
