Liebenwerda

Liebenwerda lies on the Schwarze Elster, where a castle was built on an island in the river. Its keep, the Lubwartturm, dates from around 1207. A document written here in 1231 mentions both a local bailiff and a priest, and in 1304 the settlement was described as a town. By 1367 it had craftsmen's guilds, a Latin school and several chapels.

In the later Middle Ages Liebenwerda attracted pilgrims to a revered image of the Virgin at the Holy Cross chapel. The electors Rudolf III and Frederick the Wise also donated relics to its churches, adding to its reputation as a place of devotion on the old Niederstraße. The town remained part of Saxony until the Congress of Vienna, when the surrounding territory passed to Prussia in 1815.