Pirna

Pirna lies on the Elbe below the rocky heights of Saxon Switzerland. Its medieval town was laid out on a regular street plan beneath a castle, and was first recorded in 1233. King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia acquired the town and castle in 1293; Pirna remained Bohemian until 1405. In 1544 Duke Maurice of Saxony strengthened the castle as the fortress of Sonnenstein.

Swedish troops under Johan Banér entered Pirna in 1639 during the Thirty Years' War. Their long siege of the fortress failed, but the town was devastated and hundreds died in what became known as the Misery of Pirna. At the start of the Seven Years' War the Saxon army took refuge nearby and surrendered to Prussia in 1756. During the Napoleonic Wars, French troops occupied Sonnenstein and held it until 1813.