Zwickau

Zwickau stands on the Mulde at the foot of the Ore Mountains. Its name derives from a Sorbian settlement, and a trading place was recorded here in 1118. The town received a charter in 1212, briefly became a free imperial city and then passed to the margraves of Meissen. Mining and the discovery of silver at nearby Schneeberg in 1470 helped make Zwickau a prosperous Saxon centre.

The Reformation found early support here. Thomas Müntzer preached at Saint Catherine's Church in 1520–1522, while the so-called Zwickau prophets gave voice to more radical religious ideas. The cloth merchants' hall, built in 1522–1524, reflected the town's commercial strength. Zwickau was badly damaged in the Thirty Years' War. Coal had been mined locally since at least 1348, though extraction expanded greatly only in the nineteenth century.