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The Free State of Saxony
Industrial center of the east. With approximately 250 inhabitants
per square kilometer, Saxony is the most populous of the new federal
states. It is a state with a long industrial tradition: Prior
to the Second World War, the triangle formed by the cities of
Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz was the industrial heart of Germany.
Leipzig was one of the main centers of peaceful resistance to
the regime of the former GDR; the large Monday demonstrations
in the city culminated on 9 October 1989 in the chant: "We
are the people!” After unification, a great many uncompetitive
industrial firms were shut down. Today, however, the Leipzig/Halle
economic region is experiencing a strong upswing in the commercial
and services sector. Numerous banks have opened branches in Leipzig,
and the city is well on its way to becoming one of Germany's major
financial centers after Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf.
The most modern large-scale mail-order house in the world is located
in Leipzig. Siemens AG is building a high-performance and innovation
center for microelectronics in Dresden; Volkswagen is manufacturing
cars in Mosel near Zwickau and automobile engines in Chemnitz.
Foron AG in Scharfenstein was awarded the Federal Environmental
Prize in 1993 for the development of the first CFC-free refrigerator.
The Ore Mountains, the Vogtland and Upper Lusatia carry on their
traditional toy and textile industries.
Chemnitz epitomizes German industrial dynamism. One of the first
German steam locomotives was built in the city in 1839, and motors
for the first Audi models with front wheel drive were assembled
here at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, thanks to its
highly skilled work force and the scientific and academic potential
of the Technical University (the second largest technical training
institution in the eastern part of Germany), Chemnitz has picked
up the thread of this old tradition, focusing on innovative production,
especially in the areas of tool and textile machinery manufacturing.
The Meissen porcelain factory has been producing its exquisite
merchandise continuously since 1710. Its trademark - the crossed
swords - is known the world over. Johann Friedrich Böttger
(1682-1719) discovered the formula for this "white gold”
in 1708 while working in his laboratory under the Brühl Terrace
in Dresden.
The world's first reflex camera was constructed in Dresden, and
such everyday articles as the toothpaste tube, filter cigarettes,
mouthwash, beer bottle caps and coffee filters were developed
here as well.
"Florence on the Elbe” and "Paris in miniature”.
In the year 2006, Dresden will celebrate the 800th anniversary
of its founding. With this in mind, the state capital is presently
undertaking great efforts to reconstruct its historic townscape,
which still bears the scars of the devastation wrought by World
War II. More than 200 building cranes meanwhile dot the city,
which in years past was affectionately called "Florence on
the Elbe” because of its architectural splendor and elegance;
public and private investment for building reconstruction and
restoration currently exceeds DM 24 billion. The Opera
House, built in the Italian Renaissance style in 1870-1878 according
to the blueprints of Gottfried Semper, was reconstructed and reopened
back in 1985. Taschenberg Palace owes its restoration to a private
investor: Today it is a luxury hotel, for Dresden is once again
a magnet for tourists, drawing more than five million visitors
each year. For nearly 50 years the ruins of the Baroque Church
of Our Lady (built in 1726-1743 by George Bähr) served as
a somber reminder of the horrors of war. It is now being reconstructed
in an unparalleled endeavor financed largely by donations; upon
its completion approximately one third of the original stones
will have been reset in their original positions.
In the words of Goethe's "Faust": "Leipzig to me
is dear: Paris in miniature, how it refines its people!”
The Leipzig Fair has been in existence for more than 800 years.
In recent years the universal fairs of the past have been
supplanted by a continuously evolving concept of specialized fairs.
With an investment volume of about DM 1.5 billion, the
former Mockau Airport has been transformed into Europe's most
modern trade exhibition complex, which was inaugurated in April
1996 with the fair AUTO MOBIL INTERNATIONAL. Since time immemorial
Leipzig has been a center of the publishing industry; the annual
book fair held here in March has established itself, along with
the fair in Frankfurt am Main, as a key fair for contacts with
Eastern Europe in particular. The university was founded as early
as 1409; in 1993 it was endowed with the first German chair for
public relations.
The traditional and the modern. Saxony has helped to write
many a chapter of German cultural history. The composers Heinrich
Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Maria von Weber, Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner and Richard
Strauss lived, worked and performed famous pieces for the first
time here. Today the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Dresden
Staatskapelle and Leipzig's St. Thomas Choir are internationally
renowned; the conductor Kurt Masur and the trumpeter Ludwig Güttler
are among the world's best in their respective fields. The state
boasts a wide variety of museums: The Green Vault in Dresden displays
the exquisitely crafted treasures accumulated by the Saxon electors,
especially Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733); the Old Masters
Gallery (with Raphael's "Sistine Madonna”) and the New
Masters Gallery both house valuable collections of outstanding
works of art. Also worthy of mention are the lace museum in Plauen,
the automobile museum in Zwickau, the museum of industry in Chemnitz,
the mineralogical collection in Freiberg, the Lessing Museum in
Kamenz, and the Sorbian Museum in Bautzen, the center of the Lusatian
Sorbs, a Slavic minority.
Saxony has a wealth of magnificent palaces and elaborately landscaped parks and gardens, most of them dating from the Baroque period. Notable examples, in addition to the Dresden Zwinger, are Moritzburg Palace, Rammenau Palace, the moated Klaffenbach Palace, Pillnitz Palace and Pillnitz Park, and the gardens in Heidenau-Großsedlitz. Other tourist attractions include the "Silver Route” in the Ore Mountains and the "Saxon Wine Route” as well as the colorful palette of festivals held in the course of the year, such as the Saxon State Opera's Richard Strauss Days, the International Dixieland Festival and the Elbe Slope Festival in Dresden, the Karl May Festival in Radebeul, and the "Encounters” days of culture in Chemnitz.
