Crostau

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Crostau is a municipality in the upper Lusatia in the district of Bautzen in eastern Saxony in Germany. It has about 1,710 inhabitants (as of January 2006) on a surface of about 9,32 sqkm, giving it a population density of about 183 inhabitants per sqkm.^{[citation needed]}

The geographical region it is situated in are the hills of the upper Lusatia also known under the German name Lausitzer Bergland. It's on a height of about 245 m, but peaks at 380 m. It is surrounded by several important hills of this mountain region - such as "Die Kälbersteine" (487 m), the "Potsberg" (448 m), the "Wolfsberg" (347 m), the "Horken" (307 m) and the "Callenberger Berg" (360 m). Sometimes it is metionned as the bestplaced village in the whole upper Lusatia. Crostau is divided into two separate parts - lower Crostau with the castel "Kroste" and upper Crostau with an old mansion and the church.

Contents 1 History 2 Religion 3 Politics 4 Economics

[edit] History

Crostau is placed upon an old settlement area, even though the traces of settlement aren't as old as those in the plane of Bautzen. In lower Crostau, the first Slavic settlement dates back to the year 800 AD. With the big German settlement in the 10th up to the 12th century an older place was transformed into the small castel "Kroste". First it was used to save trade routes, later it became a place of robbers. In 1352, the castle had been destroyed by the "Six-cities-alliance" of upper Lusatia, which was the first time Crostau was mentioned in a written work. Crostau has been, for centuries, a seat of several nobel families like the "von Rechenberg" and the "von Watzdorf". In 1934 the former independet communities of Callenberg (sorabian: Chemmberk), Carlsberg and Wurbis formed the community of Crostau - in 1972 also Halbendorf (sorabian: Wbohow) became part of it.

[edit] Religion

In 1869, the church with a famous orgue built by the famous saxonian organ builder Gottfried Silbermann in 1732 was built up on an older site. Crostau traditionally is a Lutheran village. Today the churches of Crostau, Kirschau, and Schirgiswalde work closely together.

[edit] Politics

Together with the town of Schirgiswalde and the community of Kirschau Crostau forms an administrative alliance. Since reunification the CDU (conservative party) is the leading political force in the community.

[edit] Economics

The village is far away from the important streets of the region and owns no industry, but it is linked to tourist parths and has beautiful surroundings - these facts are used to advertise it as a place of relaxation away from the high spots of tourism. About 70 beds for rent are offered in the village. Quiet often the small church is visited by groups of tourists going there by bus.

Most people are working in other villages or towns of the region. Even though it didn't lost as many inhabitants since reunifacation as the big towns of Lusatia the aging of the population starts to become a big problem. Today there is just one peasant left in the whole village because there never was a strong rural tradition right there (the soil itself isn't good for farming).

Coordinates: 51°05′N 14°27′E