Meißen (district)

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Meißen
Map of Free State of Saxony highlighting the district Meißen
State	Free State of Saxony
County seat	Meißen
Adm. region	Dresden
Area	631.69 km²
Population	152,044 (2001)
Pop. density	241 inh./km²
Car identification	MEI
Web page	http://www.kreis-meissen.de

The title of this article contains the character ß. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Meissen.

Meißen is a district (Kreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Riesa-Großenhain, Kamenz, the urban district Dresden, the districts Weißeritzkreis, Freiberg, Mittweida and Döbeln.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Coat of arms
4 Towns and municipalities
5 External links

[edit] History

The district dates back to the Amt Meißen, which was first mentioned in 1334. The district was ruled by the Wettin dynasty. The Margraves of Meißen created the administrative division (Amt) in the 13th century. In 1835 the Amt was converted into an Amtshauptmannschaft, with the area of the current district covered by the Amtshauptmannschaften Meißen, Dresden and Großenhain. In 1939, these were renamed Landkreise (districts). In the administrative reform of 1952, several municipalities were transferred to the districts of Freiberg and Döbeln. In 1990, the old district borders were restored, and in 1996 parts of the district Dresden-Land were added to the district to give it its current size.

[edit] Geography

The main river of the district is the Elbe, which also flows through the city of Meißen.

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms show a lion, the symbol of the counts of Meißen. The coat of arms were granted on November 16, 1992, and again after the enlargement of 1996 on February 20, 1997.

[edit] Towns and municipalities

Towns	Verwaltungsgemeinschaften	free municipalities
Coswig Lommatzsch Meißen Nossen Radebeul Radeburg	Ketzerbachtal Ketzerbachtal Leuben-Schleinitz	Diera-Zehren Käbschütztal Klipphausen Moritzburg Niederau Triebischtal Weinböhla

[edit] External links

Official website (German)
Inofficial website (German)

	Urban and rural districts in the Federal State of Saxony in Germany
Urban districts	Chemnitz \| Dresden \| Görlitz \| Hoyerswerda \| Leipzig \| Plauen \| Zwickau
Rural districts	Annaberg \| Aue-Schwarzenberg \| Bautzen \| Chemnitzer Land \| Delitzsch \| Döbeln \| Freiberg \| Kamenz \| Leipziger Land Löbau-Zittau \| Meißen \| Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis \| Mittweida \| Muldentalkreis \| Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis Riesa-Großenhain \| Sächsische Schweiz \| Stollberg \| Torgau-Oschatz \| Vogtlandkreis \| Weißeritzkreis \| Zwickauer Land