Freiberg, Saxony

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Freiberg
Coat of arms Location
Coat of arms of Freiberg
Freiberg, Saxony (Germany)
Freiberg, Saxony
Administration
Country Flag of Germany Germany
State Saxony
Admin. region Chemnitz
District Freiberg
Municipal assoc. Freiberg
Town subdivisions 12
Mayor Uta Rensch (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area 48.05 km² (18.6 sq mi)
Elevation 400 m  (1312 ft)
Population 42,524  (31/07/2007)
 - Density 885 /km² (2,292 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate FG
Postal code 09599
Area code 03731
Website www.freiberg.de
Location of the town of Freiberg within Freiberg district
Map

Coordinates: 50°54′43″N 13°20′34″E / 50.91194, 13.34278

Freiberg (i.e. free mountain) is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Freiberg.

The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries. A symbol of this history is the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (famously known as the Mining Academy), established in 1765 and the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. Freiberg also has a notable cathedral containing two famous Gottfried Silbermann organs. Furthermore there are two other organs made by Gottfried Silbermann - one at the St. Peter's Church (Petrikirche) and the other one at the St. James' Church (Jacobikirche). The medieval part of Freiberg stands under heritage protection.

The river, Freiberger Mulde, flows through the township of Freiberg, not the city itself.

In 1944 the Flossenburg concentration camp oversaw a subcamp built outside the city of Freiberg. It housed over 500 female survivors of other camps, including Auschwitz Birkenau. Altogether 50 or so SS women worked in this camp until its evacuation in April 1945. The female survivors later reached the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.


In 1985 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the scenic Freiberg Germany Temple here because of the large number of members in the region.

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