Eibenstock
Encyclopedia
Eibenstock is a town in the western Ore Mountains, in the Erzgebirgskreis
, Saxony
, Germany
. It is situated near the river Mulde
.
Eibenstock has the following constituent communities: Eibenstock, Blauenthal, Wolfsgrün, Neidhardtsthal, Wildenthal, Oberwildenthal, Carlsfeld, Blechhammer, Neues Wiesenhaus, Sosa
, Stabhammer, Wilzschmühle and Weitersglashütte.
. About 1.5 km from the edge of town, not far from where the Steinbächel empties into the Große Bockau, a ringwall was unearthed.
The first two documentary mentions as Ybenstok and Ibenstok both date from the year 1378. At that time, an Alte Seife (“Old Placer
”) was named, hinting that the village’s development was also spurred by mining
. Placer mines
were being worked in the Eibenstock area even as late as the 19th century, although at the same time, iron ore and tin
were also being mined from harder deposits. In 1560 Eibenstock became the official seat of a Bergamt (Mountain Amt) and thereafter called itself freie Bergstadt (“free mountain town”).
In 1453, Elector Friedrich of Saxony
fiefed the Brothers Leonhart und Nickel von Tannenberg auf Plohn with, among other things, the villages of Eibenstock, Sosa
and Burkhardtsgrün. These were not under the new ownership for very long, as Wilhelm von Tannenberg had to give up Eibenstock by 1456 to the Hereditary Marshal of Saxony, Hans Löser. In 1464, Eibenstock passed to the lordly estate of Schwarzenberg and hence to the Saxon Amt of Schwarzenberg in 1533.
In 1532, the community was described as a market town
, and in 1555 as a small town. The town was only granted market rights in 1639. In 1734, for the first time, a fish market
was held at which fresh fish brought in from Hamburg
was sold.
With Clara Angermann came Tambourieren to town in 1775, a kind of artistic embroidery
. This she taught the women until 1780, and thereafter, embroidery began to blossom. By 1850 there were 6 successful embroidering businesses and in 1858, the first embroidery machine went into operation. The work was famous worldwide, so much so that from 1891 to 1908, the United States
even maintained a consulate in town to foster their business relationships.
After three great fires (1856, 1862 and 1892), to which whole neighbourhoods fell victim, reconstruction was undertaken in such a way as to give the buildings a more contemporary look. Between 1864 and 1868, the neo-Romanesque church was built, and in 1906 and 1907 a new art nouveau
town hall.
With the First World War (1914–1918), the embroidery industry collapsed and could only establish itself once again after the Second World War. However, it never again achieved the level of fame that it had enjoyed before 1914.
Small embroidery businesses merged into collectives such as the Produktionsgenossenschaften des Handwerks (PGH) Sticktex or the Eibenstocker Buntstickerei, but then in 1972, these were converted into a Volkseigener Betrieb (“nationally owned business”, a kind of enterprise found in the former East Germany)
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Between 1974 and 1979 the second biggest dam
project in East Germany was realized. A basin with 77 million cubic metres of storage and 350 ha in area was created and now supplies roughly a million people with drinking water.
After the political and economic changes of 1989 and 1990, Eibenstock’s economy once more was laid low, which had its ramifications for the administration of small communities. It became impossible to run them independently, and for this reason came on 1 January 1994 the amalgamation of Blauenthal, Neidhardtsthal, Wolfsgrün, Wildenthal and Oberwildenthal with Eibenstock, and likewise on 1 April 1997 of Carlsfeld and Weitersglashütte.
In 2005 Eibenstock celebrated 850 years of existence.
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in 1771-1773, this industry was largely displaced by the embroidery industry.
Erzgebirgskreis
Erzgebirgskreis is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge , a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is situated near the river Mulde
Mulde
The Mulde is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length.The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde and the Freiberger Mulde , both rising from the Ore Mountains...
.
Geography
Sosa, Germany
Sosa is a former municipality in the western Ore Mountains, in the Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany. It is a state-recognized health resort, that has belonged to the town Eibenstock since 1 January 2011.- Geography :...
, Stabhammer, Wilzschmühle and Weitersglashütte.
History
Owing to its elevation of more than 600 m, Eibenstock would not have been one of the very first farming villages in the Ore Mountains, but rather a longstanding settlement in the form of a radial forest homestead village, founded at the earliest sometime in the thirteenth century in what later became the Barony of SchwarzenbergBarony of Schwarzenberg
The Barony of Schwarzenberg was a domain that emerged in the middle of the 12th century in the Saxon Ore Mountains in central Europe. It continued to exist following its acquisition by John Frederick the Magnanimous in 1533 as an administrative unit of the Electorate of Saxony under the name of...
. About 1.5 km from the edge of town, not far from where the Steinbächel empties into the Große Bockau, a ringwall was unearthed.
The first two documentary mentions as Ybenstok and Ibenstok both date from the year 1378. At that time, an Alte Seife (“Old Placer
Placer deposit
In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand". Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early...
”) was named, hinting that the village’s development was also spurred by mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. Placer mines
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
were being worked in the Eibenstock area even as late as the 19th century, although at the same time, iron ore and tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
were also being mined from harder deposits. In 1560 Eibenstock became the official seat of a Bergamt (Mountain Amt) and thereafter called itself freie Bergstadt (“free mountain town”).
In 1453, Elector Friedrich of Saxony
Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
Frederick II was Elector of Saxony and was Landgrave of Thuringia .-Biography:...
fiefed the Brothers Leonhart und Nickel von Tannenberg auf Plohn with, among other things, the villages of Eibenstock, Sosa
Sosa
Sosa may refer to:*a Spanish surname. Famous Sosas include:** Alex Sosa, a fictional drug lord from the 1983 film Scarface** Arlenis Sosa, Dominican Model** David Sosa, American philosopher, son of Ernest Sosa...
and Burkhardtsgrün. These were not under the new ownership for very long, as Wilhelm von Tannenberg had to give up Eibenstock by 1456 to the Hereditary Marshal of Saxony, Hans Löser. In 1464, Eibenstock passed to the lordly estate of Schwarzenberg and hence to the Saxon Amt of Schwarzenberg in 1533.
In 1532, the community was described as a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
, and in 1555 as a small town. The town was only granted market rights in 1639. In 1734, for the first time, a fish market
Fish market
A fish market is a marketplace used for marketing fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both...
was held at which fresh fish brought in from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
was sold.
With Clara Angermann came Tambourieren to town in 1775, a kind of artistic embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
. This she taught the women until 1780, and thereafter, embroidery began to blossom. By 1850 there were 6 successful embroidering businesses and in 1858, the first embroidery machine went into operation. The work was famous worldwide, so much so that from 1891 to 1908, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
even maintained a consulate in town to foster their business relationships.
After three great fires (1856, 1862 and 1892), to which whole neighbourhoods fell victim, reconstruction was undertaken in such a way as to give the buildings a more contemporary look. Between 1864 and 1868, the neo-Romanesque church was built, and in 1906 and 1907 a new art nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
town hall.
With the First World War (1914–1918), the embroidery industry collapsed and could only establish itself once again after the Second World War. However, it never again achieved the level of fame that it had enjoyed before 1914.
Small embroidery businesses merged into collectives such as the Produktionsgenossenschaften des Handwerks (PGH) Sticktex or the Eibenstocker Buntstickerei, but then in 1972, these were converted into a Volkseigener Betrieb (“nationally owned business”, a kind of enterprise found in the former East Germany)
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
project in East Germany was realized. A basin with 77 million cubic metres of storage and 350 ha in area was created and now supplies roughly a million people with drinking water.
After the political and economic changes of 1989 and 1990, Eibenstock’s economy once more was laid low, which had its ramifications for the administration of small communities. It became impossible to run them independently, and for this reason came on 1 January 1994 the amalgamation of Blauenthal, Neidhardtsthal, Wolfsgrün, Wildenthal and Oberwildenthal with Eibenstock, and likewise on 1 April 1997 of Carlsfeld and Weitersglashütte.
In 2005 Eibenstock celebrated 850 years of existence.
Population development
- 2005 – 6576
- 2006 – 6440
- Source as of 1998: Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen
Culture and sightseeing
- Neo-Romanesque church
- Replica of an Electorate of Saxony postal milestone at the Postplatz
- Restored Kingdom of Saxony station stone near the former postal station
- Eibenstock was once well known for its great Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (FDGB) holiday home at the Eibenstock Reservoir. Today, the complex has been restored and is run as a hotel, beside which a waterpark has been built. Owing to the hotel’s conspicuous blue paintwork, it has borne, since the restoration, the name Das Blaue Wunder (“The Blue Wonder”). The building was originally meant as lodging for the dam builders.
- South of town is the 778-m-high Adlerfels (a crag), from near which, on a clear day, there is a wonderful panoramic view of Eibenstock. On the mountain ridge are found an all-weather bobsleigh run and a skilift.
Economy and infrastructure
From the 14th to 18th centuries there was tin and iron ore mining in the region. After a great famineFamine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
in 1771-1773, this industry was largely displaced by the embroidery industry.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Friedrich August Unger (1833–1893), physician and co-founder of the health resort of DavosDavosDavos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
- Hilmar Mückenberger (1855–1937), folk musician and dialect poet
- Stephan Dietrich called Saafenlob (1898–1969), teacher and Ore Mountain Heimatdichter (“homeland poet”)
- Bernd Leistner (1939- ), literature scientist and writer
- Ernst Einsiedel (1941- ), footballer
- Wolfgang Unger (1948–2004), choir leader