Location The town lies on the northern
declivity of the
Ore Mountains, with the majority of the borough west of the Eastern or
Freiberger Mulde river. Parts of the town are nestled in the valleys of
Münzbach and
Goldbach streams. Its centre has an altitude of about (at the railway station). Its lowest point is on Münzbach on the town boundary at ; its highest point is on an old mining tip at . Freiberg lies within a region of old
forest clearances, subsequently used by the mining industry which left its mark on the landscape. The town is surrounded to the north, southeast and southwest by woods, and in the other directions by fields and meadows. Since the beginning of the 21st century an urbanised area has gradually developed which is formed by the towns of
Nossen,
Roßwein,
Großschirma, Freiberg and
Brand-Erbisdorf. It currently has about 75,000 inhabitants. Freiberg is located about west-southwest of
Dresden, about 31 kilometres east-northeast of
Chemnitz, about southeast of
Leipzig, about south of
Berlin, and about northwest of
Prague. Freiberg lies on a boundary between two variants of the
Upper Saxon dialect: the Southeast Meissen dialect (
Südostmeißnisch) to the east and the South Meissen dialect (
Südmeißnisch) to the west of the town, both belonging to the five
Meissen dialects, as well as just north of the border of the dialect region of
East Erzgebirgisch.
Expansion of the town The nucleus of the town, the former
forest village of
Christiansdorf lies in the valley of the Münzbach stream. The unwalled town centre grew up on its two slopes and on the ridge to the west. This means
inter alia that the roads radiating outwards east of the old main road axis (today
Erbische Straße and
Burgstraße running from the former Erbisch Gate (
Erbischer Tor) on
Postplatz to
Freudenstein Castle), some of which run as far as the opposite side of the Münzbach valley, are very steep. The area located east of the main road axis is called
Unterstadt ("Lower Town"), with its lower market or
Untermarkt. The western area is the
Oberstadt ("Upper Town") where the
Obermarkt or "Upper Market" is situated. The town centre is surrounded by a green belt running along the old town wall. In the west, this belt, in which the ponds of the
Kreuzteichen are set, broadens out into an area like a park. Just north of the town centre is Freudenstein Castle as well as the remnants of the town wall with several
wall towers and
Schlüsselteich pond in front of them. The remains of the wall run eastwards, in sections, to the
Donats Tower. This area is dominated by the historic
moat. The southern boundary of the old town is characterised in places by buildings from the
Gründerzeit period. The
B 101 federal road, here called
Wallstraße, flanks the west of the town centre, the
B 173, as
Schillerstraße and
Hornstraße, bounds it to the south. Freiberg's north is dominated by the campus of its
University of Mining and Technology. The main part of the campus on either side of
Leipziger Straße (as the B 101 road, the most important transport link in this district) emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, the districts of
Lossnitz,
Lößnitz and
Kleinwaltersdorf are found here, extending almost out to the boundary of the borough. Between
Kleinwaltersdorf and
Lößnitz is the
Nonnenwald wood, and east of
Leipziger Straße is a trading estate.
Surrounding area In the area around Freiberg there are both industrial estates as well as agricultural and recreational areas. Smelting and metalworking firms are based at Muldenhütten and Halsbrücke and paper manufacturers at Weißenborn and Großschirma. Northeast of the town is the recreational area of the
Tharandt Forest The town of
Großschirma lies north of Freiberg on the
B 101 federal road. To the northeast the municipality of
Halsbrücke borders on the territory of Freiberg's borough and, to the east, is the municipality of
Bobritzsch-Hilbersdorf. The municipality of
Weißenborn to the southeast belongs to the
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of
Lichtenberg/Erzgebirge. On the B 101 south of Freiberg is the
Große Kreisstadt of
Brand-Erbisdorf and to the east is the municipality of
Oberschöna.
Town subdivisions and residential areas ==History==