Establishment and early history Schwarzenberg was first documented in 1282 as “civitas Swartzenberg”, but
potsherds excavated in 1977 date back somewhat further to c.1200 and the official year of establishment has been fixed at 1150. The town developed out of a fortification which is believed to have been created by Duke
Heinrich II of
Austria to protect an important trade route between
Pleissnerland and
Bohemia in the otherwise unsettled area.
Schwarzenberg is German for black mountain. According to legend, an emperor of the
Ottonian dynasty founded the town and named it after the colour of the rock. It is generally believed that the town was in fact named after the appearance created by the thick, dark forest. The town is said to have passed to
Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1170, and then to his son,
Emperor Henry VI. Later, numerous changes of ownership occurred. In 1334 the house of
Lobdeburg held Schwarzenberg and the surrounding area as a fief. The house of
Tettau obtained the town in 1425, and sold it to Elector
Elector John the Magnanimous of
Saxony in 1533. Villages began to form around Schwarzenberg Castle, and for c.1500, 48 families are documented in Schwarzenberg, which was then the seat of the superintendent of the mines in the area. During the reformation, the town became Protestant.
Townsite Schwarzenberg's skyline is dominated by the ensemble of church and palace, the latter having been built on an old castle's foundation walls. This former castle can be considered one of the town's first fortified buildings. The
St.-Georgen-Kirche (church) on the other hand is clearly newer, having been built only in the late 17th century. With the help of the oldest known drawing of Schwarzenberg, a pen and ink work by
Wilhelm Dilich from the late 1620s, one can get an idea of the town's original appearance. At the end of today's
Oberen Schloßstraße rises the palace (
Schloss), which was once built as a castle, and which, over the course of its history, has been expanded and remodelled many times. Right on the marketplace, at the other end of the aforesaid street, is found the Town Hall. The third conspicuous building in the town's historic centre was the church, which became too small in the 17th century and was replaced by the
St.-Georgen-Kirche. Beside the old church lay the graveyard on the site today known as the
Unterer Markt (“Lower Market”). It was not long before it, too, became too small, and it was supplemented – and later wholly supplanted – by another graveyard outside the town's walls. Already in Dilich's drawing, nothing more is to be seen of the town's walls. All that remains of them now is the names
Oberes Tor and
Unteres Tor (“Upper Gate” and “Lower Gate”). Once the buildings within the town could no longer handle the steadily growing population, houses were built outside the town's walls. In the aforesaid drawing, the first “suburban” buildings can already be seen beneath the church.
After the Second World War After Germany's surrender in the
Second World War, Schwarzenberg remained, for historically unclear reasons, unoccupied at first. The city issued 42 postage stamps in 1945, all showing a heavy black silhouetted outline of the city blotting out Hitler's face. On 11 May 1945, several antifascist Schwarzenberg citizens took the initiative of filling the resulting power vacuum. This episode lasted only until 25 June 1945 when
Soviet troops marched in. In 1984, the writer
Stefan Heym coined the term “Republic of Schwarzenberg” in his novel
Schwarzenberg, which was based on the episode. A lively accumulation of legends is bound up with this time. In 2004, the writer
Volker Braun also treated the topic.
Religion • Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. George • Evangelical Methodist Parish • Catholic Parish of the Holy Family • Schwarzenberg
Branch of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Population Changes in population:
Mayor The current mayor is Ruben Gehart (
CDU), elected in October 2020.
Coat of arms Schwarzenberg's arms show the dragon slayer
Saint George, who according to legend is held to have taken on the
lindworm at the
Totenstein (“Dead Man’s Stone”), which was a lasting threat to the townsfolk. While fleeing from the figure, Saint George is said to have tried to leap across the river Schwarzwasser on his horse, landing on the
Ottenstein on the other side. It is furthermore said that his horse's horseshoe print may still be seen in the river even today.
Town twins Schwarzenberg is twinned with
Wunsiedel since 1990;
Nové Sedlo since 2006; and
Borchen since 2007. == Culture and sightseeing ==