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Altstadt Pirna – history and legends

Pirna, the “Gateway to Saxon Switzerland”, was first mentioned in a charter in 1233 and is already documented as a town in 1245. The old town on the left bank of the Elbe measures only about 500 by 300 metres, and its lanes run almost at right angles. Since 1990 it has been painstakingly restored – today it is characterised by sandstone portals, oriel windows and old merchants' houses, the best known being the Teufelserker and the Engelserker, the Devil's Oriel and the Angel's Oriel.

Elbe trade and sandstone

Pirna grew rich thanks to the Elbe: in 1325 King John of Bohemia confirmed the town's privileges, above all its staple right – merchants passing through had to offer their goods for sale here. In this way Pirna controlled the river trade and the trade in Elbe sandstone. The Schifftorvorstadt, where boatmen and fishermen lived, is considered possibly the oldest part of the settlement; Swedish troops burned it almost completely to the ground in 1639.

St Mary's Town Church and the town hall

The 60-metre-high tower of St Marien was built from 1466 to 1479, and the late Gothic hall church from 1502 to 1546 – initially under Peter Ulrich, known as Peter von Pirna. Do look up: in the net vault, looping and branch-shaped ribs twist and wind, along with ceiling paintings from around 1546 and a sandstone altar from 1609 to 1612. The town hall in the middle of the market square is first mentioned in 1386; on its clock, two lions strike the hours.

Tetzel, the monastery and Canaletto

Around 1465 Johann Tetzel was born in Pirna – the indulgence preacher against whom Martin Luther took his stand. The Tetzelhaus at Schmiedestraße 19, with a plank-panelled room from 1381, is considered his birthplace. In the former Dominican monastery, the town museum has displayed its collections since 1923. From 1753 Bernardo Bellotto, known as Canaletto, painted eleven large views of Pirna – you'll recognise his market square today almost unchanged.

The 2002 flood

In August 2002 the old town was hit by a record flood: in the early morning of 17 August the Pirna gauge reached 10.45 metres. In June 2013 the Elbe rose once more, to 9.67 metres. Flood marks on many buildings recall both floods – keep an eye out for them as you walk around.

Legend

According to one legend, Pirna originally did not stand on the Elbe at all, but was a place called “Mannewitz” on the Hausberg near Krietzschwitz; only later was the settlement moved to the river. The town is said to take its name from a large pear tree (Birnbaum) that stood there.

Legend Emperor Rudolf’s gratitude

In 1267 Count Rudolf of Habsburg is said to have been short of money while passing through Pirna and asked the council for 200 Schock of coin – and the people of Pirna lent it to the stranger. When he was Emperor five years later, he came back in person, repaid everything and granted the town privileges: every bride in Pirna was to receive a dowry from the imperial treasury. “As they were a father to me in my need, so will I be a father to them,” he is supposed to have said.

Legend The tower warden’s daughter

In 1532 around 1400 people in Pirna died of the plague, and legend laid the blame on a young woman: the beautiful, vain daughter of the tower warden let herself be seduced by a rich Hungarian, who soon abandoned her. Years later he returned, acted friendly and left her a little casket containing a magnificent red cloth. She proudly showed herself off with it in the street – but the cloth carried the plague, which he had brought her out of revenge. She was the first to die.

Legend Brother Antonius and his pig

Around 1488 a mendicant friar named Antonius is said to have raised a pig in Pirna every year. He hung a little bell round its neck and let it wander through the town. Whenever the townsfolk heard the tinkling, they would say: “We must give Brother Antonius’s pig something too” – sometimes a slice of bread and butter, sometimes something else. Friar and pig both thrived splendidly.

Legend The Erlpeter

West of Pirna the Gesundheitsbrunnen (Health Spring) wells up: a shepherd boy with a skin rash is said to have drunk from it and washed in it, and afterwards to have had the clearest of skin. When people later wanted to charge money for the water, the spring almost dried up. Above the spring stood a stone figure, the “Erlpeter”, with a bottle under his arm from which the water ran – along with the saying that whoever has no money in his pocket may drink from his bottle for free. From around 1670 a merry spring festival was held every year after Whitsun.

Links to other places

Above the town stands Schloss Sonnenstein, today the seat of the district administration; the memorial commemorates the fact that the Nazis murdered at least 14,751 people there in 1940 and 1941. As Dresden court painter, Bellotto also painted the famous Canaletto view of Dresden and, in 1757/58, five views of the Festung Königstein. With the S1 suburban train you can get quickly from Pirna to Dresden, Meissen or Bad Schandau.

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As of: 09/2026

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