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The town of Königstein

Location and districts

Königstein lies in south-east Saxony on the Elbe, at the mouth of the Biela, between Pirna and the Czech border, at the foot of the fortress. Districts: Pfaffendorf (first mentioned in 1437 as 'Pfaffindorff', at the foot of the Pfaffenstein), Hütten (mentioned in 1445 as a smelting settlement), Ebenheit (mentioned in 1489, combined house-and-stable buildings from 1747 and 1824), Halbestadt and Leupoldishain (near Leupoldishain the largest moor in Saxon Switzerland was drained in 1870). Since 2002 Königstein has formed an administrative association with Gohrisch, Kurort Rathen, Rosenthal-Bielatal and Struppen. Inhabitants: around 250 in about 1300, 165 houses with an estimated 1,673 inhabitants in the 16th century, 2,989 in 1990, 2,104 in 2020.

Beginnings and town charter (6th century to 1379)

In the 6th century Slavic tribes settled in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, and German settlers arrived in the 12th century; at the beginning of the 13th century the castle was built on the rock plateau. The settlement below takes its name from the mountain: in 1241 'in lapide regis', and in 1379 Königstein is first documented as a town. In 1408 the area passed to the Margraviate of Meissen and the Wettins.

Crafts, iron on the Biela, paper (15th–20th century)

The people of Königstein lived from weaving, quarrying (sandstone), rafting and brewing beer. From the 15th century iron was cast on the banks of the Biela – several furnaces and hammer mills of the 'Pirnisch Eisen' district stood in the Bielatal (see Hochofen Brausenstein). In the 16th century a hammer works became a paper mill; since the First World War banknote paper has been made in Königstein, today banknote, cheque and passport papers. In 1550 the town bought additional fertile land. In 1639 Swedish troops burned the town down.

Transport

steamers, railway, Bielatal line (1837–1904): Passenger shipping on the Elbe began in 1837, and the Saxon steamship company still calls at Königstein today. In May 1850 Königstein got a station on the Dresden–Prague line (built 1848–1851); today the S1 suburban train stops here. In 1864/65 the Elbe was regulated and a harbour built. In 1901 the 'Bielatalbahn' went into service – one of the very first trolleybus operations anywhere, running from Königstein into the Bielatal; it was closed as early as 1904. A passenger ferry links the districts on both sides of the Elbe. Tsar Peter I and Napoleon Bonaparte are among the town's famous visitors.

20th century

concentration camp subcamp, open-air stage, uranium mining, floods: In 1944/45 Königstein had a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. In the 1950s the open-air stage (Naturbühne) with 1,100 seats was built. Near Leupoldishain the SDAG Wismut explored a uranium deposit from 1961, which was discovered in 1963; uranium was mined there from 1967 until the end of 1990. The town was badly hit by the great Elbe flood of 2002. Today the fortress attracts around half a million visitors a year.

Sights in the town

St Mary's Church (Marienkirche) dates from the 15th century and was rebuilt several times, most recently in 1823. The town has a half-timbered Umgebinde house from 1587 and an Electoral Saxon post milestone. Above the town is the fortress; opposite, the Lilienstein; above Pfaffendorf the 434 m Pfaffenstein with the Barbarine, a rock needle about 43 m high that was first climbed in 1905.

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