Zwickau

The eastern German city of Zwickau is situated on the Zwickauer Mulde river some 42 miles south of Leipzig. It was first settled by Slavs, was first documented in 1118, and was an important trading center by the 12th century. It went to the Wettin margraves of Meissen around 1200, then from 1290 to 1323 was a free imperial city. It was the center of the Anabaptist movement in the 16th century, and was plundered during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century. The composer Robert Schumann was born here in 1810. Zwickau was heavily bombed during World War II but the damage has mostly been repaired. Among its surviving historic architecture are the Romanesque-Gothic St. Catherine's church built 1212-1219 and St. Mary's Church built 1465-1536. Other historic buildings include the 15th-century town hall, the cloth merchants' hall built 1522-1536, and the Osterstein Castle built 1565-1585. The modern city is an industrial center with coal mining and the production of cloth, machinery, and automobiles. The calculated population for 2005 was 99,343.