Marienberg Favorite Tips by Kathrin_E

Renaissance Town Plan

Favorite thing: Marienberg is a Renaissance town with a regular ground plan. It was founded by Duke Heinrich der Fromme (the Pious) in 1521 on a plateau in the Erzgebirge forest, in a place where abundant ressources of silver ore had been discovered two years earlier. Ulrich Rülein von Calw designed the ground plan after the models of Italian Renaissance cities. Marienberg claims to be the first Renaissance town in Germany.

The shape of the old town is almost square (with the Southwestern corner cut off because of the topography of the grounds). The streets form a rectangular pattern. The centre of the town is the wide market square, the sides of the square have a length of about about 130 m.

Fondest memory: The Renaissance plan is entirely preserved. New buildings have been integrated in the historical plan. Apart from town hall and parish church, there are a lot of houses from the 16th century. Most of these show a rather plain architecture but have elaborate portals, for example in Zschopauer Straße.