FREIBERG

city, Saxony Land (state), eastern Germany, on the Freiberger Mulde River, at the northeastern foot of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), southwest of Dresden. An early influential silver-mining community (founded c. 1190 and chartered early in the 13th century) and the source (12961307) of a mining code (Freiberger Stadtrecht), its name is derived from the extensive mining rights that then belonged to the free miner. Until the 16th century it was the largest city, economic centre, and mint of Saxony. The Reformation was introduced there in 1536 by Henry the Pious, then a resident. The town suffered severely in the 17th century during the Thirty Years' War and again during the French occupation from 1806 to 1814. The Altstadt (Old City) has three separate parts: the oldest, the Civitas Saxonum, a maze of alleys around the Nikolai (St. Nicholas) church; the Untermarkt (Lower Market), a merchant district with the modern cathedral at its centre; the Oberstadt (Upper City), with the town hall and St. Peter's Church as its notable landmarks. Medieval buildings include the town hall (141016); Freudenstein Castle (rebuilt 156679); the cathedral (14841501) with the noted Goldene Pforte (1230; Golden Portal) from an earlier church; and parts of the old town wall, notably, Donats Turm (Donat Tower). The geologists Clemens A. Winkler and Abraham G. Werner taught at the town's renowned Freiberg Mining Academy (opened 1765, the oldest of its kind in the world). There are also institutes for radium, nonferrous metals, fuel, and leather. The silver mines were abandoned as unproductive in 1913, and the other mines (lead, pyrites, zinc) became public property in 1936. In addition to mining there are manufactures of machinery, electrical and precision instruments, leather, textiles, and porcelain. Pop. (1989 est.) 51,341.