ZWICKAU

city, Saxony Land (state), Germany, on the Zwickauer Mulde River, at the entrance to the western Erzebirge (Ore Mountains), south of Leipzig. Slavic in origin, it was mentioned in 1118 as a trading centre. It developed as a German imperial city between 1135 and 1145 and became a royal market about 1150. About 1200 it passed to the Wettin margraves of Meissen. Thomas Mntzer, the German radical reformer, preached there in 152021. The composer Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau (1810), and a Schumann Museum was opened in 1955. The city was bombed in World War II, but most of the damage was repaired. The most noteworthy of its churches are St. Mary's Church (14651536; restored 188391) and the Romanesque-Gothic St. Catherine's Church (121219). Other notable buildings are the Gewandhaus (cloth merchants' hall; 152236), the 15th-century town hall, and Osterstein Castle (156585). Zwickau's industries include coal mining and the manufacture of automobiles, machinery, and cloth. Pop. (1993 est.) 110,583.