DEUTSCHLAND | GERMANY |
Bundesland: Freistaat Sachsen | Saxony |
Landkreis: Bautzen |
Königswartha is situated at an elevation of 141 m on the river Schwarzwasser, a tributary of the river Schwarze Elster, in the district Bautzen of eastern Saxony. The municipallity of Königswartha has a population of about 3,500 (2015).
The oldest written document mentioning Conigswarte dates from 1350 and mentions the place as a market town. The name refers to a lookout post (Warte) of the (Bohemian) king, located on the route from Bautzen to Hoyerswerda. The municipality is part of the recognized Sorbian settlement area in Saxony. Upper Sorbian has an official status next to German, all villages bear names in both languages. In the 1880s, about 87% of the population were Sorbian-speaking; until 1956, this percentage decreased to 30%. The neighbouring municipalities of Caminau, Johnsdorf, Neudorf and Niesendorf were incorporated into the municipality of Königswartha in 1936, followed by Eutrich in 1950, Commerau in 1957 and Oppitz in 1994; The village of Wartha, part of the former municipality of Knappensee, was merged into Königswartha in 2005 upon the dissolution of the former municipality.
The Lutheran town church was presumably founded in the 13th century. This early, wooden church was destroyed in 1429 during the Hussite Wars when the village was ravaged by a large fire. Rebuilt several times, the church received its present form in 1682–1690.
Depicted on the lower left picture is the Königlich-Sächsische Erziehungsanstalt (Royal Saxon Educational Institution), founded in 1888 for the education of 'mentally deficient' blind people. Used later as district court, it is now operating as a retirement and special-care home.
The building on the lower right picture is labeled
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Königswartha, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Königswartha;
http://www.kirche-koenigswartha.de/kirche.htm; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kulturdenkmale_in_Königswartha;
https://books.google.at/books?id=PeMqAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=k%C3%B6nigswartha+blindenanstalt&source=bl&ots=zbUHQFGFHB&sig=PmpNCPMY-VHhUSKG8zlgnjO6sWA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP0cvQyZ7QAhULXRQKHWmoCWw4FBDoAQgaMAA#v=onepage&q=k%C3%B6nigswartha%20blindenanstalt&f=false]