Schwarzenberg

Founded in the 12th century to protect a trade road, Schwarzenberg is a mountain town in Saxony's Ore Mountains, close to the German–Czech border, with a compact centre and scenic viewpoints across the surrounding highlands. The town gained wider recognition through Stefan Heym's novel about the weeks in 1945 when it fell into neither Soviet nor American occupation — a historical curiosity that earned it the name Free Republic of Schwarzenberg. During the East German era it was Eastern Europe's leading producer of washing machines.

• Population16,168
• Nearest water0.1 km
• Nearest mountain0.5 km
• UNESCO within 50 km18