Saxon Switzerland - History

History

During the Dark Ages, the region was settled by Slavs and was part of the Kingdom of Bohemia during the Middle Ages. About 1000 years ago Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland was the borderland of three Slavic tribes. The Nisane tribe (east of the Elbe from Dresden to Pirna), the Milzane tribe (from today's Upper Lusatia) and in the south the Dacine tribe shaped the political and economic landscape at that time.

It was not until the 15th century that the area now called Saxon Switzerland came under Saxon hegemony when it became part of the Margraviate of Meissen with boundaries roughly corresponding to those of today.

The development of the area for tourism began in earnest in the 19th century. In connexion with that, one of the first trolleybus lines in the world was opened in Saxon Switzerland, the Biela Valley Trolleybus, that was in operation from 1901 to 1904 and worked out of Königstein.

Romantic artists were inspired by the beauty of wilderness, like the painter Ludwig Richter or the composer Carl Maria von Weber, who set his famous opera Der Freischütz with its Wolfsschlucht ("Wolf's Gorge") scene set near the town of Rathen.

In the Nazi era the description of German territories as Schweiz ("Switzerland") was officially banned. For that reason, with effect from 19 October 1938, the official term "Sächsische Schweiz" was replaced by "Amtshauptmannschaft Pirna" and from January 1939 by "Kreis Pirna" in the names of the local places of Königstein, Obervogelgesang, Ottendorf, Porschdorf, Rathen, Rathewalde, Rathmannsdorf and Reinhardtsdorf.