Geyer () is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 4,000.
Geography
Geyer is situated northwest of Annaberg-Buchholz, and south of
Chemnitz, in the valley of the
Geyersbach creek. The town is largely surrounded by forest, with the
Geyersche Wald forest to the west being owned by the town.
Geyer borders to Ehrenfriedersdorf in the north east, Tannenberg in the south east, Elterlein in the south. The town of Zwönitz is in the west, Hormersdorf to the north west and the Greifensteine area to the north.
History
Geyer was first mentioned in official documents in 1381, although
mining in the
Ore Mountains had already existed a few decades before. In 1407 Geyer was granted
town privileges (
Marktrecht), and 60 years later it already became a town. In 1537 the town was introduced to the Protestant Reformation. Famous
Renaissance builder Hieronymus Lotter settled in Geyer in 1566.
In the 16th century mining became harder to sustain, since most of the mines started to become depleted, which produced more and more waste rock. This resulted in larger and larger cavities, which led in 1704 and in 1803 to large in Geyer. The resulting Geyersche Binge cave-in can still be visited today.
With the decline in ore-mining in the area, Geyer (as in many other towns and villages in the Ore Mountains) turned to wooden toy manufacture - such as Schwibbogen, and Christmas pyramids – as well as bobbin lace as a matter of economic survival. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the textile industry was the main source of income for Geyer. In 1888, Geyer was connected to a narrow gauge railway that was to become part of the Thumer Netz, and in 1897, the town was connected to the electrical grid.
From 1952 to 1990, Geyer was part of the Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt of East Germany.
Sights
Tower museum
The high watch tower was built in 1395 as a
wall tower, serving as refuge for citizens in times of war. Between 1561 and 1564 the tower was raised with the characteristic octagonal shape. This was done to create room for the
Türmerfamilie, a fire guard (and his family), in order to provide warning from the devastating and frequent
in those days. In 1952 this tower was converted into a museum, which shows on seven levels historic items related to mining and the town's life through the centuries.
Old railway station
At the former station site, there is a historic Saxon IV K
narrow gauge steam locomotive together with railroad cars on display, a reminder of the time when Geyer was part of the
Thumer Netz within the narrow gauge railways in Saxony.
Geyersche Binge
The
Geyersche Binge is a collapsed ore mine caused by
fire-setting (a
Binge is a mining sink-hole). The first
cave-in was caused in 1704, and was followed by several others over the years. The last collapse was on 11 May 1803 and led to the cessation of mining in Geyer. The area of the
Binge is about deep, wide and long. In 1935 it became a
nature reserve.
Notable people
-
Kuno Klötzer (1922–2011), football player and coach
-
Adam Ries (1492–1559), mathematician, worked as a tithe collector ( Zehentner) from 1533 to 1539 in Geyer
-
Hieronymus Lotter (–1580), merchant and mayor of Leipzig; died here
-
Adam Friedrich Zürner (1679–1742), cartographer and geographer
Personalities who have worked on the ground
