Zwickau

Zwickau, city in east central Germany, in the state of Saxony, on the River Mulde. The city is an industrial centre located in a coal-mining region. Among the local manufactured products are chemicals, electrical equipment, mining machinery, porcelain, and textiles. Places of interest include the 15th-century Church of St Mary, which ranks among the finest examples of German Gothic architecture, and the 16th-century town hall. The city is the birthplace of the composer Robert Schumann.

Founded as a Slavic settlement in the 11th century, Zwickau began to flourish as a trading centre in the 12th century. It was a free imperial city from 1290 to 1323 after which it became subject to the principality of Meissen. In the early 1520s the city was one of the chief strongholds of the Anabaptists. Zwickau became an industrial city in the 19th century. Population (1990 estimate) 115,700.