Goerlitz
Goerlitz (german Görlitz) is a town in the German part of Silesia, Saxony, with 60,000 inhabitants. Opposite to Goerlitz on River Neisse is Zgorzelec[?], Poland.
Görlitz is located on the left
bank of the Neisse, 62 m. E. from Dresden on the railway to Breslau, and at
the junction of lines to Berlin, Zittau and Halle. Pop. (1885) 55,702,
(1905) 80,931. The Neisse at this point is crossed by a railway bridge 1650
ft. long and 120 ft. high, with 32 arches. Görlitz is one of the handsomest,
and, owing to the extensive forests of 70,000 acres, which are the property
of the municipality, one of the wealthiest towns in Germany. It is
surrounded by beautiful walks and fine gardens, and although its old walls
and towers have now been demolished, many of its ancient buildings remain to
form a picturesque contrast with the signs of modern industry. From the hill
called Landskrone, about 1500 ft. high, an extensive prospect is obtained of
the surrounding country. The principal buildings are the fine Gothic church
of St Peter and St Paul, dating from the 15th century, with two stately
towers, a famous organ and a very heavy bell; the Frauen-Kirche, erected
about the end of the 15th century, and possessing a fine portal and choir
in pierced work; the Kloster-Kirche, restored in 1868, with handsome choir
stalls and a carved altar dating from 1383; and the Roman Catholic church,
founded in 1853, in the Roman style of architecture, with beautiful glass
windows and oil-paintings. The old town hall (Rathaus) contains a very
valuable library, having at its entrance a fine flight of steps. There is
also a new town hall which was erected in 1904-1906. Other buildings are: the
old bastion, named Kaisertrutz, now used as a guardhouse and armoury; the
gymnasium buildings in the Gothic style erected in 1851; the Ruhmeshalle
with the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, the house of the estates of the province
(Ständehaus), two theatres and the barracks. Near the town is the chapel of
the Holy Cross, where there is a model of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem
made during the 15th century. In the public park there is a bust of
Schiller, a monument to Alexander von Humboldt, and a statue of the mystic
Jakob Böhme (1575-1624); a monument has been erected in the town in
commemoration of the war of 1870/71, and also one to the emperor William I.
and a statue of Prince Frederick Charles. In connexion with the natural
history society there is a valuable museum, and the scientific institute
possesses a large library and a rich collection of antiquities, coins and
articles of virtu. Görlitz, next to Breslau, is the largest and most
flourishing commercial town of Silesia, and is also regarded as classic
ground for the study of German Renaissance architecture. Besides cloth,
which forms its staple article of commerce, it has manufactories of various
linen and woollen wares, machines, railway wagons, glass, sago, tobacco,
leather, chemicals and tiles.
Görlitz existed as a village from a very early period, and at the beginning
of the 12th century received civic rights. It was then known as Drebenau,
but on being rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 1131 it received the
name of Zgorzelice. About the end of the 12th century it was strongly
fortified, and for a short time it was the capital of a duchy of Görlitz. It
was several times besieged and taken during the Thirty Years War, and it
also suffered considerably in the Seven Years War. In the battle which took
place near it between the Austrians and Prussians on the 7th of September
1757, Hans Karl von Winterfeldt, the general of Frederick the Great, was
slain. In 1815 the town, with the greater part of Upper Lusatia, came into
the possession of Prussia.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Literature