Places on the bicycle route: The large district of Aue

For 840 years, since the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa I (Emperor Red-Beard) established a small documentarily confirmed “Augustiner-Chorherren-Propstei” (parish) on the 7th of May, 1173, there has been evidence of human activity in the valley where the Mulde River and its Schwarzwasser tributary join. The monastery church in the urban district, Zelle, is the oldest building in Aue, dating from the 12th century, in good condition and can still be toured.

The town lies in a wide valley, built up from 330 m to 600 m asl. The urban districts: Eichert, Brünlasberg and Zelle cover the surrounding hills, where the dense forests border the residential areas.

There are very beautiful, historic and architecturally interesting old buildings in Aue. Besides the monastery church from the 12th Century, there’s the Auerhammer Herrenhaus mansion, which is the oldest secular building in the city. Also a very interesting old building in the city is the Edelhof in the Alberoda suburb.

Built on the site of an early medieval fortification, the Edelhof was originally established around 1200 as a “Wallgut” (a fortified demesne farm surrounded by a moat).

In 1661, during the construction of a beer cellar for the head forester, Johann Georg Rachals, rich tin deposits on the Heidelsberg Hill in Aue were discovered. This started the “Berggeschrey” mining rush (a German term for the rapid spread of news on the discovery of rich ore deposits).

The city was also known for products that were necessary for the production of porcelain. Since 1635, the Aue Blue Dye Mill (now the nickel foundry), which was the first major dye mill in Saxony, produced cobalt blue dye from cobalt. At the beginning of the 18th century, white clay (kaolin) was mined.  Initially used as wig powder, it soon turned out that this clay-rich rock was ideal for the manufacture of porcelain, due to its purity. Up until 1854, i.e. about 150 years, the mine “Weisse Erdenzeche St. Andreas” (white clay mine) whose pithead building is still standing and can be reached by a mining information trail, was the sole supplier of raw materials for the valuable Meissen porcelain.

The mining and subsequent industries developed rapidly with the mining of iron ore and stannous rock up until the 18th Century. Aue experienced an economic boom.  Due to industrialization, the increasing prosperity enabled large town houses and villas to be erected in the then modern Art Nouveau style.

The red brick Nicolai Church, built in 1900, which is popularly referred to as the “Red Church”, can be seen from a long ways.  Another point of interest is also the “Friedenskirche” (Church of Peace), which is also called the “Green Church” because of its copper roof and the green patina.  This church is one of the largest Art Nouveau churches in Saxony. With an absolute Art Nouveau design, this church is unique in all of Germany. The river landscape in the city of Aue is also unique. Not only the Mulde River and its Schwarzwasser Tributary flow together here in Aue, many other small streams have found their way through the Aue valley. Particularly the bridges in Aue are famous. Hardly any other city in Erzgebirge has as many bridges per square km as in Aue, so that it’s sometimes called the city of bridges.

Besides the many small green oases in the city, include the town gardens with the Carola Pond, or also the terraced banks of the Mulde River, there is also the recreation area “Heidelsberg” hill with one of the most spectacular views from around 550 m altitude.

However, Aue is not only known as a city of bridges, but rightly also known as the “sports town in Erzgebirge”.

Another attraction is the animal park in Aue called “zoo of miniature animals”. In addition to the museum, the library, swimming pool, indoor swimming pool, a skating rink, cinema, and bowling, there are plenty of other recreational facilities.