Torgau

Torgau, city, Saxony, E central Germany, a port on the Elbe River. Manufactures include paper, iron products, glass, pottery, and agricultural machinery. Torgau is an important railway junction and harbor. Long a strategic crossing point on the Elbe, Torgau was chartered in the 13th cent. In 1526 the Protestant princes founded the Torgau League there. The articles of the league were written (1530) by Luther, Melanchthon, and others, and they served as a basis for part of the Augsburg Confession. In the Thirty Years War, Gustavus II of Sweden and his allies held (1631) an important council of war in Torgau. In the Seven Years War, Frederick II of Prussia defeated (1760) the Austrians under Daun near the city. Torgau passed in 1815 to Prussia. On Apr. 27, 1945, near the end of World War II, advance elements of the U.S. and Soviet armies made contact for the first time there. Noteworthy buildings of the city include the 16th-century city hall; a late Gothic church in which Luther's wife, Katharina von Bora, is buried; and the Renaissance-style Hartenfels castle (16th cent.), a residence of the electors of Saxony.

Torgau-Oschatz is a former district (Kreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It was bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the district Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Elbe-Elster in Brandenburg, and the districts Riesa-Großenhain, Döbeln, Muldentalkreis and Delitzsch.

History

The district was created in 1994 by merging the two previous districts Oschatz and Torgau, and 6 municipalities from the former district Eilenburg. In August 2008, as a part of the district reform in Saxony, the districts of Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz were merged into the new district Nordsachsen.

Geography

The main river in the district is the Elbe, which meanders through water meadows. The landscape is dominated by three heath areas, the Dahlener Heide (150 km²) in the south, the Dübener Heide (110 km²) in the northwest, and partially the Annaburger Heide in the east.

Coat of arms

	The main symbol in the coat of arms is the lion of Meißen, as the area of the district belonged to the county of Meißen historically. The lion holds a linden branch, symbolizing both the forests and the agriculture in the district. The wavy line in the bottom is the Elbe river. The coat of arms were granted on January 12, 1996.

Towns and municipalities

Towns	Verwaltungsgemeinschaften	free municipalities
Belgern Dahlen Dommitzsch¹ Mügeln Oschatz Schildau Torgau¹ ¹ Administrated in a Verwaltungsgemeinschaft	Beilrode Arzberg Beilrode Großtreben-Zwethau Dommitzsch Dommitzsch Elsnig Trossin Torgau Torgau Dreiheide Pflückuff Zinna	Cavertitz Liebschützberg Mockrehna Naundorf Sornzig-Ablaß Wermsdorf

External links

• Official website (German)