In 13 German states , the primary administrative subdivision higher than a Gemeinde (municipality) is the Landkreis or Kreis . Most major cities in Germany are not part of any Kreis , but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a Kreis ; such a city is referred to as a kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis .
23-599: Mittelsachsen ("Central Saxony") is a district ( Kreis ) in the Free State of Saxony , Germany . The district was established by merging the former districts of Döbeln , Freiberg and Mittweida as part of the district reform of August 2008. The district stretches from the Ore Mountains on the Czech Republic–Germany border to the plains between Leipzig and Dresden . The district borders (from
46-524: A district in their own right—and there are 106 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 400. As of 2016 , approximately 26 million people live in these 107 urban districts. In North Rhine-Westphalia , there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, these being Recklinghausen , Gütersloh , Siegen , Paderborn , Bergisch Gladbach , Neuss and Moers . Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are still part of
69-697: A fusion of a district-free town with its adjacent rural district: besides the Regionalverband Saarbrücken ( Saarbrücken regional association ), from 1974 until 2007 called "Stadtverband Saarbrücken" ( Saarbrücken town association ), there is the Hanover Region since 2001 and the Städteregion Aachen ( Aachen region of towns ) since 2009. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district ( Kreisfreie Stadt ); Saarbrücken has not explicitly determined
92-423: A larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, especially to provide common services to the local citizens. The classification as "midsize" town is usually based on a town's registered population, but varies from state to state. A special type of rural districts includes the three Kommunalverbände besonderer Art ( Municipal unions of special kind ),
115-604: A mayor, in most greater cities usually by the Lord Mayor . Rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative committee called Kreisausschuss . This committee is generally led by the Landrat and includes a number of additional voluntary members. It takes over certain administrative functions for the district, following decisions of the district council. However, the exact role and regulations of this panel vary greatly between different states. The city where
138-498: A similar provision in its legislation. According to common federal and state laws, the districts are responsible for the following tasks: Districts can perform additional functions, based on varying local laws in each region: All these tasks are carried out by local (municipal) authorities operating together. Urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council (German: Kreistag , pronounced [ˈkʁaɪ̯sˌtaːk] )
161-809: Is an airfield at Langhennersdorf which is used for recreational flight. The Landkreis is home to two universities, the TU Bergakademie in Freiberg (focused on Geo-science) and the University of Applied Sciences in Mittweida (MINT, Social, Media). [REDACTED] Media related to Landkreis Mittelsachsen at Wikimedia Commons 50°55′N 13°11′E / 50.917°N 13.183°E / 50.917; 13.183 Districts of Germany (Land-)Kreise stand at an intermediate level of administration between each state ( Länder ) and
184-419: Is an officer known as Landrat or Landrätin , who is responsible for the district's day-to-day administration and acts as its representative for official purposes. In parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt . In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by
207-727: Is at 140 metres above sea level, in the valley of the Freiberger Mulde near Leisnig . The highest point is 855 metres above sea level on the Czech border. The most important rivers in Mittelsachsen are the Zwickauer and Freiberger Mulde , and the Zschopau river. Other notable rivers include Bobritzsch, Striegis, Gimmlitz and Flöha. The district also contains the reservoirs Kriebstein, Lichtenberg and Rauschenbach. Part of
230-702: Is served by three motorways, the A4 being the main east-west route, with the A14 branching off to the north-west. In the far west, the A72 runs through the district. The district is also served by the B7, B101, B107, B169, B171, B173, B175, B176, and B180 federal roads and major state roads. Four main railway lines run through the district: Dresden-Freiberg-Chemnitz-Werdau, Riesa-Döbeln-Chemnitz, Neukieritzsch-Chemnitz and Borsdorf-Döbeln-Coswig. Long-distance passenger trains do not run through
253-481: Is the highest institution of a rural district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected directly every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a rural district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of some rural districts are not situated within
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#1732765370466276-517: The Ore Mountains are still in operation, although not all sections have regular passenger services. Some of these lines are operated by non-federal railway infrastructure companies. The entire district belongs to the Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen . The closest airports for commercial travel are Leipzig–Altenburg Airport (15 km), Dresden Airport (28 km), and Leipzig/Halle Airport (58 km). However, there
299-539: The municipalities ( Gemeinden ) within it. These correspond to level-3 administrative units in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 3). Previously, the similar title Imperial Circle ( Reichskreis ) referred to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire . The related term Landeskommissariat was used for similar administrative divisions in some German territories until
322-518: The 19th century. The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: Landkreise , pronounced [ˈlantˌkʁaɪ̯zə] ), of which there are 294 as of 2017 . Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to a district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities . These are known as "urban districts" (German: kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise )—cities which constitute
345-820: The Chemnitz model and served by the City-Bahn Chemnitz. The once dense rail network had already been severely thinned out by Deutsche Bahn before the district reform in 2008. Entire junctions such as Rochlitz with the Glauchau-Rochlitz-Wurzen, Rochlitz-Penig and Waldheim-Rochlitz lines were closed. Other junctions such as Nossen and Freiberg lost considerable importance. Today, the Nossen-Holzhau, Berthelsdorf-Brand-Erbisdorf, Flöha-Marienberg, Pockau-Lengefeld-Neuhausen, Hainichen-Niederwiesa and Hartmannsdorf-Wittgensdorf branch lines in
368-533: The Erzgebirge/ Vogtland national park is located in the southern part of Mittelsachsen. In 2008, upon the creation of the Mittelsachsen district, the heraldic society "Schwarzer Löwe" in Leipzig, in collaboration with graphics studio Eberhard Heinicker, put forward several proposals for a new coat of arms. Six proposals in total were put to the district council. The district council eventually chose
391-554: The current design on 10 June 2009. The coat of arms shows the lion of Meißen, representing the Margravate of Meissen , and a hammer and pick representing the local mining heritage. The blue waves are derived from the coat of arms of Mittweida, and the three black lozenges from the former arms of Döbeln. The elections for the Mittelsachsen district happened on 7 June 2015. The former mayor of Mittweida, Matthias Damm ( CDU ), won with an absolute majority (65.74% of votes). The district
414-499: The district and can only be reached by changing trains at Dresden Hbf , Riesa , Elsterwerda or Leipzig Hbf . The interregional Dresden-Nuremberg connection via Freiberg and Flöha , which existed until 2014 and was most recently marketed as the Franken-Sachsen-Express , was interrupted at Hof in order to be able to run between Dresden, Freiberg, Flöha and Hof with electric traction and barrier-free vehicles in
437-467: The district proper, but in an adjacent district-free city. Most of those rural districts are named after this central city as well (e.g. Bamberg and Karlsruhe ). Moers is the biggest city in Germany (and at present time the only one with more than 100,000 inhabitants) that is neither an urban district, nor the district seat of its rural district. The highest administrative position of a rural district
460-470: The future. In addition to the mainline stations mentioned above, regional centres such as Chemnitz , Zwickau , Plauen and Hof, but also regional destinations such as Olbernhau , Annaberg-Buchholz and Grimma can be reached by local trains. The district town of Freiberg is also integrated into the Dresden S-Bahn network. Burgstädt , Mittweida , Frankenberg and Hainichen are integrated into
483-492: The legal term "Kreisstadt" that only denotes the location of the administrative office. In everyday language, district cities are also called Kreishauptstadt ("district capital"). Burgst%C3%A4dt Burgstädt ( German pronunciation: [ˈbʊɐ̯kʃtɛt] ) is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen , in Saxony , Germany . It is situated 12 km northwest of Chemnitz . This Mittelsachsen location article
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#1732765370466506-423: The office of the district's administration is located is called Kreisstadt ("district city"), or Kreishauptort ("district main community") if it is not a city. Often the district is named after its district city. Linguistically, any city within a district could be called a "Kreisstadt", especially those that aren't district-free to distinguish them from district-free cities. This term has to be distinguished from
529-635: The west and clockwise) the state Thuringia , the districts of Leipzig , Nordsachsen , Meißen , Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge , the Czech Republic , Erzgebirgskreis , the urban district Chemnitz , and the district of Zwickau . The geography of the district varies considerably, stretching from the northern part which almost reaches the North German Plain , to the southern part in the Ore Mountains region. The lowest point
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