Day Trip to Bergbau Technology Park/Chemnitz

In the south of the city of Leipzig, brown coal mining dominated the landscape during the GDR. With the political transformation in 1989 most of the opencast mining facilities were closed for environmental protection. Within the framework of the recultivation and renaturation of these brown-coal mining remnants the “Neuseenlandschaft”(new lake landscapes), a network of several lakes, which are connected via sluices and canals, serve as protection against floods as well as recreation and tourism.

During the visit to the mining technology park, we will receive an insight into the history of the brown coal mining. Afterwards, during the trip to Chemnitz, we will take a short detour to some lakes and learn about the important influences of opencast mining for the people and nature in the region.

 

Around noon on 6 July 2017 the Evangelical-reformed Church in Chemnitz awaits us. The congregation is located in a large city, which is still strongly influenced by the textile industry, mechanical engineering and automobile development. Previously, Chemnitz was called “Saxon Manchester”. During the GDR period, the city bore the name Karl-Marx-Stadt.

The small Evangelical-reformed church invites us to a simple lunch in the garden of their church. Afterwards, we will take a trip through the “Saxon Industrial Museum” in Chemnitz. Here we will learn about 220 years of Saxon industrial history. We will find numerous exhibits from the fields of mining, mechanical engineering and textile production as well as automobiles, computing machines, robots, curious inventions and designer icons. Afterwards we will take the bus directly back to Leipzig’s fare.