Althen (Leipzig)

Althen on a map from 1899

Althen was an independent Saxon community until 1994 and is now a district of Leipzig . Althen forms the district of Althen-Kleinpösna in the administrative structure of Leipzig together with Kleinpösna and Hirschfeld .

The place is on the eastern edge of the urban area. Althen is traversed by State Road 78 , which joins the B 6 north of Althen (on Borsdorfer Flur) .

history

The settlement of the Althener Flur can be traced back to the 11th century, when German settlers built the place as an anger village, the structure of which is still recognizable today. The first written mention of the village comes from the year 1270. In 1486 Duke Albrecht established the feudal lordship of his councilor Johann Preusser . During the Schmalkaldic War (1547) and during the Thirty Years War (1632 and 1642) Althen was plundered and set on fire. In 1708 the Leipzig professor Quintus Septimus Florens Rivinius acquired the place until it was bought by the City Council of Leipzig after several changes of ownership. In 1714 the medieval nave was rebuilt.

During the Battle of Nations in 1813, the population and the building fabric of Althen were also affected. Weeks before the battle, troops were billeted and levies were levied on the military. During the fighting, the French first crossed the village on their retreat towards Paunsdorf and Mölkau , then Austrian troops and Hermann Platow's Cossacks marched through the village. They secured the eastern area between Taucha , Schönefeld and Holzhausen on October 18, 1813 , so that the French were unable to retreat to the Torgau fortress . Since 1998 a diorama in the Althener Heimatstube as well as a memorial plaque attached there in 2002 commemorates the events of this battle.

In 1836, the construction of the first long-distance railway line between Leipzig and Dresden began near Althen . The first section between Leipzig and Althen was put into operation on April 24, 1837. The first - albeit provisional - train station restaurant in German territory was located at the terminus in Althen. After the opening of the line to Dresden on April 7, 1839, no scheduled stop was planned in the 140-inhabitant village. Until 1856, Althen was part of the Electoral Saxon or Royal Saxon District Office in Leipzig . From 1856 the place belonged to the Taucha court office and from 1875 to the Leipzig District Administration . In 1952 Althen came to the district of Leipzig-Land in the Leipzig district , which in 1994 became part of the Leipziger Land district.

After 1990, building activity began in the predominantly agriculture-dominated village, which quadrupled the population to over 1,500. On January 1, 1994, Althen was incorporated into Engelsdorf , and on January 1, 1999, together with Engelsdorf, was incorporated into Leipzig. In 2000 a partnership was established with Althen-des-Paluds in the south of France.

photos

The station restaurant in Althen around 1837
Memorial stone 150 years of the first German long-distance railway Leipzig-Dresden in Althen (1987)
The village church of Althen around 1850
The church Althen in May 2008
The church Althen seen from southwest

literature

Reinhard Münch: Althen. A historical and urban study. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2002.
Horst Riedel, Thomas Nabert (ed.): Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z . 1st edition. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 .
City of Leipzig, local council Engelsdorf (ed.): Village stories from the east of Leipzig: Althen, Baalsdorf, Engelsdorf, Hirschfeld, Kleinpösna, Sommerfeld. Volume 1. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-9806474-8-X .
City of Leipzig, local council Engelsdorf (ed.): Village stories from the east of Leipzig: Althen, Baalsdorf, Engelsdorf, Hirschfeld, Kleinpösna, Sommerfeld. Volume 2. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-9807201-7-9 .
Cornelius Gurlitt : Althen. In: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. 16. Issue: Amtshauptmannschaft Leipzig (Leipzig Land) . CC Meinhold, Dresden 1894, p. 3.