Discover Zwickau

Zwickau can be explored through a range of cultural themes: the history of automobile manufacturing, the life of Robert Schumann and buildings from different periods. The city also offers a place for leisure and relaxation. Which of these aspects you choose to focus on can give your stay its own distinctive emphasis.

Automotive history in Zwickau

The August Horch Museum is located at the very site where the Audi company was founded. Since 2004, it has presented Zwickau’s automotive history: from August Horch, Horch and Audi to Auto Union and the Trabant, through to Volkswagen today. Historic vehicles, staged scenes and fully functioning machines powered by transmission drives are part of the exhibition.

The timeline brings together different chapters in Zwickau’s automobile manufacturing history. Vehicles and staged scenes show various forms of presentation, while the functioning machines add engineering with transmission drives. If you are particularly interested in industrial and technological history, this is a good starting point for making this part of the city’s history the focus of your visit.

Schumann, music and townhouses

Robert Schumann was born on 8 June 1810 in the corner house on the Hauptmarkt in Zwickau. The Robert Schumann House preserves a Schumann collection containing more than 4,000 original manuscripts. A chamber music hall on the ground floor hosts concerts. His birthplace, the collection and the music room offer different ways to explore Schumann’s life and work, without requiring you to attend a concert.

The Priesterhäuser (Priests’ Houses) also tell the story of the city’s architecture: they are among the oldest surviving urban residential buildings in Germany. St. Mary’s Cathedral, in turn, is one of the most significant hall churches of the late Gothic period in Upper Saxony. Visitors can see the winged altarpiece by Michael Wohlgemut there. The residences, church and artwork each add a different emphasis to the cultural offering.

Architectural history across several centuries

The recorded dates place some of the buildings in chronological order. The Gewandhaus was built from 1522 to 1525 and once housed the clothmakers’ guild and trading house. Osterstein Castle was converted into a grand Renaissance castle from 1587 to 1590. Today’s Galerie am Domhof opened in 1878 as the exhibition hall of the Zwickau Art Association. Former civic use, a Renaissance conversion and exhibition history thus stand side by side, although the buildings did not serve the same function.

Another artistic highlight is the ZWICKAU ART COLLECTIONS Max Pechstein Museum. They display art and natural history collections in a listed building. When comparing cultural interests, you can consider a range of subjects: visual art and natural history, music and manuscripts, or architectural history. Zwickau is also a stop on the Saxon Luther Trail.

Leisure in the city and district

MuldeParadies is a leisure and activity area above the B 93 tunnel. Facilities there include children’s playgrounds, benches and a barbecue area. Alongside museums and historic buildings, the local offering therefore also includes a place with specific opportunities for playing, sitting and barbecuing.

In Zwickau District, an extensive network of signposted hiking trails has rest areas and places to stop for refreshments; around 700 kilometres can be explored on foot. Within the city of Zwickau, the section along the Mulde embankment is part of the 268-kilometre regional Mulde cycle route. The route is ideal for walking, cycling, jogging, hiking and relaxing.

Protected areas also shape the wider landscape: Zwickau District has 14 FFH sites and two bird protection areas, covering a total area of around 2,200 hectares. The “Mulden- und Chemnitztal” (Mulde and Chemnitz Valley) landscape protection area mainly follows the course of the Zwickauer Mulde river between Zwickau and Wolkenburg and covers around 4,348 hectares. The different themes can help guide your choice of stay: automotive history, music and architecture in Zwickau, or hiking and landscapes in Zwickau District.

Discover more destinations: Reinsdorf, Kirchberg, Crimmitschau, Wildenfels, Waldenburg, Glauchau, Remse, Callenberg

Go to the overview of the wider travel region: Zwickauer Land.