Chemnitz UT: International: Chemnitz: The European Experience
Chemnitz - The European Experience
Chemnitz, more than 800 years old, is situated in the heart of Saxony. The city is the third-largest in the new Federal States; about 245,000 people live here. More than 10,000 young people study at the University of Technology Chemnitz.
Fascinating architecture reflects the changing times and spirit of those things which have shaped the city: industrial monuments, redeveloped Gründerzeit residential quarters such as Kassberg, the Schocken department store, Villa Esche or the city centre, which has been completely modified since Re-unification, constructed by Helmut Jahn, Hans Kollhoff and Christoph Ingenhoven, bridge the gap from yesterday to today and tomorrow. The city alone has invested more than 50 million Euros in the new city centre, investors more than 500 million Euros.
Probably no other city in Germany fits the description "City of Modernity" quite so well as Chemnitz does. Developed at the time of Classical Modernism, which still gives impetus to the development of business and science, the influences of the cultural and architectural Modernism are visible and perceptible.
Chemnitz was, and still is, a city with a flourishing economy and inventive talent. The filing clip, thermos flask, laundry detergent and much more were invented here. And Chemnitz today is once again a competitive centre for technological innovation, for which it owes its numerous entrepreneurs and their proximity to the research centres. The fact of the matter is: since 2004, Chemnitz has been counted among the ten strongest growing cities of Germany every year.
Is that not enough for you? Then we will let the names speak for themselves - the names of those who have come to fame in Chemnitz. Because they were born here or spent an important part of their lives here. The painter Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, the Bauhaus icon Marianne Brandt, the writer Stefan Heym, the actor Michael Degen, the composer Gert Natschinski, the artist Carsten Nicolai, and there are even more in the field of culture. In sports there are the figure ice-skater and Olympic champion Katarina Witt, the captain of the national football team Michael Ballack, the Olympic champion in weight-lifting Matthias Steiner, the pairs skating world champions Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, discus thrower Lars Riederl, the cyclists Michael Hübner and Jens Fiedler, the swimmer Stev Theloke, etc...
