Chemnitz History

Chemnitz was founded as a merchant city on the banks of the river Chemnitz, after which the city was named. It had the status of a free imperial town, and around 1136-1137, the Emperor Lothar III founded a Benedictine monastery there. But the year 1165 is considered the official date of foundation.

After the city had obtained the bleaching monopoly in 1357, Chemnitz became a centre of weaving and linen manufacturing. At the same time, the growth of iron ore extraction had a great influence on the economic rise of the city. In the 15th century, a small copper processing factory was founded. During the 16th century, cotton was introduced into the textile industry, and at the end of the Middle Ages Chemnitz became an important centre for the textile manufacturing in Saxony; products were even exported abroad. From 1728 onward, the hosiery trade was developed and gradually became the main industrial branch. At the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, the manufacturing of textiles was industrialized. From 1800 onward, Chemnitz took the lead in Germany's mechanical industry and production of machine tools.

In connection with the industrial development, the "Royal Industrial School" (Königliche Gewerbeschule) was founded on May 2nd, 1836. In the beginning, it had 14 students and 3 main subjects: Mechanical Technology, Chemical Technology, and Agriculture. Shortly afterwards, its name was changed into "Industrial High School" (Höhere Gewerbeschule). The city had almost 11,000 inhabitants at this time.

From 1882 onwards (Chemnitz had 103,000 inhabitants), Electrical engineering had been taught, and in 1892 the Department of Electrical Engineering was established. At the end of the 19th century with its industrial revolution, the number of students exceeded 1,000 for the first time. The school received the status of "Royal Industrial Academy" (Königliche Gewerbeakademie) in 1900.

Due to damage caused during World War II, the academy had to be closed. When it was reopened, it was called a "Technical College" (Technische Lehranstalten Chemnitz) and had around 500 students.

In 1953, Chemnitz's name was changed to Karl-Marx-Stadt, and the school was called "College of Mechanical Engineering" (Hochschule für Maschinenbau Karl-Marx-Stadt). Ten years later already more than 1,500 students were enrolled in the Departments of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Mechanical Engineering and in the newly founded Department of Electrical Engineering.

In 1986 around 8,000 students were studying at the institution, in the same year it received the status of a University of Technology.

After the re-unification of Germany on October 3rd, 1990, the city was renamed Chemnitz. In 1992, the former College of Education at Zwickau joined the university, which was then named the University of Technology Chemnitz-Zwickau. After that, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and the Faculty of Humanities were added. In 1997, the institute was again renamed, this time into Chemnitz University of Technology.

In 2020, Chemnitz had approximately 240,000 inhabitants, and approximately 10,000 students were studying at the university.