Görlitz
[key], city, Saxony, E Germany, on the Görlitzer Neisse River, at
the Polish border. Manufactures include railway cars, machinery, and
textiles. Lignite is mined nearby. Formerly a major city of Lusatia, Görlitz was founded
c.1200 and in 1377 became the capital of the duchy of Görlitz. It
developed as an important cloth-weaving and trade center. The city passed to
the Hapsburgs in 1526 and to Saxony in 1635. In 1815, Görlitz was
annexed by Prussia. After World War II the section of the city on the right
bank of the Neisse was placed in Poland and called Zgorzelec (1994 est. pop.
67,650). Görlitz's Old Quarter has numerous well-preserved Gothic,
Renaissance, and Baroque buildings. Jakob Boehme (1575–1624), the
religious mystic, lived there.
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