Every design for Zwickau

Zwickau is known as a cradle of the German car industry. Horch was founded here in 1904, Audi followed in 1909, the Trabant, East Germany's most popular car, came out of the Sachsenring works, and since 1990 Volkswagen has run a large plant in Zwickau-Mosel. Long before the cars, the town was a mining centre: an area called territorium Zcwickaw was first mentioned in 1118, and for nearly 800 years coal was dug here and in the surrounding region.

The Automobilmuseum August Horch tells the motoring story best, yet the Robert-Schumann-Haus is just as much a part of local pride, because the composer was born here in 1810. Around the centre, the Galerie am Domhof, Schloss Osterstein and the Alter Gasometer each hold a piece of the past, and in 2016 Zwickau was named a Reformation City of Europe. The town lies in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde, part of a string of cities running along the foothills of the Ore Mountains, and the Silver Road links it with Dresden.

Coming home to Zwickau means following the Mulde back into its valley, past the bridges towards the centre, to a place shaped by coal, cars and music that is still unmistakably itself.