Görlitz

Görlitz, city, east central Germany, in Saxony (Sachsen), on the Neisse River. Görlitz is the center of the Upper Lusatian lignite-mining region of Saxony; manufactures include machinery, railroad cars, leather and metal products, chemicals, textiles, glass, and electrical equipment. The city is the site of 15th-century churches, a natural history museum, the Kaisertrutz Museum, and a technical institute. The Slavic village of Gorelic became Zgorzelice (or Gorlice) after 1131, belonging successively to Brandenburg, Bohemia, and the Lusatian League. Capital of the Silesian duchy of Görlitz from 1377 to 1396, the city then passed to the Habsburgs, the Schmalkaldic League, Saxony, and in 1815, Prussia. The Polish city of Zgorzelec, located across the river, formed the eastern part of the city until 1945, when the Neisse River became part of the German-Polish border. Population (2005 estimate) 58,200.