Chronicle

An excerpt from the Torgau Chronicle:

Year	Event
923	Torgau (torgov) is first mentioned in documents
1119	First documented mention of the castle securing the Elbe crossing, in the same year Torgau came into the possession of the Margrave of Meissen
1267	Torgau is first documented as a city
1425	mention of the bear trap in the moat
1442	First major city fire
1482	Second major city fire
1482	The Albrechtsbau was the oldest part of the present palace complex (Wing D).
1483/1484	The Great Pond was created to supply the Saxon court with fish.
1485	With the "Leipzig Partition", Saxony was divided between the Wettin brothers, Elector Ernst and Duke Albrecht. Torgau then became the main residence of the Ernestine line of the Wettins until the middle of the 16th century and experienced a splendid period of prosperity, characterized by political importance, economic strength and cultural wealth.
1482 - 1623	Hartenfels Castle was built as an important early Renaissance castle
1514	Elector Frederick the Wise gave the city its coat of arms, which is still valid today, and granted it the privilege of sealing in red wax.
1523	The Torgau councilman Leonhard Koppe played a decisive role in the spectacular "escape of the nuns" from the Nimbschen monastery near Grimma. Among the twelve escaped nuns, Katharina von Bora stood out in particular; she later went down in history as Martin Luther's wife.
1525	On Ash Wednesday, angry citizens of Torgau expressed their displeasure and stormed the Franciscan monastery.
1526	The Torgau League was founded in Torgau in 1526 to unite the Protestant imperial estates and protect their interests.
1530	Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Justus Jonas the Elder and Johannes Bugenhagen worked together to develop the “Torgau Articles”, which served as the foundation for the Augsburg Confession of Faith.
1533 - 1536	Construction of the Johann-Friedrich building with the Great Wendelstein (Wing B)
1544	Inauguration of the castle chapel by Dr. Martin Luther (in wing B)
1547	Elector John Frederick the Magnanimous suffered a defeat against Emperor Charles V in the Battle of Mühlberg. As a result, he not only lost the electoral dignity, but also territories such as Torgau, which passed to his cousin Moritz, who had his seat of government in Dresden.
1552	Katharina von Bora, Martin Luther's wife, died in Torgau. She found her final resting place in the city church of St. Mary.
1563 - 1579	Construction of the Renaissance town hall on the site of the former churchyard of St. Nicholas Church.
1616 - 1623	Construction of wing A with the electoral coat of arms on the main portal
1627	The first German opera, “Daphne” by Heinrich Schütz, was ceremoniously performed in Hartenfels Castle.
1711	Tsar Peter I of Russia chose Hartenfels Castle as the venue for the wedding of his son to a German princess. He also held an important conversation with the scholar Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Torgau.
1760	The Battle of Torgau raged on the Süptitz Heights.
1811	On Napoleon's initiative, the city was converted into a fortress.
1815	After the Congress of Vienna, Torgau was annexed to Prussia.
1863	Torgau got its first gasworks.
1872	Torgau was connected to the railway network.
1889	The defortification of the city marked a major step in its development and opening up to new urban possibilities.
1894	In Torgau, the construction of the port was pushed forward in order to strengthen the city economically and promote trade.
1900	Friedrich Partuschke built a brewery on Naundorfer Straße.
1903	In Torgau the construction of the water tower was completed.
1906	The agricultural machinery company Stoll, originally founded in Luckenwalde in 1878, relocated its location to Torgau.
1907	A jam factory was built, which was later converted into a steelworks and, from 1926, into a Villeroy & Boch earthenware factory.
1911	The first power plant was built in Torgau, which represented an important step towards the modern supply of the city.
1926	In Torgau, the construction of a glassworks was realized, which promoted the industrial development of the city.
1939	The historic fortifications “Brückenkopf” and “Fort Zinna” were used as prisons by the German Wehrmacht.
1943	The Central Reich Court was moved from Berlin to Torgau.
1945	On April 25, 1945, the Soviet and American advance units met near Torgau on the Elbe.
1946	“Brückenkopf” and “Fort Zinna” were converted into special camps by the Soviet occupying forces.
1953	An outdoor enclosure for bears was again created in the former castle moat.
1973	On the occasion of the 1000th anniversary, a comprehensive renovation of the old town began.
1982	The handover of the bridge over the railway in Warschauer Straße took place ceremoniously.
1983	Joe Polowsky was buried in the Torgau cemetery. As a former American soldier, he had worked tirelessly for peace since the encounter on the Elbe in 1945.
1988	The town twinning with the Baden-Württemberg town of Sindelfingen was agreed.
1990	Torgau became a Saxon city again.
1994	The castle church celebrated its 450th anniversary with the ceremonial inauguration of the new four-organ.
1996	The “Day of the Saxons” in Torgau attracted more than 300,000 visitors.
1996	In the year of the Luther commemoration, the 450th anniversary of Martin Luther’s death was celebrated.
1998	The 1025th anniversary was celebrated with numerous festive events.
1999	The 500th anniversary of Katharina von Bora’s birthday was celebrated with special festivities.
2004	More than 226,000 visitors attended the 2nd Saxon State Exhibition “Faith and Power – Saxony in Reformation Europe” in Torgau.
2015	The historic Hartenfels Palace provided the impressive backdrop for “Luther and the Princes”, the first of four major national special exhibitions to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
2016	The exhibition “Treasures of a Princely Marriage” at Hartenfels Castle and the 19th State Harvest Festival, which was celebrated in Torgau, attracted numerous visitors.
2017	In April, the museum in the house where Katharina Luther died was reopened and quickly became a magnet for visitors on the Torgau Museum Trail. In May, Georg Spalatin's priest's house was opened with the exhibition "Klang & Glaube" (Sound & Faith). In addition, the Dresden State Art Collections' exhibition "Torgau - Residence of the Renaissance and Reformation" was opened in Hartenfels Castle, presenting an impressive compilation of the exhibitions on the Luther Decade from 2012 to 2016. Finally, in September, the exhibition "Standfest.Biblefest.Trinkfest. - Johann Friedrich, the last Ernestine Elector" was opened in the former electoral chambers of Hartenfels Castle.
2018	Torgau hosted the “Day of the Saxons”, during which 285,000 guests visited the Elbe city.
2022	The 9th Saxon State Garden Show took place in Torgau from April 23rd to October 9th.
2023	The city on the Elbe is celebrating its 1050th anniversary.

Chronicle

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