Ohorn

Ohorn is a municipality in the district of Bautzen, in Saxony, Germany. Ohorn is a governmentally accredited recreation locality.Geography and infrastructureThe municipality is located 2 km east of Pulsnitz and 30 km to the northeast of Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Embedded in the valley of the River Pulsnitz, Ohorn is surrounded by the typical landscape of the western Lusatian Hills, reaching a height of 449 m at the Hochstein Hill. Ohorn, having its own exit can be reached by using the A4 federal autobahn.Local subdivisionOhorn is divided into 5 parts: Fuchsbelle, Gickelsberg, Mitteldorf, Oberdorf and Röder.Historical developmentFollowing German Teutonic knights' call, in 1110 craftsmen, manufacturers and farmers from Thuringia, Franconia, Hesse and Bavaria came to settle in the area of the river Pulsnitz valley, creating a settlement of approximately on the southwestern side of the Schleißberg Hill, the river being an important factor in the location of the settlement.Ohorn was first mentioned in historical documents in 1349 in the Book of Feuds owned by Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia, bearing the name "Ahorn", which stands for "Settlement by the maple tree/wood" In 1537, Ohorn Manor was mentioned as an estate of the rule of Pulsnitz. Today, only parts of the country house, now giving space to a residential care home, and several buildings converted into housing establishments remain as well as the English style park. In those times, there were no important steps of development in Ohorn, its status as a farmer's settlement persisted because the state borders of the diocese of Meißen and the Bohemian Kingdom took course through the settlement, exposing it to recurrent raids and warfare throughout the centuries. In addition, the number of inhabitants was decimated by epidemics; the plague resulted in the death of a fifth of the population.