Germany · Saxony-Anhalt · Dessau
Roßlau, Dessau — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Roßlau stands on the right bank of the Elbe north of Dessau, the former town whose name completes Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt.
About Roßlau
Where to stay in Roßlau
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Roßlau keeps a residential character on its own bank of the Elbe, so the choice for a visitor is between quiet streets near Burg Roßlau and the fuller range of beds down in Dessau. Lodging on this side is sparse. Two railway bridges carry the line across the water, which puts the Rathaus Roßlau and the Katholische Kirche Herz Jesu within an easy trip of a Dessau base.
About Roßlau
What are the main landmarks in Roßlau?
Burg Roßlau is the oldest fabric in the quarter, the old castle named beside a ducal residence and a parish church in the accounts written before the merger with Dessau. Beyond it, the record is mostly churches. The Katholische Kirche Herz Jesu and the Kirche Neeken serve congregations away from the centre, while the Rathaus Roßlau still fronts the civic business of the quarter.
What is the history of Roßlau?
Town rights arrived in 1603. For most of the centuries that followed Roßlau answered to the district of Anhalt-Zerbst, a separate municipality on the right bank rather than a part of Dessau to the south. That ended on 30 June 2007, when the two towns fused and the new municipality of Dessau-Roßlau took its second name from the smaller partner.
Machinery, paper, sugar and bricks came out of its works.
Where is Roßlau?
Roßlau occupies the right bank of the Elbe, the northern part of Dessau-Roßlau, with Magdeburg well to the north-west.
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More areas in Dessau
Updated August 2026