Where to Stay in Plauen, Saxony

What is Plauen known for?

The Plauen Lace Museum and the Embroidery Machine Museum, Plauen both come out of that industry, and the Fabrik der Fäden carries the same thread into a building of its own. Vogtland gives the wider frame. Plauen is the largest city of the Saxon Vogtland and fifth in Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, which puts it in the middle rank of the state's cities.

Two names sit together on the list. The Erich-Ohser-Haus and the Vater-und-Sohn-Denkmal in Plauen appear on the same register.

What are the main landmarks in Plauen?

Towers, churches and one castle. The castle of Plauen anchors the older fabric, with the Bärenstein Tower, the Kemmler Tower and the Nonnenturm standing apart from it, while the Altes Amtsgericht and the Weisbachsches Haus add two further names in stone. Churches fill much of the rest.

The Lutherkirche, the Pauluskirche, the Sacred Heart Church and the Church of the Redeemer, Plauen are all listed, and Falconry Herrmann sits at the odd end of the same register.

What is the history of Plauen?

The record starts in 1112. The castle of Plauen belongs to that older layer, and so does the Nonnenturm, while Vorwerk Reißig carries the name of a farm holding rather than of any fortification. Then came thread.

Lace and embroidery turned the town into an industrial place, and the Plauen Lace Museum, the Embroidery Machine Museum, Plauen and the Fabrik der Fäden all exist because of that trade and the machines it needed. One entry records three eras at once. The works listed as Vogtländische Spitzenweberei AG, later VEB Plauener Spitze and later still Plauener Spitze GmbH Haselbrunn, carries in its own name the change from company to state enterprise and back to a company again.

Other buildings date the twentieth century. The Produktionsgebäude der Sägerei und Holzhausfirma Enno Zimmermann and the garage complex at Dobenau, with its Hochgarage and a filling station under a cantilever roof, belong to the industrial and motoring decades rather than to the old streets. St. Marcus Church and St. John's Church keep two older dedications, and the Erich-Ohser-Haus with the Vater-und-Sohn-Denkmal in Plauen closes the register on a pair of names that belong to each other.

Where is Plauen?

The Vogtland sets the frame. Plauen covers something over a hundred square kilometres of it, which makes the city the largest in the Saxon Vogtland, though Gera is bigger when the whole region is counted. Saxony holds the rest of the ranking.

Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau all come above Plauen by size, leaving it fifth in the state and first in its own part of it. The Bärenstein Tower marks the outer ground.

What is the climate of Plauen?

Plauen shares the temperate weather of the Vogtland, where summers stay comfortable rather than hot and winters settle in properly before spring loosens them again. Wet days have an answer. The Plauen Lace Museum, the Embroidery Machine Museum, Plauen and the Fabrik der Fäden are indoor work, while the Bärenstein Tower and Vorwerk Reißig are better kept for a clear afternoon.

How do you get to Plauen?

Aim for the castle of Plauen. It stands among the older streets, and the Altes Amtsgericht, the Weisbachsches Haus and Liebigstraße 8, Plauen all lie within the same short walk of it. Cars have their own monument here.

The garage complex at Dobenau, with its Hochgarage and the filling station under a cantilever roof, was built for driving, and the roads crossing the Vogtland still shape how the city is reached.