Timeline
A short excerpt from the timeline of Torgau
| 973 | Torgau (Torgov) is first mentioned in official documents | |
| 1119 | The first official reference is made to the castle over the Elbe crossing; Torgau is acquired by the Margrave of Meissen in the same year. | |
| 1267 | Torgau is first attested as a city. | |
| 1425 | Captured bears are documented in the moat. | |
| 1442 | The city suffers its first great fire. | |
| 1482 | The city suffers its second great fire. | |
| 1483/1484 | The Grosser Teich is dug out to supply the Electors of Saxony with fish. | |
| 1485 | Saxony is divided up between the brothers Ernst and Albrecht. Torgau remains the main residence of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin until the mid-16th century and experiences its political, economic and cultural heyday. | |
| 1482-1623 | “Hartenfels” is built as an important early-Renaissance castle. | |
| 1482 | The Albrechtsbau is built, making it the oldest part of the present-day castle (Wing D). | |
| 1533-1536 | The Johann-Friedrich-Bau is built with the Grosser Wendelstein staircase (Wing B). | |
| 1544 | The castle chapel is consecrated by Martin Luther (in Wing B). | |
| 1616-1623 | Wing A is built with the electoral coat of arms on the front portal; the fifth part of the building (Wing E) is constructed in 1791 | |
| 1514 | Elector Frederick the Wise gives the city its current coat of arms and grants the right to enclose the seal in red wax. | |
| 1523 | The Torgau-born councillor Leonhard Koppe helps nuns to escape Nimbschen Monastery in Grimma. The most famous of the 12 nuns is Katharina von Bora. | |
| 1525 | The people of Torgau storm the Franciscan monastery on Ash Wednesday. | |
| 1526 | The League of Torgau is founded. | |
| 1530 | Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas and Bugenhagen lay the foundations for the Augsburg Confession by developing the Torgau Articles. | |
| 1547 | Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous is defeated at the Battle of Mühlberg by Emperor Charles V; he cedes his electorship and Torgau to his cousin Moritz in Dresden. | |
| 1552 | Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther, dies in Torgau and is laid to rest at St. Mary’s Church. | |
| 1563-1579 | The Renaissance town hall is built on the site of the former St. Nicholas Church. | |
| 1627 | The first German opera “Dafne” by Heinrich Schütz is performed at Hartenfels Castle. | |
| 1711 | Tsar Peter I of Russia has his son marry a German princess at Hartenfels Castle. He has an important conversation with the scholar Leibniz in Torgau. | |
| 1760 | The Battle of Torgau takes place on the Süptitzer Heights. | |
| 1811 | The city is expanded into a fortress at Napoleon’s behest. | |
| 1815 | Torgau becomes Prussian territory following the Congress of Vienna. | |
| 1863 | The first gasworks are built in Torgau. | |
| 1872 | A connection is made to the rail network. | |
| 1889 | The city is defortified. | |
| 1894 | The port is built. | |
| 1900 | Friedrich Partuschke builds a brewery on Naundorfer Strasse. | |
| 1903 | The water tower is built. | |
| 1906 | Stoll is founded as an agricultural machinery company. | |
| 1907 | A jam factory is built, followed by the steelworks and the Villeroy & Boch stoneware factory in 1926. | |
| 1911 | The first power station is built. | |
| 1926 | The glassworks are built. | |
| 1939 | The old fortifications “Brückenkopf” and “Fort Zinna” are used as prisons by the German Wehrmacht. | |
| 1943 | The Central Reichsgericht is moved from Berlin to Torgau. | |
| 1945 | Soviet and American troops meet on the Elbe in Torgau on 25 April 1945. | |
| 1946 | “Brückenkopf” and “Fort Zinna” become special camps for the Soviet occupying forces. | |
| 1953 | The former moat is used to build a new outdoor bear enclosure. | |
| 1973 | A celebration is held to mark 1,000 years of history and the beginning of extensive redevelopment work in the old town. | |
| 1982 | The railway bridge is opened on Warschauer Strasse. | |
| 1983 | Joe Polowsky is buried at Torgau cemetery. The former American soldier had always campaigned for peace since the meeting on the Elbe in 1945. | |
| 1988 | Torgau is twinned with Sindelfingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. | |
| 1990 | Torgau becomes a Saxon city once again. | |
| 1994 | The castle church celebrates its 450th anniversary with the addition of a new four-piece organ. | |
| 1996 | Saxony Day is held in Torgau, attracting over 300,000 visitors. | |
| 1996 | Martin Luther is honoured (450th anniversary of his death). | |
| 1998 | Torgau celebrates its 1,025th anniversary. | |
| 1999 | Katharina von Bora is honoured (500th birthday). | |
| 2004 | Over 226,000 visitors attend the 2nd Saxon State Exhibition “Faith and Power – Saxony in Reformation Europe” in Torgau. | |
| 2015 | The former residential palace of Hartenfels provides an authentic setting for “Luther and the Electors”, the first of four major special exhibitions held around Germany to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. | |
| 2016 |
Exhibition “Treasures of a Princely Marriage” at Hartenfels Castle The 19th state harvest festival takes place in Torgau |
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| 2017 |
Reopening of the museum in the house where Katharina Luther died in April, a magnet for visitors along the Torgau Museum Trail Opening of Georg Spalatin’s priest’s house with the exhibition “Sound & Faith”, May Opening of the exhibition of the Dresden State Art Collections in Hartenfels Castle “Torgau – Residence of the Renaissance and Reformation” – a synopsis of the exhibitions on the Luther Decade from 2012 to 2016 Opening of the exhibition “Standfest.Bibelfest.Trinkfest. – Johann Friedrich, the last Ernestine Elector” in the former electoral apartments at Hartenfel Castle, September 2017 |
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| 2018 |
Torgau hosts the Day of the Saxons. 285,000 guests paid a visit to the city on the Elbe. |
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| 2022 |
From April 23rd to October 9th the 9th Saxon State Horticultural Show takes place |
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| 2023 |
The city on the Elbe celebrates its 1050th city anniversary |