Coswig (Anhalt)

Coswig is a town in the district of Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, on the right bank of the river Elbe about 12 kilometres west of Wittenberg and 15 kilometres east of Dessau. Its castle is first mentioned in 1187, and in 1215 the place was attested as an oppidum and counted among the most important towns north of the Elbe. Weaving, pottery and farming shaped its economy, and Spanish troops nearly destroyed it during the Schmalkaldic War. It belonged to the principalities of Anhalt-Zerbst and Anhalt-Bernburg and then to the Duchy of Anhalt until 1918, and it celebrated 800 years of existence in 1987. Sights include the castle, the Nicolaikirche and a reaction ferry across the Elbe to Woerlitz. The neo-Kantian philosopher Hermann Cohen was born here.