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The historical significance of many of Saxony’s cities is reflected by wholly preserved groups of buildings such as the splendid royal residences in and around Dresden from the Baroque era, the imposing upper-class houses of Görlitz from various centuries, and prominent examples of art nouveau and modernism in Chemnitz. Just as impressive are some of the facilities that bear witness to the Saxon industrial culture. They mark a contrast to the picturesque Elbe river scenery along Saxony’s wine route and the rugged beauty of nature in the Sächsische Schweiz (“Saxony’s Switzerland”) mountains and the Zittauer Gebirge mountains.
Within all of Mitteldeutschland, comprising the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, the Saxon city of Leipzig is the prominent media business location. It is home to numerous service providers for TV, film and other media channels, including the largest and most state-of-the-art studios of the region, located at MCA (Media City Atelier).
Saxony’s high-capacity freeways A9 and A13 connect Leipzig and Dresden to Berlin/Potsdam and Munich, two long-standing major hubs of film production within Germany. The Leipzig/Halle Airport offers capacity for intercontinental freight and passenger traffic.
Thuringia is one of the most wooded German states and boasts mountains of almost 1,000 meters in height, vast forests and natural reserves such as the Thüringer Wald mountains. Apart from its scenic beauty, the region offers unparalleled architectural diversity: buildings from all different eras, from the Romanesque period up to modernism, stand within close range from one another. The fragmentation of the state resulted in the construction of an enormous number of medieval castles, princes’ residences and majestic manors. Eisenach, where the famous Wartburg castle is located, and Weimar, the cradle of German classicism, together have 17 locations listed as UNESCO world heritage.
Thuringia has successfully established itself as a media business location, chiefly through its focus on media products for children. KI.KA, the children’s channel by ARD/ZDF (national public television networks) and the STUDIOPARK KinderMedienZentrum, whose studio capacities are made available to any interested producers, all are based in Erfurt.
Thuringia is situated at the center of Germany and of Europe. The entire region is connected to other parts of Europe and the world through an excellent infrastructure of freeways, railways and a nearby international airport.
Saxony-Anhalt is one of the oldest German cultural centers with UNCESCO world heritage sites in Quedlingburg, Dessau, Eisleben, Wittenberg and Dessau-Wörlitz. An amazing wealth of fortresses, castles and religious buildings, often of Romanesque origin, a great number of timbered houses preserved in historical city centers, archaic sceneries in the Harz mountains, with primeval forest and endless rows of jagged peaks, and vast, pristine floodplains along the Elbe and Saale rivers make Saxony-Anhalt an attractive film location especially for historical films. On the other hand, authentic and unique backdrops are also offered by monuments of the industrial age, of classical modernism, concrete-slab apartment complexes, contemporary architecture and many new lakes with maritime beaches, created where big craters used to gape after brown-coal exploitation had come to an end.
The Mitteldeutsche Multimediazentrum (MMZ) of Halle is the heart of the state’s media industry, providing Germany’s only cinema sound mixing facility for Dolby Premier Studio License.
Thanks to its central position between Berlin/Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony and to its access to the A2, A9 and A14 freeways, Saxony-Anhalt is connected and reached conveniently.
© www.saechsische-schweiz.de / Foto: Frank Richter
© MDM / Anke Kunze
© Doreen Ritzau 2009, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
