Hoyerswerda is regarded as one of the two capitals of the Lusatian Lake District, alongside Senftenberg. The major district town of 34,000 inhabitants in the rural district of Bautzen boasts two centres: the Old Town and the New Town.

Hoyerswerda was first documented in 1268; the town rights were granted in 1423. Over centuries the town remained a more or less insignificant settlement in the middle of the large Lusatian wooded heathland. The 32-year reign of Duchess and Imperial Princess Ursula Katharina von Teschen from 1705 onwards eventually brought some degree of prosperity. Under her able and lucky rule Hoyerswerda became a thriving artisan town and remained so well until the mid-20^th century. Yet as of 1955 this increasingly changed. Hoyerswerda experienced massive expansion and a completely new part of the city, the Neustadt (New Town), was constructed. Housing for the thousands of workers at the new gas combine Schwarze Pumpe was required. The population skyrocketed to 71,000 inhabitants in the 1980s. However, many people left the region again after the political turnaround due to the massive downscaling of the lignite industry. Instead, old opencast mining pits were transformed into lakes – giving birth to the Lusatian Lake District!

Knappensee, the remaining pit of the opencast mine Werminghoff I, was turned into Hoyerswerda’s ‘bathing tub’ as early as in the early 1950s. Nowadays, a whole range of flooded opencast mining pits in the vicinity of the town offer a wide range of activities for holiday makers. In addition, Hoyerswerda itself offers many sights. Last, but not least, the town is linked to the excellently developed network of Lusatian cycle routes.