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Until 1572 Annaburg had the name Lochau. The place was built on flat land. Its average height is 76 metres above sea-level.

After the battles concerning the predominance in the Lausitz, the push back of Slavonic tribes by the margraves of Ostmark, the Groitscher, the Askanians and the Wettiner took turns ruling over our region.

In the 12^th century Rhenisch and Dutch farmers were settled down between Elbe and Elster by the archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg (R 1152-1192) and "Albrecht the Bear" (R 1134-1170). Flemish settlers formed new settlements. The settlement changed the face of the villages (introduction of half-timbered building, separation of commercial and residential buildings with a hedged farmyard). The knowledge of the colonists immigrating from the Netherlands were used for the drainage of the predominantly area.

The historical meaning is based on the large forest abounding in game of the Lochauer respectively Annaburger heath, which extends to the southeast of the town.

Already in the 13^th century did the Askanians establish a hunting lodge, which was destroyed by fire in 1422. Albrecht III^rd (R 1419-1422), who slept there after a hunting trip in the "Lochau", could save himself from danger, but he died childless later on in Wittenberg by the consequences of the accident. The castle was mentioned for the first time in connection with the death of the last Askanian duke of the House Saxony-Wittenberg.

In 1498 the work on the construction of the zoological garden started. Harts and deers were kept here (in the 18^th century even bisons and reindeers).

In 1577 the zoological garden was divided into two parts due to the construction of the "crossways wall". In the northern situated part there was a tree nursery, the southern region (about 4700 hectares) served for the wildlife preserve.

Fowling in herds of birds established for that was a special pleasure in the 16^th century. The fishponds, which were created by Friedrich the Wise in the "tree nursery" for keeping carps, pikes and tenches, were raised to 48 by the Elector August I^st of Saxony (R1553-1886). August the Strong (R 1694-1733) is said to have shot 900 pieces red and roe deers as well as 400 pieces wild boars together with the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I^st (R 1688-1740) during the only hunting in the Annaburger heath in 1730.

The Wettiner Friedrich III^rd, the Wise, Elector of Saxony (R 1486-1525), patron of the reformation and protector of Martin Luther (1483-1546), established a solid new building at the beginning of the 16^th century, which consists of front and back castle. Well-known artists like Lucas Cranach Senior (1472-1553), electoral court painter, took part in the formation of the complex. Spacious commercial buildings (stable, brewery) were built next to the castle. The system of water supply created in around 1502, ranked with the greatest achievements.

The hunting lodge Lochau with its gardens, ponds and canals seemed to have belonged to the favourite seat of the Elector. Numerous stays with a great court-dress are provable. Friedrich the Wise died on May the 5^th 1525 in Lochau.

A historical event helped Lochau to get dubios fame. Michael Stifel (1487-1567), who took over the rectorate of Lochau, was busy with studies of mathematics here again, above all with the conversion of letters into "trigonal numbers" by means of the texts of the Holy scriptures. Thus Stifel announced as result of his intensive studies the end of the world, "the day of the Last Judgement", for Sunday, the 19^th of October 1533. Luther admonished and warned Stifel because of his wrong belief, also from the electoral side he was imposed to be silent. It was too late, the faithful came from near and far in expectation of the great day to Lochau. Many sold all their belongings to spend it on drinks in the village taverns. As the event staid out, Stifel had to be brought to a safe place with the help of electoral civil servants because of the outraged crowd. In his last years of life he took a chair of mathematics at the university in Jena. He was also a discoverer of the logarithm table and he is regarded as one of the German algebraist of the 16^th century.

A new heyday for the castle and Lochau started with the regency of Elector August I^st of Saxony (R 1553-1586), who let pull down the castle of Friedrich the Wise and who had rebuilt it from 1572 to 1575. The reason for this was probably his passion for hunting and the heath of Lochau which is very abounding in game. Head of the construction of the castle was Wolf of Kanitz, electoral councillor and bailiff, and building constructor was Christoph Tendler.

For the spouse of the Elector, Anna Auguste, the daughter of Christian III^rd of Denmark, this castle served as whereabouts, in which she busied herself with alchemy and housekeeping. Thus she ran a "house of distillation", occupied herself with the production of medicine, with fruit-growing and the growing of herbs, with the production of aquavitae and with culinary art. The castle Annaburg accommodated the first Saxon court-chemist's shop.

In her parental home the foundation stone of a deep religiousness connected with the Luther doctrine was laid. The compassion, which was often shown in later years, brought her the name "mother Anna". In 1573 she became answer generator of the castle and the town Annaburg. The Elector August kept the basic stock of the royal-saxon regional library with 2,345 volumes at the castle of Annaburg.

After the death of Anna and August I^st, the castle was only used by the Saxon Electors for occasional stays for hunting.

In the 17^th century the buildings went to ruin, in which above all the consequences of the devastating Thirty Years' War was, that the precious interior decoration was lost except only few evidences.

The official building, which is next to the castle, was built after a fire in 158 and today it accommodates the museum of municipal history.

In 1762 the institute for the education and military training of boys, which was already founded in 1738, was shifted from Dresden to Annaburg.

As a consequence of the wars of liberation the castle and the institute were given to Prussia. The institute, which accommodated up to 700 pupils, and the affiliated nursery school for sergeants was closed in 1921.

Originally Annaburg had 4 town gates, but no real fortification. At the beginning of the 19^th century the place consisted of 150 houses and 1000 inhabitants.

Since 1870 the beginnings of industrialisation could be discerned at this agricultural formed marked place. Besides the sawmill the factory of stoneware was the most important source of earnings for the inhabitants.

From the beginning of the 19^th century until the middle of the 20^th the population increased by almost four times.

Since 1678 Annaburg has borne its own city arms. This city arms with its red roses reminds on the old Lochauer radical word gloln = dogrose. Actually there were al lot of dogroses around Annaburg in former times. According to the "German Book of Town" there was a natural silver rose bush with three red roses on green ground in the oldest arms of Annaburg. The future seal shows a rose tree with five roses standing on a lawn.
You can act on the assumption that the five roses refer to the five different parts of town.

(Übersetzung vom Deutschen ins Englische: Kristin Kratschmer, Dresden)