FREIBERG or FREYBERG, a town of Germany in the band of Saxony, on the Munzbach, near its confluence with the Mulde, 19 m. S.W. of Dresden by rail. Pop. It owes its origin to the discovery of silver mines (c. 1163) . The town, with the castle of Freudenstein, was built in 1175, and its name, which first appears in 1221, is derived from the extensive mining fran chises granted to it about that time. From the end of the 13th cen tury until 1485 Freiberg remained common property. The Reform ation was introduced in 1536 by Henry the Pious, who resided here. The town suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War, and again during the French occupation from 1806 to 1814. A part of its ancient walls still remains ; the other portions have been converted into public walks and gardens. Freiberg is the seat of the general administration of the mines throughout the republic, and its mining academy (Bergakademie), founded in 1765, is famous. Among its distinguished scholars were Werner (1750-1817), who was also a professor there, and Alexander von Humboldt. Freiberg has manufactures of gold and silver lace, woollen cloths, iron-wares, china, sugar and cigars. In the vicinity are its famous silver and lead mines, of which the principal ones became state property in 1886. The castle of Freudenstein or Freistein, rebuilt by the elector Augustus in 1572, has been used as a military magazine. The cathedral, rebuilt in late Gothic style after its destruction by fire in 1484 and restored in 1893, was founded in the 12th century. Of the original church a German Romanesque doorway, known as the Golden Gate (Goldene Pforte), survives. Henry the Pious and several of his successors are buried here. The town-hall dates from the 15th century. See H. Gerlach, Kleine Chronik von Freiberg (2nd ed., , Freiberg, 1898) ; H. Ermisch, Das Freiberger Stadtrecht (Leipzig, 1889) ; Ermisch and O. Posse, Urkundenbuch der Stadt Freiberg, in Codex diplom. Sax. reg. (3 vols., Leipzig, 1883-91) ; Freibergs Berg- and Hiittenwesen, published by the Bergmannischer Verein (Freiberg, 1883) ; Ledebur, Ober die Bedeutung der Freiberger Bergakademie (ib. 1903) ; Steche, Bau- and Kunstdenkmdler der Amtshauptmann schaft Freiberg (Dresden, 1884).