Freiberg, Or Freyberg, a walled town of Saxony, on the N. declivity of the Erzgebirge, and on the river Miinzbach, 19 m. S. W. of Dresden; pop. in 1871, 21,673. It is a well built town, containing handsome monuments to Maurice of Saxony, and to Werner, the mineralogist, and a fine Gothic cathedral. The mining academy, founded in 17G5, has a museum of model mining machines, and a library of about 20,000 volumes. It is one of the best mining schools in the world, and in 1873 had 80 students from nearly all countries, including 16 from the United States. The town has also a gymnasium and a commercial school. The staple manufactures consist of gold and silver lace, brassware, white lead, gunpowder, shot, iron and copper ware, linens, woollens, ribbons, tape, leather, and beer. Freiberg is an ancient city, and was long the residence of the Saxon princes. It has mines of silver-bearing lead, which have been worked since the 12th century. The richest veins have been driven so deep that their productiveness has diminished on account of the accumulation of water. For the purpose of draining them, a tunnel through the mountains to the Elbe at Meissen, distant 24 m., has been commenced.

The district contains 150 mines, yielding silver, lead, copper, cobalt, and other minerals, employing in 1873 about 1,300 persons; the aggregate value of the products amounted in the same year to 4,000,000 thalers.