Plauen

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Plauen
Town
View over the city centre Old and new city hall Astronomical clock of the city hall St John's Church Elster Viaduct Old market square
Coat of arms
Location of Plauen within Vogtlandkreis district
Plauen Show map of Germany Plauen Show map of Saxony
Coordinates: 50°29′N 12°07′E / 50.483°N 12.117°E / 50.483; 12.117
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
District	Vogtlandkreis
Subdivisions	5 city boroughs with 38 parts
Government
• Lord mayor (2021–28)	Steffen Zenner[1] (CDU)
Area
• Total	102.11 km2 (39.42 sq mi)
Elevation	412 m (1,352 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	64,763
• Density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	08523;-5;-7;-9
Dialling codes	03741
Vehicle registration	V, AE, OVL, PL, RC
Website	www.plauen.de

Plauen (German pronunciation: [ˈplaʊən];^[3][4] Upper Sorbian: Pławno; Czech: Plavno) is, with a population of around 65,000, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the Saxon Vogtland (Sächsisches Vogtland).

The city lies on the upper reaches of the White Elster, a tributary of the Saale, in the Central Vogtlandian Hill Country. Plauen is the southwesternmost city of a string of cities sitting in the densely populated foreland of the Elster and Ore Mountains, stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast. It is the seat of the Vogtland District. Plauen directly borders Greiz in Thuringia to the north, and it is also situated near the Saxon border with Bavaria (Franconia) and the Czech Republic (Bohemia).

Plauen and the surrounding Saxon Vogtland are known as the center of the German embroidery and lace industry, and the products of the region are protected under the label Plauener Spitze [de] ("Plauen Lace"). The Elster Viaduct (Elstertalbrücke), spanning the valley of the White Elster between Plauen and Pöhl, is the second-largest brick bridge in the world, after the Göltzsch Viaduct.

Although being a Saxon city, the regional Vogtlandian dialect spoken in Plauen is a (Saxon-influenced) East Franconian variant related to the dialects of neighbouring Franconia in Bavaria. The name of the city as well as the names of many of its boroughs are of Slavic origin.