Plessa

Plessa is a municipality in the Elbe-Elster district, in Brandenburg, Germany.

Following a redrawing of local boundaries which took effect on 31 December 2001, the municipality includes two additional settlements, and therefore now includes Plessa-Süd, Döllingen and Kahla.

History

The first surviving record of Plessa appears in the 1406 "Landbethe zu Hayn", where a total area of slightly more than 24 Oxgangs is recorded. The name "Ples(o)" comes from an old Sorbish word for a lake, and probably refers to backwaters of the Black Elster River, now to an extent channelled, but which in the fifteenth century, with numerous small tributaries meandered through the area. Taxes were paid to the Elsterwerda Castle, home to the lords who owned the land.

The earliest record of a simple unadorned wooden chapel appears in 1540, at this stage without any cross or candle sticks for the altar. Preaching at this time would still have taken place in Wendish. In 1792 a stone church was built, but on 25 October 1811 the village, still mostly comprising timber buildings, was struck by a major fire which only four farmsteads survived. Beside the church the adjacent school house was also badly damaged. The present church was erected in 1814, with an organ installed in 1818.