Besides Bautzen (German) and Budyšin (Upper Sorbian), the town has had the following names: The town on the River Spree is situated about 50 km (31 mi) east of Dresden between the Lusatian highland and the lowlands in the north, amidst the region of Upper Lusatia.

[10] The old part of Bautzen is located on the plateau above the Spree, whose top is marked by the Ortenburg [de] castle.

The city is bordered by Radibor, Großdubrau and Malschwitz in the North, Kubschütz in the East, Großpostwitz, Obergurig and Doberschau-Gaußig in the South, as well as Göda in the West.

The first written evidence of the city is from 1002 under the name Budusin (Upper Sorbian: Budyšin, Polish: Budziszyn).

[11] In 1018 the Peace of Bautzen was signed between the German king Henry II and the Polish ruler Bolesław I the Brave.

In 1032 it passed to the Margraviate of Meissen within the Holy Roman Empire, in 1075 to the Duchy of Bohemia, elevated to a kingdom in 1198 (with short periods of Brandenburgian and Hungarian rule), in 1635 to Saxony, whose electors were also Polish kings in personal union from 1697 to 1763.

One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town at that time.

[11] During World War II, in 1942–1943, the Nazis conducted three trials of members of the Polish resistance at the local court, sentencing thirteen to death.

[18] A permanent exhibition depicts the misery suffered by occupants; visitors may tour detention cells, the isolation area and the yards where prisoners were allowed to exercise.

[11] During the Early Middle Ages, Bautzen was one of the largest cities in Central Germany.

The relatively late onset of industrialization in Bautzen brought new momentum, leading to population growth even during the era of East Germany.

Following the Peaceful Revolution of 1990, however, the city’s population declined significantly, dropping from 52,000 in 1989 to around 38,000, largely due to emigration and low birth rates.

There are also four local councils (Niederkaina, Stiebitz, Kleinwelka, and Salzenforst-Bolbritz), whose honorary members are elected for five years.

Bautzen has a very compact and well-preserved medieval town centre with numerous churches and towers and a city wall on the steep embankment to the river Spree, with one of the oldest preserved waterworks in central Europe (built 1558).

Bautzen is the seat of several institutions of the cultural self-administration of the Sorbian people: Alstom Transportation operates a large factory on Fabrikstraße making railway locomotives, carriages and trams.