Schirgiswalde (in Sorbian Šěrachów, in Czech Šerachov) is a town and a former municipality in the district of Bautzen in Saxony in Germany.

To aid the rebuilding and economic reconstruction of the community, the lord of the manor of Schirgiswalde made it a town in 1665.

[citation needed] Later, the small town became part of the land owned by the Domstift in Bautzen, effectively turning it into a property of the church.

[citation needed] In 1635, the region of Upper Lusatia became part of Saxony, but Schirgiswalde still belonged to Bohemia as an exclave.

This peculiar situation as a Bohemian island in Saxony continued until 1809, after which the diplomatic status of the town became unclear for a period of 36 years, as protracted diplomatic arguments between Saxony and Austria over a possible exchange of territories struggled to yield any tangible results, despite the Saxon army taking over the city as early as 1810.