Dresden Basin between 2004 and 2009 by UNESCO due to their cultural and natural significance. During the East German era, the Basin was jokingly referred to by its inhabitants as the Valley of the Clueless, because they were not able to receive West German television until the late 1980s, and then only patchily. The most important towns and cities are (in downstream order): Dresden Basin The Dresden Basin ( or "Dresdner Elbtalweitung") is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen. The city of Dresden lies in the Dresden
Central German Metropolitan Region Group for European Metropolitan Regions in Germany) was formed in 2001 which developed the concept of the Central German Metropolitan Region in 2012. In 2013, Dresden and Magdeburg dropped out of the club and the membership has been focused more on cities and towns around Leipzig and Halle. The largest of the eight member cities are Leipzig in Saxony and Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt. The member cities have changed over time and the current member cities are as follows: Except for Zwickau and Wittenberg, all towns hold the status of an independent city (i.e. a county-free city). Dresden and Magdeburg