Saxon Switzerland

Coordinates: 50°56′N 14°12′E / 50.933°N 14.200°E / 50.933; 14.200
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Saxon Switzerland
View of the Lilienstein in Saxon Switzerland
View of the Lilienstein in Saxon Switzerland
View of the Lilienstein in Saxon Switzerland
Native nameSächsische Schweiz
Natural regionElbe Sandstone Mountains
Natural region characteristics
Landscape typeLandscape
Highest pointGroßer Zschirnstein (562 m)
SettlementsPirna, Bad Schandau, Sebnitz, Rathen
County/DistrictSächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge
State(s)Saxony
CountryGermany
Bastei bridge in Saxon Switzerland
Sunset in Saxon Switzerland from the top of the Papststein. The three large hills are Gohrisch (l), the Königstein Fortress (c) and the Lilienstein (r).
The Barbarine at Pfaffenstein
Physical map of Saxon Switzerland
The Lilienstein at dusk

Saxon Switzerland (

climbing area and national park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. It is located around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany, adjoining Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic
. Together with the Czech part, the region is known as Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland.

The administrative district for the area is

Königstein
is a well-known landmark.

Etymology

The German name for Saxon Switzerland, Sächsische Schweiz, appeared in the 18th century. Two Swiss artists, Adrian Zingg and Anton Graff, were appointed in 1766 to the Dresden Academy of Art.

From their new, adopted home they look eastwards and saw, about a day's walk away, a hill range. It had a strange, flattish profile, without any actual summits […]

— according to Lothar Kempe[1]

They felt the landscape was reminiscent of their homeland, the

Swiss Jura, and reported in their exchange of letters on the difference between their homeland and "Saxon Switzerland". Previously, the Saxon part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains had merely been referred to as the Meißner Hochland, Meißen Oberland or Heide über Schandau.[1]

The description became popular through the publication of the name by Wilhelm Lebrecht Götzinger. In his books he described the area as Saxon Switzerland and made the term known to a wide audience.

In English the usual translation is "Saxon Switzerland".[2][3][4][5] However other sources call it "Saxony Switzerland"[6] or even "Swiss Saxony".[7]

Geography

View from Carolafelsen into the Elbe Sandstone Mountains

Saxon Switzerland forms the northern part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains range, located on the German-Czech border. To the east, it transitions into the Lusatian Highlands and, to the west, into the Ore Mountains. The Czech part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains is partly formed by the Bohemian Switzerland national park. The highest elevation in Saxon Switzerland is the Großer Zschirnstein at 562 m above sea level.

Natural region classification

In the classification of natural regions by Emil Meynen, Saxon Switzerland was a major unit (430) within the Saxon-Bohemian Chalk Sandstone Region (main unit group 43), whose only other major unit on German soil was the Zittau Mountains. The boundary between the two mountain ranges, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Lusatian Mountains, is located on Czech territory, which is why these natural regions are geographically separated from one another.

The Ecosystem and Regional Character working group of the

Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig has now, at the beginning of the 21st century, grouped all ranges in the Saxon-Bohemian border region into the super unit Saxon Highlands and Uplands (Sächsisches Bergland und Mittelgebirge). The Lusatian Mountains between Saxon Switzerland and the Zittau Mountains also belong to it, whereas Meynen had grouped it with the loess hill country to the north and east into the major unit of Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz); to the west the new super unit is continued by the main unit groups of the Ore Mountains and Vogtland.[8]

Geological formation

See Elbe Sandstone Mountains (Geology section)

Hills

As a rule, two types of hill may be distinguished.

Numerous rock formations in the

granitic
material.

The

karstification
longer and more successfully, generally form the uppermost layers. The collapse of rock structures is usually therefore a result of erosion from below or from the flanks.

History

Bastei
ca. 1900
View from the Winterberg ca. 1850

During the Dark Ages, the region was settled by Slavs and was part of the Kingdom of Bohemia during the Middle Ages. About 1000 years ago Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland was the borderland of three Slavic tribes. The Nisane tribe (east of the Elbe from Dresden to Pirna), the Milzane tribe (from today's Upper Lusatia) and in the south the Dacine tribe shaped the political and economic landscape at that time.

It was not until the 15th century that the area now called Saxon Switzerland came under

Margraviate of Meissen
with boundaries roughly corresponding to those of today.

The development of the area for tourism began in earnest in the 19th century. This was greatly helped by the building of one of the first trolleybus lines in the world: the Biela Valley Trolleybus, which was in operation from 1901 to 1904 and was operated from Königstein.

Romantic artists were inspired by the beauty of wilderness, like the painter Ludwig Richter or the composer Carl Maria von Weber, who set his famous opera Der Freischütz with its Wolfsschlucht ("Wolf's Gorge") scene set near the town of Rathen.

In the

Reinhardtsdorf.[9]

Medieval castles

When Germans began to settle in the 13th century, there was a systematic banishment of Bohemian influence and numerous local military conflicts erupted around strategically important fortifications. These fortifications primarily serve to protect the border and trading routes. Due to a lack of central power this protective function was left to local knights. The progressive division of the area due to the hereditary distribution of estates upset the economic balance of the region and many castles degenerated into bases for robber barons.

Not until the middle of the 16th century, when the Wettins captured many of the castles did the situation stabilise. Today, these castles and ruins, some of which are well preserved, are popular with tourists, who make their way to these sites up steep climbing paths.

These castles include:

.

National park

View of the Elbe near Rathen

In September 1990, even before the

Bastei, Polenz valley, Brand and Uttewalder Grund – and the other embracing the whole Saxon Switzerland Hinterland (Hintere Sächsische Schweiz) between the Elbe and the state border with the Czech Republic and including the Schrammsteinen, Großer Winterberg, Großer Zschand and Kirnitzsch
valley.

Rock climbing

Saxon Switzerland is characterized by its

friends
is also not permitted; instead knotted nylon slings are used. With a few exceptions, climbing is only practised and permitted at freestanding rock towers.

A Saxon oddity is the concept of a Baustelle (literally "building site") where climbers scale a difficult section by climbing on top of the shoulders of other climbers (sometimes several people on top of each other) with everybody involved only holding himself by holds the rock provides. Though this would normally be considered a form of aid climbing, it is here accepted as a form of free climbing. As the pinnacles are often very close to one other, jumping from one rock to another is also rather popular and this technique even has its own grades of difficulty.

In addition to the climbing summits there are also various steep paths, on which hikers with

Schmilka
.

Boofen

A Boofe (plural: Boofen) is local slang for sleeping out overnight in the open under a rock overhang and has a long tradition in Saxon Switzerland. Many young people travel to Saxon Switzerland at weekends in order to boofen. Today it is only permitted by the National Park Authority at designated sites. However the growing number of Boofers and the bad conduct of individuals (e.g. who light illegal campfires, tear up saplings or cause soil erosion) has led to repeated altercations.

Points of interest

Königstein Fortress
Kirnitzschtal Tramway
Agricultural fields are typical of Saxon Switzerland

Panorama

Bastei and above it and behind Königstein Fortress. Even further right are the Rauenstein, the Bärensteine and the village of Leupoldishain with the site of the firm of Wismut. On the horizon is the crest of the Eastern Ore Mountains and in the foreground is Pirna
-Sonnenstein.
View from the Brand lookout

See also

Gallery

  • View from the Bastei
    View from the Bastei
  • View of the Elbe River from Bastei
    View of the Elbe River from Bastei
  • View from Königstein fortress to Lilienstein and Elbe
    View from Königstein fortress to Lilienstein and Elbe
  • Falkenstein
  • Climbing in the Biela valley
    Climbing in the Biela valley
  • National Park sign

References

  1. ^ a b Sieghard Liebe, Lothar Kempe: Sächsische Schweiz und Ausflüge in die Böhmische Schweiz. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1974, (in German). p. 5
  2. .
  3. .
  4. ^ Saxon Switzerland at www.saechsische-schweiz.de. Accessed on 9 September 2011.
  5. ^ Saxon Switzerland at www.ceskosaske-svycarsko.cz. Accessed on 9 September 2011.
  6. ^ Saxony Switzerland at www.saxony-switzerland.de/ Accessed on 9 September 2011.
  7. .
  8. ^ Map of natural regions in Saxony Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at www.umwelt.sachsen.de (pdf, 859 kB)
  9. ^ Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 450: Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis für das Deutsche Reich, Teil I, Berlin 1939; page 272
  10. .

Sources

  • Autorenkollektiv: Brockhaus Reisehandbuch Sächsische Schweiz – Osterzgebirge. Leipzig 1970.
  • Wilhelm Lebrecht Götzinger: Schandau und seine Umgebungen, oder Beschreibung der Sächsischen Schweiz. Begersche Buch- und Kunsthandlung, Dresden 1812.
  • Heinz Klemm: Die Entdeckung der Sächsischen Schweiz. Sachsenverlag, Dresden 1953.
  • Alfred Meiche: Die Burgen und vorgeschichtlichen Wohnstätten der Sächsischen Schweiz. Wilhelm Baensch Verlagsbuchhandlung, Dresden 1907. (Reprint Leipzig 1979)
  • Alfred Meiche: Historisch-topographische Beschreibung der Amtshauptmannschaft Pirna. Dresden 1927.
  • Michael Bellmann: Der Klettersteigführer: Klettersteige und Stiegen in der Sächsischen Schweiz. Dresden 2019.

External links

50°56′N 14°12′E / 50.933°N 14.200°E / 50.933; 14.200