Zittau Mountains

The Zittau Mountains (German: Zittauer Gebirge), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (Lausitzer Kamm, Czech. Žitavské hory), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme southeast of the German state of Saxony.

Zittau Mountains
(Zittauer Gebirge)
View over Waltersdorf to the Lausche
Highest point
PeakLausche
Elevation792.6 m above NN
Geography
StateGörlitz, Saxony,  Germany
Range coordinates50°50′56″N 14°38′49″E
Parent rangeLusatian Mountains (cross-border range) and the overarching Saxon Highlands and Uplands (GE)
Oybin surrounded by upland forest
Narrow gauge railway near Oybin Niederdorf
The Nonnenfelsen (Nun's Rock) near Jonsdorf

Geography

Location

The Zittau Mountains lie in the extreme south of the district of Görlitz in Saxony. A few kilometres north of the range lie a number of settlements; from west to east they are Großschönau, Hainewalde, Olbersdorf, Bertsdorf-Hörnitz and Zittau. In the mountains themselves are, again from west to east, the settlements of Waltersdorf, Oybin, Jonsdorf and Lückendorf . The highlands are drained by streams that flow roughly north into the Mandau, a western tributary of the Lusatian Neisse.

Mountains

Among the highest mountains in the range are the following (in order of height in m above NN:[1]

  • Lausche (Luž; 792.6 m), German-Czech border mountain, south of Waltersdorf
  • Hochwald (Hvozd; 749.5 m), German-Czech border mountain, south-southwest of Oybin
  • Jonsberg (652.9 m), east-southeast of Jonsdorf
  • Buchberg (651.6 m), west of Jonsdorf
  • Scharfenstein (569.4 m), east of Oybin, north-northwest of Lückendorf
  • Breiteberg (510.1 m), east of Großschönau, south of Hainewalde
  • Oybin (514.5 m), north of Oybin
  • Töpfer (582.0 m), northeast of Oybin, south of Olbersdorf

Places of interest
  • Oybin mountain with castle and monastery ruins
  • Mühlsteinbrüche, rock formations in Jonsdorf
  • Große Felsengasse ("Great Rock Alley")
  • Töpfer mountain
  • Lausche (792.6m), the highest summit in the Zittau Mountains
  • Breiteberg
  • Scharfenstein
  • Orgel (organ) - a rock formation in the Jonsdorfer Felsenstadt
  • Kelchstein ("Chalice Rock") a mushroom rock formation
  • Nonnenfelsen ("Nun's Rock") near Jonsdorf
  • Zittau Narrow Gauge Railway
  • Lusatian timber-frame farmhouses (Umgebindehäuser), especially in Waltersdorf, Jonsdorf and Bertsdorf

See also

References
  1. Map services Archived December 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine of the BfN

General sources

Literature
  • Peter Rölke (Hrsg.): Wander- & Naturführer Zittauer Gebirge, Berg- & Naturverlag Rölke, Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-934514-17-0
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