Geisingberg

Geisingberg
height	820.6  m above sea level NHN
location	Free State of Saxony , Germany
Mountains	Ore Mountains
Dominance	1.8 km →  caterpillar nest
Notch height	110 m
Coordinates	50 ° 46 '18 "  N , 13 ° 46' 22"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 46 '18 "  N , 13 ° 46' 22"  E
Type	Kegelberg
rock	basalt
Development	Inauguration of the tower in 1891
particularities	Louisenturm ( AT )

The Geisingberg is a striking 820.6  m above sea level. NHN high basalt mountain in the eastern Ore Mountains near the city of Altenberg in the Free State of Saxony . At the beginning of professional winter sports it was the venue for several competitions.

geology

The Geisingberg is one of the northern branches of the Bohemian tertiary volcanism. When the earth's crust in Central Europe began to move again 30 million years ago, the Ore Mountains were lifted up and lava gushed up in numerous places. Evidence of this eventful geological history can still be seen today in the form of other volcanic structures such as the neighboring Luchberg or the Scheibenberg in the Western Ore Mountains. Geologically, these mountains and thus also the Geisingberg are counted as the head of the spring .

Location and surroundings

The Geisingberg is located in the upper Eastern Ore Mountains between the mountain town of Altenberg and its district of Geising . The route of the Müglitztalbahn runs on the north and west side .

Hiking routes to the summit

• The most comfortable ascent leads from Altenberg via the driveway to the summit.
• Other hiking trails start in Geising and Bärenstein .
• The Eisenach – Budapest hiking trail runs over the Geisingberg .

history

Origin of the name

The root of the word geut (Germ.) Or geußen (early New High German) indicates letting flow and describes the Geisingberg as the mountain that is poured over (by rainwater).

Tourist development

On July 23, 1828, Alexander von Humboldt visited the top of the mountain and took height measurements here. At the beginning of the 19th century there were pavilions on the summit that were used by the Saxon kings, especially King Anton , for hunting purposes. After the first attempts to cater for the guests of the mountain had failed, Carl Mutze from Geising took the initiative and built a viewing frame and a log cabin around a maple tree on the summit.

The Müglitztalbahn , which opened to Geising in 1890, gave the region a boost in tourism. As early as 1889, a mountain association was founded in Altenberg, which intended to build a lookout tower on the Geisingberg. This was opened on September 27, 1891 in place of the observation tower. The tower is 18 meters high and 88 steps lead to the viewing platform. The Louis tower was named after the fiancée of the future King Friedrich August III. of Saxony , Princess Louise . 1898 is next to built a guest house, which in 1906 already torn down and through an established on solid ground Bergbaude was replaced. This was initially only managed during the summer season and is still open to visitors today.

Early winter sports

A well-known ski run on the Geisingberg was once the so-called Sachsenabfahrt , which u. a. was used for the German Ski Championships in 1937 . The ski jump Schanze des Friedens existed on the west side of the mountain until the 1950s , on which international competitions were also held.

Mining and quarrying operations

Inspired by the near Altenberger Zinnerzlagerstätte , found from 1749 to 1794 and from 1838 to 1842 and on the western slope of the mountain Geising degradation experiments on tin ore instead. A 24 meter deep shaft was also sunk. However, the mining attempts were unsuccessful.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the basalt mining in a quarry on the eastern slope of the mountain has been intensified. In 1908 a cable car was installed to transport the broken rock to the Hartmannmühle station of the Müglitztalbahn . In the run-up to a chamber blast with 40,000 kg of explosives carried out on March 1, 1930 , protests were made by the Saxon Homeland Security Association and other organizations that feared that the mountain would be eroded with the expansion of basalt mining. The quarry was then shut down.

natural reserve

The history of nature conservation on Geisingberg goes back to the early 20th century. As early as 1911, the Saxon Heritage Protection Association applied for the protection of the Geisingberg meadows. In 1925 the association bought a first 10 hectare area and leased it to local farmers as a hay meadow. This intensive land was prevented, so that the mountain meadows exceptionally diverse and worth protecting habitats and landscape features (including Nardus grasslands , low and intermediate Moore , wet meadows get unobstructed streams and mixed alpine forests) remained. The numerous stone ridges on the mountain slopes are also worth protecting.

In the 1960s, the Geisingberg and part of the surrounding meadows were designated as a nature reserve. In addition to spruce , copper beech , common ash , sycamore maple and norway maple grow here . The soil flora consists mostly of subcontinental species, including woolly buttercup , sweet milkweed and purple hare .

In the 1990s the area was expanded to over 300 hectares. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation promoted between 1999 and 2008 with a budget of € 5.37 million to the sustainable protection and nature conservation enhancement of richly structured open landscape by a nature-friendly extensive land use within the project mountain meadows in the Eastern Ore Mountains .

gallery

• 

  historical view of the mountain with the Louis tower

• 

  View of the Geisingbergbaude

• 

  the Louisenturm built in 1891

• 

  Ski jumping on the hill of peace (1952)

• 

  Mountain meadows on the Klengelsteig below the mountain

See also

• List of mountains in the Ore Mountains
• List of mountains in Saxony
• The Gaising , in Latvian Gaiziņkalns , is the highest point in Latvia and is around 311 meters above sea level.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Saxony Atlas of the Free State of Saxony ( information ) Scale 1: 4,514
2. ↑ Martin Hammermüller ( Um Altenberg, Geising and Lauenstein. Values ​​of the German Homeland Volume 7. Berlin 1964), on the other hand, suspects a transfer of the city name from Geising to the mountain. Ernst Eichler and Hans Walther ( City Name Book of the GDR . Leipzig 1986), however, assume the opposite. But it seems more credible that such a striking individual mountain as the Geisinberg already had a name before the settlement was built at its feet.
3. ↑ The Louis tower on the website of the Geisingberg mountain lodge
4. ↑ http://www.osterzgebirge.org/gebiete/geising.html
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Around Altenberg, Geising and Lauenstein (= values ​​of the German homeland . Volume 7). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1964.
• Green League Eastern Ore Mountains: NSG Geisingberg. Series of nature reserves in the Eastern Ore Mountains. Dippoldiswalde 2015

Web links

Commons : Geisingberg  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Information on the Geisingberg nature reserve
• Homepage Bergbaude Geisingberg (with information on history and geology)