Härtsfeld

View from Dorfmerkingen to the east over the northern Härtsfeld

The Härtsfeld is a plateau in the east of the Swabian Alb in Baden-Württemberg . The region lies between Aalen , Nördlingen , Heidenheim an der Brenz and Neresheim . It is a rather barren, sparsely populated Jura plateau .

The most important places on the Härtsfeld are Dischingen , Dunstelkingen , Eglingen , Nattheim , Fleinheim , Auernheim , Steinweiler , Neresheim and its districts Elchingen , Dorfmerkingen and Ohmenheim , the Bopfinger districts Unterriffingen , Oberriffingen , Dorfen and Härtsfeldhausen and the Aalen districts Ebnat and Waldhausen .

Natural space

Dossinger Tal nature reserve between Dorfmerkingen and Dossingen, a characteristic dry karst valley

The Härtsfeld is the eastern part of the natural area Albuch and Härtsfeld, divided by the common valley of the Kocher flowing north and the Brenz flowing south . With its share of the Alb eaves in the north-west and north, it borders on the foreland of the eastern Swabian Alb and in the north-east on the Nördlinger Ries , in the east on the Riesalb , in the south on the Lonetal-Flachalb . In the west, beyond the bounding valley axis, lies the Albuch .

Most of the Härtsfeld, excluding small edges in the north on the Albtrauf and in the west to the Kocher-Brenz valley, is a slab sloping south-southeast towards the Danube , the height of which is between 733  m above sea level. NN on the Grünenberg near Aalen- Himmlingen and 430  m above sea level. NN lies.

Some dry valleys run through the Härtsfeld. Almost all of these valleys flow into the Egautal . The Egau rises in the urban area of ​​Neresheim. It is fed by several karst upheavals, the largest of which is the Judengumpen. In periods of low precipitation, these springs fall dry, so that the Egau often has no water in its upper reaches.

• Egautal with reservoir ( Härtsfeldsee )
• Karst landscape with typical juniper heather :
  • Nature reserve Zwing - Wacholderheide with forest nature trail near Neresheim
  • Dossinger Tal nature reserve with juniper heaths and Jura rock formations

The current definition of the Härtsfeld differs from that of earlier times. The Härtsfeld was described in 1872 as the area north of the Großkuchen - Neresheim - Kösingen line to the Albabhang. The rest of today's Härtsfeld was called the Young Palatinate at that time. The Junge Pfalz restaurant in Dischingen is a reminder of this .

Cultural space

The outstanding attraction of the Härtsfeld is the Benedictine Abbey of Neresheim . The Benedictine monastery was founded in 1095. The abbey church designed by Balthasar Neumann is one of the largest baroque hall buildings in southern Germany. In the church there are dome frescos by the church painter Martin Knoller from Steinach in Tyrol. The main organ of the abbey church was built in 1792–1797 by Johann Nepomuk Holzhay from Ottobeuren .

• The Härtsfeld Museum in Neresheim offers further cultural insights.
• Historical steam train trips are organized on the Härtsfeldbahn .
• An old Roman road , which is used as a cycle path between Frickingen and Dehlingen , runs right through the Härtsfeld .
• Härtsfeldsee
• Katzenstein Castle
• Taxis Castle in the English Forest near Dischingen.
• Various Keltenschanzen, z. B. at Haunsheim
• Egau waterworks near Dischingen
• Local history museum in Dischingen

Transport and tourism

View from Aalen-Heidenheim / Elchingen airfield to Neresheim Abbey

• The meter-gauge Härtsfeldbahn crossed the Härtsfeld from Aalen to Dillingen from 1901 to 1972. From 2001 a part from Neresheim was rebuilt as a museum railway.
• The federal highway 466 runs from southwest to northeast across the Härtsfeld.
• The federal autobahn 7 (Würzburg – Ulm) runs on the western edge of the Härtsfeld, there a parking lot was named "Härtsfeld".
• The Jakobusweg I, also known as the Franconian Jakobsweg, is managed by the German Jakobusgesellschaft and leads from Nuremberg and Nördlingen via Neresheim to Ulm . From there it continues on the Upper Swabian Way of St. James towards Santiago de Compostela .
• The main hiking trail 1 of the Swabian Alb Association (Albsteig) leads along the northern edge, the main hiking trail 2 along the southern edge of the Härtsfeld.
• Parts of the Härtsfeld are in the area of ​​the Ries Geopark .
• The Aalen-Heidenheim airfield near Neresheim-Elchingen is operated by the Aalen air sports ring.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hansjörg Dongus : Geographical land survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 171 Göppingen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1961. →  Online map (PDF; 4.3 MB)
2. ↑ Ralph Jätzold: Geographical land survey: The natural space units on sheet 172 Nördlingen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1962. →  Online map (PDF; 3.9 MB)
3. ^ Description of the Oberamt Neresheim

Literature and maps

• Topographic map 1: 25,000 Baden-Württemberg, as a single sheet No. 7126 Aalen, No. 7127 Westhausen, No. 7128 Nördlingen, No. 7226 Oberkochen, No. 7227 Neresheim West, No. 7228 Neresheim Ost and No. 7327 Giengen an der Brenz .
• Leisure maps 1: 50,000 with hiking trails and bike trails, sheet 522, Aalen – Härtsfeld 2003.
• Kompass hiking map 778 Härtsfeld Heidenheimer Alb 1: 50,000 with tourist information.
• Hiking and stopping off. Vol. 6 Swabian Alb, eastern part. Drei Brunnen Verlag, 2004.
• Werner Schmidt: Circular walks in the Swabian Alb. Eastern part. From the Lenninger Tal to the Härtsfeld. 22nd edition. Schneider Verlag, Hohengehren 2003, ISBN 3-89676-664-3 .
• Hiking map of the Swabian Alb Association 1: 35,000, sheet 15, Heidenheim Nördlingen, 2003.

Web links

• Map of Härtsfeld on: State Institute for the Environment Baden-Württemberg (LUBW) ( information )

Coordinates: 48 ° 48 '  N , 10 ° 17'  E