Poppenwald
The Poppenwald (formerly: Poppenholz ) forms a forest area in the Western Ore Mountains .
Demarcation
It covers the north-western part of the Altlandkreis Aue-Schwarzenberg . The forest area is limited in the north by the town of Hartenstein and in the south by the health resort Bad Schlema . The connecting road from Hartenstein to Aue and the Schwarzenberg – Zwickau railway line cross the Poppenwald in the Zwickauer Mulde valley . The Silberstraße , a holiday route in the Ore Mountains, touches the area as the B 93 .
The landscape known today as Poppenwald is bordered by the stream of the Wildbach, which flows from the village of the same name into the Zwickauer Mulde; vom Burgbach (today: Bohrbach) on the border with Niederschlema ; and the Zwickauer Mulde. This is bordered by the Hartenstein Forest and the Stein forest area on the left bank . It covers the entire left slope of the Zwickauer Mulde between Niederschlema and the village of Wildbach .
geography
The central body of water is the deeply cut Zwickauer Mulde. The river is dammed above Stein Castle . Another weir was located below the Isenburg , but was destroyed by a flood and is hardly recognizable. Large parts of the Poppenwald form a nature or landscape protection area . Here, natural mixed beech forests dominate with old trees and a high proportion of dead wood. In addition to red deer and wild boar, numerous species of birds and small animals are native. Open rock formations, steep slopes as well as dry, warm and shady-moist locations characterize the varied terrain profile and lead to the development of species-rich flora. Particularly noteworthy are deeply cut notch valleys , such as the Tieftal, the Ottertal or the Bärengrund. The last brown bear was shot here in 1749 .
history
It is assumed that the name is derived from the Low German word Pfaffe , as the forest is owned by the church. This appears not to apply because the knight Martin already in 1478 by Roman of Amtshauptmann to Zwickau by Messrs which this forest area of Schoenburg had bought, the forest even as Popp Wood was called. Von Römer donated the upper part of the forest to the hospital in Zwickau and 30 years later the Zwickau church acquired the rest of the poppenwood.
Signs of centuries of mining activity can be found throughout the area. Remnants of dilapidated mouth holes and slate heaps prove that the subsoil was searched for mineral resources for a long time. The mining of cinnabar , which was used to extract mercury , is considered a mineralogical rarity for the Ore Mountains . The unproductive deposits were exhausted early on. The last natural resource to be mined was uranium ore until the early 1990s . Shaft 371, which was active until 1990, was at times the deepest in Europe with a depth of over 1800 meters. In the 1990s it was also open to visitors. The stop on the Schwarzenberg – Zwickau railway line, which is used exclusively for rush hour traffic in the mine and is now abandoned , was named Poppenwald . The pits are flooded today, the spoil heaps are greened and can hardly be recognized as such.
From the 1990s onwards, art treasures were sought in the Poppenwald, which are said to have been hidden in abandoned tunnels at the end of the Second World War . The treasure hunter Dietmar B. Reimann speculated in several books that the Poppenwald could be a possible hiding place for the Amber Room , but was unsuccessful in various searches. The Zwickau parish, as the owner of the forest, prohibited further excavations in 2010.
tourism
The Poppenwald is a popular local recreation area. Numerous hiking trails connect historical buildings and excursion restaurants. Well-known sights are Stein Castle and the Prinzenhöhle , both of which played an important role during the Saxon prince robbery . The ruins of the Hartenstein Castle and the Isenburg are also in the vicinity. The Bismarck memorial stone , the Lorenz memorial stone and the radium source can be found directly in the forest.
gallery
Lorenz memorial stone in Poppenholz
oldest ravine to the Zwickauer Mulde in Poppenholz der Stoll
Forest path in Poppenholz
View of the Poppenwald of Niederschlema
Stream of the Wildbach near the Zwickauer Mulde
Stream of the Burgbach - also Bohrbach - Grenzbach des Poppenholzes
literature
- Between Zwickauer Mulde and Geyerschem Wald (= values of our homeland . Volume 31). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1978.
- Mario Ulbrich: Enigmatic Poppenwald - An expedition on the trail of the lost Amber Room . Chemnitzer Verlag, Chemnitz 2011, ISBN 978-3937025780
- Stefan S. Espig: Historia Aedificiorum Wildbachensium - Historical directory of the farms and houses of the village Wildbach in the Erzgebirge with information about Wildbach, with its former OT Stein, the Poppenwald and its corridors, Wildbach 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-043954- 4th
Web links
- Wildbach in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony
- Private website about Wildbach's history and sights
Coordinates: 50 ° 38 ′ 2 " N , 12 ° 40 ′ 36" E