Rennsteig
| Rennsteig | |
|---|---|
 Typical marker board |
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| map | |
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| Data | |
| length | 170 km |
| location | Thuringia and Bavaria , Thuringian Forest |
| Markers | White R. |
| Starting point |
Hörschel 51 ° 0 ′ 29 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 44 ″ E |
| Target point |
Blankenstein 50 ° 24 ′ 0 ″ N , 11 ° 42 ′ 0 ″ E |
| Type | Long-distance hiking trail |
| Height difference | 787 m |
| The highest point | Great Beerberg , 983 m |
| Lowest point | Hörschel , Werraufer , 196 m |
| Level of difficulty | medium |
| season | all year round |
| Viewpoints | Großer Inselsberg , Plänckner's view |
| particularities | Follows trade paths, some of which can be traced back to the 14th century. |
Map with all coordinates: 
The Rennsteig is an approximately 170 km long ridge trail and a historic border trail in the Thuringian Forest , Thuringian Slate Mountains and Franconian Forest . It is also the oldest and, with around 100,000 hikers annually, the most popular long-distance hiking trail in Germany. It begins in the Eisenach district of Hörschel on the banks of the Werra and ends in Blankenstein (municipality of Rosenthal am Rennsteig ) at the Selbitzbrücke . His Signs is a white R .
history
First mention and interpretation of the name
The Rennsteig was first mentioned as Rynnestig in a certificate issued on August 10, 1330 in Schmalkalden on the sale of fiefs of the Hersfeld abbey by Ludwig and Sibodo von Frankenstein when describing the course of the Hersfeld wilderness. Etymologists are inconclusive about the meaning of the name. It can be traced back to the hunter's language Rain in the sense of border. In Old High German, the renniweg is a narrow running or bridle path, unlike the military roads that can be driven on . In the mountain freedom for Goldlauter from 1546, the Rensteig is then mentioned .
In addition to the well-known Rennsteig, there were around 250 other Rennsteig and race paths throughout Germany . They were partly older and partly younger than that of the Thuringian Forest. The interpretation as a pure border route can thus be partially refuted.
middle Ages
In the Middle Ages , the Rennsteig marked the border between the Duchy of Franconia and the Landgraviate of Thuringia . It clearly delimits the Franconian areas of southern Thuringia from the predominantly Thuringian-Upper Saxon dominated Thuringia .
Modern times and development as a hiking trail
In 1829, the topographer Julius von Plänckner undertook the first Rennsteig hike from Blankenstein to Hörschel after he had identified the two places as the beginning and end of the Rennsteig based on the topography. He mapped the route, his description found in 1832 together with the first publication of a Rennsteig map in the paperback for travelers through the Thuringian Forest and justified the touristic use of the Rennsteig.
The Rennsteig club hosted from 1897 to 1942 annually around the time of Pentecost the great "Rust," a Rennsteig hike. The Rennsteig hike was contested in six stages. Most of today's route descriptions are based on these stages.
During the division of Germany, the Rennsteig was not continuously accessible, as it crossed the inner-German border a total of six times . During this time it officially started at the Vachaer Stein, a pass just before the Hohe Sonne, and ended in Neuhaus am Rennweg. Hörschel has been a restricted area since 1952 due to its close proximity to the border, and the route east of Neuhaus also leads through a former restricted area. During the GDR era, there was a hotel in Oberhof (later demolished) in the form of a boundary stone.
After more than 40 years of separation, the Rennsteig was officially reopened on April 28, 1990 on the occasion of the first German-German Rennsteig hike from Brennersgrün to Spechtsbrunn and is again continuously accessible. Dorothee Wilms , then Federal Minister for Internal German Relations, and Sybille Reider , Minister for Trade and Tourism of the GDR, symbolically crossed the border ribbon at the Schildwiese near Spechtsbrunn. A memorial stone “The ridge path is free” and various information boards remind of the story and the event.
The degree of expansion of the path still reflects its history: While the western part to Neuhaus has a high density of shelters and resting places as well as dense signposting, the section in Franconia has little of this infrastructure to offer. In addition, a considerable part of the eastern ( Upper Franconian ) section still leads along roads, some of which are very busy.
In Thuringia, the Rennsteig was registered as a cultural monument in the monument book of the Free State of Thuringia on September 23, 1997 . In September 2006 a correction was made for reasons of monument law. Since then, the Höhenweg has not been designated as an ensemble of monuments , but as an individual cultural monument in the sense of a whole. The monument protection refers to the historical course of the Rennsteig as well as its parts boundary stones, signposts, memorial stones and plaques as well as crossroads, passes and rest stops.
Rennsteigsteine
There are around 1,300 historical landmarks along the Rennsteig . The Rennsteig, which was mainly a border route, has been marked with these political emblems since the 16th century. Particularly noteworthy are the 13 Dreiherrensteine , of which only ten are located directly on the Rennsteig. The name Rennsteigstein was popularly used for these boundary stones . Most of the boundary stones that still exist date from the 18th century.
In addition to boundary stones, there are also forest stones , stone crosses and memorial stones on the Rennsteig .
“It's a German mountain path! He flees the cities and hides his shy course in the thicket. "
“In June, for example, when the heavy scents of jasmine and buckthorn oozed from the gorges of the wooded heights that cross the Thuringian Basin, there were delicious days of hiking, here through the mildly favored, fertile land almost free of industry with its friendly clustered villages of half-timbered buildings; and then you came from the arable farming area to the predominantly cattle-breeding area and followed the legendary high-altitude path of the ridge mountain range with its spruce and beech trees, the 'Rennsteig', which stretches from the Franconian Forest towards Eisenach, the Hörselstadt, with its deep views into the Werra Valley it became more and more beautiful, more significant, more romantic ... "
Functions of the Rennsteig
Hiking and cycling path
The Rennsteig was until the end of 2010 by the German Hiking Association excellent quality trail . It was discovered around 1890 by August Trinius for the hiking movement and is best known far beyond the borders of Thuringia and Franconia through the publications of the Rennsteig Association founded in 1896 . The Rennsteig cycle path was opened on June 19, 2000. It is mostly provided with a water-bound cover , and in some cases it is run on quiet country roads. Sometimes it deviates from the historic Rennsteig, so steep gradients are avoided. It is 30 km longer than the hiking trail. In winter, when there is a lot of snow, cross-country skiing or hikes with snowshoes are possible and parts of the Rennsteig are maintained as a winter hiking trail.
Language border
As a language border, the Rennsteig separates the East Franconian dialects Hennebergisch , Itzgründisch and Upper Franconian from the Thuringian dialects Central Thuringian , Ilmthuringian and Southeast Thuringian , which are spoken in the mountains, on the north side and east of the Thuringian Forest.
Watershed
Furthermore, forming the Rennsteig the watershed between the river systems Werra / Weser , Saale / Elbe and Main / Rhine . On Dreistromstein at Siegmundsburg meeting basins each other of all three streams.
course
The Rennsteig runs on the ridge line of the Thuringian low mountain range from northwest to southeast, mostly at heights of around 500 to 970 meters. It begins in the Eisenach district of Hörschel an der Werra (196 m above sea level ) and ends after 168.3 km (historical length) in Blankenstein an der Saale (414 m above sea level). In 2003 the Rennsteig was re-measured by the Thuringian State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation; a total length of 169.29 km was determined. The Rennsteig crosses the former German-German border a total of six times. The marking is consistently very good, usually a white R , the Mareile is called. Since 2008, at the request of hiking clubs, six local alternative routes have been signposted that avoid the main roads or connect attractive viewpoints. These variants are about 22 kilometers long and have been marked with a blue R. Along the Rennsteig there are numerous rest areas and small open huts every 5 to 10 kilometers. For medical care, bases of the Thuringian mountain rescue service were set up.
The Spitter creek crosses in the area of the Ebertswiese nature reserve , at an altitude of 700 meters, as the only flowing body of water in the middle part of the Rennsteig, the course of the Höhenweg, to then feed the nearby Spitterfall . A second creek that crosses the Rennsteig is located with the Dober in the southeastern part, which is already part of the Franconian Forest , directly on the Thuringian-Bavarian border west of Brennersgrün , a district of the city of Lehesten .
Cross the Rennsteig run four tunnels: Firstly, the eponymous Rennsteigtunnel , with its 7916 and 7878 meters (two tubes) of the longest road tunnel in Germany. This is the A71 motorway tunnel opened in 2003 . The second is the 3,039-meter-long Brandleitetunnel , which was opened in 1884 and which runs the Erfurt – Schweinfurt railway line under the Thuringian Forest. Both tunnels intersect with a vertical distance of only seven meters. The third is the 549 meter long Förthaer tunnel of the Werra Railway . The fourth is the 8,314 meter long Bleßberg tunnel on the Nuremberg – Erfurt railway line .
The traditional six stages are as follows:
- Hörschel - Großer Inselsberg (32.8 km)
- Großer Inselsberg - Oberhof (30.8 km)
- Oberhof - Kahlert (27.0 km)
- Kahlert - Limbach (19.7 km)
- Limbach - Steinbach am Wald (30.0 km)
- Steinbach am Wald - Blankenstein (28.0 km)
Districts on the Rennsteig
The Rennsteig touches the city of Eisenach , the Wartburg district , the districts of Gotha , Schmalkalden-Meiningen , the city of Suhl , the Ilm district , the districts of Hildburghausen , Saalfeld-Rudolstadt , Sonneberg , Kronach and the Saale-Orla district .
Places on the Rennsteig
From northwest to southeast: Hörschel , Clausberg , Wolfsburg-Unkeroda , Ruhla , Steinbach , Brotterode , Bad Tabarz , Floh-Seligenthal , Tambach-Dietharz , Oberhof , Suhl-Goldlauter , Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig , Stützerbach , Allzunah , Frauenwald , Neustadt am Rennsteig , Masserberg , Friedrichshöhe , Siegmundsburg , Scheibe-Alsbach , Steinheid , Neuhaus am Rennweg , Ernstthal , Spechtsbrunn , Tettau , Steinbach am Wald , Lauenhain , Lehesten , Grumbach , Schlegel , Blankenstein
2003 remeasurement figures
The evaluation of the measurement results from 2003 showed a length of 169.294 km. Nevertheless, the historical number 168.3 km is still used as a length specification. A total of 121.457 km run on the original race track, while 47.837 km run differently. The different types of routes were also determined as follows:
| Road condition | length | percent |
|---|---|---|
| asphalt | 13.312 km | 7.86% |
| band Aid | 1.605 km | 0.95% |
| concrete | 0.050 km | 0.03% |
| Mineral subsoil | 130.078 km | 76.84% |
| Planks or bridges | 0.176 km | 0.10% |
| Chopping litter | 4.238 km | 2.50% |
| Unpaved | 19.835 km | 11.72% |
| total | 169.294 km | 100.00% |
The Rennsteig runs 14.761 km through Bavaria. The technical center of measurement is approximately at the Großer Dreiherrenstein near Neustadt am Rennsteig.
Connected paths
Other regional and long-distance hiking trails start from the Rennsteig or share a section with the Rennsteig:
- The International Mountain Hiking Trail of Friendship Eisenach – Budapest runs from the Wartburg near Eisenach to Neuhaus am Rennweg over the Rennsteig.
- The 324 km long Thuringia-Rhine hiking trail , which has existed since 1936 and was reopened in 1993, leads from the Großer Inselsberg via Oberellen , Bad Hersfeld , Alsfeld , Homberg (Ohm) , Staufenberg , Herborn , Westerburg , Höhr-Grenzhausen to Engers Castle (Neuwied / Rhein ).
- The Rennsteig trail begins at Dreiherrenstein .
- The Sallmannshäuser Rennsteig begins near the Triniusblick near Ruhla .
- The historic Salzmannstrasse leads north from the Schmücke .
- The Via Porta pilgrimage route uses the middle and eastern part of the Rennsteig.
Trivia
- The GutsMuths-Rennsteiglauf , a fun run, has been held on the Rennsteig since 1973 . With more than 14,000 participating runners and hikers, it is considered the largest landscape run in Europe.
- The Rennsteig song is a folk song that expresses the homeland in Thuringia. The text is by Karl Müller , the music by Herbert Roth .
- The Rennsteigbahn (see also Rennsteig station ) is a branch line. Since 2014, trains on line STB 46 on the Erfurt – Rennsteig route have been running here on weekends .
- The traditional greeting among Rennsteig hikers has been “Gut Runst!” For over 100 years, whereby the noun “Runst” is derived from “run”, analogous to “art” from “know” or “Brunst” from “burn”.
- In the legend of the Rennsteig it says: The true hiking enthusiast takes a stone from the Werra from the origin of the Rennsteig, carries it in his pocket to the end at the Saale and throws it back into the water. In even years the Rennsteig should be hiked south-east from Hörschel to Blankenstein, in odd years in the opposite direction.
Individual evidence
- ↑ State Archives Meiningen, Shared hen Bergisch archive Urkundennachträge 4-10-002 No. 68;. Print: Hertel, L .: The Frankenstein Sales Letter from 1330. - P. 107–111. In: Writings of the Association for Saxony-Meiningen History and Regional Studies 35, Kesselring, Hildburghausen 1900.
- ^ Biography Julius von Plänckner , accessed October 31, 2013
- ^ Thomas Schwämmlein: District of Sonneberg. (= Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural monuments in Thuringia 1). E. Reinhold Verlag, Altenburg 2005, ISBN 3-937940-09-X , p. 161.
- ↑ Thüringer Rennsteigverein eV Neustadt am Rennsteig ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2014 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.
- ↑ Information on an official information board at the waypoint "Am Kulmberg"
- ↑ Press release of the German Hiking Association (PDF; 223 kB) from January 15, 2011
- ^ Regional Association Thuringian Forest (Ed.) The Rennsteig. Overview map with suggested stages. Ilmenau 2010.
- ↑ http://www.rennsteigverein.de/fragen.html , accessed on January 18, 2018
literature
- Alexander Ziegler : The Rennsteig of the Thuringian Forest. A mountain hike with a historical-topographical treatise on the age and the purpose of this path. Höckner, Dresden 1862 ( digitized version )
- Between Rennsteig and Sonneberg (= values of our homeland . Volume 39). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1986.
- August Trinius : The Rennstieg. A hike from the Werra to the Saale. 1889 and 1899 . Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, Reprint 2011, ISBN 978-3-86777-318-8 .
- Ludwig Hertel and Johannes Bühring: The Rennsteig of the Thuringian Forest 1896 and 1910 . Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, Reprint 2011, ISBN 978-3-86777-319-5 .
- Otto Ludwig: Der Rennsteig , Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt 1965–1991, ISBN 3-7352-0223-3 .
- Horst Golchert: Little Rennsteig stories . Green heart publishing house , Ilmenau 2005, ISBN 978-3-935621-92-2 .
- Topographic map Rennsteig, 1: 50,000, Land Surveying Office Thuringia, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86140-170-4 .
- Manfred Kastner, Ulrich Rüger: Rennsteig Chronicle. RhinoVerlag, Ilmenau 2009, ISBN 978-3-86636-029-7 , p. 144.
Web links
- The Rennsteig of the Thuringian Forest - A historical overview , in Der Rennsteig , on rennsteigverein.de
- Rennsteig (Openstreetmap map), on waymarkedtrails.org