Spessart Nature Park (german: Naturpark Spessart) is a

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...

in Germany, managed by ''Naturpark Spessart e. V.'' The park spans the states of Hesse and Bavaria, and covers an area of 2,440 km² within the German hill range known as the Spessart. The geological foundation of the park is formed by a

Bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

plate, up to about 400 metres thick, which tilts towards the southeast. The nature park includes the largest contiguous area of mixed forest in Germany. Deep valleys, gentle hillsides and heights characterise the landscape of the Spessart. Spessart Nature Park consists of two parts: *The Bavarian Spessart Nature Park (''Naturpark Bayerischer Spessart''), founded in 1961, in Northwestern Bavaria, which covers an area of 1,710 km² and lies in the so-called Main rectangle. *The Hessian Spessart Nature Park (''Naturpark Hessischer Spessart''), founded in 1962, in southeastern Hesse, which has an area of 730 km² and lies in the northern Spessart, south of the A 66 motorway between

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

and Schlüchtern. A large clearing known as the Bergfeld is within the Hessian portion of the park.

External links

www.Naturpark-Spessart.dewww.naturpark-hessischer-spessart.de
{{Coord, 49.9833, 9.4166, display=title Nature parks in Hesse Nature parks in Bavaria Aschaffenburg (district) Miltenberg (district) Main-Kinzig-Kreis Main-Spessart Spessart

See also

External links