The Breiteberg is a hill in the

Lusatian Highlands The Lusatian Highlands''Upper Lusatia''
at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 20 ...

in Free State of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, Federal Republic of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, with an altitude of

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It is the local mountain of

Hainewalde Hainewalde is a village in Germany on the river Mandau, in the '' Bundesland'' (federal state) of Saxony and the district Görlitz, historically belonging to Upper Lusatia. The village is part of the administrative partnership Großschönau-Walter ...

, and about half-an-hour's drive from the village.

Phonolite Phonolite is an uncommon extrusive rock, of intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic, with texture ranging from aphanitic (fine-grained) to porphyritic (mixed fine- and coarse-grained). Phonolite is a variation of the igneous ...

covers most of its surface.

Location and surroundings

The Breiteberg is located in the transition are between the

Zittau Mountains The Zittau Mountains (german: Zittauer Gebirge, cs, Žitavské hory), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (''Lausitzer Kamm''), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon- Bohemian border in the extreme sout ...

and the Lusatian Highlands between the villages

, Großschönau and Bertsdorf.

History

The mountain has been the site of many legends in the past few centuries. These include the '' Querxe'', a kind of dwarf said to been living in the hill, "The Wild Hunter on the Breitenberge" (''Der Wilde Jäger auf dem Breitenberge'') as well as "The Dragon on the Breitenberge" (''Der Drache auf dem Breitenberge''). In 1467,

Zittau Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, :de:Oberlausitzer Mundart, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic languages, Slavic "''rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto' ...

folk ambushed the

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...

s on the hill, killing 150 as they tried to escape to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

after a successful raid. In 1880, Johann Franz Vorknecht opened a summer restaurant on top of the Breiteberg. It is one of the area's oldest mountain restaurants (german: Bergbaude). In 1936, the Dr. Kurt Heinke Tower was constructed. It is named in honour of a "meritorious connoisseur of southern Upper Lusatia". In 1881, a monument to Frederick III, a German Emperor was built on the north side with the inscription "Learn to suffer without complaining" (German: ''Lerne leiden ohne zu klagen''). The monument, made of bronze on a stone plinth was 5 metres high and built by the reputable company of "Gladebeck und Sohn" from Berlin. The monument was removed in 1949, nowadays just the stone plinth is left.

Observation tower

The summit is wooded but the tower provides a superb panoramic view in all directions towards the Lusatian and

, the

Lusatian Highlands The Lusatian Highlands''Upper Lusatia''
at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 20 ...

, the Landeskrone nearby

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

, the

Jizera Mountains Jizera Mountains ( cz, Jizerské hory), or Izera Mountains ( pl, Góry Izerskie; german: Isergebirge), are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera River, which rises a ...

, the

Giant Mountains The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše or Karkonosze (Czech: , Polish: , german: Riesengebirge) are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif ...

and the

Ještěd Ještěd (; german: Jeschken) is the highest mountain of the Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge in the north of the Czech Republic, at . It is the symbol of the city of Liberec. On the summit is the Ještěd Tower restaurant, hotel and television tower, ...

. A key for the tower can be borrowed from the restaurant.

Routes to the summit

Three ways lead to the summit, two of which are illuminated. A cycle path leads uphill from Bertsdorf which is also used for resupplying the restaurant. The Martin Köhler Way from

is for hikers.

Sights

*Querxloch (cave-like crevice) *Querxenbrunnen (enclosed spring) *Dr. Kurt Heinke Tower (13m observation tower on the hilltop)

Literature

* Meyers Naturführer Oberlausitz; Meyers Lexikonverlag Mannheim/Leipzig/Wien/Zürich; {{ISBN, 3-411-07161-3 * ''

Werte unserer Heimat Werte der deutschen Heimat (literally "Values of the German Homeland") originally ''Werte der Deutschen Heimat'' and, between 1970 and 1990 called ''Werte unserer Heimat'', was a series of publications by former East German Academy of Sciences at B ...

– Die südöstliche Oberlausitz mit Zittau und dem Zittauer Gebirge.'' Akademieverlag Berlin 1975 Mountains of Saxony Lusatian Highlands