Mariina skála (german: Marienfels) is a 428 m rocky hill in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, located in the region of

Bohemian Switzerland Bohemian Switzerland ( cs, České Švýcarsko; german: Böhmische Schweiz), also known as Czech Switzerland, is a picturesque region in the north-western Czech Republic. It has been a protected area (as Elbe Sandstone Mountains Protected Landscap ...

not far from

Jetřichovice Jetřichovice (german: Dittersbach) is a municipality and village in Děčín District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. The folk architecture in the village of Vysoká Lípa is well preserved and i ...

. It was named in the 19th century after Princess Marie Kinsky. Before that, the hill was known as the "Spitzgestein" or "Grosser Spitziger". The hill is one of the best viewing points in Bohemian Switzerland. In 1856 a wooden refuge hut was erected on the hilltop by

Ferdinand Bonaventura, 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau Ferdinand Bonaventura, 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau (german: Ferdinand Bonaventura Christian Josef Hieronymus Rudolf Rafael Fürst Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau; 22 October 1834 – 2 January 1904) was the 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchini ...

, that acted as a fire observation tower. In the night of 9 September 2005 the hut was badly damaged by a forest fire. The cost of the damage came to 200,000

CZK The koruna, or crown, ( sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...

. Another forest fire in the area of the Marienfelsen occurred on 22 July 2006. The hut - that had been replaced just three weeks earlier - escaped further damage. The

Kinsky The House of Kinsky (formerly Vchynští, sg. ''Vchynský'' in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. ''Kinský''; german: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) is a prominent Czech noble family originating from the Kingdom of Bohemia. During th ...

family did a lot of work in the 19th century in opening up the rock landscape around Jetřichovice.

External links

Report on the fire at the hut in 2005
(CZ)
Report on the fire in 2006
(CZ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mariina skala Elbe Sandstone Mountains Rock formations of the Czech Republic Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Mountains and hills of Bohemian Switzerland Děčín District