Oybin ( hsb, Ojbin) is a
municipality in the
Görlitz district
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 ...
, in
Saxony, Germany, located very close to the border of the
Czech Republic. Following the defeat of the Protestant armies by the Habsburgs in the
Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, many Protestant Czechs found refuge across the border in the hills of
Upper Lusatia. It is a "''Kurort''", a resort or spa certified by the state, where people go for rest and recuperation. It is most famous for its
mountain of the same name, an exposed natural sandstone dome that towers above the town. The ruins of a medieval monastery lend a wild romantic beauty to it and it was a favorite subject of 19th-century
Romantic
Romantic may refer to:
Genres and eras
* The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries
** Romantic music, of that era
** Romantic poetry, of that era
** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
painters like
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...
. Many bizarrely shaped geological rock formations can be found in the surroundings. The scenic narrow gauge
Zittau–Kurort Oybin/Kurort Jonsdorf railway runs from Oybin to Bertsdorf, from there to the neighboring municipality of
Jonsdorf and the town of
Zittau. Oybin municipality has 3 districts: Oybin, Hain and Lückendorf.
File:Kirche in Oybin.jpg, Church in Oybin
File:Umgebindehaus in Oybin 2.JPG, Timber-frame house
File:Umgebindehaus in Oybin 1.JPG, The half-timbered "Almanka" Inn
Culture and Sights
* a
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
mountain church built in 1734
* Periodic historical monk processions lit by torchlight
* Oybin railway station with small museum about the history of the
Zittau Narrow Gauge Railway
Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic "''rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto'')) is the southeasternmost city in the Ger ...
*
Teufelsmühle ("Devil's Mill")
File:Berg Oybin 1.JPG, Castle ruins on mount Oybin
File:Camera Obscura Oybin 1.JPG, Camera obscura
File:Zittauer Schmalspurbahn 1.JPG, Narrow-gauge steam train
File:Berg oybin.JPG, Mount Oybin with restaurant and castle ruins
Surroundings and Landmarks
* Rosensteine ''(Rose Stones)'' with
Kelchstein ''(Chalice Rock)'', a red mushroom rock
* The Große Felsengasse ''(Large Canyon Alley)'' with Muschelsaal ''(Shell Hall)'' and the
via ferrata "Alpiner Grat"
*
Mount Scharfenstein ''(Sharp Stone)''
*
Mount Hochwald ''(Highwood)'' with look-out tower and 2
mountain huts
*
Mount Töpfer ''(Potter)'' with mountain hut
* Ameisenberg ''(Anthill rock)''
*
Mount Oybin
File:Berg Oybin.JPG, Mount Oybin
File:Kalchenstein.jpg, The "Chalice rock" ''(Kelchstein)''
File:Handschuh von Oybin.JPG, The "Mitten Rock" ''(Handschuh-Felsen)''
File:Töpfer2.jpg, The "Broody Hen" ''(Brütende Henne)'' on Mount Töpfer
References
External links
Oybin Castle and MonasteryMountain church OybinHistorical monk processions on Mount Oybin
{{Authority control
Zittau Mountains
Populated places in Görlitz (district)