The Petersberg, at , is the highest point in the district of

Saalekreis Saalekreis is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The district seat is Merseburg. Its area is . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts Kyffhäuserkreis (Thuringia), Mansfeld-Südharz, Salzlandkreis, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Nords ...

in the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. Its name is derived from St. Peter's Church, which is on the hill. Until the 14th century the Petersberg was known as the Lauterberg.

Geography

The Petersberg is located about 10 kilometres north of the German city of

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

on the

River Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, ...

not quite halfway between Halle and Köthen. The municipality of

Petersberg Petersberg may refer to: * The Hotel Petersberg near Bonn, the site of the ** Petersberg Agreement, 1949, regarding the international status of West Germany. ** Petersberg tasks, 1992 and 1997, regarding European security cooperation. Also known a ...

with its hamlets of Drehlitz and Frößnitz lie on the hill. At the foot of the hill are the villages of Ostrau and Wallwitz as well as three small nature reserves. On the southern slopes of the hill is a small lake. A stretch of the A 14 motorway runs past the Petersberg to the west and south, and the B 6 federal highway runs by to the southwest. They form a junction at ''Halle-Trotha'', from where the Petersberg may easily be reached.

Geology

The Petersberg is the highest point of the Halle Porphyry complex. It was formed, like the other porphyritic domes in the surrounding area, during the

Upper Carboniferous Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those ...

and Lower Permian by the solidification of numerous molten lava flows under the earth. In the slowly cooling lava, easily visible feldspar and quartz crystals were formed. The Petersberg consists of small-grained Halle porphyry – this hard rock is used mainly as a raw material for the manufacture of ballast and gravel. The present shape of the hill is a result of the last ice age. The surrounding loose rock was cleared away by the ice sheet leaving the hard porphyritic core behind. The top of the hill stood clear of the glacier as a

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit ''nunataq'') is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. ...

Petersberg Abbey

Petersberg Abbey Petersberg may refer to: * The Hotel Petersberg near Bonn, the site of the ** Petersberg Agreement, 1949, regarding the international status of West Germany. ** Petersberg tasks, 1992 and 1997, regarding European security cooperation. Also known ...

with its collegiate church of St. Peter is a former Augustinian monastery. Since 1999 it has been used by an Evangelical monastic community of the

Community of the Christ-Brotherhood Selbitz A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town ...

Bismarck tower

One of the 15 surviving

Bismarck towers A Bismarck tower (german: Bismarckturm) is a specific type of monument built according to a more or less standard model across Germany to honour its first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (d. 1898). A total of 234 of these towers were inventoried b ...

stands on the Petersberg. Its 15-metre-high tower was built to a design by

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the founda ...

and inaugurated on 24 September 1902. The observation tower that was badly damaged in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was thoroughly renovated in 1999/2000, so that it is once again climbable for the first time since the war.

Communication towers

There is a communication tower on the Petersberg at which was built in 1963 and became operational on 1 May 1965. Made of reinforced concrete, the

Petersberg communication tower Petersberg may refer to: * The Hotel Petersberg near Bonn, the site of the ** Petersberg Agreement, 1949, regarding the international status of West Germany. ** Petersberg tasks, 1992 and 1997, regarding European security cooperation. Also known as ...

is 119 metres high and is now operated by

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

. It broadcasts several radio programmes for the

region, including

MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt MDR may refer to: Biology * MDR1, an ATP-dependent cellular efflux pump affording multiple drug resistance * Mammalian Diving reflex * Medical device reporting * Multiple drug resistance, when a microorganism has become resistant to multiple drugs ...

MDR Sputnik Sputnik or MDR Sputnik is a youth-oriented German radio station, and is part of Leipzig-based public broadcaster MDR, based in Halle. The station, which primarily broadcasts pop and rock music, is the successor to the East German youth station ...

and

Radio SAW Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

. There is also a seven-storey

A Tower {{short description, Type of communication tower in East Germany An A Tower (german: A-Turm) was a standard type of communication tower that was built in all provinces (''Bezirke'') of East Germany during the 1950s. These towers were 25 metres high, ...

on the Petersberg which also belongs to Deutsche Telekom and has directional antennas on the roof.

Tourism

The Petersberg is a popular tourist destination. On the hill is a wildlife park with Eurasian animals. There is also a ''

sommerrodelbahn A summer toboggan is an amusement or recreational ride which uses a bobsled-like sled or cart to run down a track usually built on the side of a hill. There are two main types: an Alpine coaster or mountain coaster is a type of roller coaster ...

'' with

toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill o ...

s and similar vehicles, that is open all year round. There are regular flea markets on a festival ground on the hill as well as other events. The

E11 European long distance path The E11 European long distance path or E11 path is one of the European long-distance paths, running 4700 km (about 2900 miles) west-east from The Hague in the Netherlands through Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia to Tallinn, Estonia. It sta ...

from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

runs close by the Petersberg.

Literature

*Otfried Wagenbreth und Walter Steiner: ''Geologische Streifzüge. Landschaft und Erdgeschichte zwischen Kap Arkona und Fichtelberg''. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 4th edition, Leipzig, 1990, . *Peter Rothe: ''Die Geologie Deutschlands. 48 Landschaften im Portrait''. 2nd edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2006, .

External links

{{Authority control Mountains and hills of Saxony-Anhalt Bismarck towers Saalekreis