The Plöckenstein () is a mountain, high, in the

Bohemian Forest The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as () and in German as , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in Germ ...

on the Austro-

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

border. Its summit is the highest point in the Bohemian Forest in both countries, and also the highest point in the regions of Mühlviertel and

South Bohemia The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part of the South Bohemian Reg ...

. It is well known as a result of stories by

Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a Bohemian- Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking wo ...

Location

The Plöckenstein lies between the Austrian village of Schwarzenberg to the south and the Czech village of Nová Pec to the NE. Northeast of, and below the summit on Czech soil, is the lake of Plöckensteiner See, the southernmost of eight

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s in the Bohemian Forest; the northern mountainside is the core zone of the Bohemian Forest National Park (Šumava National Park). The Jezerní potok (''Seebach'') stream rises on the mountain. About 7 km northeast, in the Czech Republic, is the western end of the

Lipno Reservoir The Lipno Reservoir () is a dam and hydroelectric plant constructed along the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. It is the largest water area in the Czech Republic. History Due to frequent flooding and subsequent damage, the Vltava River in Sou ...

Tripoint and extreme point

The Plöckenstein lies about 1.3 km east of the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

between

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the

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

.www.dreilaendereck-bayerischer-wald.com
/ref> The tripoint is roughly east of the Bavarian Plöckenstein (). The area of the tripoint is also called ''Dreiecksmark'' (''Trojmezí'', "tripoint") and links the two Plöckensteins over a

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

(). West of the Plöckenstein is Austria's northernmost point. Dreilaendereck-DAT

Sights

During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

the border area of the Bohemian Forest was inaccessible to citizens of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

because the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

ran through it. The new government under Marián Čalfa, which came to power on 10 December 1989, dismantled the border fortifications in December 1989 (see also the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

). Among the sights and attractions in the area of the Plöckenstein are the following (in alphabetical order): * Adalbert-Stifter Monument (; Czech Republic) – on a rocky crag above the Plöckensteinsee a 14.5-metre-high

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

in memory of

("Poet of the Bohemian Forest") was built in 1876–1877. * Dreisesselberg (; Germany) – from the pillow-like, weathered granite rocks of this mountain there are views on clear days as far as the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. * Plöckensteinsee (; Czech Republic) – this roughly 7.48 hectare mountain lake lies below the Plöckenstein. * Schwarzenbergscher Schwemmkanal (Austria-Czech Republic) – this is an artificial canal that crosses the watershed between the Moldau and

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. *

(also ''Moldau Reservoir''; ; Czech Republic) – the reservoir is c. 48 km long, is 48.7 km² in area and has a capacity of 309.5 M. m³. * Steinernes Meer on the Bavarian Plöckenstein (; Germany) – rock landscape on the southern flank of the mountain * Teufelsschüssel (; Austria) – granite block formation roughly east of the border

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plockenstein One-thousanders of the Czech Republic Mountains of the Bavarian Forest Bohemian Forest Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Mountains of Upper Austria One-thousanders of Austria