Rüdigsdorf Switzerland (german: Rüdigsdorfer Schweiz) is a range of hills up to near the village of Rüdigsdorf in the district of Nordhausen in the German state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. The landscape is the last intact gypsum karst region in the state and has therefore been designated by the EU as a protected area. It is one of the smallest " little Switzerlands" in Germany. The majority of the area is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

Location

Rüdigsdorf Switzerland lies in the extreme southern foothills of the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

of central Germany between Nordhausen to the southwest, Krimderode to the west, Niedersachswerfen to the northwest,

Harzungen Harzungen is a village and a former municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in E ...

and Neustadt to the north, Buchholz to the east and Steigerthal to the southeast. The central villages of the region, which descends gradually towards the west and southwest, are the Rüdigsdorf and Petersdorf. The Zorge, a tributary of the

Helme The Helme is river in central Germany that is about long and which forms a left-hand, western tributary of the Unstrut in the states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. Course The river rises in Thuringia south of the Harz mountains in the dis ...

, flows past the hills to the south.

Hills

The highest point in the karst landscape − which is dotted with

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s − is the ''Buchholzer Berg'' (350.1 m), west of Buchholz. '' → Other hills in the range may be found in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

section of the article on "List of mountains and hills of Thuringia"''

History

A ''

Landwehr ''Landwehr'', or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortificatio ...

'' regiment was stationed in Rüdigsdorf Switzerland during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During the 20th century around a third of the natural landscape was destroyed by gypsum quarrying. In early 2005, quarrying was due to restart, but was prevented by protest from the local population. Nevertheless, there is still interest in the area from the gypsum industry.

Hiking

Rüdigsdorf Switzerland is crossed by the

Karst Trail The Karst Trail (german: Karstwanderweg) is a marked and signed footpath that runs for over 250 kilometres between Förste in Lower Saxony and Pölsfeld in Saxony-Anhalt through the karst landscape of the Harz, South Harz in Germany. The path ru ...

, a thematic long-distance path which links places of natural interest in the landscape. At the top of the village of Rüdigsdorf used to be checkpoint no. 100 in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...

hiking network. It has since been moved elsewhere.

External links

Rüdigsdorfer Agenda 21 – projects

at karstwanderweg.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudigsdorfer Schweiz Nordhausen, Thuringia Regions of Thuringia