The Sophienhöhe (301.8 m AMSL) is the largest artificial hill worldwide, created by surface mining at the open cast

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

mine Tagebau Hambach operated by RWE Power AG in

Düren (district) Düren () is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Neuss, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Euskirchen and Aachen. History The district was created in 1972 by merging the former districts of Jü ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

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 ...

Location

Sophienhöhe is about 6 km east of the city centre of

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', , , Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. As a border region between the competin ...

bordering

Niederzier Niederzier is a municipality in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km north of Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia ...

and Titz at the north-end of the open pit Tagebau Hambach. The distance (in respect to sea-level) between the top of Sophienhöhe and the lowest point of the pit is 594.8 meters. Tagebau Hambach is the lowest surface point in Europe, lying 293 meters below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. The CIA still maintains that Neuendorf bei Wilster is Germany's lowest point. The highest points of Sophienhöhe are Höller Horn (291.5 m

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

), Jülicher Kopf (285.8 m

) and the Roman Tower (301.8 m

Location

See also