The Cottaer Spitzberg is a 390.8 m high basalt dome on the western edge of Saxon Switzerland. Since 1979 the hill has been a protected area due to its geological and botanical features.
Basalt is a mafic extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava exposed at or very near the surface of a terrestrial planet or a moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Basalt lava has a low viscosity, due to its low silica content, resulting in rapid lava flows that can spread over great areas before cooling and solidification. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series of lava basalt flows.
Saxon Switzerland is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international organizations involved.
Cotta and the Cottaer Spitzberg on an 1812 map of Oberreitschen
The hill, which was once also known Cottaer Spitze, is located on the plateau between the valleys of the Gottleuba to the east and the Bahre to the west. It rises above the village of Cotta at its northern foot as well as the local area by at least 70 metres and forms a clear landmark in the countryside.
The Gottleuba is a small river in the Czech Republic and in Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe.
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
Geology
The Cottaer Spitzberg was formed as a result of the Tertiary breakthrough of basalt through the Cretaceous sandstone sediments of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. In geological region that is composed largely of sandstone, granite and gneiss the hill is very much a geological exception.
Tertiary is a widely used term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago, a timespan that occurs between the Mesozoic Era and the Quaternary, although no longer recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The span of the Tertiary is subdivided into the Paleocene Epoch, the Eocene Epoch, the Oligocene Epoch, the Miocene Epoch and the Pliocene Epoch, extending to the first stage of the Pleistocene Epoch, the Gelasian stage.
The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, and the longest period of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide.
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also called the Elbe sandstone highlands is a mountain range straddling the border between the state of Saxony in southeastern Germany and the North Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, with about three-quarters of the area lying on the German side. The mountains are also referred to as Saxon Switzerland and Bohemian Switzerland in both German and Czech or simply combined as Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland. In both countries, the mountain range has been declared a national park. The name derives from the sandstone which was carved by erosion. The river Elbe breaks through the mountain range in a steep and narrow valley.
The hill is one of a line of volcanic inselbergs of which the Stolpener Burgberg, the Wilisch and the Geising are the best-known. On the rocky summit of the Spitzberg, the grey and black columns of the trachyte basalt are exposed. They are each around 30 centimetres thick, rising almost vertically and were intensively quarried in the 19th century by a quarry company. Only a remnant of the summit remains, because a triangulation column of the central European meridian arc and Saxon State Survey Office had been erected on it in 1865.
An inselberg or monadnock is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In southern and south-central Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an Afrikaans word from the Dutch word kopje. If the inselberg is dome-shaped and formed from granite or gneiss, it can also be called a bornhardt, though not all bornhardts are inselbergs.
Stolpen is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, in Saxony, Germany. It is a historical town, that grew at the foot of the Schloßberg with the castle Burg Stolpen.
The Wilisch is a mountain in Saxony, Germany, near Dresden. Its height is 476 m (1,562 ft).
Botanical features
The Cottaer Spitzberg is also a significant area for botany, although the quarry has reduced the variety of local plants. Species like the Sword-leaved Helleborine, the Large Pink or the Bristly Bellflower are amongst the species that used to grow here but no longer occur. In spite of that the Spitzberg continues to be a botanically interesting habitat. On the northern side there is an oak and hornbeam wood (including Small-leaved Lime, Norway Maple, Sycamore Maple and Ash) interspersed with species like the lungworts. In addition the sun-exposed hill is also home to several warmth-loving plants like the Crown Vetch and the Hoary Cinquefoil.
History
At the beginning of the 1960s in the heyday of the Cold War a small bunker system was built on the eastern side of the hill. This was intended to be the emergency command post for the district of Pirna in the event of a nuclear attack on Dresden. On the western side facing Dresden an observation post was erected.
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite states, and the United States with its allies after World War II. The historiography of the conflict began between 1946 and 1947. The ensuing Cold War period began to de-escalate after the Revolutions of 1989. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 was the most obvious and convincing end of the Cold War. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany and its allies, leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences.
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs or other attacks. Bunkers are mostly underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes.
Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt. It is also known for the gassing of about 15,000 disabled people in Sonnenstein Castle between June 1940 and August 1941, killings which ceased after pressure was exerted on the authorities by the local population. Today, a small plaque at the base of Sonnenstein Castle and the Sonnenstein Memorial remembers the dead.
Views
The Cottaer Spitzberg has long been a popular destination because, on the top of the treeless basalt summit, there is a panoramic all-round view, only restricted closer in. In clear conditions the views extend as far as:
The Ore Mountains or Ore Mountain Range in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for around 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest of the mountain range. The highest peaks are the Klínovec, which rises to 1,244 metres (4,081 ft) above sea level and the Fichtelberg.
The Sächsische Schweiz is a former district (Kreis) in the south of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Neighboring districts were Weißeritzkreis, the district-free city Dresden and the districts Kamenz and Bautzen. To the south it borders the Czech Republic.
Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel is a spa town in the district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. The municipality borders the Czech Republic in the south. The municipality was formed on 1 January 1999 by the merger of the former municipalities Bad Gottleuba, Berggießhübel, Langenhennersdorf and Bahratal. Surrounded by forests and near a water dam Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel has several facilities, including a spa health park, a plant garden and a heated open air pool.
The Bastei is a rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. They are situated near Rathen, not far from Pirna southeast of the city of Dresden, and are the major landmark of the Saxon Switzerland National Park. They are also part of a climbing and hiking area that extends over the borders into the Bohemian Switzerland.
Dresden is a large city in the eastern German Free State of Saxony nearby the border to the Czech Republic at the river Elbe. The geography and urban development of Dresden is embossed by the valley location and by the Elbe stream.
Saxon Switzerland-East Ore Mountains is a district (Kreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the mountain ranges Saxon Switzerland and Erzgebirge.
The Dresden Basin is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen. The city of Dresden lies in the Dresden Basin.
The Großer Zschirnstein is the highest hill in the Saxon and German part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.
The Eastern Ore Mountains form a natural region of Saxony that covers the eastern part of the Saxon Ore Mountains range. Together with the Western and Central Ore Mountains, it is part of the larger Saxon Highlands and Uplands region. Its southern continuation beyond the German border covers an area of roughly the same extent in the Czech Republic.
The Kulmer Steig is a synonym for the transport links from the Elbe valley over the eastern part of the Eastern Ore Mountains to Bohemian Chlumec u Chabařovic, hence the name which means "Kulm Trail". It is an ancient road system of partly derelict and unmetalled historic transport routes. These historic long-distance routes have been uncovered today thanks to archaeological discoveries. The routes all head south from the Elbe valley between Dresden and Pirna and cross the Eastern Ore Mountains over mountain passes on the Saxon side between Fürstenwalde in the west and Oelsen in the east. The lowest crossings are located near Mohelnice from where they continue via Habartice and the Geiersberg as well as Krasný Les and further on over the Nollendorf Pass to Chlumec. The Kulmer Steig was an especially good transport route because the road cut a passage through untamed wilderness and 30 kilometres could be covered in a day.
The Saxon Elbeland is a term used in more recent times which describes a region along the Elbe, whose boundaries are not clearly defined, but which extends roughly from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to Torgau. The best-known cities and town in this area are Dresden, Meißen, Riesa and Torgau. The term is largely synonymous with the region along the river known as the Upper Elbe (Oberelbe), i.e. the German section of the Elbe River nearest its source region.
The Karsdorf Fault is a striking tectonic fracture line, which is part of the Central Saxon Fault, and is located in the eastern Ore Mountains and the Elbe Valley Slate Mountains of Germany. It forms the northern geological boundary of the Eastern Ore Mountains in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge with the Elbe zone, where it is adjoined by the Döhlen Basin and the Kreischa Basin.
Cotta Sandstone, is found in the Elbe Valley and in its numerous tributary valleys. Its main deposit lies in the west of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, where it runs up to the Bohemian border, ending south of Pirna. It is named after the village of Cotta in the borough of Dohma, an area where the stone is quarried.
Reinhardtsdorf Sandstone is quarried in the vicinity of Reinhardtsdorf near Pirna in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in the German Free State of Saxony. It is the so-called main sandstone of the Elbe sandstones, and was formed in the Middle Turonian. In 2008 there was one quarry that won this particular sandstone.
Pirna station is the largest railway station of the town Pirna in the German state of Saxony. The station is integrated into the network of the Dresden S-Bahn. It is also the starting point of a Regionalbahn service and a Regional-Express stop.
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