Top 13 Natural Monuments around Hohwald

Wesenitz Spring and Valentin Adit Information The Wesenitz River originates at an elevation of 515 meters above sea level on the southeastern slope of the Valtenberg mountain, emerging from the entrance of a 60-meter-long mine adit known as the "Goldbergwerk" (Gold Mine). The Wesenitz was first documented in 1213. Valentin Adit at the Wesenitz spring on the southern slope of the Valtenberg mountain.

Entry prohibited. Monitored with wildlife cameras.

As of April 28, 2024, the quarry appears to be back in operation! All access or driveway routes have been "blocked" with stone blocks. The lake shown in the photos has been pumped out except for a small remaining hole. The forest in the immediate vicinity has been cleared and a lot of soil has been temporarily stored in the now open field. If you follow the hiking trails available in komoot in the immediate vicinity of the quarry, it can be dangerous!

In principle, the spring drains the old Valentin tunnel. Water is life.

This memorial stone was erected in 1828, one year after the death of the first king of Saxony, Friedrich August I, and impresses with its simple form and down-to-earth manner. A sandstone slab bore the inscription: To the enduring memory immortalized in Saxony king FREDERICK AUGUST the righteous. Protector of forests and hunting It was smashed by young people in 1918 and then replaced by a diabase tablet, the text and the form of the illustrations were slightly changed. After 1945, this too was broken out piece by piece. Thanks to the dedicated work of enthusiastic hikers, mountaineers and the Langburkersdorf forestry office, extensive renovations were carried out on the monument and its surroundings as early as 1989 and later, and a new plaque, again made of the local material diabase, was installed. The commitment of these nature lovers is a small proof that our Saxon historical awareness and the active love of home that resulted from it never completely died out.

This area natural monument consists of two granodiorite boulders piled on top of each other. A face can be seen in the upper part of this structure. Therefore it is called "the Goldman". The name Quarkquetsche can be explained by the wool sack-like form of weathering of the granodiorite. In 1996, a planned demolition of this natural monument was just prevented. Today you can still find several boreholes on the boulders. The district office files a complaint against the stone works Hohwald (SZ/aw). A natural monument in the Hohwald is doomed. Boreholes in one of the monstrous rock formations, popularly known as Quarkquetsche, foreshadow the worst. The once dense forest around the Ice Age rocks has already fallen victim to the saws. In the meantime, the forest department in Bautzen and the lower nature conservation authority of the district office in Pirna are also dealing with the polluters in the Hohwald. "Of course, an area natural monument has legal validity. If you want to change this, you have to apply for outsourcing. The district council must then decide on this," says Bernhard Lehmann, the responsible department head. However, the management of Steinwerke Hohwald did not make such an application. "Now an order has been issued to refrain from all further measures and to restore the landscape," informs the department head. The district office files a complaint against Steinwerke Hohwald. In addition, administrative offense proceedings are initiated. "But that also means that the deforested part has to be reforested as long as the natural monument is legally valid," says Head of Department Lehmann. It was learned from the district office that the on-site measures had allegedly been carried out without the knowledge of the company management. Despite repeated SZ inquiries, no corresponding statement was received from the managing director by Wednesday. According to the district administration, however, the company has now applied for the "Quarkquetsche" to be relocated. A decision on this is still pending. Source: SZ.

As the western part of the Lausitzer Bergland, the Hohwald is part of a very large intrusive complex in Central Europe that was formed in the Neoproterozoic during the Cadomian Orogeny. This is connected to the crystalline massifs of the neighboring Jizera and Giant Mountains. A biotite granodiorite is predominant, consisting mainly of feldspar, quartz and biotite. Colloquially, this rock is referred to as Lusatian granite. It is around 540 million years old in the Hohwald area. In the entire Hohwald area, the Lusatian granite is traversed by various basite veins (diabase, basalt) and by andesite veins. These rocks were and are coveted because of their properties as cast stones and road building material and are extracted in several quarries.

The boulders partly form caves, the terrifying Pan Dietrich is said to be up to mischief here at night. On the right-hand side of the path between Mönchswalde and Wilthen is a mountain covered with coniferous wood, which is called Pan-Dietrich. That is what he is called after a wild robber baron who plied his trade there in the times of the law of the fist, oppressed the area from his castle, indulged in highway robbery on weekdays and hunted on Sundays and public holidays, cruelly treating the game Death rushed and the farmers' fields were devastated. In life everything went as he wished, but in death God's punishment met him. For he is condemned to eternity to go about as a night hunter in spring and autumn. From his ruined castle, which now consists only of a mass of stones thrown together in a circle, the noisy hunting party rises, circles a few miles, and disappears into the mountain at dawn. St. Bonifacius, who often in vain warns the knight to give up his wild life, strides ahead of the procession. But death rides behind, a skeleton of legs on a great owl. Its appearance is said to announce war, plague, death, undergrowth or other misfortunes.