Zittau Mountains

The Zittau Mountains (Zittauer Gebirge, Žitavské hory), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (Lausitzer Kamm), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme southeast of the German state of Saxony.

Location
The Zittau Mountains lie in the extreme south of the district of Görlitz in Saxony. A few kilometres north of the range lie a number of settlements; from west to east they are Großschönau, Hainewalde, Olbersdorf, Bertsdorf-Hörnitz and Zittau. In the mountains themselves are, again from west to east, the settlements of Waltersdorf, Oybin, Jonsdorf and Lückendorf. The highlands are drained by streams that flow roughly north into the Mandau, a western tributary of the Lusatian Neisse.

Mountains
Among the highest mountains in the range are the following (in order of height in m above NN:
 * Lausche (Luž; 792.6 m), German-Czech border mountain, south of Waltersdorf
 * Hochwald (Hvozd; 749.5 m), German-Czech border mountain, south-southwest of Oybin
 * Jonsberg (652.9 m), east-southeast of Jonsdorf
 * Buchberg (651.6 m), west of Jonsdorf
 * Scharfenstein (569.4 m), east of Oybin, north-northwest of Lückendorf
 * Breiteberg (510.1 m), east of Großschönau, south of Hainewalde
 * Oybin (514.5 m), north of Oybin
 * Töpfer (582.0 m), northeast of Oybin, south of Olbersdorf

Places of interest

 * Oybin mountain with castle and monastery ruins
 * Mühlsteinbrüche, rock formations in Jonsdorf
 * Große Felsengasse ("Great Rock Alley")
 * Töpfer mountain
 * Lausche (792.6m), the highest summit in the Zittau Mountains
 * Breiteberg
 * Scharfenstein
 * Orgel (organ) - a rock formation in the Jonsdorfer Felsenstadt
 * Kelchstein ("Chalice Rock") a mushroom rock formation
 * Nonnenfelsen ("Nun's Rock") near Jonsdorf
 * Zittau Narrow Gauge Railway
 * Lusatian timber-frame farmhouses (Umgebindehäuser), especially in Waltersdorf, Jonsdorf and Bertsdorf

General sources

 * BfN
 * Map services
 * Landscape fact file Zittau Mountains

Literature

 * Peter Rölke (ed.): Wander- & Naturführer Zittauer Gebirge, Berg- & Naturverlag Rölke, Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-934514-17-0