HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Belchen, , or Black Forest Belchen (german: Schwarzwälder Belchen) is the fourth-highest summit of the
Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and S ...
after Feldberg, Seebuck and
Herzogenhorn The Herzogenhorn is a mountain, , in the southwest German state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies within a nature reserve in the municipality of Bernau im Schwarzwald. Location and surrounding area The Herzogenhorn is the source region for thre ...
. The municipalities of Münstertal, Schönenberg and Kleines Wiesental meet on the summit dome of Belchen which is located in the southwest German state of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
.


Geography

The Belchen, with its furrowed, unbroken rock faces, rises 1,000 metres out of the Münstertal valley. Its north face is thus the area of highest relief energy in the German
Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
. Even towards the south the mountain drops steeply, its '' schrofen'' slopes descending 800 metres into the valley bowl of the Little Wiese near
Neuenweg Neuenweg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous count ...
. The large expanse of rolling plateau in the eastern Black Forest has only survived in small places at the Belchen. Towards the Rhine Plain and the Blauen mountain the western main crest of the southern Black Forest has been cut into narrow ridges as a result of the marked uplift of the range during the Pleistocene and the erosive work of its streams. The ice age glaciation of the Belchen region did not leave traces as clear as those on Feldberg. To the north and south, small avalanche bowl glaciers formed, whose maximum extent reached the edge of the Black Forest. The domed ''
kuppe A ''Kuppe'' is the term used in German-speaking central Europe for a mountain or hill with a rounded summit that has no rock formation, such as a tor, on it. A range of such hills is called a ''Kuppengebirge''. In geology the term also refers to ...
'' consists of granite, whereas the surrounding mountainsides are mostly formed of gneisses. The area around Belchen was a mining region, at times an important one, between 900 and 1975. A chain of well-preserved
boundary stone A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other t ...
s from 1790 runs over the summit of the Belchen. These mark the old border between the Habsburg territory of
Further Austria Further Austria, Outer Austria or Anterior Austria (german: Vorderösterreich, formerly ''die Vorlande'' (pl.)) was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-we ...
to the north and the Margraviate of Baden to the south of the mountain.


Belchen Triangle

The domed, treeless summit has a striking profile that, seen from the
Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...
, is almost symmetrical. ''Belchen'' (Celtic: ''the radiant'') is a name also used for other high points in the neighbouring mountains, including two that are especially striking when covered with snow. Together with the Black Forest Belchen, they form the so-called Belchen Triangle: to the west on the French side of the
Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...
is the Alsatian Belchen (''Elsässer Belchen'') or ''Ballon d'Alsace'' in the
Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...
; to the south on the southern side of the
Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the s ...
is the " Swiss Belchen", known as Belchenflue. Also visible from Alsace are Great Belchen (''Großer'') and Little Belchen (''Kleiner Belchen''), or ''Grand'' and ''Petit Ballon'' which, together with the others belong to the so-called
Belchen System The Belchen System refers to five mountains with the name ''Belchen'' around the tripoint of Germany, France and Switzerland that may have been used by the Celts as a solar calendar. The term is an extension of the Belchen Triangle. The mountai ...
. The panorama from the top covers large parts of the Black Forest to the
Hornisgrinde The Hornisgrinde, 1,164 m (3,820 ft), is the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest of Germany. The Hornisgrinde lies in northern Ortenaukreis district. Origin of the name The name is probably derived from Latin, and essenti ...
, the
Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...
, the Jura and, in good weather, the Alps from the Zugspitze to
Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and it ...
. Belchen also has far-reaching views across the Upper Rhine Plain to Alsace.


Belchen Nature Reserve

Because of its rare flora and fauna, Belchen was declared a nature reserve in 1949. The area was extended to 1600 hectares in 1993, and is now part of the
Southern Black Forest Nature Park The Southern Black Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Südschwarzwald) is located in Baden-Württemberg in Germany and covers an area of 394,000 hectares. As of 2018, it is Germany's largest nature park. History The Southern Black Forest Nat ...
. Many species of rare butterflies, beetles, and birds are found in the highland areas of Belchen. Typical birds include the raven, song thrush,
citril finch The citril finch (''Carduelis citrinella''), also known as the Alpine citril finch, is a small songbird, a member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. For a long time, this cardueline finch was placed in the genus ''Serinus'', but it is appar ...
and
water pipit The water pipit (''Anthus spinoletta'') is a small passerine bird which breeds in the mountains of Southern Europe and the Palearctic eastwards to China. It is a short-distance migrant; many birds move to lower altitudes or wet open lowlands i ...
, as well as
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey ( raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey ba ...
s,
capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of hi ...
, and hazel grouse. Among the plants are relicts from the last ice age that are otherwise only found in the Alps. These include the Swiss bellflower, Alpine rose, Swiss hawkbit and lichens.


Tourism

The Belchen is a popular destination in the southern Black Forest, with over 300,000 visitors annually. In 1866 the first guest house was built below the summit. In 1899 its replacement was finished. This has been expanded and remodelled several times. In 1904 the road to Belchen was opened. In 1949 the proposal to build a chair lift from Obermünstertal to the summit failed. Ski slopes are limited although there are now eleven ski lifts in the Belchen region. The Belchen road was the public road with the highest destination in the German
Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
. The uppermost section has been placed out of bounds since the opening of the cable car in December 2001. Belchen lies on the West Way, a 285-km footpath maintained by the Black Forest Club that runs from Pforzheim to
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
. Other marked footpaths run from Untermünstertal, Schönau and
Neuenweg Neuenweg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous count ...
up the mountain. In 2008, in order to protect the conservation area for visitor management and as a development concept, the so-called Belchen concept was developed and submitted as a model. It formulated aims, recommendations and spheres of action, not just for institutions and authorities, but also for the local population and guests. Participants included the Forestry Test and Research Centre for Baden-Württemberg in Freiburg, the German Sport University, Cologne, the Southern Black Forest Nature Park, the municipality of Münstertal, the Münstertal-Staufen Holiday Region and private citizens of Münstertal. The Belchen summit circular trail is one of a total of nine themed trails. The circular path is 1.3 km long and starts at the Belchenhaus.


Belchen Gondola Lift

The Belchen Gondola Lift operates as a single-cable lift with 8-person cabins that run from the bottom station in Aitern-Multen ( GVV Schönau) to the top station at 1,356 metres above sea level. It is 1,150 metres long and ascends 262 metres. The ''Belchenbahn'' has disabled boarding and alighting facilities at the top and bottom stations.


Literature

* Wolf Drescher: ''Der Wald im Belchengebiet''. In: Der Belchen. Natur- und Landschaftsschutzgebiete Baden-Württembergs 13, pp. 481–536 * Geographisch-kartographisches Institut Meyer: ''Südschwarzwald'' (Meyers Naturführer). Meyers Lexikonverlag, Mannheim, 1989 * Dieter Kohlhepp: ''Der Belchen.'' Waldkircher Verlags-Gesellschaft, 1997, * Albrecht Schlageter: ''Zur Geschichte des Bergbaus im Umkreis des Belchen''. In: Der Belchen. Natur- und Landschaftsschutzgebiete Baden-Württembergs 13, pp. 127–310 *


Photo gallery

File:Belchen-2007-12-19.jpg, Aerial photograph of Belchen's summit File:Belchenhaus.JPG, The Belchenhaus File:Belchen from the Feldberg.JPG, Belchen seen from Feldberg File:Belchen Boundary Stone.jpg, Boundary stone at Belchen's summit File:Gondel der Belchenbahn mit umstrickter Stütze.jpg, Gondola on the ''Belchenbahn'' File:Belchen black forest.jpg, View upon Feldberg


References


External links


Official website of the Belchen area

Website of the cable car operator


{{Authority control Black Forest Mountains and hills of Baden-Württemberg Mountains and hills of the Black Forest One-thousanders of Germany