The Dollberg is a mountain in the Dollberge range in central

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 ...

and the highest point in the state of

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. It is and lies within the Schwarzwälder Hochwald on the boundary between the counties of

Trier-Saarburg Trier-Saarburg (; ) is a district in the west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north and clockwise) Bitburg-Prüm, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Birkenfeld, Sankt Wendel (Saarland), and Merzig-Wadern (Saarland). To ...

(

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

) and St. Wendel (

Geography

Location

The Dollberg lies within the

Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park The Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park () was established in 1980 and covers an area of just under 2,000 km² in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland. The authority responsible for the nature park is the Saar-Hunsrück Nature P ...

, on the northern state boundary of the Saarland with the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the southwest of the Dollberge range. Its summit rises 1.4 km south of

Neuhütten Neuhütten is a municipality in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Partenstein. It has a pop ...

(Rhineland-Palatinate), on whose territory the mountain is located, 3.5 km north-northeast of Otzenhausen, 3.8 km northwest of Eisen and 4.5 km northeast of

Nonnweiler Nonnweiler () is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. Overview It is situated approximately 20 km northwest of Sankt Wendel, and 30 km southeast of Trier. The village is well known for the " Hillfort of ...

(Saarland) in the municipality of Sötern which, as part of

Nohfelden Nohfelden is a municipality in the Sankt Wendel (district), district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately north of Sankt Wendel, and southwest of Idar-Oberstein. It was formed during administrative reform in Januar ...

lies 5.3 km southwest of the Dollberg (all distances

as the crow flies The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points. Etymology The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838): ...

). West of the wooded mountain on the River

Prims The Prims is a 91 km long river in western Germany, right tributary of the Saar. It rises in the Hunsrück mountains, near the village Malborn. It flows generally south through the towns Nonnweiler, Wadern and Schmelz. It flows into the ...

is the Prims Reservoir ''(Nonnweiler Dam)''.

Highest mountain in the Saarland

In the 20th century the Dollberg and the Schimmelkopf (Weiskircher Höhe) were seen as the highest points in the Saarland, both being measured at 695 m. According to more precise surveys by the State Office for Land Registration, Survey and Mapping ('' Landesamt für Kataster-, Vermessungs- und Kartenwesen'') in 2005, the Dollberg at 695.4 m is around 0.6 m higher than the Schimmelkopf. The summit of the Dollberg is covered by

mixed woodland Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These fo ...

that blocks all views of the surrounding area. Only a sign that describes it as the "highest point of the Saarland" marks the top. However, official maps neither record the name of the Dollberg nor its surveyed height of 695.4 m.

Hillfort of Otzenhausen

In the area of the southwestern spur of the Dollberg, between the mountain and Nonnweiler, is the roughly 2.5 km long

circular rampart A circular rampart () is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The period during which ...

of the

hillfort of Otzenhausen The Celtic hill fort of Otzenhausen is one of the biggest fortifications the Celts ever constructed. It was built by Gauls of the Treveri tribe, who lived in the region north of the fort. The fort is located on top of the ''Dollberg'', a hill near ...

, which was a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by Rampart (fortification ...

(

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

References

Height of the Dollberg according t
''Dollberge''
(map and information) at Saarlandbilder.net and the summit information signpost. Article entitle
''An des Landes höchstem Punkt''
by Wulf Wein,

Saarbrücker Zeitung The ' (''SZ'') is a daily (except Sundays) newspaper published in Saarland, Germany. History and profile It was first published as a weekly journal in 1761 under the title ' (''Nassau-Saarbrücken Weekly''). After several changes in name and fre ...

, dated 8 August 2011

External links

''Geography''
at saarland.de

map and information at saarlandbilder.net {{Highest points of the German states Mountains under 1000 metres Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate Mountains and hills of the Saarland Trier-Saarburg Sankt Wendel (district)