The Schreckenberg is a mountain near

Frohnau Frohnau () is a locality in the Reinickendorf borough of Berlin, Germany. It lies in the extreme northern part of the city. Frohnau is an affluent area characterized by many patrician villas from the early 20th century. History Founded in 1910, ...

in the county of

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Ore Mountains (German: ''Erzgebirge''), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republi ...

in the

central Ore Mountains The Central or Middle Ore Mountains ( or ''Mittelerzgebirge'') is a natural region that forms the central-western part of the Ore Mountains in the German federal state of Saxony. It is part of the overarching unit, the Saxon Highlands and Uplands ...

of Germany. It is . It is located one kilometre northwest of the town of

Annaberg-Buchholz Annaberg-Buchholz () is a town in Saxony, in eastern Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. Geography The town is located in the Ore Mountains, at the side of the ''Pöhlberg'' ( above sea le ...

in the borough of Frohnau.

History

The mountain is primarily of historical importance, since it is where Annaberg's

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

ore mining began. On 28 October 1491, Caspar Nietzel came across a vein of silver ore not far from the Frohnau Upper Mill. As a result, in 1496, on the opposite bank of the river Sehma, the new town of Neustadt am Schreckenberg grew up, which soon received the name Sankt Annaberg ("Saint Anna's Mountain"). In 1498, Annaberg received the right to mint coins from the Wettins. The Annaberg Mint was set up in or next to the upper mill and for a short time minted the coin known as the ''

Schreckenberger The history of Saxon coinage or Meissen-Saxon coinage comprises three major periods: the high medieval regional pfennig period (bracteate period), the late medieval pfennig period and the thaler period, which ended with the introduction of the m ...

'', a widespread means of payment in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The saying ''You're a rich Annaberger, you've got a bag full of Schreckenbergers'' probably dates to this time. The minting of ''

Großgroschen The history of Saxon coinage or Meissen-Saxon coinage comprises three major periods: the high medieval regional pfennig period (bracteate period), the late medieval pfennig period and the thaler period, which ended with the introduction of the mar ...

'' ("big groschen") was also carried out in the mints at

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and Saalfeld. The last ''Schreckenbergers'' were minted in Dresden in 1571. In Annaberg, the ''Schreckenberger'' '' Engelsgroschen'' was only minted until 1547. The intensive mining activity in the 15th and 16th centuries still characterizes the appearance of the mountain today. Its western flanks in particular are covered by numerous small

spoil heap A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, ...

s. More recent are traces of the

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mining that was carried out here briefly during the 1950s (''Krönung-Fundgrube/Malwine''). FrohnauerHammerSchmiede

Between 1854 and 1856 a Romantic-style

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

ruin was built on the Schreckenberg, which still dominates the view of the mountain today. The castle tower with the remains of ruins indicated was financed from the private funds of wealthy Annaberg townsfolk and by the local company ''Eisenstuck & Co'' and was built by the unemployed workers and

journeymen A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

. The Privy Councillor Carl Friedrich Reiche-Eisenstuck is considered the initiator. At a time of severe economic recession, the construction work served in particular as public relief work - in today's sense of a

job creation Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work dur ...

measure. From the summit there is a good view of the mountain town of Annaberg.

References

External links

{{Coord, 50, 35, 11, N, 12, 59, 30, E, region:DE-SN_type:mountain_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Mountains of Saxony Annaberg-Buchholz