__FORCETOC__ The Hochstein ( Sorbian: 'Rubježny hród') is a mountain in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, eastern

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 ...

. At an elevation of 533.1 m (1,749 ft), it is the easternmost peak of the

Czorneboh Czorneboh (; , ) is a mountain between Hochkirch and Cunewalde in Upper Lusatia. Czorneboh is located 10 km from the German-Czech border north of Šluknov and 8 km southeast of Bautzen with an altitude of 555.7 m. It is the highest point ...

chain in the Upper Lusatian Highlands. At the summit cliffs, which are under protection as natural monuments, the mica

granodiorite Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

of which the mountain consists can be observed breaking through the surface.

Ramparts

A prehistoric rampart encloses the up to 10 m high rocks. In 1841, historian Karl Benjamin Preusker suspected a pagan sacrificial place at the site. Archaeological investigations around 1900 revealed a Slavic or other medieval use. The question after the function of the site, however, could not be answered. Around 1350 the rocks are said to have served as a hiding place to a group of bandits, which is why the site was also called a robber castle on old maps and is still called so in Sorbian today.

Hiking trails

The Kammweg, which leads from to Großpostwitz, is marked with the hiking mark "Blauer Punkt". It is a part of the long-distance hiking trail "Wanderweg der Deutschen Einheit" (Hiking Trail of the German Reunification) from

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

in the east to

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

in the west. The Kriegsweg (war path) runs south of the summit and received its name in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

after

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

troops crossed the ridge in the night of 14 October 1758 to attack the Prussians in the

Battle of Hochkirch The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758, during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). After several weeks of maneuvering for position, an Austrian army of 80,000 commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Leopold Jos ...

. A hiking trail on the southern slope of the Hochstein from bears the name Polenzweg in memory of the poet , whose favourite mountain is said to have been the Hochstein.

References

{{Reflist Mountains of Saxony Lusatian Highlands