The Hopfenberg is a wooded hill near Winterstein in the borough of

Waltershausen Waltershausen is a town in the south-western part of the district of Gotha in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Geography Geographic location Located on the verge of the Thuringian Basin just before the Thuringian Forest, Waltershausen is so ...

, in the county of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

in the German state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. With a height of , the Hopfenberg forms the eastern boundary of the Emse valley within the municipality of Winterstein. The hill, which is cleared on its western and northern flanks, was used in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

for the cultivation of

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, from which the hill derives its name. The rocky southern face of the Hopfenberg towers over the Sembach valley by about 125 metres. The Kilianstein rock formation in the east of the valley recalls the conversion of local pagans by the missionary, St Kilian. The rock face on the Treppenstein is also impressive; here there used to be a quarry whose rock was used in the construction of

forest track left, alt=Pathway through forest., Concrete pathway through deep forest in India. Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, ...

References

{{reflist Hills of Thuringia Gotha (district)