The Staffelberg is a hill in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany. It is part of the

Franconian Switzerland Franconian Switzerland (, ) is an upland in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany and a popular tourist retreat. Located between the River Pegnitz in the east and the south, the River Regnitz in the west and the River Main in the north, its relief ...

and one of the most important landmarks in

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

. First settlements date from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. Romans,

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

and Franconians followed. During the La Tène period the Celtic ''

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 ...

'' of

Menosgada Menosgada ("town above the Main valley")Motschmann 2006, p. 10 was a Celts, Celtic metropolis on the Upper Main (river) that was mentioned by the Greek geographer, Ptolemy. It was probably located on the hill known today as the Staffelberg. In t ...

was built on the plateau of the Staffelberg. Nowadays, it is a famous tourist attraction – not only because of the view over the Main valley. The Staffelberg is located close to Vierzehnheiligen and the district capital of Lichtenfels. At the foot of the hill lies the town of

Bad Staffelstein Bad Staffelstein is a town in the Bavarian Regierungsbezirk, Administrative Region of Upper Franconia in Germany. It has around 10,000 inhabitants. Bad Staffelstein is known for several landmarks, such as the Basilica of the Vierzehnheiligen des ...

. On the peak of the hill there is a little chapel (''Adelgundiskapelle'') and a restaurant. The entire hill is protected by environmental laws.

External links

{{Commons
Staffelberg at the Bad Staffelstein municipal website
Hills of Bavaria Mountains and hills of the Franconian Jura Lichtenfels (district)