The Western Ore Mountains (german: Westerzgebirge) is a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

that forms the westernmost part of the Ore Mountains in the German state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. It is also part of the major landscape unit known as the Saxon Highlands and Uplands. It extends eastwards to include the valley of the Schwarzwasser, and, below its mouth, that of the

Zwickauer Mulde The Zwickauer Mulde () is a river in Saxony, Germany. It is the left tributary of the Mulde and in length. The source of the river is in the Ore Mountains, near Schöneck, in the Vogtlandkreis. It runs northeast to Aue, then northwest to ...

, and incorporates the western parts of the former major units known as the Lower and Upper Western Ore Mountains (''Unteres und Oberes Westerzgebirge''), no. 423, as well as the Southern Slopes of the Ore Mountains (''Südabdachung des Erzgebirges''), no. 420. In the current classification system of natural regions, the Western Ore Mountains only covers the western part of the region that bore the same name in the preceding system, whilst the eastern part of that region is now part of the Central Ore Mountains.Map of the natural regions in Saxony
at www.umwelt.sachsen.de (pdf, 859 kB) The higher regions of the Western Ore Mountains are part of the Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park.

Geography

The Western Ore Mountains transition gradually towards the (south)west into the "historic"

Vogtland Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...

region and include several of its villages, whilst the official boundary with the natural region of Vogtland largely follows the watershed between the rivers of the

and, in the extreme south, the Zwota, with the Vogtland river of the

White Elster The White Elster
Accessed on 16 Jan 2011. (, ) is a long river in central

Vysoký kámen :''Vysoký kámen, is the name of at least nine hills in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, they are distinguished by their height. This article is on the 773 m summit, in Vogtland'' The stony summit Vysoký kámen (German ''Hoher Stein'') lies 8& ...

(''Hoher Stein'') near Erlbach is the southernmost mountain of the Ore Mountain range. To the north the Western Ore Mountains descend to the gently rolling Ore Mountain Basin and the town of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

, whilst the mountain range continues to the south on the far side of the border with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The state border largely follows the ridgeline of the mountains, which continues southwest on both sides of the border into the

Elstergebirge The Elster Mountains (german: Elstergebirge, cs, Halštrovské hory) is a small range of mountains, in Saxony and the Czech Republic, to the west of the Ore Mountains. They lie in a region known as Vogtland, and take their name from the River El ...

and the natural region of Vogtland. The 805 m high Hoher Brand, which is generally accepted as being in the Elstergebirge range, because it is located southwest of the Zwota, officially belongs to the natural region of the Western Ore Mountains. In the south is the highest point on Saxon soil, the Auersberg (1019 m NN), northwest of

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt () is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized heal ...

. It is overlooked by the 1043 m high '' Blatenský vrch'' (''Plattenberg'') southeast of the town and on the other side of the international border.

Settlements

The following list includes all the towns and municipalities that lie wholly or partly within the Western Ore Mountains. Places that belong to the historic

, are marked with an asterisk (*). Following the redrawing of the boundaries by the Saxon State Office, parts of Zwickau and Wilkau-Haßlau also lie within the Western Ore Mountains.

References

Sources

* BfN *
Map services
** Landscape fact files **

**

*** ttp://www.bfn.de/0311_landschaft.html?landschaftid=42101 Lower regions of the Western Ore Mountains {{coord, 50.4, 12.5, type:mountain_region:DE_dim:100km, display=title Geography of the Ore Mountains Natural regions of Saxony

Geography

Settlements

See also

References

Sources