Lusatian Mountains

The Lusatian Mountains^[1] (Czech: Lužické hory; German: Lausitzer Gebirge; Polish: Góry Łużyckie) are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes on the southeastern border of Germany with the Czech Republic. They are a continuation of the Ore Mountains range west of the Elbe valley. The mountains of the northern, German, part are called the Zittau Mountains.

Lusatian Mountains
Cross-country skiing route along the Lusatian Mountains' main ridge. The mountain in the background is the Lausche.
Highest point
Peak	Lausche (Luž)
Elevation	793 m (2,602 ft)
Coordinates	50°50′56″N 14°38′49″E
Geography
Western Sudetes with Lusatian Mountains (5)
Countries	Germany Czech Republic
States	Saxony Bohemia
Parent range	Western Sudetes
Geology
Rock types	Sandstone Granite

Geography

The Lausche, viewed from the north

The range is among the westernmost extensions of the Sudetes, which stretch along the border between the historic region of Silesia in the north, and Bohemia and Moravia in the south up to the Moravian Gate in the east, where they join the Carpathian Mountains. The northwestern foothills of the Lusatian Mountains are called the Lusatian Highlands; in the southwest the range borders on the Central Bohemian Uplands.

The range is largely made up of sandstone sedimentary rocks leaning on a Precambrian crystalline basement. The northern ridge is marked by the Lusatian Fault, a geological disturbance zone separating the Bohemian sandstones from the Lusatian granodiorite. During the Tertiary volcanic magma streams broke through the sandstone layer and solidified into basalt and phonolite. Several sandstone contact areas were also hardened to columns and distinct rock formations.

Mountains and hills

Pěnkavčí vrch

View of Klíč in winter

The highest peak is the Lausche (793 m). Other notable peaks include the Pěnkavčí vrch (792m), Jedlová (774m), Klíč (760m), Hochwald (750m) and Studenec (736m).

• Lausche (Luž), 793 m
• Pěnkavčí vrch (Finkenkoppe), 792 m
• Jedlová (Tannenberg), 774 m
• Klíč (Kleis), 760 m
• Hochwald (Hvozd), 750 m
• Studenec (Kaltenberg), 736 m
• Stožec (Großer Schöber), 665 m
• Jezevčí vrch (Limberg), 665 m
• Malý Stožec (Kleiner Schöber) 659 m
• Zlatý vrch (Goldberg), 657 m
• Chřibský vrch (Himpelberg), 621 m
• Jánské kameny (Johannisstein), 604 m
• Střední vrch (Mittenberg), 593 m
• Sokol (Falkenberg), 592 m
• Töpfer, 582 m
• Popova skála (Pfaffenstein), 565 m
• Ortel (Ortelsberg), 554 m
• Zámecký vrch (Schlossberg), 530 m
• Oybin, 514 m
• Kuhberg, 433 m

Protections

The Czech part of the Lusatian Mountains have been a nature reserve since 1976, covering an area of 264 km² (102 sq mi). Administratively it is known as the Lusatian Mountains Protected Landscape Area (CHKO Lužické hory) and has the status of CHKO, a so-called Landscape park.^[2] The smaller German part of the mountains also became a nature protection in 2008, when the Zittau Mountain Nature Park was established, with the effect that the entire Lusatian Mountains is now under some form of nature protection.

See also

• List of regions of Saxony
• Lusatian Highlands
• Bohemian track