First-Order Triangulation Station Brandberg

The granite pillar embedded on the summit of the 175 m high Brandberg served as a first-order station for the triangulation of the European degree measurement. The Royal Prussian State Survey recorded the Märkisch Silesian triangular chain in the period from 1868 to 1872 and thus connected the triangular networks of the Kingdom of Saxony (Royal Saxon Triangulation) and the coastal survey with the Berlin base.
The Brandberg station was number 21 in the Märkisch-Silesian triangle chain and from this station the peaks of Keulenberg, Hochstein, Rückenberg, Hutberg, Marienberg and Brautberg were targeted for the survey. Especially when connecting to the Saxon network, one benefited from the highly precise triangulation between Keulenberg, Strauch and Collm. The Märkisch Silesian triangular group has a connection to the Saxon triangular network in the south as well as a connection to the Thuringian Saxon in the west and to the Silesian triangular group in the east. In the north there is a connection to the Berlin line and the Elbe chain. The granite pillar is certainly not as impressive as the pillars with the inscriptions that give it its name, but it served the same purpose and had to be brought up the mountain in the 19th century. Although the Brandberg is not the highest mountain on the western flank of the Muskau Arch (de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskauer_Faltenbogen), it still lives up to its name today, with a fire watchtower on the summit for early forest fire detection (not public). The wooden signal pyramid above the pillar is quite crooked.