ルートヴィヒスシュタットの天然記念物・トップ20

自然公園インフォメーションセンター「カルテ・キューヘ」は、レンンシュタイクにあり、3つの自然公園だけでなく、ゾンネベルク、クローナッハ、ザールフェルト/ルードルシュタットの3つの郡が交差する地点にあります。ここでは、景観、工芸品、ドイツの歴史について学ぶことができ、多数の無料ハイキングマップも入手できます。休憩が必要な場合は、レンンシュタイクの軽食スタンドで軽食、飲み物、コーヒー、ケーキを補給できます。 営業時間：4月から10月：火曜日から金曜日 10時～16時、土曜日と日曜日 11時～16時。 11月から3月：火曜日から金曜日 10時～15時30分。月曜日は休館日です。

This is the former Lehesten roofing slate opencast mine. Its dimensions alone are impressive; along with the nearby Oertelsbruch, it was one of the largest slate quarries on the continent (approximately 800 m long, 300 m wide, and up to 80 m deep). Source: Wikipedia

The tower is located on the Wetzstein hill. A circular hiking trail to Staatsbruch Lehesten also runs here.

A beautiful region 🤩 If you like, you can also take a detour to the Alvater Tower.

The "Kalte Küche" (Cold Kitchen) also offers hot food. 😅 A wonderful place for a rest and break with refreshments.

Very interesting quarry with explanations.

The tower on the Wetzstein was built as a memorial against the expulsion of people and as a place of remembrance of a lost homeland. After the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia in 1945/46, local friends founded the Altvaterturmverein Langgöns in 1976. In 1999, the association rebuilt the Altvaterturm, which collapsed on May 2, 1959 and was not rebuilt, on the Wetzstein in a true-to-original manner.

In the "Land of Blue Gold," as the slate is called here because of its distinctive color, the tradition of Thuringian-Franconian slate mining can still be experienced today. This extraordinary industrial complex, located at what was once one of Europe's largest open-cast slate mines, provides a hands-on experience of the history and processing of slate. The entire Staatsbruch Slate Park area is a nature reserve. 170 Red List species have now been confirmed to have settled in this partially inaccessible area.