Badlands in the Thuringian Castle Country We look forward to seeing you! Explore the CASTLE COUNTRY - DREI GLEICHEN and visit our GEOINFOCENTRES ! The Drei Gleichen-castles are associated with many Contact: legends about devastating fires, cruel robber- Tourist information and GeoInfoCentre knights, kidnapped princesses or medieval bigamy. Kulturscheune Mühlberg But there is more to the castles than that: they also Thomas-Müntzer-Str. 4 “guard” an exciting geological treasure that dates 99869 Drei Gleichen, OT Mühlberg back over 200 million years. Tel. & Fax: 036256-22846 CastleBurgenroute Trail The Castle Trail (“Burgenroute”) takes you through a E-Mail: [email protected] gentle and romantic landscape and occasionally Opening hours: distance (km) reveals places of harsh beauty. These are the so-cal- April - Oct.: Wed - Sun 10 am – 5 pm GeoRouten-FührerGuide for GeoRoute 3 3 led Badlands, a very rare type of landscape in Germa- Nov. - Mar: Wed - Sun 10 am – 4 pm ny. Located on the south-facing slopes of the castle 1 GeoPark-Geologist: -55,192 mm hills, these red and greenish-grey, almost completely Mühlberg Stephan Brauner, Tel.: 03623-332014 Kulturscheune GeoInfoCentre vegetation-free, areas are made of mudstones and [email protected] marl. The very low nutrient content of the soil only 23 supports the development of a grassland or steppe Imprint: vegetation. Burg Gleichen Regionaler Förderverein There where the first dinosaurs once Thüringer Burgenland – Drei Gleichen e. V. difficult roamed through Thuringia, lives a Chairperson: Jens Leffler Thomas-Müntzer-Str. 4 unique flora and fauna of the Drei G leichen continental South European steppes. 99869 Drei Gleichen, OT Mühlberg Ziegenberg -10,115 mm moderate GeoPark-Management: GeoRoute: 14 Length: approx. 31 km (western section approx. 12 km, e.t.a. Sachverständigenbüro Reyer Riesenlöffel Middle section approx. 7 km, eastern section approx. Haarbergstraße 37, 99097 Erfurt easy 12 km) Tel.: 0361-4229000, Fax.: 0361-4229005 Start: GeoInfoCentre Kulturscheune Mühlberg E-Mail: [email protected] Pfennigsberg Difficulty: easy-moderate Getting there by train: Authors: Railway station Wandersleben or Haarhausen, Eva Kochlett, Wolfgang Schröter, 7 Train schedule: www.bahn.de Inge Fischer, Nancy Schröter Wachsenburg Map: © mr-kartographie Gotha Getting there by bus: Bus lines 870, 871, 354 and bus stops in 3 Mühlburg Mühlberg, Röhrensee, Holzhausen, Bittstädt und Graphic design: Antje Raßloff 0 5 10 15 20 25 28,1 1 Freudenthal Mühlberg Photos: Kulturscheune GeoInfoCentre Bus schedule: www.vmt-thueringen.de, START Stephan Brauner, Kerstin Fohlert, Anke Schindler www.rbarnstadt.de, www.iov-ilmenau.de 400 350 300 elevation (m) elevation profile for the Castle Trail: Trail: elevation profile for the Castle All information subject to typesetting and typographical errors. 1st edition December 2018 Drei G leichen Our expert Geopark Guides Note: The overview map of the GeoRoute is not are available to enhance your suitable for hiking. Trail maps can be purchased in the tourist information offices, for example in the experience on this trail. GeoInfoCentre Kulturscheune Mühlberg. Book here: Kulturscheune Mühlberg www.thueringer- geopark.de www.drei-gleichen.de Nationaler GeoPark Thüringen Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen Nationaler GeoPark Nationaler GeoPark Thüringen Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen Nationaler GeoPark Attractions along the Castle Trail 7. Castle Wachsenburg 15. Gypsum quarries at the Kalkberg 21. Freudenthal Communities along the Castle Trail: Timetable of the geological development of the Geopark - built as an abbey in 936 for Abbot Meingoth - part of the northern Wachsenburg graben structure with - according to legend, when Count Ernst von Gleichen escaped age Mühlberg in Mio. years - used as a prison until the end of the 19th century, then steeply inclined strata (see 16 ) from Muslim captivity together with the sultans daughter, 1 25 today (Holocene) 1. GeoInfoCentre Kulturscheune Mühlberg - First mentioned in the deed of donation made by the converted to a tourist attraction - early extraction of gypsum for construction purposes whom he had married whilst on the run and who had helped Quaternary 2 - Tourist information of the Thuringian Castle Country- Thuringian duke Hedan II. on May 1, 704; it is the oldest town 10 Ice age (Pleistocene) - today used as a restaurant, hotel and museum - you can find out more about gypsum and gypsum karst on him escape, he was greeted here by his first wife Alpine Orogeny Drei Gleichen in Thuringia together with Arnstadt and Grossmonra - Opening hours: daily from 11 am (Mon / Tue closed) the Panorama Route (Guide for GeoRoute 2) - Information about the Geopark, permanent display of life in - typical cluster village, town wall until mid 19th century 22. Saurian fossil site at the Hasenwinkel the Middle Triassic ocean around 240 million years ago and - more attractions are linked by the local hiking trail 190 about Prof. Herrmann Müller (companion of Charles Darwin) 8. Otto-Knöpfer-House Holzhausen 16. Gravel pit Haarhausen - Fossil saurians (bones, teeth) were found in the Upper Lias “Mühlberger Runde“ Jurassic - temporary cultural and art exhibitions - Otto Knöpfer (1911 - 1993) was a famous Thuringian painter - abandoned quarry, today a conservation area Triassic shale-marl sequence of the Kallenberg incl. from (of motifs from the Drei Gleichen region) - a section of the northern edge of the Wachsenburg graben Plateosaurus engelhardti Holzhausen 200 2. Rät Sandstone quarry below Mühlburg Castle - Opening hours: May - Oct: Sun 13 pm - 4 pm structure is exposed in the quarry (geol. fault zone: - you can see a reconstruction of this saurian on the - first recorded in 786 - the village has several historic half-timbered houses - the Rät Sandstone was used for construction Eichenberg-Gotha-Saalfeld-Fault Zone) Saurian Discovery Trail (Guide for GeoRoute 6) 210 - first official record of commercial use in 1832 9. Overview panel for the Geo and - steeply inclined and folded strata can be seen here in Bittstädt - more information on the Seeberg Trail (GeoRoute 5) close proximity 23. Castle Gleichen 2 Pleasure Trail “From Beer to Bratwurst“ - first recorded in 786 220 - provides an insight into the environmental setting for the - largest of the Drei Gleichen castles - the romanesque St. Ägidien Church is worth a visit Keuper 22 6 3. Mühlburg Castle with Radegunde Chapel development of our cultural landscape and regional 17. Experimental Archaeology Site Haarhausen - first officially recorded in 1034 and inhabited until the 18a 5 Heldburg-Gypsum 230 - oldest of the Drei Gleichen castles (first recorded 704) culinary jewels - on show is a reconstruction of a 3rd century Roman pottery 16th century Haarhausen Triassic 16 with a baking and potter`s furnace as well as stilt houses - notorious for the legend about the double-wedded Count - first recorded in 786 Upper - fell into disrepair from the 17th century onwards - discovery stations with sculptures and audioguide Mid 15 Lower - the originals were found in local excavations von Gleichen (see 21 ) - settlements in the parish date back to the 4th and 5th century 240 Muschelkalk - today a popular destination with a 22 m tall lookout, Upper 56 m deep 13th century well, and a small museum with 10. Gravel pits near Bittstädt - Opening hours: grounds are open all year - today tourists can visit the ruins with walls from the 11th H. Arnstadt Mid V. century, a lookout with a permanent exhibition “Barren 250 Lower temporary exhibitions - the river Ohra flowed here during the ice age, depositing - Bach and residential town with historic town centre Buntsandstein - the remains of a chapel dedicated to the last Thuringian gravel 18. Viewpoint “Am Stein” Beauty – Steppes in Thuringia” - worth seeing: the New Palace (Neuer Palais) with castle - info-station explaining the history and geology of the - Opening hours: April - October: daily 10 am – 6 pm Zechstein Copper shale princess, Radegunde (518 - 587), are located on the - today the so-called Urstrom-Kies (ancient river gravel) is museum and baroque doll town Mon plaisir, Bach and 260 Neuenhof-Fm. (boundary conglomerate) outer bailey extracted near the village; historical quarry in “Heidenholz“ Roter Berg (‘‘Red Hill‘‘) Liebfrauen Church, Neideck Castle ruins - Opening hours: April - Oct.: Mon - Fri 10 am – 5 pm, 24. Oil and pearl barley mill - The Thuringian Bratwurst is first recorded in 1404 on an 270 Eisenach-Formation Sat – Sun/holidays 10 am – 6 pm 11. Kupferstrasse ("Copper Road") 18a. Geotope Blumenberg - one of the 7 mills of Mühlberg, first recorded 1528 invoice for the Maidens Convent of Arnstadt Permian until the 18th century an important pilgrimage and trade road - initially thought to be a sinkhole due to its form - driven by water from the Springquelle Tambach-Formation 4. Trinius view on the Gustav-Freytag Trail - also used to transport copper ore from the 14th century - however it is an old gypsum quarry - mill has a 18th century pounding and press mechanisms Places to eat along the Castle Trail 280 Rotliegend Rotterode-Formation - the viewpoint was built in honour of the author August Trinius onward, which was processed here e.g. in the Tobiashammer - only functioning mill of its kind in Thuringia Oberhof-Formation Bittstädt: Inn “Zur Heide" Goldlauter-Formation at the end of the 19th century Ohrdruf (hammer mill, today technology museum) 19. Gräfenbrunnen in the Gleichental 290 Haarhausen: “Gemeindegaststätte“