Landeskrone

Görlitz, Germany, Germany

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Landeskrone is a 420-meter-high volcanic hill and local landmark southwest of Görlitz, Germany, renowned for its panoramic views over Upper Lusatia, the city, and distant mountains like the Iser and Giant ranges. Human settlement dates back to the Bronze Age around 3,000 years ago, with evidence from the Lusatian culture, followed by Slavic fortifications around 900 AD, including walls between the hill's peaks and a semicircular rampart on the southern slope. A medieval castle, first documented as "castrum landischkrone" in 1268 and linked to the Rittergeschlecht von Landskron, served as a key Bohemian defense site along the Via Regia trade route; it passed to the Lords of Bieberstein in 1357 before Görlitz citizens bought and demolished it in 1440. The site later functioned as an observation post during the Thirty Years' War, hosted military units in the 18th-19th centuries, and gained its 1796 observation tower—one of Germany's oldest—plus a 1844 inn, with 1859 excavations revealing old foundations.