top of page

Schauinslandbahn

Papst-Licensing-Baumstamm-Memory-57.png

​

If you want to enjoy the view, you have to get to the top.

 

Southeast of Freiburg lies the Schauinsland, a mountain with an altitude of 1,284 meters. It is about ten kilometers from the center of the city, which is why it is also called Freiburg's local mountain. It rises directly from the Upper Rhine Graben, which is why strong winds sometimes prevail, especially on its western side.

 

Because of its height, it is of course a wonderful vantage point. From here you can see the Vosges and the Alps. The view of Freiburg is equally fascinating. To the north, you can also see the Hornisgrinde, the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest. To make the climb easier, there is a cable car that is 3.6 kilometers long in total. This makes it the longest cable car in Germany. From the Horben valley station in Freiburg, it climbs a total of 746 meters. For this purpose, the lift has 37 cabins. In addition to people (700 per hour), the cable car also transports bicycles and ski equipment. If you don't want to take the cable car to the top, you can also hike the Schauinsland and enjoy the fantastic view of the Rhine Valley from the top.

 

The top of the Schauinsland is unwooded, a fact that goes back to mining. In the Middle Ages, silver as well as lead and zinc were mined in this mountain, which is why wood was needed to stabilize the tunnels. The wood was taken directly from the top of the mountain, which led to a real clear-cutting. Mining was stopped here in 1954. Since 2002, the entire peak area has been under nature protection.

 

What you don't see on the outside of the Schauinsland is what is inside, and that is quite a lot. First of all, there are the tunnels that originate from mining. There are twenty-two in total and together they have a length of about a hundred kilometers. Today, no more mineral resources are mined and the Schauinsland serves as an excursion destination. Here you can visit a part of the former mine since 1997.

 

Even more interesting is what can be found in the so-called Barbarastollen, which is located in the Hörnergrund near Oberried. Namely, there are film reels. Yes, you haven't misread, the gallery is full of reels. In fact, since 1975, it has housed an archive of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, in which documents of the Federal Republic of Germany copied onto film reels are kept, which are of important significance for history and culture. They are recorded using a special, high-resolution technique on special polyester thin film that lasts for a very long time. Within Europe, the Barbarastollen is the largest archive of its kind and is under special international protection by UNESCO.

bottom of page