The most famous vantage point in Saxon Switzerland
The Bastei (305 m above sea level) is the most famous rock formation with a viewing platform in Saxon Switzerland. The famous landmark is located on the right bank of the Elbe above the spa town of Rathen and the town of Wehlen. The Bastei offers sweeping views of the Elbe valley and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. The Bastei mountain hotel and panorama restaurant is located on the plateau behind the Bastei. The new Bastei viewpoint is barrier-free.
The stone Bastei bridge ends at the Neurathen rock gate. Caspar David Friedrich captured this in an impressive painting: The oil painting "Rocky Landscape" from 1823 depicts the imposing group of rocks of the Neurathener Felsentor and symbolically combines the sublime and mysteriously unfathomable with aspects of threat and destruction in its expression. With masterful technique and skillful brushwork, the artist creates an impressive depiction of the rocky landscape.
For the painter and mountaineer Irmgard Uhlig (1910-2011), the powerfully symbolic oil painting "Felsenschlucht" is nothing less than "Caspar David Friedrich's most expressive rock painting, the pinnacle of Romantic landscape depictions". Friedrich used his now lost drawing of the Neurathen rock gate as a basis. The artist added the rock to the right of the natural formation to reinforce the message of the painting.
At the turn-off to the Ferdinandaussicht (just before the bridge on the left) there is an information board with information about Caspar David Friedrich.
Hiking tips:
The stone Bastei bridge ends at the Neurathen rock gate. Caspar David Friedrich captured this in an impressive painting: The oil painting "Rocky Landscape" from 1823 depicts the imposing group of rocks of the Neurathener Felsentor and symbolically combines the sublime and mysteriously unfathomable with aspects of threat and destruction in its expression. With masterful technique and skillful brushwork, the artist creates an impressive depiction of the rocky landscape.
For the painter and mountaineer Irmgard Uhlig (1910-2011), the powerfully symbolic oil painting "Felsenschlucht" is nothing less than "Caspar David Friedrich's most expressive rock painting, the pinnacle of Romantic landscape depictions". Friedrich used his now lost drawing of the Neurathen rock gate as a basis. The artist added the rock to the right of the natural formation to reinforce the message of the painting.
At the turn-off to the Ferdinandaussicht (just before the bridge on the left) there is an information board with information about Caspar David Friedrich.
Hiking tips:
- Malerweg 2nd stage
- Lohmen: Via the Schwedenlöcher to the spa town of Rathen to the Bastei
- Wheelchair tour: "To the Bastei"
