Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna: Zur Kaiserkrone

The starting point is the Schöna Dorfplatz bus stop. From here, the trail leads past the small vintage car museum and climbs up the Caspar-David-Friedrich-Weg to the Kaiserkrone. The striking table mountain used to be called Kahlstein and was given its current name after the visit of Emperor Joseph II in the 18th century. In the past, the fields (no woodland) reached right up to the foot of the rock, hence the name Kahlstein; the name Kaiserkrone, which is now in common use, comes from the rocky peaks that rise up like the spikes of a crown.

There are three striking viewpoints at the top. They offer views of the Elbe valley with Schöna and Hřensko, the Prebisch Gate in Bohemian Switzerland and far across the rear Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Caspar David Friedrich stayed in the area in 1813; motifs such as the imperial crown and the Zirkelstein served as models for his sketches. Two lions sculpted from sandstone lie on a small plateau below the West View. Have fun looking for them.

The descent is via the main path down to a refuge. This is where you begin the counter-clockwise circumnavigation of Table Mountain, where new perspectives of the rocks and surrounding valleys are constantly emerging.
A little further south, near the Schiebquelle spring (about 1.5 km away), there was a wooden water pipe from 1638 which supplied the village with drinking water for centuries and ran east past the Zirkelstein.

The Schulweg trail then leads back to the village and to the Schöna Schulweg bus stop, where the circular walk ends.