Rheinhardtsdorf-Schöna: To the 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 Trail to the Kaiserkrone. The striking table mountain was formerly called Kahlstein and was given its current name after Emperor Joseph II visited it in the 18th century. In the past, the fields (no forest) stretched right up to the foot of the rock, hence the name Kahlstein. The name Kaiserkrone, which is now commonly used, refers to the rocky peaks that rise up like the points of a crown.

At the top, there are three striking viewpoints. They offer views of the Elbe Valley with Schöna and Hřensko, the Prebischtor in Bohemian Switzerland and far beyond the Hintere Elbsandsteingebirge. Caspar David Friedrich stayed in the area in 1813; motifs such as the Kaiserkrone and the Zirkelstein served as models for his sketches. On a small plateau below the western viewpoint lie two lions modelled from sandstone. Have fun looking for them.

The descent is via the main path down to a refuge hut. There, the circuit of the table mountain begins in an anti-clockwise direction, offering ever-changing perspectives of the rocks and surrounding valleys.

A little further south, near the Schiebquelle spring (about 1.5 km away), there was a wooden water pipe from 1638 onwards, which supplied the village with drinking water for centuries and passed east of the Zirkelstein.

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