Oybin

The Oybin is a rounded sandstone hill in the Zittau Mountains, shaped like a beehive, with a castle and a Celestine monastery built on and into its top in the fourteenth century under Charles IV. Lightning burned the church in 1577 and a rockfall in 1681 destroyed more, leaving a roofless Gothic shell on the summit. In the Romantic period the ruin became a subject for painters, including Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Blechen, whose work fixed the image of ruins in mountain settings. A narrow-gauge steam railway of 1890 runs up to the village from Zittau, and paths climb through rock formations.

Background

Oybin is a municipality in the Görlitz district of Saxony, very close to the Czech border, made up of Oybin, Hain and Lückendorf. It holds the status of Kurort, a state-certified resort where people come for rest and recuperation. The village lies at 389 metres, and the municipality covers 18.29 square kilometres. Many oddly shaped rock formations stand in the surroundings, among them the Broody Hen on Mount Töpfer, and Mount Hochwald carries a look-out tower and 2 mountain huts. In the village are a baroque mountain church built in 1734, timber-frame houses and a camera obscura. The narrow-gauge railway runs from Oybin to Bertsdorf and on to Jonsdorf and the town of Zittau.

Source: Wikipedia, "Oybin"

What's there

• The roofless church - a Gothic shell on a rounded sandstone dome.
• The rock-cut rooms - monastery spaces carved into the sandstone.
• The steam railway - an 1890 narrow-gauge line from Zittau.
• The Romantic connection - a ruin painted by Friedrich and Blechen.

When to go

April to October; the railway runs year-round with reduced winter service. Summer evenings sometimes bring concerts in the ruin. The climb is steep.

What to expect

The climb to the summit is steep with steps. The ruin is fragments rather than a standing building. Trains are limited in winter.

Nearby

Zittau lies north; the Czech and Polish borders are close.