Hoher Meissner is a mountain massif with a height of 753.6 m and is located in the Meissner Kaufunger nature park in Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Geography

The Hoher Meissner is densely forested and covers an area of 10 km by 5 km. It is located approximately between Eschwege

Eschwege

Eschwege , the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany.- Location :The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river Werra at the foot of the Leuchtberg northwest of the Schlierbachswald and east of the Hoher Meißner...

 and Grossalmerode as well as Sooden Allendorf and Waldkappel

Waldkappel

Waldkappel is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Waldkappel lies between Hessisch Lichtenau in the west and Eschwege in the east, where the town is found in the North Hesse Upland between the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park neighbouring it to the north...

. Together with large parts of the Kaufungen Forest and the Soehre forest it forms the very extensive Meissner Kaufunger nature park.

Geology

In the Tertiary period the area was covered by thick forests. From these forests, lignite

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

 deposits were formed, which were then covered by sand and lava. The basalt formations have been eroded by weathering and were much higher at one time.

Highest mountain in northeast Hesse

The Meissner peak is not the highest point in northern Hesse, even if it is commonly held to be. In northwest Hesse lie some mountains which are substantially higher. Therefore the Kasseler crest, with an elevation of 753.6 m, is the highest peak in northeast Hesse, but not in all of Hesse.

Mountains

• Kasseler Kuppe (753.6 m)
• Kasseler Stein (748 m)
• Kalbe (720 m)
• Heiligenberg am Meissner (583 m)
• Bühlchen am Meissner (537 m)

Lookout points

From different locations on the Meissner one can enjoy wonderful views:

• Calf: From this basalt crest, approximately 720 m high, there are views of the Werra
  Werra
  The Werra is a river in central Germany, the right-source river of the Weser. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After 293 km the Werra joins the river Fulda in the town of Hann. Münden, forming the Weser....
  
   Valley ("Werratal") and the Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal nature park. One can also see the Harz
  Harz
  The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...
  
   Mountains, the Thuringian Forest
  Thuringian Forest
  The Thuringian Forest running northwest to southeast, forms a continuous stretch of ancient rounded mountains posing ample difficulties in transit routing save through a few navigable passes in the southern reaches of the German state of Thuringia. It is about long and wide...
  
   and the Rhön Mountains
  Rhön Mountains
  The Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end of the East Hesse Highlands , are partly a result of ancient volcanic activity...
  
  . This lookout point can only be reached on foot - e.g. by the path which begins at the Mother Hulda
  Mother Hulda
  Mother Hulda is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. It was originally known as Frau Holle and is tale number 24.- Synopsis :...
  
   Pond (German: Frau-Holle-Teich).
• Schwalbenthal: This spot is easier to reach than the „Kalbe,“ but the views are hardly less attractive; it lies about 100 m lower, at a fork in the road, slightly below the "Stinksteinwand." Here there is a parking lot (elevation 620 m) with splendid views of Meissner-Vockerode, and, in the distance, Thuringia
  Thuringia
  The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
  
  .
• Meissnerhaus: Views from the southwest side of the mountain include, among other things, the ranges of the Kellerwald, the Habichtswald
  Habichtswald
  For the town in Germany, see Habichtswald, Hesse.The Habichtswald is a small mountain range, covering some 35 km2 and rising to a height of 615 m, immediately west of the city of Kassel in northern Hesse in Germany....
  
   and the Kaufunger Wald.

Mining

The lignite mining industry began around 1560, after gloss coal bits were discovered in a brook, and persisted until 1929. The coal was used,for example, as fuel for salt production in Bad Sooden Allendorf and at the large power station in Kassel.

• Stinksteinwand and Schwalbenthal: Striking evidence of the centuries-long practice of mining on the Meissner is given by the so-called Stinksteinwand ("stinking stone wall"), located above Schwalbenthal on the east face of the mountain. In former times coal was extracted there, by sub-surface mining. This coal was prone to spontaneous combustion, and for centuries people on the surface have seen and smelled the smoke from the smoldering fires in the subterranean coal seams. Even in recent times all attempts to extinguish these fires have failed, so that one can often notice a sulfur-like smell -- sometimes quite strong -- at the Schwalbenthal parking lot or beyond. Slightly below the Stinksteinwand lies the Gasthaus Schwalbenthal inn, the last remaining building in a mining industry settlement of about 10 houses, demolished because of the danger of landslides.
• Bransrode: Bransrode, on the northwest side of the mountain massif, is the site of the last sub-surface coal mine in the area, which was closed in 1929. Immediately thereafter, the quarrying of basalt began, which continued until 2003.
• Calf (ex open mining): From 1949 to 1974 by means of days at the calves brown coal one promoted, which is still to be recognized still well: After the pumps were turned off, up to 30 m deep a lake northeast formed and above this for approximately 20,000 m² large lake is the basalt crest calf in the former open mining, whose quite evenly graduated and quite high basalt walls are impressing much. In order to put the coal seams freely, the basalt masses storing over it had to be diminished and way-created: These were then poured simply over the mountain-slopes, which is to be recognized also today still by the waste dumps resulted from it well: Meter high pile up themselves at the slopes above the woman Holle pond partly large basalt breaking into up.

Transmission facility

The Hoher Meissner transmitter

Hoher Meissner transmitter

Hoher Meissner transmitter is a facility for mediumwave, FM- and TV-broadcasting on Hoher Meissner mountain in Northern Hesse. Hoher Meissner transmitter was inaugurated in 1951....

is a facility for medium-wave, FM- and TV-broadcasting. The complex is made up of three guyed lattice steel masts, the tallest of which is 220 metres high, and a 40 metre free-standing lattice tower.