Obstland Cycle Route

The origins of fruit growing in Saxony date back to the Middle Ages. Fruit, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants were cultivated in monastery gardens as early as the 12th/13th century.

After the secularization of Marienthal Monastery in Sornzig during the Lutheran Reformation in the mid-16th century, the monastery continued to be managed as an agricultural monastery estate. Since then, the Electors of Saxony promoted Saxon fruit growing sustainably by state decree.

In 1892, Dr. Ludolf Colditz acquired the Sornzig monastery estate and established the tradition of modern orchard fruit growing here.

By 1900, Sornzig alone already had 8,340 fruit trees. An extensive tree nursery was established, which also attracted attention with new varieties. Fruit trees and fruit from Sornzig became well known and sought after throughout Germany.

After the Second World War, fruit growing in Sornzig and the surrounding area continued on a cooperative basis. In 1966, the cooperatives in Ablaß, Dürrweitzschen, Leisnig, and Sornzig joined together to form the "Sachsenobst" cooperative association. In the early 1970s, "Obstland" established itself as one of the five main fruit-growing regions between the Baltic Sea and the Ore Mountains.

Since 1991, Obstland Dürrweitzschen AG has continued the region’s more than 800-year-old fruit-growing tradition on more than 1,500 hectares of fruit-growing land. It presents its fresh and liquid fruit products under the "Sachsenobst" product brand and successfully promotes them with the slogan "This is what nature tastes like."

In "Obstland," you can still experience and enjoy the environmentally friendly and nature-oriented cultivation methods used by Saxon fruit growers on modern, large-scale plantations.