Lossa Valley

Since January 2012, seventeen villages have formed the municipality of Lossatal. The region is rich in cultural and historical sights, many small castles, manor houses, churches and mills. They reflect a long and interesting history.

Two Bronze Age burial mounds near Frauwalde bear witness to an early settlement in the area. The Dresden State Office for Archaeology dates them to around 1,400 to 900 BC. In the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, visitors can see finds from the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Sorbian settlement period and the German repopulation period. Saxon geologists developed their theory of the Pleistocene inland glaciation from the glacial striations discovered on the Kleiner Berg.

From the 3rd century BCE until the end of the Middle Ages, five castles were built in succession on Hohburg land. The Latter Neolithic rampart on the Burzelberg is one of the oldest stone structures in Saxony. Of the former fortifications, only the "Redschin" is still clearly visible as an earth mound.

The documentary tradition of place names begins in the 12th century. Farmsteads and manor houses gave the villages their character.

With stone mining from the middle of the 19th century, workers' houses were added. In order to preserve the last remnants of the traditional quarrying industry, work began in 1980 on setting up a small museum specializing in the north-west Saxon natural stone industry, the Hohburg Stone Workers' House Museum. Today, it is also used as the geoportal of the Porphyry Land Geopark.

When hiking through the Hohburg mountains, which used to be a very popular winter sports area, you can enjoy wide views from the ski meadow, the Kirschberg or the south side of the Galgenberg. Families like to take a leisurely stroll through the Dornreichenbach animal enclosure in the former castle park. Here, people are committed to preserving native animal species, some of which are threatened with extinction, and are proud of Saxony's largest meerkat enclosure. 

Traditional village, harvest and fishing festivals bring customs and traditional crafts to life. The fairytale performances of the Dornreichenbach natural stage delight young and old alike.