Georoute Collm

The starting point is the Mahliser Str./ Trift car park in Collm. From here we follow Mahliser Str. in a southwesterly direction. About 1km further on you reach an old quarry on the right. Between 1835 and 1959, greywacke was quarried here for building roads and houses. The greywacke on the Collm is considered to be the oldest rock in Saxony: around 500 million years ago, sediments were deposited here in a shallow sea, which were later lifted and deformed by tectonic processes. The quarry has been a geological natural monument and nature conservation area since 1975 and has been open to the public since 1989.

Following the forest path northwards, after about 1km you reach the Geophysical Observatory of the University of Leipzig via a short detour. After a seismograph set up in Leipzig was always affected by traffic or industry, the new one was built on the Collmberg between 1927 and 1932. Earthquakes have been recorded here since 1935. The Collmer Station has been part of the German Regional Seismic Network (GRSM) since 1993 and works with various international data centers. High-altitude measurements have also been carried out since the 1950s.

After the short detour via the observatory, a path in a southeasterly direction takes you to the so-called "Stairway to Heaven". A very steep climb to the Collmberg. On the Collm there is an old rampart (ca. 900 AD), about which there is almost no information. The steep ladder to heaven is evidence of the good defensive positions.

We bypass the Himmelsleiter in a southerly direction and soon turn left to reach the summit. The 1853m high observation tower has stood on it since 18 and was named "Albertturm" after the then prince and duke and later king of Saxony. The tower offers views of the Wermsdorfer Wald, the Dahlener Heide, the Petersberg near Halle, Hartenfels Castle in Torgau, the Völkerschlachtdenkmal and the Uniriesen in Leipzig, the Augustusburg, the Lilienstein in Saxon Switzerland and the Landeskrone near Görlitz. A granite column with the inscription "Royal Saxon Station of the Central European Degree Measurement 1865" commemorates the Central European Degree Measurement in 1865, in which the Collm was a first-order point for the Saxon triangular network.

Following Collmbergstrasse you soon reach the town centre again. Via Mahliser Str. you reach the town's cemetery, where another special feature awaits you: the oldest tree in Saxony, the 1000-year-old linden tree. It is 18m high and has a trunk circumference of 11m. In the Middle Ages, justice was administered here. In 1185, Collm was first mentioned as a "Landding" (site of the Meissen state parliament). The tree has been a listed building since 1949.

Following Mahliser Str. out of town takes you back to the car park, the starting point of the tour.

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  B6 to Altenhainer Weg towards Wermsdorf, then continue to Collm

  
  


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  A14: Take exit 32-Mutzschen, S18 to Wermsdorf, then continue to Collm

  
  

Bus 801 between Wermsdorf and Oschatz

• Kirch Collm, Wermsdorf stop, approximately every half hour


• Walk about 250m SW along Mahliser Str. to the parking lot