Baumgarten Circular Hiking Trail
- 4:05 h
- 16.14 km
- 236 m
- 236 m
- 349 m
- 473 m
- 124 m
- Start: Folklorehof Grüna
- Destination: Baumgartenstraße Grüna
The tour includes 9 stations closely connected to Baumgarten's life, work and local commemoration.
At the Folklorehof Grüna, the starting point of the hike, a memorial exhibition was housed from 1994 to 2015. It was dedicated to the two Saxon aviation pioneers Baumgarten and Wölfert.
The area at Hexenberg is regarded as the site of Baumgarten's first practical flight attempts. It is said that he experimented with early airship models here. Documented flight attempts took place along today's Limbacher and Rabensteiner streets.
At the Grüna forester's lodge, Baumgarten met an enthusiastic innkeeper, Franz Hermann Keil. Keil had a large wooden hall built for him where his airships could be constructed.
At the former "Black Pond" near Rabenstein, an experimental hall with associated hydrogen production was built in 1876. Here Baumgarten could work undisturbed on his airships.
The Baumgarten stele at the Oberrabenstein reservoir marks the next place of remembrance. The monument was created around 1990 by the Chemnitz sculptor Frank Diettrich. Directly behind it, since 2021, there has been a thematically designed "aviation playground".
The Pleiße forest estate was Baumgarten's workplace as chief forester. He had his office here from 1870 to 1872. The place is considered the former germ cell of his aviation-technical considerations.
An impressive viewpoint on the panorama hiking trail allows a view over Grüna and the grounds of the old chief forester's office. Baumgarten's apartment and workplace were located here.
The former chief forester's office has housed a modern daycare centre with 170 places since 2009 after a monument-appropriate renovation.
The tour ends at Baumgartenstraße in Grüna, which was named after him on the initiative of the local association. The street symbolically runs in the direction in which Baumgarten's airships were once to rise.
Good to know
Best to visit
- suitableDepends on weather
Directions
- The tour can start at the Folklorehof Grüna. Head north to leave it and then turn right into the residential area "Am Hexenberg." At the "Sprudelstein," the "Hexenberg" is visible, near which Baumgarten made his first successful airship ascent.
At the end of the street, turn left onto Limbacher Street. A green marking leads towards the forest lodge and Pleiße. At the fork, follow Rabensteiner Street towards the forest lodge, another experimental site of Baumgarten's.
After passing under the railway bridge, turn right towards Rabenstein. Along the path is a weather shelter. At the fork, take the narrow path on the left; to the right is the old railway embankment. The last train ran on this line until 1951.
Shortly before the Oberrabenstein parking lot, steps on the left lead up to the "White Stone" with benches. From there go straight ahead to the campsite, where you turn right. Several paths lead steeply downhill.
At the small bridge, turn right towards the castle grounds on Oberfrohnaer Street, then left and shortly after right again towards the campsite. Keep right between ponds and then follow the fence uphill to the Oberrabenstein reservoir and parking lot.
Follow the green marking straight on to the climbing forest. At a cross path, turn left and keep left until you reach the main path with another weather shelter. At the Rabenstein ridge, take the right turn to Pleiße and enter the forest.
At the forest edge, turn left at the junction. Then you reach the Pleiße ski hut with seating. From there, the path continues right toward Pleiße, then left into Rabensteiner Street to the main street.
There keep left for a long stretch until Baumgartenweg leads uphill to the Pleiße forest estate. A few meters further is a resting place with a memorial plaque. From here the path leads right to the shelter on Eichelberg. Follow the signs and turn left through the forest towards the motorway.
After the underpass, keep right. You will reach the highest point of the Rabenstein ridge, the Totenstein at 483 m, where there is also a lookout tower with 160 steps.
Behind the Oberförster-Baumgarten clearing, turn left and continue holding left. At the forest edge, there is a resting place with a view. Then the path heads west and goes down left to Dorfstraße towards Grüna.
Here is the chief forester's office with Baumgarten's memorial plaque. Continue along the forest road keeping left past the Grüna primary school until Baumgartenstraße. Turn right, and on the right side, the starting point reappears: the Folklorehof Grüna.
Tour information
Cultural Interesting
Loop Road
Directions & Parking facilities
- Getting thereby public transport:
- by bus or train from Chemnitz main station to Grüna
by bus or train from Hohenstein-Ernstthal to Grüna
by car:
- A4 to the Wüstenbrand exit, turn left at Bürgerhof towards Grüna
- B173 to Grünaer Street or to the Grüna exit at the roundabout
Parking- Parking lot at the Folklorehof Grüna
Additional information
- The path is marked with airship symbols or a sign "Baumgarten Circular Trail".
- The ascents and descents are short and moderate.
- There are also shortcut options for those who find the route too long.
www.gruena-online.de
Literature
- Teichmann, H. & Schulz, G. 2007. A dream comes true – Georg Baumgarten and Dr. Wölfert: The most important German airship pioneers of the 19th century. Schiff u. Flugzeug Publishing Bookstore Empfingen 2007.
Internet:
Author
Vanessa Hähnel
Organization
Tourismusverband Chemnitz Zwickau Region e. V.
License (master data)
Vanessa Hähnel
Author´s Tip / Recommendation of the author
- Our explorer tips:
- Rabenstein Castle
- Aviation playground
- Oberwald reservoir
- Climbing forest Chemnitz-Rabenstein
Map
- Anyone who wants detailed information about Baumgarten's life and work or about the 9 stations can use the Baumgarten Circular Trail brochure.
Nearby
Download GPX file