Subparts
Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichland
Bergbaumuseum Knappenrode
Knappensee bei Hoyerswerda
Landschaft bei Bautzen
Landschaft bei Kamenz
Teichlandschaft
Teichlandschaft zwischen Bautzen und Hoyerswerda
The Königsbrücker - Ruhlander heath lands and the Muskauer heath country in the north of Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz) with their sandy soil, low in nutrients and moisture, provide ideal conditions for cranberry and blackberry bushes. These thrive here and mix with pine trees to form extensive forests which are interrupted only by straight forestry roads. Large parts of this sparsely populated area of rolling hills still bear the marks of brown coal mining. A gentle regeneration policy has been pursued since the days when many mines were closed. In the Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichlandschaft proper, water is so abundant that it is dubbed “Land of the Thousand Lakes.” (Its actual name means “Upper Lusatian heath and pond landscape.”) The high groundwater level enabled settlers to create innumerable fish breeding ponds as early as the 13th and 14th century. Even today, this region remains a unique natural space, a mosaic consisting of wetlands, flooded meadows, marshlands, ponds, dunes and forest heath.