The best running trails around Božídarské rašeliniště

Who is waiting there in the woods? The Sandman! 🪵🌙 This wonderfully carved wooden statue by the wayside is an absolute eye-catcher and a perfect photo opportunity on the Christkind-Runde. Especially when motivation wanes, familiar figures like this immediately reawaken the spirit of discovery in the kids. A wonderful little stopover to catch your breath! (And for us parents, the perfect opportunity to give the winking hint that after this great hike, everyone will definitely sleep well tonight 😉). Geprüft von @wanderfamilie.erzgebirge

Boží Dar (German: Gottesgab) lies at an altitude of approximately 1020 meters, making it the highest town in the Czech Republic. It was founded as a mining town and was known for its silver and tin mining. After the decline of mining, its location in the central Ore Mountains led it to develop into a recreational center, focusing on winter sports as well as summer hiking and cycling. Nearby are the highest peaks of the Ore Mountains: the 1244-meter-high Klínovec (Keilberg), the 1116-meter-high Božídarský Špičák (Gottesgaber Spitzberg), and the highest mountain in Saxony, the Fichtelberg, at 1214 meters.

The cozy "feeding place" on the Gottesgaber Christkindl Trail is a quaint meeting place for hikers. During a break, you can enjoy a small snack and a good Bohemian beer, even under cover in bad weather.

A wooden sculpture of the Sandman enhances the Christkindlweg (Christmas Trail) in Boží Dar. Viewers of GDR television know this Sandman, designed by Gerhard Behrendt, with the pointed cap and white goatee from the "Abendgruß" (Evening Greetings), broadcast daily since November 22, 1959. It is the television series with the most episodes worldwide: a good 22,000 "Sandmännchen" (Sandman) episodes have been broadcast over the past 65 years. Since German reunification, "Unser Sandmännchen" (Our Sandman) has continued to be produced on behalf of ARD and broadcast on the early evening programs of RBB, MDR, and KiKA. Watching this show was and remains a bedtime ritual for young children in many households.

Until 1945, the three Hubertushütten (St. Hubertus Huts), which had been used as weekend retreats since the early 1930s, stood on this site. One of the huts belonged to the Loose family from Chemnitz. Directly in front of it stood an old wayside cross. A new wayside cross was consecrated at the same spot in 2016. An information panel commemorates the fate of the Loose family. Arno Ferdinand Loose, the son of a factory owner, and his American wife May used the weekend hut and were socially active in Gottesgab. For example, every local family received a basic supply of clothes for the newborn from the Looses when a child was born. War and expulsion ended this harmonious coexistence. Arno Loose was arrested by the Soviets in September 1945 and died in a camp in 1946. May Loose fled to Oberwiesenthal, where she lived until her death in 1966. Several applications to emigrate to her home country, the USA, were rejected by the GDR authorities.

The small river Černá (Black Water) rises west of the Fichtelberg in Saxony, then flows into Czech territory and along the northern border of the Božídarské rašeliniště nature reserve. The river gets its name from the dark water, rich in humic substances, flowing from the numerous surrounding bogs. After 18.6 kilometers in the Czech Republic, the river flows back to Saxony and finally into the Zwickauer Mulde near Aue.

In the park in the town centre of Boží Dar you will find this seating group, where a carved bear holds the table for those taking a rest.

The third church building in the history of the mining town of Boží Dar (Gottesgab) was built in 1771 in the late Baroque style according to plans by the Prague architect Filip Heger. Previously, a wooden early Renaissance church had stood here since the 1630s, followed by a stone late Renaissance church from 1593 onwards. This church burned down in the mid-18th century and was replaced by the current church building. By the end of the 1960s, the church was in such poor condition that it had to be closed to the public for safety reasons. A fundraising campaign made the necessary repairs and the reopening of St. Anne's Church possible in 2016. Located at an altitude of 1,020 metres above sea level, it is not only the highest church in the Ore Mountains, the third highest church in the Czech Republic, and one of the highest town churches in all of Central Europe.