Wie weit ist es vom Harz ins Riesengebirge?
How Far is it from the Harz to the Giant Mountains?

Summary/Abstract: The Harz, the highest mountain range in the Northern Germany, is a region of utmost importance for German culture. Mining of ores has flourished here already in the Middle Ages, with time, health-resorts started to appear in the foothills and mountain summits and valleys filled with holidaymakers and tourists. Among the latter, a number of outstanding writers visited the Harz, either from Germany (e. g. J. W. von Goethe, H. Heine and Th. Fontane) or from abroad (e. g. H. Ch. Andersen). As the highest range of Bohemia and Silesia (and also, at a certain time, the Kingdom of Prussia), the Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge/Karkonosze/Krkonoše) were not only a natural border between these neighbouring regions, but in a way it was also an obvious focus of attention of learned excursionists describing them as early as at the close of the Middle Ages, but more importantly in modern times. This paper deals with the comparison of culture and literature of the Harz and the Giant Mountains.

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