Website: www.muskauer-faltenbogen.de
The Muskau Arch push moraine is situated in the east of the Federal Republic of Germany, south-east of Cottbus and north-east of Dresden, and in the west of the Republic of Poland to the south-west of Zielona Góra (Fig. 2). The region lies in the triangle formed by the Federal State of Brandenburg, the Free State of Saxony (Germany) and the Lubusz Voivodeship (Poland). The river Neisse cuts through the Arch and forms the border between Germany and Poland. The Muskau Arch is a transnational Geopark.
The entire area of the Geopark in Saxony is part of the Sorbian settlement area. The same applies to some towns and villages in the Brandenburg part. The Geopark territory is situated in the Spree-Neisse-Bober / Neiße-Nisa-Nysa Euroregions. Flowing from south to north and forming the border to the Republic of Poland, the Lusatian Neisse makes a remarkably deep incision in the plain, its terraces defining the area of the Arch along with the post-mining landscape resulting from the commercial use of the geological features. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, the Fürst-Pückler-Park in Bad Muskau is located in the Saxony part of the Geopark, as is a second park of cultural and historical significance, the Kromlau Rhododendron Park. The surface mining area of Nochten has been incorporated in the Geopark territory in the south, complementing the actual geological structure of the Muskau Arch push moraine. This explains the involvement of Vattenfall Europe Mining AG as a Geopark partner from the world of commercial enterprise (unprecedented to date and without parallel among other German Geoparks). In terms of approach roads the Geopark is well placed for access via the A 4 and A 15 motorways and the B 115 and B 156 roads. Border crossings to Poland are situated nearby in Forst and Bad Muskau. It takes about two hours by car from Dresden or Berlin to the Geopark. From Wrocław (Poland) the distance can be covered in just under three hours. There is a railroad connection to the southern part of the Geopark via the SprembergWeißwasser route. A number of hiking trails, cycle paths and lanes run through the Geopark area and are also linked via such paths to interregional routes.
The geological structure of the Muskau Arch and its immediate hinterland constitute the territory of the Geopark. It is a horseshoe-shaped lobe extending approx. 22 km from west to east and approx. 20 km from north to south.
The Muskau Arch is part of the Lusatia border wall and its easterly continuation, the Silesian Ridge. The overarching landscape is Lusatia which is partitioned into Lower Lusatia and 7 Upper Lusatia by the border wall. The Lusatia border wall is one of the morphological Quaternary ice rims in North Germany. It is the main ice rim of the earlier Saale Ice Age (Warthe stage). The name “Muskauer Faltenbogen” as used today was probably coined by the Prussians during their geological mapping. At roughly the same time the name appeared in 1927/1928 in a publication by the director of the “Lowland Mapping” department in the Prussian Geological Office, W. WOLFF, (“Muskauer Faltungsbogen” and in the identical introduction by CRAMER in 1928 to the specialist geological maps of Döbern, Triebel, Weißwasser and Muskau (“Muskauer Faltungsbogen”).
Office Geopark Muskauer Faltenbogen/ Geopark Łuk Mużakowa
Muskauer Straße 14
D – 03159 Döbern
Tel. 0049-35 600-3687-12 | 0049-174 8315 354
info@muskauer-faltenbogen.de
Website: www.muskauer-faltenbogen.de
Contact in Poland
Geopark Łuk Mużakowa
OKSIR
Wojska Polskiego 2
PL 68-208 Łęknica,
0048 68 362 41 35
0048) 502611022
email: lukmuzakowa@oksir.pl
Website: www.info@oksir.pl