Georgenfelder Hochmoor, Nature reserve in Altenberg, Germany

Georgenfelder Hochmoor is a nature reserve in the Ore Mountains featuring boardwalks that guide visitors across peat bogs and wet depressions. The raised walkways allow you to explore the landscape while protecting the delicate ground beneath your feet.

The bog began forming after the Elster glaciation, when meltwater filled hollows on the ridge and peat mosses slowly raised the surface; its peat is about 5 metres thick, giving an age of roughly 10,000 years. From the 16th century the growing tin mining at Altenberg drew off water via the Neugraben, and peat was cut as fuel before 1900 and again in the early 1920s. On the initiative of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz the area was bought in 1926 and declared a nature reserve, with the teacher Marschner prominent in the purchase and botanical research.

The Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz bought the bog in 1926 and had it declared a nature reserve, making it one of Saxony's oldest. The schoolteacher Georg Marschner was especially active in the purchase and in botanical research, alongside Hofrat A. Naumann of the Dresden Veterinary College. The boardwalk is lined with bilingual German-Czech information panels.

You can access the site using marked hiking trails on your own or join a guided visit for more detailed information. Wear sturdy footwear and check the weather beforehand, as the open moorland offers little protection from wind and rain.

The bog is only the small western tip of a much larger moorland that continues across the Czech border and has long been called "Die See" (The Lake). Its peat is about 5 metres deep, which points to an age of roughly 10,000 years.