Dresden Heath
Approximately 6,133 hectares of the Dresden Heath are designated as a nature preserve, making it one of the largest municipal forests in Germany by area.
The forest exhibits a transition, both in its geology and in its plant and animal life, between the North German Plain and the Central Uplands.
Though the rocky subsoil of the forest was raised during the tectonic formation of the Dresden Basin, the mixed woodland of the heath is largely characterized by dune-like sand deposits of the Wolstonian Stage and Elster glaciation.
Located in the northeast of the Saxon capital, the main part of the heath stretches from the city centre to the border of Dresden.
Smaller regions on the edge of the heath belong to the administrative districts of Neustadt and Klotzsche, as well as to the town of Radeburg.
In the south, the main part of the heath stretches between Loschwitz and the Waldschlösschen district, to the slopes of the Elbe and to Radeberger Vorstadt.
On the southern border of the Heide, the forest segues into the park and garden landscape of the Dresden Elbe valley.
Originally, the Dresden Heath was part of the expansive, continuous border forest between the Sorbian regions of Nisan and Milska.
After 1372, the Dresden Heath was sovereign property assigned to the office of Radeberg, servicing the court of Saxony as a vast hunting territory from the Middle Ages to the First World War.
In the light, sandy soil, agriculture did not last long and fields were often actively reforested or reclaimed by the forest itself.
Large areas were deforested after 1827 to create a training ground for the Saxon army, resulting in the existence of the Heller.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the responsible authorities required compensatory plantings to counter smaller clearings of the heath.
The Dresden Heath and Junge Heide became separated due to the development of transport corridors such as Radeburger and Königsbrücker Streets as well as the Saxon-Silesian railway and, finally, the present A4 motorway.
