Summit cross

They usually stand on mountains whose summits are above the tree line, but they are also found in the German Central Uplands, for example in the Black Forest on the Herzogenhorn.

The tradition of a summit cross probably started in early Christian times, possibly linked to pilgrimage and monasticism, albeit unrecorded.

[3] In the 16th century crosses were erected with increasing frequency on mountain peaks, especially for the purpose of marking alpine pasture and municipal boundaries.

Further layers of Christian imagery as perceived by the Romantic generation made summit crosses a motif favoured by the painter Caspar David Friedrich in more than one of his mystic landscapes.

Large summit crosses in the modern sense — that is pieces designed specifically for mountain tops by expert craftsmen — were not really introduced until the end of the 19th century.

Communities often organized this sometimes very expensive and logistically difficult task on very high mountain peaks in the memory of the fallen, and war veterans in particular were often involved in their installation.

Under the Communist regime, it was endangered by plans to transform it into a totally different symbol, by removing the horizontal arms and adding a red star on top.