Armesberg

The Armesberg rises 731 metres above sea level as a dark basalt cone covered in forest. It stands south-east of Zinst on the edge of the Steinwald in the eastern part of Kulmain municipality. An old trade route from Eger to Nürnberg once passed its slopes. A protected wallfahrtskirche crowns the summit, reached by several walking and cycling routes. The mountain also marks the watershed between the Fichtelnaab and the Haidenaab rivers. Its slopes form the western edge of the Steinwald region. The first chapel was built in 1677–78 under the Kulmain parish priest Christoph Arckhauer. On 12 August 1690 the Regensburg suffragan bishop Albert Ernst von Wartenberg consecrated it. The dedication drew more than 3 500 people, with 850 receiving communion. A century later the Michaelskapelle below the summit was destroyed by fire in 1841. Lightning struck the Dreifaltigkeitskirche in 1819, leaving only ruins. Visitors follow winding paths through beech and spruce woods to the summit. The church is a solid round building with a tower projecting from its front. A series of carved basalt stations leads pilgrims up the slope. On the south-west side a wide scree field of columnar basalt shows where the ancient volcanic plug once stood. From the top the view stretches across the Steinwald to the Fichtelgebirge on clear days.