The famous poet and explorer Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) visited Bohemia 17 times between 1785 and 1823. He spent most of his time in Karlovy Vary, but later his travels also took him to Teplice and Františkovy Lázně. In addition to writing, he also diversified his spa stays with natural science research.
At that time, the road from Weimar to Karlovy Vary led through Aš, Františkovy Lázně and Svatava near Sokolov. In 1806, the old road to Františkovy Lázně via Nebesa and Skalka was replaced by the new Aš road, which wound around the romantic white rocks. Goethe immediately fell in love with them and liked to stop there for a snack and look around the countryside. The 670 m elevation on the edge of the Nebeský les (Heavenly Forest) was later named Goethe's Hill and the adjacent rock formations Goethe's Rock.Goethe's Rock is a protected natural monument. It is a group of rock formations on a powerful quartz vein, the outcrop of which is about 400 m long, several meters wide and up to 15 meters high. The vein is part of the Czech quartz wall, which runs parallel to the tectonic lines of the Bohemian Forest and near Hazlov breaks through the two-mica granites of the Smrčín massif. Due to its high strength, the vein quartz was quarried. In the largest of them, under Goethový vrch, building stone and gravel were mined until the 1960s.At the southern end of the ridge, a blue tourist sign indicates a turnoff to Goethuv kamen. It lies right next to a busy road, but is relatively inconspicuous, as the yoke's original whitish color has been covered by black car exhaust fumes and road dust. A memorial plaque is placed on the boulder, which Goethe's friend from Cheb, police councilor, amateur naturalist and mineral collector Joseph Sebastian Grüner (1780-1864) had planted there in honor of the visit of the Duchess of Saxony-Weimar, Maria Pavlovna (1786-1859).
Photo 1-3: Goethe's Rocks