In close proximity to the Czech-Bavarian border lies the national natural monument Železná hůrka, which was declared to protect the relic of the youngest Czech volcano. The volcano forms a small hill on a fault line penetrating the joints of the Cheb-Dyleň crystalline rock. Komorní hůrka, less than 15 km away, is also located on the same structure.
Železná hůrka. Photo Jan Buriánek
The deposits of two different eruptions are clearly visible in the old quarry wall. The loose tuff material (so-called tephra) is dominated by olivine-nepheline lava, and the so-called xenoliths, i.e. foreign fragments of the crystalline bedrock, ultrabasic materials of the earth's mantle and magmatic crystal precipitations, are less represented. The author of the first description of Železná hůrka is J. W. Goethe, who visited it during his stay in Mariánské Lázně in 1823.Forest paths lead from the volcano to a gazebo with a spring of mineral water on the site of the former Kyselecký Hamr farmstead. On the German side is Bad Neualbertreuth with the famous thermal and radon baths Sibyllenbad. A popular tourist destination is the Doubrava open-air museum with a typical example of Cheb folk architecture. The half-timbered Rustler farmstead houses a private local history museum.
Photo 1-3: Železná hůrka. Photo Jan Buriánek