Saxon Highlands and Uplands
Native nameSächsisches Bergland und Mittelgebirge
ClassificationNatural regions of the Free State of Saxony
Natural regionSaxon Highlands and Uplands
State(s)Saxony
CountryGermany

The Saxon Highlands and Uplands (German: Sächsisches Bergland und Mittelgebirge) refer to a natural region mainly in the south of Saxony with small elements also in southeast Thuringia and northeast Bavaria. It comprises, from (south)west to (north)east, of the Vogtland, the Ore Mountains, Saxon Switzerland, the Upper Lusatian Plateau and the Zittau Hills.

The amalgamation of several major geographical units by the working group for Ecological balance and Regional Character at the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, that includes a break-up of the old natural region of Oberlausitz, has not been fully recognised officially, because this division has not yet been accepted by federal authorities like the Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), but does broadly follow the logic of other groupings such as that of the Thuringian-Franconian Upland which border it to the west and includes the Thuringian Forest, Thuringian Highland, Franconian Forest and Fichtel Mountains.

Whilst the Thuringian-Franconian Upland, like the adjacent Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest run from northwest to southeast, these low Saxon mountains generally run from west-southwest to east-northeast. The Vogtland, whose German section lies mainly in the natural region in the Free State of Saxony that gives it its name, forms the actual link to the Thuringian-Franconian Upland.

The new internal subdivisions of the Ore Mountains have since been adopted by the BfN.

Natural sub-divisions

The following list shows the current division of natural regions. Main geographical units according to Meynen and the BfN are shown with an asterisk (*).

Alternative sub-divisions according to Meynen and BfN

The older division of the Ore Mountains into major units by Meynen is as follows (in brackets their location within the new classification):

See also

Sources

51°00′00″N 13°00′00″E / 51.0000°N 13.0000°E / 51.0000; 13.0000

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