Großer Gleichberg

Großer Gleichberg
View from observation tower on the Schwedenschanze towards the Haßberge and the Großer Gleichberg
Highest point
Elevation	679 m above sea level (NHN) (2,227.7 ft)
Prominence	276 m ↓ northeast of Steinfeld
Isolation	23.5 km → Hohe Warth, boundary of the Thuringian Highland/Thuringian Forest
Coordinates	50°23′16″N 10°35′29″E / 50.387654°N 10.591329°E / 50.387654; 10.591329Coordinates: 50°23′16″N 10°35′29″E / 50.387654°N 10.591329°E / 50.387654; 10.591329
Geography
Großer Gleichberg County of Hildburghausen, Thuringia
Parent range	Gleichberge (singular in the Grabfeld)

At 679 m above sea level (NHN), the Großer Gleichberg is the higher of the two adjacent mountaintops known as the Gleichberge east of Römhild in the landscape of Grabfeld and the county of Hildburghausen in the German state of Thuringia. It was formed in the Tertiary volcanic field of the Heldburger Gangschar and is the highest point today of that formation.

With an isolation of well over 20 kilometres and a prominence of just under 300 metres, the Großer Gleichberg is one of the most striking mountains in Thuringia.

In the Cold War period from 1968 to 1991 there was a military out-of-bounds area at the summit with a radio and radar station belonging to the Red Army. In 1942 it had been declared a protected area; today the Großer Gleichberg is a nature reserve. At the summit there is a former ein ehemaliger TV converter that broadcast television to southwest Thuringia and those areas of Bavaria near the border, but now just acts as a mobile phone transceiver.

Basalt used to be mined in two quarries on the Großer Gleichberg: the Gleichamberg Quarry (Gleichamberger Steinbruch) and the Römhild Quarry (Römhilder Steinbruch). The Römhild Quarry was operated from 1901 to 1968 and the ruins of its stonebreaking yard are still visible (as at: 2013). The Gleichamberg Quarry operated from 1897 to 1981 and employed up to 140 workers (in 1927). There is also a cableway with which basalt was transported in coal drams to the basalt works at the station in Römhild and to Gleichamberg. In the forest settlement (Waldhaussiedlung), on the saddle between the two Gleichberge, there is a "corner station" (Winkelstation) where the Römhild Cableway (Römhilder Seilbahn) changed direction. It was also a sawmill.