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Großer Feldberg

highest mountain in the Taunus mountains, Germany

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ677873 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Großer Feldberg ('Great Field Mountain') is, at a height of 879.5 metres, the highest elevation of the Taunus mountains, and of the entire Rhenish Massif. It is situated in the Hochtaunuskreis district in Hesse, Germany.

The Feldberg/Taunus transmitter mast is set at the top of the mountain. A lookout tower affords long-distance views onto the Taunus hills to the North and West and over and beyond the Rhein-Main plain to the South and East. A restaurant and a small hut offer food and drinks.

The mountain is accompanied by the Kleiner Feldberg, a subsidiary of 825 m at a distance of 1.3 km to the south-west, and the 798-metres-high Altkönig, 2.3 km to the south-east.

Height

There is a considerable uncertainty on the exact height of the Großer Feldberg, because the height given in the various sources varies up to several metres.

At the summit is the Feldberg summit cross including the summit register and information board, giving a height of 879.5 metres.

The Geoportal of the Hessian State Office for Regional Management and Geo-information (Hessische Landesamt für Bodenmanagement und Geoinformation), gives the following heights in its online maps: 878 m on the H200 map of Hesse, 879 m on the PG50 and PG25 graphical maps and 878.5 m on the TK25 topographic map.

The Geoportal of the BfN gives the following heights in its online maps: 880 m at map scale 1:500,000, 879 m at 1:250,000, 1:100,000, 1:50,000 and 1:25,000, and 878.5 m at 1:10,000 and 1:5,000.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Großer Feldberg” is highest mountain in the Taunus mountains, Germany. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Großer, Feldberg and highest, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 249-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Großer, Feldberg and highest is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “highest mountain in the Taunus mountains, Germany” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q677873. VIAF identifies the subject as 247676861. The Library of Congress control number is sh85057432. Authority coordinates are 50.233, 8.459. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Großer Feldberg”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Großer Feldberg primary sources, Großer Feldberg archive and Großer research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Großer Feldberg”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Großer Feldberg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.