The Große Teufelsmühle is a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

on the

Viktorshöhe The Viktorshöhe is a hill, 581.5 metres high, in the Harz mountains of central Germany. It lies on the Ramberg massif within the boundaries of Gernrode, a part of Quedlinburg, and about 3 kilometres northeast of Friedrichsbrunn. History The f ...

near

Friedrichsbrunn Friedrichsbrunn is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 23 November 2009, it is part of the town Thale. History At the location of Friedrichsbrunn there has been a well and a resting plac ...

in the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

of central Germany. The name means "Great Devil's Mill". It is a

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

, a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

rock formation that displays typical

spheroidal A spheroid, also known as an ellipsoid of revolution or rotational ellipsoid, is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters. A spheroid has circ ...

or "mattress" weathering. The Große Teufelsmühle is a protected monument. Next to it is a checkpoint (no. 189) in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...

hiking system. In the vicinity is another rock formation, the ''Kleine Teufelsmühle''. The shape of the rocks has led to a legend that links it with the ruins of a mill occupied by the devil.

External links

Natural monuments in Saxony-Anhalt Rock formations of Saxony-Anhalt Gernrode {{Harz-geo-stub