The Kilianstein is a free-standing

rock tower A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples are ...

on the Hopfenberg hill in the eastern part of the Sembach valley in central Germany. It stands about 800 m east of the (upper) village of Winterstein on the northern slopes of the

Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...

in Germany. The pinnacle is about 15 metres high and some . It consists of a relatively crumbly

quartz porphyry Quartz-porphyry, in layman's terms, is a type of volcanic (igneous) rock containing large porphyritic crystals of quartz. These rocks are classified as ''hemi-crystalline acid rocks''. Structure The quartz crystals exist in a fine-grained matrix ...

and is visited, albeit rarely, by sports climbers. Several trails are signposted from here, climbing routes have been established on the rock and on the top is a summit register. According to one Winterstein legend, this rock was formed when the devil rammed his walking stick into the ground in anger at the success of the missionary

St. Kilian Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian (or alternatively ga, Cillín; la, Kilianus), was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia (Franconia is nowadays the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours in the latter ha ...

in converting the local pagans, and the tip of his stick remained embedded.

References

{{Authority control Rock formations of Thuringia Gotha (district) Thuringian Forest