The Ilsestein (formerly also called ''Ilsenstein'') is a prominent

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 near the town of

Ilsenburg Ilsenburg () is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It is situated under the north foot of the Harz Mountains, at the entrance to the Ilse valley with its little river, the Ilse, a tributary of the Oker, about six north ...

in the

Harz 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 ...

mountains of central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Offering a scenic view over the

Ilse valley The Ilse valley (german: Ilsetal) is the ravine of the Ilse stream in the northern boundary of the Harz mountain range in Germany. Part of the Harz National Park, it runs from the town of Ilsenburg at the foot of the mountain range up to the sourc ...

to the

Brocken The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. ...

massif, the highest mountain of the range, it is today a popular tourist destination.

Geography

The Ilsestein is located in the

Oberharz The Upper Harz (german: Oberharz, ) refers to the northwestern and higher part of the Harz mountain range in Germany. The exact boundaries of this geographical region may be defined differently depending on the context. In its traditional sense, th ...

inside the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park within the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and I ...

, the park boundary running along the forest track immediately east of the rock formation. Its summit is and rises about 130 to 150 metres above the Ilse river. It is located about south-southwest of the centre of Ilsenburg. From toporgraphical maps it can be seen that there is a fork in the track to the northeast and just below the rocks at and a waypoint on the same track next to the ''Gasthaus Ilsestein'' at .

History

Around 1000 AD, a small counter-castle was erected on the Ilsestein immediately after the conversion of the former

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

fortress of ''Elysynaburg'' into

Ilsenburg Abbey Ilsenburg Abbey (German: ''Kloster Ilsenburg'') was a monastery of the Benedictine Order located at Ilsenburg near Wernigerode, in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. The former abbey is a stop on the Romanesque Road. History The monastery was built in th ...

by the Bishops of Halberstadt. After about hundred years, it was destroyed around 1107, nevertheless its layout could be reconstructed. V6 pg153 Ilsenstein

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

mentions the in the

Walpurgisnacht Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in ...

scene in his drama, '' Faust I'', and again, together with the

Heinrichshöhe The Heinrichshöhe is a subsidiary peak of the highest mountain in the Harz, the Brocken, and, at , it is the second summit in the Harz Mountains. Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purposes of ...

and

Schnarcherklippen Schnarcherklippen is the name of a rock formation (up to 671 m above sea level) south of the village of Schierke in the High Harz mountains of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany. The name translates roughly to "snoring crags" or "sno ...

, in '' Faust II''.

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

described how he climbed the in his 1826 book, ' (''The Harz Journey''). Engelbert Humperdinck's

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

'' mentions an as the location of a haunted forest. There are several legends around a maid Ilse and one Duke Henry, which authors like

Heinrich Pröhle Christoph Ferdinand Heinrich Pröhle (June 4, 1822 – May 28, 1895) was a German literary historian, teacher ('' Oberlehrer''), writer and folk tale and fairy tale collector (a successor to the Brothers Grimm). Disambiguation of Heinrich The g ...

, Otto Roquette and others wrote down. On 18 October 1814, one year after the

Battle of Möckern The Battle of Möckern was a series of heavy clashes between allied Prusso-Russian troops and Napoleonic French forces south of Möckern. It occurred on 5 April 1813. It ended in a French defeat and formed the successful prelude to the "L ...

on the first day of the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...

, Count

Anton of Stolberg-Wernigerode Count Anton zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (23 October 1785 − 11 February 1854), was chief minister in Magdeburg, governor in the Prussian Province of Saxony and Prussian Minister of State. Life Count Anton was a fourth son of the reigning Count Ch ...

(1785–1854) had an iron cross erected on the summit. The count had served as adjutant of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and the monument commemorates his comrades who fell in the German campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. For the centenary of the Möckern battle, on 18 October 1913, a memorial plaque was unveiled here in the presence of Prince Christian Ernest of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1864–1940) with an explanation of the origin of the 1814 iron cross.

Views and hiking

From the summit of the Ilsestein the view extends to the nearby

, which rises to the southwest, into the

with its surrounding mountains and to the north to

and the

Harz Foreland 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 ...

. The pub, ''Gasthaus Ilsestein'', re-opened in 2016 and is checkpoint No. 30 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 network.

References

Harzer Wandernadel
''Stempelstelle 30 / Ilsestein''
at harzer-wandernadel.de

External links

{{Coord, 51, 50, 49.5, N, 10, 39, 41, E, type:landmark_region:DE-ST, display=title Castles in Saxony-Anhalt Rock formations of Saxony-Anhalt Rock formations of the Harz Ilsenburg

Geography

History

Views and hiking

References

See also

External links