The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'') is a

hill range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in Central Germany, shared by

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

, southeast of the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, 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'' der ...

mountains. It reaches its highest point at the Kulpenberg with an elevation of . The range is the site of medieval Kyffhausen Castle (''Reichsburg Kyffhausen'') and the 19th century Kyffhäuser Monument; it has significance in German traditional mythology as the legendary resting place of Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

Etymology

The origin of the name has not been conclusively established. ''Kyffhäuser'' (formerly also ''Kiffhäuser'') probably stems from the

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

word ''cuf'' 'head' or 'peak', and ''huse'' 'house'. Other explanations refer to ''kiff'' 'quarrel' and the historic castles at the site.

Geography

The Kyffhäuser is a small ''

Mittelgebirge A ''Mittelgebirge'' (; German: ''Mittel'', "middle or mid"; ''Gebirge'', "mountains or mountainous area") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germ ...

'' located in the

Kyffhäuserkreis The Kyffhäuserkreis is a district in the northern part of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis and Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, and the districts Sömmerda, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis and E ...

district of Thuringia and the Mansfeld-Südharz district of Saxony-Anhalt, not far from the larger Harz range to the northwest. The range has a length of , from west to east, and a width of . The highest point at the Kulpenberg, with the Kulpenburg TV tower, is located near the village of Steinthaleben in Thuringia. The range borders on the

Hainleite The Hainleite is a Muschelkalk ridge of hills up to in northern Thuringia, Germany. Geography This heavily wooded landscape lies between Bleicherode in Nordhausen district, Sondershausen in Kyffhäuser district, Bad Frankenhausen, Dingel ...

hill chain and the fertile Goldene Aue basin in the south. Large portions are protected as a nature park. Some parts of the range on the western and southern slopes are

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ified and bare of trees, covered by

calcareous grassland Calcareous grassland (or alkaline grassland) is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. There are large areas of calcareous grassland in northwestern Europe, particularly areas of southern Engla ...

. The area shaped by numerous

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

quarries today is the site of a

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...

, comprising the Kyffhäuser Monument, the Barbarossa Cave near Rottleben, the ''

Kaiserpfalz The term ''Kaiserpfalz'' (, "imperial palace") or ''Königspfalz'' (, "royal palace", from Middle High German ''phal ne'' to Old High German ''phalanza'' from Middle Latin ''palatia'' luralto Latin ''palatium'' "palace") refers to a number o ...

'' at Tilleda, and the Bilzingsleben Paleolithic site. The Schlachtberg hill on the southeastern rim near Bad Frankenhausen was the site of the decisive Battle of Frankenhausen during the German Peasants' War in 1525, commemorated in the monumental painting '' Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany'' by

Werner Tübke Werner Tübke (30 July 1929 in Schönebeck, Germany – 27 May 2004 in Leipzig, Germany) was a German painter, best known for his monumental Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany, Peasants' War Panorama located in Bad Frankenhausen. Associated wi ...

History

The settlement of Tilleda, located below the northern rim of the range, was already mentioned as ''Dullide'' in the early 9th century in the ''Breviarium Sancti Lulli'' register of Hersfeld Abbey. A ''Kaiserpfalz'' at the site is attested by the 972 Marriage Charter of Empress Theophanu. Numerous stays of her husband Otto II, as well as by his successors Otto III, Conrad II, and Henry III are documented by deeds they issued here. During the 11th century, Tilleda was superseded by a castle on the hill above the settlement that may have been erected by Emperor Henry IV during the Saxon Rebellion. His son Henry V inherited the quarrels and the castle was finally slighted by the Saxon Duke (and later Emperor) Lothair of Supplinburg in 1119. Lothair himself started the reconstruction in his later years and the Imperial Castle of Kyffhausen, one of the largest castle complexes in Germany, was completed under the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

emperor

. Tilleda was last mentioned as an Imperial castle in 1194, when Frederick's son Henry VI reconciled here with the insurgent Welf duke Henry the Lion. In 1698 Count Albert Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt had a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

hunting lodge erected at the hamlet of Rathsfeld in the centre of the Kyffhäuser range. Last used as a residence by Prince Günther Victor of Schwarzburg after his abdication in 1918, it was turned into a recreation home of the '' Kyffhäuserbund'' veterans' association in 1925. After World War II the remote site became a

Young Pioneer camp Young Pioneer camp () was the name for the Annual leave, vacation or summer camp of Pioneer movement, Young Pioneers. In the 20th century these camps existed in many socialist countries, particularly in the Soviet Union. The Young Pioneer ...

and a training camp of the East German '' Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik''; since

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, the empty premises have decayed.

Kyffhäuser legend

According to a

king asleep in mountain The king asleep in the mountain (D 1960.2 in Stith Thompson's Motif (folkloristics), motif-index) is a prominent folklore Trope (literature), trope found in many folktales and legends. Thompson termed it as the Kyffhäuser type. Some other design ...

legend, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who actually drowned on 10 June 1190 in the Calycadnus River near Seleukeia in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

during the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

, is not in fact dead, but sleeps in a hidden chamber underneath the Kyffhäuser hills. He sits motionless at a stone table and his beard has supposedly grown so long over the centuries that it grew through the table. As in the similar legend of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

, Barbarossa supposedly awaits Germany's hour of greatest need, when he will emerge once again from under the hill. The presence of

raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

s circling the Kyffhäuser summit is said to be a sign of Barbarossa's continuing presence. Similar

rapture The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...

legends refer to Emperor Frederick II or to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

sleeping in the

Untersberg The Untersberg is the northernmost massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps, a prominent spur straddling the border between Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. The highest peak of the Table (landform), table-top mountain is the Berchtesgadener ...

near

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. The Barbarossa myth was first documented in the late 17th century and later popularized by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

and a poem written in 1817 by

Friedrich Rückert Johann Michael Friedrich Rückert (16 May 1788 – 31 January 1866) was a German poet, translation, translator, and professor of Oriental languages. Biography Johann Michael Friedrich Rückert was born 16 May 1788 in Schweinfurt and was the e ...

. Frequently taken up by Romantic authors, and satirized in '' Germany. A Winter's Tale'' by

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

, it became the expression of the desire for the Old Empire's re-emergence as a German

nation state A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...

. When the Kyffhäuser Monument was built at the ruins of the Imperial Castle in 1890–1896, with a statue of Frederick Barbarossa and an Emperor William monument, the German Emperor

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

was thought to have "laid to rest" Barbarossa by the 1871

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

Today

Today, the hills are a popular tourist site, featuring the restored medieval ''Reichsburg Kyffhausen'' complex, including a small museum and the castle well, at depth said to be "the deepest castle well in the world". The downhill ''Pfalz'' of Tilleda is an archaeological

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

and a stop on the scenic Romanesque Road. The range is also the site of an annual

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The ...

hillclimbing and of the ''Kyffhäuser-Berglauf'' cross country running competition. The range is a popular destination for hikers; the Kaiser Way leads across the Kyffhäuser northwards to the Harz mountains.

References

*Sven Frotscher: ''Der Kyffhäuser – Natur, Geschichte, Architektur, Denkmale Europas''. Artern 1996,

External links

Kyffhäuser Monument at the official Thuringia tourism website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyffhauser Landforms of Thuringia Hill ranges of Germany Kyffhäuserkreis Forests and woodlands of Thuringia Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor