The Feuersteinklippe is a

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock (geology), rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock Geological formation, formation ...

in the

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

in central

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

of the nearby village of

Schierke Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode. Situated within the Harz mountain range in the valley of the river Bode, at the rim ...

. The Feuersteinklippe is a

butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

made of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

, not

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

(Feuerstein = "firestone" or flint) as the name suggests. It shows the

spheroidal weathering Spheroidal weathering is a form of chemical weathering that affects jointed bedrock and results in the formation of concentric or spherical layers of highly decayed rock within weathered bedrock that is known as ''saprolite.'' When saprolite ...

typical of the Harz region. The striking rock formation is located at a height of 690 metres and is surrounded by woods. It lies to the north of

Schierke station Schierke station ({{langx, de, Bahnhof Schierke) is the railway station in the village of Schierke operated by the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways on the Brocken Railway in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. Schierke itself lies as the foot of the ...

. The name Feuersteinklippe is derived from the Schierker Feuersteinwiesen (Schierke Feuerstein meadows) that lie to the southeast, which in turn were named after the cultic fires or signal beacons originally lit at this spot. An information board on the rocks recalls the visit of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and the painter,

Georg Melchior Kraus Georg Melchior Kraus (26 July 1737 in Frankfurt am Main – 5 November 1806 in Weimar) was a German painter. He was a co-founder of the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School, together with Friedrich Justin Bertuch, in 1776. Life He was the sixth ...

, who spent time here on 4 September 1784 in geological studies. The well-known herbal liqueur, Schierker Feuerstein, which is made in Schierke, is named after the rocks. The label portrays the rock formation. File:Schierke Feuersteinklippe Zugang.jpg, Forest clearing at the rocks File:Feuersteinklippe.jpg, The rocks in winter

Sources

*Gorsemann, Sabine and Kaiser, Christian (2010). ''Harz'', DuMont Reiseverlag Ostfildern, , p. 151 {{Coord, 51.766778, N, 10.676705, E, type:mountain_elevation:690_region:DE-ST, display=title, format=dms Wernigerode Rock formations of Saxony-Anhalt

See also

Sources