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

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 ...

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 nort ...

in 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 of 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 ...

. Offering a scenic view over the

Ilse valley The Ilse valley () is the ravine of the Ilse (Oker), 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 (Harz), Ilsenburg at the foot of the mountain range ...

to the

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

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

Geography

The Ilsestein is located in the Oberharz inside the

Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park The Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park () is situated n the districts of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The nature park which lies in the Harz Mountains was founded in 2003 and has an area of around 1,660 km2. It ...

within 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 ...

, 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 Ilse is a Germanic feminine given name. It is technically a German diminutive of Elisabeth, functioning as a given name in its own right chiefly in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa and all of the Scandinavia ...

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, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

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 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 ...

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) and Walpurgisnacht, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an ...

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, Harz Mountains. Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purpos ...

and

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

, in '' Faust II''.

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 ...

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

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

'' 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 giv ...

Otto Roquette Otto Roquette (April 19, 1824 – March 18, 1896) was a German author. Life and work Roquette was born in Krotoszyn, Krotoschin, Prussian Province of Posen. The son of a district court councillor, he first went to Bromberg (modern Bydgoszcz) in 18 ...

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

Battle of Möckern The Battle of Möckern (or Dannigkow) was a series of heavy clashes between allied Prusso-Russian troops under Wittgenstein and Napoleonic French forces south of Möckern. It occurred on 5 April 1813. It ended in a French defeat and for ...

on the first day of the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

, 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 Chri ...

(1785–1854) had an iron cross erected on the summit. The count had served as adjutant of

Prince Wilhelm of Prussia A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fema ...

and the monument commemorates his comrades who fell in the

German campaign The German campaign () was fought in 1813. Members of the Sixth Coalition, including the German states of Austria and Prussia, plus Russia and Sweden, fought a series of battles in Germany against the French Emperor Napoleon, his marshals, and th ...

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 (), 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 ...

. 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. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...

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