Witch altar

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Witch altar

The witch altar is a rock formation in the Harz Mountains in Saxony-Anhalt .

geography

The witch altar belongs to the Harz cliffs and is located on the top of the Brocken . Politically, this rock formation lies in the municipality of the city of Wernigerode in the Harz district .

The witch's altar is located in the core zone of the Harz National Park and is therefore no longer accessible to the public as it is not accessible by paths. But it can be clearly seen from the Brockenkuppe in the landscape.

Immediately next to the witch's altar is the Teufelskanzel , a similar rock formation around which several Brock sagas are entwined .

Between the witch's altar and the Brockenhotel - near today's Brockenuhr - there was a depression in the rock that was called the witch's washbasin.

history

In the time of the Kingdom of Westphalia , to which the Brocken also belonged, one read in public papers the strange announcement that one of the rock groups at the height of the Brocken, called the witch's altar, had been destroyed by barbarians. The real thing was that the top stone slab of this rock fell down out of mischief, but that in no way destroyed the group of rocks.

In 1844, a witches 'dance area is mentioned under the witches' altar.

Due to its peculiar appearance and its location on the footpath on the Brocken, the witch's altar was once a very popular destination for most hikers on the Brocken. It was often used as a postcard and photo motif.

Various legends have been entwined around the witch altar since ancient times. Heinrich Pröhle wrote that on May 1st you can see brooms, dogs and cats there and adults dance with torches. It is also reported that under the altar there is said to be an underground passage from which a kind of light known as Kobolz should occasionally emerge .

literature

  • Walther Grosse : History of the city and county of Wernigerode in their forest, field and street names (= research and sources on the history of the Harz region, Volume 5), Wernigerode, 1929, p. 76.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, State Enterprise Geobasis Information and Surveying Saxony (GeoSN): Digital Topographic Map 1:50 000.
  2. ↑ Otto Kalbe (Ed.): Meyer's travel books: Harz . 5th edition. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1873, p. 75 ( Preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ↑ Walther Grosse : History of the city and county of Wernigerode in their forest, field and street names , Wernigerode [1929], page 76.
  4. ^ Heinrich Pröhle: Lower Harz legends. Aschersleben 1856, p. 121.
  5. ↑ Harald Rockstuhl (Ed.): The Brocken Sagenbuch with witch sagas and Walpurgissages , Bad Langensalza, 2015.

Coordinates: 51 ° 47 '51.2 "  N , 10 ° 36' 58.8"  E