Monk (southern Harz)

View into the Ilfeld valley with rock formations in the foreground

The Mönch or Mönchstein near the Ilfeld district of the Harztor municipality in Thuringia is a bizarre rock needle made of Ilfeld porphyrite that resembles a monk and therefore bears this name.

Geographical location

The monk is in the Beretal in the southern Harz north of Ilfeld and south of Netzkater . The goose beak is on the opposite slope .

The Goetheweg coming from Ilfeld leads directly past the Mönch .

history

The monk near Ilfeld must not be confused with the monk stone near Schierke am Brocken in the Hochharz.

The monk is mentioned in several whale books from the 17th and 18th centuries. Such books probably had their origins in real notebooks, in which ore prospectors recorded the sites and path markers they knew. Most of them are handwritten. Although the information in the whale books could often be easily refuted, they contributed to the belief in the existence of whales and Venetians who were laden with treasures from the Holy Roman Empire to their distant homeland until the end of the 18th century returned.

The texts in the whale books often describe very ephemeral waypoints: tree stumps, sawed-off branches or trees that have grown strangely; Hands cut into the tree bark, crosses or simple alchemical symbols. Monks are often given as whale signs carved in stone, especially in the Harz Mountains, who either - like the above-mentioned Mönchstein at Schierke - point with their arm in a certain direction or carry a wedge hoe on their back, occasionally also the figure of a bishop.

Say

There are several legends about the monk near Ilfeld, including those of the goose beak and the monk. The legend is about a magical goose, resulting in a monk from the Norbertine - Monastery Ilfeld had fallen in love. A witch is said to have turned the monk into a rock when he waved to her from across the valley. When the shepherdess burst into tears, the witch turned her to stone too.

literature

• Günther Herlitze: Venetians in the Harz Mountains. Legend and reality . In: Unser Harz 40/11, pp. 223-228.

Web links

• The "Mönch" rock needle
• Image of the monk at the Höhlengruppe Nord e. V.
• The whales or Venetians in the Harz Mountains

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The legend of the goose beak and the monk at harzlife.de

Coordinates: 51 ° 35 ′ 14.3 "  N , 10 ° 46 ′ 53.5"  E