Externsteine

The Externsteine are a row of sandstone pillars up to about forty metres high, standing vertically because the beds were tilted almost on end during mountain building and the softer surrounding rock eroded away. A large relief of the Descent from the Cross was carved into one of them, generally dated to the twelfth century and among the largest medieval reliefs of its kind north of the Alps. A chamber cut near the top has a circular opening aligned with sunrise at the summer solstice. Claims of prehistoric or pre-Christian use have been made repeatedly and are not supported by archaeological evidence.

History

The first sure mention of the stones is in a document of around 1129, referring to a farm "Holzhausen or Egesterenstein", and a possible earlier one of 1093 survives only in copies of 1374 and 1380; an inscription in the main chamber of the grotto records a consecration in 1115 by one Henrico, taken to mean Heinrich II. A popular tradition, going back to an idea put to Hermann Hamelmann in 1564, made the rocks a sacred site of the pagan Saxons and the place of the Irminsul, and finds from the excavation of 1934/35 were analysed again in the 1990s (Wikipedia, Externsteine).

The landscape

• The vertical pillars - sandstone beds tilted on end and eroded free.
• The medieval relief - a large twelfth-century Descent from the Cross.
• The aligned chamber - a cut room with an opening facing solstice sunrise.
• The stair route - steps and a bridge to the top of one pillar.

When to go

April to October; the rocks close in ice and high wind. Solstice draws crowds. Autumn colour in the Teutoburg Forest is good. Parking is paid and fills.

Things to know

Claims of prehistoric ritual use are not supported by evidence, despite persistent repetition. The stair to the top is steep and closes in bad weather.

Nearby

Detmold's open-air museum lies north; the Teutoburg Forest surrounds it.