Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth

Goethe wrote in 1820 The enormous size of the granite blocks, piled on one another without rhyme or reason gives an impression the like of which I have never come across on all my walks and no-one can be blamed for explaining this chaotic state of affairs that excites astonishment, fear and dread, by calling on the help of floods and cloudbursts, storms and earthquakes, volcanoes and whatever else nature may violently conjure up.

However on closer inspection, and with a detailed knowledge of that which nature, acting quietly and patiently, is able to do in a most extraordinary way, another solution to this puzzle offers itself to us (...)The well-rounded shapes of the individual blocks were formed by spheroidal weathering (Wollsackverwitterung) in the tropical, humid climate of the Cenozoic era.

The concept of opening it up and exploiting it was heavily influenced by the Society for the Portrayal of the History, Customs and Rights of the Fatherland (Gesellschaft zur Aufklärung vaterländischer Geschichte, Sitte und Rechte) established in Wunsiedel in 1784.

The first construction phase lasted until about 1800 and, referring to remnants of an ancient motte nearby, resulted in the name Luxburg, which was changed in 1805 to Luisenburg.

In 1805 the Prussian queen visited the prehistoric, natural wonder with her husband, Frederick William III and, totally spellbound, told her son about the experience.