Teufelsstein (Haardt)

The Teufelsstein in the Haardt mountains, near the Palatine county town of Bad Dürkheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is a hill 317 m above sea level (NN).

From its summit, which nowadays is wooded, there is an all-round view over the Rhine Plain to the east, the Palatinate Forest to the west, and its eastern mountain range, the Haardt, which runs from north to south.

Until 1981, when it was closed for legal reasons, a gondola lift ran from the site of the Dürkheimer Wurstmarkt, the Brühlwiesen, in a northwesterly direction up to the top of the Teufelsstein.

for Kastanienberg or "chestnut hill"), is host to the remains of the Heidenmauer, a large Celtic settlement with a 2.5 km long circular wall, which was built around 500 B. C., as well as the Roman quarry, the Kriemhildenstuhl, which was used until the 4th century A. D. The Teufelsstein, which gave the hill its name, is a rock formation about 2.50 metres high and up to 4 metres wide.

According to older accounts, two coarsely drawn human figures as well as other carvings used to be visible as well, but they have since weathered away or been deliberately destroyed.