Geotope at Eckhardtshög

The geotope is an outcrop of gypsum stone from the Middle Keuper (Heldburg plaster). The rock is 225 million old and stored like a lens in the surrounding sandstone. From a chemical point of view, gypsum is calcium sulphate and is formed when this mineral crystallises out by the evaporation of mineral-containing water. Gypsum builds up due to the high pressure of other sedimenting sediments. Gypsum stone of high quality and purity is degraded as alabaster. Known is the Heldburg Alabaster from Thuringia. Alabaster is as white as marble, but it weathers lightly and is therefore used by sculptors only for interior objects. For example, a 12-meter-high epitaph in the Morizkirche Coburg for Duke Johann Friedrich the Middle in the years 1596/98 made of Heldburger alabaster. Below the Wachsenburg you will find an old alabaster quarry.

Furthermore, it is explained here, why landmarks with one wheel can be found everywhere on the Schlossleite. These were set up in 1777 on the occasion of the visit of the Elector of Mainz and Archbishop, who then resided in Erfurt and also owned the town Mühlenberg. The wheel is not a mill wheel but the Mainz wheel.