Teufelsstein of Pließkowitz (Sun Sanctuary of Upper Lusatia)

The Devil's Stone, in Upper Sorbian Čertowy kamjeń, is a granite rock in the East Saxon district of Bautzen. It is located on a small hill at about 175 m above sea level. NN in the vicinity of a quarry on the connecting road between the places Pließkowitz and Kleinbautzen. The Kreckwitzer Heights are about 1.5 km to the southwest.Due to numerous archaeological finds, the area is considered a settlement area for both the Lusatian culture and the Milzener, ancestors of today's Sorbs.Various legends are also associated with the rock. A legend describes the rock as the "seat of the devil".

Pastor Pannach (Ponich) from Malschwitz described the Teufelsstein von Pließkowitz in 1797 as an "altar of idolatry" and stated that the rock had features of deliberate changes. [1]Teufelsstein von Pließkowitz / Kleinbautzen, drawn by Karl Benjamin Preusker in 1844
Karl Benjamin Preusker (1786–1871) took the view that the legendary rocks of Upper Lusatia served as pagan sacrificial altars and temples of gods for a sun cult in prehistoric times and were just as significant as Stonehenge in England. He also counted the Devil's Stone from Pliesskowitz among these pagan sacrificial altars and drew it. [2]Excavations carried out by the Society for Anthropology and Prehistory of Upper Lusatia brought a series of ceramic shards and stone age artefacts directly to the rock, as well as the knowledge that the rock was changed by human influence: can certainly assume that it was previously in a different situation, d. H. lay across the two boulders so that there was a gate underneath ”. The Teufelsstein was classified as a "megalithic (dolmen-like) monument of a very ancient time (Stone Age)". [3]Equinox (spring / autumn) sunrise 2007
In 2007 local researchers from Sohland examined the rock for its suitability for calendar solar observations. It was found that the central cliff allows observation of the equinox (beginning of spring and autumn) at sunrise and sunset and the dolmen-like stone formation in the south is set for the sunrise and sunset solstices. The functional scheme is similar to that of the other rocks investigated in Upper Lusatia and is identical to that of the Nebra sky disc, Stonehenge and the Goseck circular moat. In 2008, the public and school observatory "Bruno-H.-Bürgel" in Sohland / Spree founded the archaeoastronomy group to research the solar phenomenon. The archaeoastronomical research project was given the name "Project Gods Hand" and the rock objects that show the calendar solar observation phenomenon are referred to as the "Sun Sanctuaries of Upper Lusatia"
Source: Wikipedia

In 2014 a granite monument was erected in the center of Bautzen, which reproduces the solar observation scheme of the Teufelsstein von Pließkowitz.Teufelsstein Pließkowitz, solar observation scheme, function as a solar sanctuary, specialist group archaeoastronomy
On February 1, 2016, the title of a lecture at the state study academy in Bautzen was: "The Devil's Stone from Pließkowitz - the Stonehenge at the gates of the city of Bautzen?" . Fits on individual boulders were interpreted as carpenter's technique, as they were also used in the construction of Stonehenge. From this it was concluded that the natural rock was partially changed for calendar astronomical observations and that the devil's stone could actually be a forerunner of Stonehenge.
Source: Wikipedia