Bülow-Denkmal (Bodetal)

The Bülow-Denkmal stands in the Harz mountains beside the Bodetal valley, just past the Königsruhe inn on the road to Treseburg. A single large rock bears a metal plate engraved with a tribute to Heinrich August Wilhelm von Bülow, the Thale district’s senior forester. Between 1818 and 1820 he helped lay out the first walking paths through the valley and up the Schurre to the Roßtrappe rock formation, work later celebrated by this monument. Some older accounts, however, credit a lesser-known forester named Eyber with securing the necessary permits for the same trails.

The stone itself is roughly rectangular, its top cut flat to hold the inscribed metal plaque. Beneath the tribute lines is a smaller inscription reading “VII SIEBENBURGER ST TH 1834,” a date and cipher that scholars link to the monument’s construction. The text is carved in clear, simple German, making the dedication easy to read even from a short distance.

Visitors reach the site along a quiet forest track that leaves the main road near Königsruhe. The path climbs gently through mixed woodland until the boulder appears beside the trail, framed by spruce and beech. From here the valley opens below, revealing steep cliffs and the rushing river below. The air carries the scent of pine and damp stone, while the only sounds are birdsong and the wind in the treetops.