The Bear Monument is a monument to bears in the Harz mountains of central Germany

Central Germany (geography)

In geography, central Germany describes the areas surrounding the central point of modern-day Germany.The town of Niederdorla, in the state of Thuringia, claims to be the most central town in Germany...

. It stands by a forest track and walking trail in woods not far from the Bremer Teich

Bremer Teich

The Bremer Teich is an historic reservoir that lies south of the two villages of Bad Suderode and Gernrode in the Harz Mountains of Germany, and is used as a recreation area . It impounds the Bremer Graben, an artificial channel fed by water from the Bode and the Saale...

 and the Viktorshöhe

Viktorshöhe

The Viktorshöhe is a hill, 585 metres high, in the Harz mountains of central Germany. It lies on the Ramberg massif, about 3 kilometres northeast of Friedrichsbrunn.- History :...

 hill and marks the spot where the last bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 was killed in 1696 in the Anhalt Forest. The monument was erected around 1900. It is a glacial erratic

Glacial erratic

A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. "Erratics" take their name from the Latin word errare, and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres...

 boulder on which a cast-iron memorial plate with an inscription has been affixed. Next to the bear monument is a checkpoint (no. 184) which is part of the Harzer Wandernadel

Harzer Wandernadel

The Harzer Wandernadel is a network of checkpoints for walkers in the Harz mountains in North Germany. It includes a system whereby the hiker can earn badges at different levels by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and recording them...

 network of hiking trails.

The last bear in the Upper Harz was killed about 90 years later near Wernigerode

Wernigerode

Wernigerode is a town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the district of Wernigerode. Its population was 35,500 in 1999....

. A coachman or carter named Buchtekirch shot it between 1786 and 1788 and received a reward form of two Reichstaler from the Count of Stolberg

County of Stolberg

The County of Stolberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz mountain range in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.The town of Stolberg was probably founded in the 12th century as a mining settlement. The Counts of Stolberg probably derived from a branch of the counts of...

.

A similar monument is the Luchsstein ("Lynx Stone") near Lautenthal

Lautenthal

The formerly free mining town of Lautenthal is a state-recognised, climatic spa with around 2,000 inhabitants that has been part of the borough of Langelsheim since 1972.- Geography :...

, which commemorates the killing of the last wild lynx

Lynx

A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...

in the Harz in 1818.