The Große Teufelsmühle is a natural monument

Natural Monument

A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance....

 on 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 :...

 near Friedrichsbrunn

Friedrichsbrunn

Friedrichsbrunn is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 23 November 2009, it is part of the town Thale.-History:...

 in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. The name means "Great Devil's Mill". It is a tor, a granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 rock formation that displays typical spheroidal

Spheroidal weathering

Spheroidal weathering is a type of chemical weathering that creates rounded boulders and helps to create domed monoliths. This should not be confused with stream abrasion, a physical process which also creates rounded rocks on a much smaller scale...

 or "mattress" weathering. The Große Teufelsmühle is a protected monument. Next to it is a checkpoint (no. 189) in 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...

hiking system. In the vicinity is another rock formation, the Kleine Teufelsmühle.

The shape of the rocks has led to a legend that links it with the ruins of a mill occupied by the devil.

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