der Ort Lichtenstein

 

Extracts from the listed Internet links:
Burg Lichtenstein (Franconia)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_Lichtenstein_%28Bayern%29 last retrieval: November 19th, 2015
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felsenburg last retrieval: November 19th, 2015

Lichtenstein castle, is situated approx. 6 kilometres north of Ebern (Franconia), on the fringes of a village by the same name, on an extended range of the Hass mountains (Haßberge).
[…] The northern part of the castle, which used to be accessible to the public, had to be fenced in because of the bustling esoteric tourism which caused considerable damage to the structural fabric. Lichtenstein castle is reputed as a prehistoric world culture location among New Age devotees, comparable only to Stonehenge. No scientific proof of any pre-medieval use of this site as a sacred place of worship has been evidenced yet. It is interesting to note that the only location with a possible cult background is Veitenstein, which is almost ignored by New Age adherents.

[…] Rock castles and esotericism
Because of the difficulty for laypeople to classify rock carvings, stone benches and beam holes, many rock castles are incorrectly regarded as prehistoric or ancient pagan cult sites. Some of these sites have been the center of downright esoteric tourism in the past few decades, which has caused considerable damage to the monuments. The Hassberge, the Hass mountains, in Franconia, Bavaria, need to be mentioned in this context. One of the rock castles of major importance, Lichtenstein castle, has even been awarded the title of ‘world culture place’ by the New Age community. The neighbouring castles, for example Rotenhan, are haunted by ‘believers’ from all over Europe in their desperate search for enlightenment. They tend to ignore modern local historians’ findings, which are quite unambiguous esp. regarding the Hass mountains: no evidence of any pre-medieval use as a ritual or sacrificial place has been found. (Cf. Joachim Zeune: Burgen – Symbole der Macht)
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