Hexentanzplatz, Plateau and viewpoint in Thale, Germany

Hexentanzplatz is a plateau in the Harz region that rises to about 454 meters above the Bode Gorge. The site features a mountain theater, museum, hotel, and restaurants distributed across the flat terrain, with views toward the opposing Rosstrappe formation.

The plateau was reputedly an Old Saxon cult site where festivals honouring the Hagedisen, forest and mountain goddesses, were held, especially on the night of 1 May. After the Christian Franks banned the cult, tradition says soldiers guarding the site were chased off by Saxons dressed as witches on broomsticks. The Sachsenwall, a 150 m dry granite wall once 2 m high, was built around 750 to 450 BC and probably served as a refuge fort.

The name Hexentanzplatz, 'Witches' Dance Floor', arose after Christian Franks banned the Old Saxon cult of the Hagedisen, forest and mountain goddesses honoured especially on the night of 1 May; tradition says Saxons dressed as witches on broomsticks chased off the Frankish guards. Each 30 April the Walpurgisnacht is celebrated on the plateau.

You can reach the plateau by gondola lift or hiking trails from Thale. The site has restaurants, accommodation, and easy access to the mountain theater and museum once you arrive at the top.

The Walpurgishalle was built at the suggestion of the painter Hermann Hendrich and displays an Opferstein bearing Germanic characters, linked to old fertility rites. The bronze figure group at the plateau's centre, unveiled on 21 April 1996, was made by Quedlinburg metal designer Jochen Müller: the devil stands in the middle, a homunculus sits at his feet, and the witch grandmother Wadelinde tries to close the circle of evil with a stone.