Bear Monument, Historical monument in Quedlinburg, Germany

The Bear Monument is a granite glacial erratic on layered fieldstones, topped by a shield-shaped copper plate with a relief inscription, now partly green with patina. It stands at about 472 metres above sea level on the Ramberg massif in the Harz, between Friedrichsbrunn and Mägdesprung, on the Bärenweg trail.

The stone marks where the last bear in the Anhalt forests was killed in autumn 1696, near the former Bärbuche. Tradition names the forest apprentice Kersten as the hunter; another account credits Prince Viktor I Amadeus of Anhalt-Bernburg during a parforce hunt in November 1696. Around ninety years later, between 1786 and 1788, the carter Buchtekirch shot the last bear of the whole Harz near Wernigerode and received two Reichstaler from Count Christian Friedrich of Stolberg-Wernigerode.

The monument serves as a waypoint along a regional hiking route system that attracts walkers collecting trail badges. This role connects the place to an active hiking tradition that continues to draw visitors to the area.

The easiest approach without notable climbs starts at Sternhaus on the L 243 between Mägdesprung and Gernrode. The monument stands at about 472 metres on the Ramberg, north above the Krebsbach, beside the Bärenweg forest trail. The Harzer Wandernadel stamp box (checkpoint 184) is opposite the stone on the forest track.

The copper plate on the granite boulder is partly covered in green patina, and the stone itself is a glacial erratic resting on layered fieldstones. The monument was set up before 1897 beside what was then the Fürstenweg and was first called the Bärstein. The nearby checkpoint box of the Harzer Wandernadel, stamp 184, stands across the forest track from the stone.