Bodetal Maiden Bridge

The Bodetal near Thale was a dead end for centuries. Only the bravest dared to venture as far as the Bodekessel. Anyone who wanted to go from here to the Brocken couldn’t continue below, but had to climb up and then head to Wendefurth, from there following the Bode through Rübeland and Schierke. Nowadays, continuous hiking routes are available. But nature takes priority — the Bodetal has been a nature reserve since 1937. Let’s stay on the paths. The northern route of the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg, for example, leads all the way to the Brocken (53 kilometres, with plenty of places to stop for a rest).

Carl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880) settled down on the banks of the Bode to paint his picture, with the confectionery behind him. The painting probably goes back to his first visit to the Bodetal in 1836. That summer, the roaring Bode was only a small stream, yet the rocky peaks and granite walls of the valley were impressive. At that time, Lessing was a young, ambitious teacher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He was a passionate hunter, and as such, he also looked at nature as something to be captured in special moments. Even into old age, he kept returning to the Harz Mountains – even from his later workplace at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe, where he was a professor. For Lessing, the Harz was truly a German mountain range. He was interested in German history and landscape. He had no interest in antiquity, the Alps, or the longing for Italy. It was precisely this firm turn towards the national and the link between history and landscape that made up his success and his great popularity at the time. Unlike his other theatrically enhanced works, this painting has no added figures – perhaps a sign of an early work?

It’s especially fascinating that we know of a painting dated 1836 by his student Adolf Hoeninghaus from the very same spot, allowing us to make a comparison.

In 1654, Merian’s topography gave the following description of the Bode Valley near Thale: “ … between such mountains winds a very deep valley with a thousand twists / forming a place so rough / terrifying / and wild / that nothing like it can be found in the entire Harz; one’s skin crawls and the hair stands on end just by looking down.”

In his 1855 work ‘Guide through the Harz’, August Ey describes descending into the Bode Valley from the Roßtrappe and even formulates a “thus far and no further,” which also applies to the hiker, for there must be places where nature takes priority over human desire: “Soon we find ourselves surrounded on all sides by towering granite walls, and the wild, dreadful roaring of the Bode deafens the ear. Once we reach the bottom, we first follow the Bode upstream for a stretch over the Devil’s Bridge to the waterfall, where the rocks and the raging floods call out a stern ‘Thus far and no further!’ The waterfall, which Merian in his earliest description calls horribilem Bodae cataractam, no longer deserves this name for itself, but all the more for its frightfully wild surroundings. Its drop is now only 4 feet; previously it was more than 8 feet; but because the rocks that formed it hindered the rafting of timber, they were blasted away in the year 1784, which is all the more regrettable as this measure proved almost entirely useless, and soon afterwards timber rafting on the Bode was completely discontinued.”