An outstanding secular stone, one of the biggest in Latvia. Dimensions: length 5.8 m, width 3.2 m, height 4.3 m, circumference 16.20 m. The big fragment — 4.6 m long, 3.1 m wide, up to 2.5 m high; the small fragment — 3.2 m long, 1.2 + 0.7 m wide, 0.9 m high. The overall volume of the three stones is about 60 m3, that of the biggest part — 40 m3. Granosyenite — orange-brown, besides orthoclase there is also quartz (exceeding 10 %) in its mineral contents as well as biotite and hornblende from the dark minerals.
In the stone there is a carved inscription “Weltkrieg 1914 + 1916 Arm. Batl. 36 I.Komp.”, close to it there is another carving — a longish rectangle with two signs in it. Otherwhere on the stone there are still other small carvings and scrapings of the modern times. There are several legends about the stone. One of them dwells upon “the Devil who stole a stone from the Thunder’s Castle, however, the Thunder caught the Devil and split him with a lightening.” Other folktale has been recorded by the explorer of hillforts E. Brastiņš (see E. Brastiņš. Latvijas pilskalni. Kuršu zeme. R., 1923, p.): the Great Stone well-known in the vicinity. The huge stone was once carried in his carriage by an old man. On his way a thunderstorm started, the man jumped and left the stone on the ground. During the world war the German soldiers carved the inscription „Weltkrieg 1914–1916” in the stone. The stone has been partly used in the production of aggregate. Up to that time the stone had been still bigger than its currently visible three parts — the basic part (around 40 m3), the big fragment (14 m3) and the small fragment (3 m3).
The most remarkable secular stone in Liepāja surroundings, still little integrated in tourism routes.
Added by
Founder and maintainer of www.latvijas-pilskalni.lv, www.senvietas.lv and hillforts.eu.