Frienstein

The Frienstein, also called the Vorderes Raubschloss, is a rock formation, about 130 metres high, in Saxon Switzerland. It lies on the northern slopes of the Großer Winterberg in the Affensteine rocks. On the rock there was once a watchtower of the Barony of Wildenstein. Today the Frienstein is a popular climbing peak .

== History == Around 1410 a watchtower was erected on the Frienstein as a signal station by the Barony of Wildenstein that was owned by the family of Berka of Dubá. By this means Frienstein could make contact with the surrounding watchtowers on the Winterstein, the Neuer Wildenstein and the Alter Wildenstein. In 1451, the Frienstein, together with the rest of the barony, went to the House of Wettin and thus to the Electorate of Saxony. In the period that followed, robber knights lodged on the Frienstein, even in 1479 one of their workers conceded that "item near Frienstein is a trap..., where those who are caught are tormented" (item beym Freynstein ist eyn loch ..., do man die gefangen eynfurt zu peynigen). On the first cartographic record in Saxony, a map dating to 1592 by Matthias Oeder, the rock is marked as Freystein.