From the Bonifatiusfelsen you have a wonderful view of the castle and the park. More than 250 million years ago, the primordial sea was located here. This was home to a huge coral reef, from which today's "Zechstein reef" was formed over millions of years. It was this charming, rocky landscape of the Altenstein that prompted Duke Georg I to make it his summer residence. The steeply sloping Zechstein reef was barely wooded at the time and was reminiscent of Alpine landscapes in a romantic sense. Individual rocky cliffs jutted out almost vertically and inspired the design of the gardens.