The eye of the needle with the steep staircase leading upwards commemorates the suicide of the court maiden Christiane von Laßberg. The young Goethe had been in Weimar for less than two years when the 17-year-old von Laßberg chose suicide in the Ilm River because of her unrequited love for a Baron von Wrangel. The booklet "The Sorrows of Young Werther" is said to have been in the noblewoman's coat pocket. The young woman had gone missing during a rehearsal of Goethe's play "The Triumph of Sensibility" and was found dead on January 17, 1778, at the Raft Bridge (later the Natural Bridge). The very day after the young woman was found, Goethe and the court gardener Gentzsch began work on the rockwork. In a few weeks the eye of the needle was created, which at the same time provided a shorter connection to the city.