Old Post Office (Zeven)
The old post office in Zeven was built after the great fire of 1810 and served as a post office until 1895. Then the post office moved to Lange Straße. In the years 1824/25 Carl Friedrich Gauß lived a total of about 6 weeks in the Zeven post office to take geodetic measurements from the church tower of the Zeven St. Viti Church in connection with the Hanoverian triangulation (1821-25, 1828-44).
Today's use of the building
The old post office is located on Poststrasse (No. 3) and houses today's “House of Crafts”. There is also a branch of a health insurance company in the listed building.
On the upper floor of the half-timbered house, which was restored in 2002, a "Gauss room" was set up by the city of Zeven to be sent to Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Latinized Carolus Fridericus Gauss; * April 30, 1777 in Braunschweig; † February 23, 1855 in Göttingen) recall. He was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist and physicist.
List of post office managers in Zeven (until 1996)
- Post administrator Harm Dohrmann (until 1764)
- Post holder Arend Dohrmann (1764–1800)
- Post holder Mrs. Dohrmann (1800–1810)
- Post administrator H. Christian Dohrmann (1810–1818)
- Post administrator Heinrich Ludwig Sprick (1819–1861)
- Postal administrator Otto Ludwig Sprick (1861–1888)
- Post Administrator Meyer 2 (July 1, 1890 - September 30, 1897)
- Postmaster Georg Helmers (October 1, 1897 - April 30, 1932)
- Postmaster Heinrich Meyer 11 (May 1, 1932 - September 30, 1937)
- Postmaster Albert Wille (October 1, 1937 - May 1945)
- Chief Postmaster Herbert Hammer (September 1945 - spring 1950)
- Chief Postmaster Heinz Schotte (June 1, 1951 - September 2, 1956)
- Post office clerk Günter Diedrich (January 10, 1957 - April 30, 1975)
- Post office clerk Claus Böschen (May 1, 1975 - December 31, 1987)
- Post office clerk Wilhelm Fitschen (January 1, 1988 - December 31, 1992)
- Post office clerk Helmut Wenke (January 1, 1993 - December 31, 1996)
Gauss room in the old post office
In the “Gauss room” the work of the scientist in connection with the creation of maps is explained on explanatory boards and through technical devices. There is also a small glimpse into the appreciation of his work (e.g. commemorative medal and 10 DM note).
On July 6, 1824, Carl Friedrich Gauß from Zeven wrote to his friend and colleague Olbers in Bremen: The only good thing, with the current bad progress of work, after all the bad prospects for the future, is that I am better off now than in the first part of my expedition this year. Mainly probably the result of the cooler weather, the electricity-free air, and what I also have to praise, the very good accommodation in the local post office. I have often made my approx. 4000 m (meters) long walk on foot. The mathematician was referring to his way to the Brüttendorfer Berg, on which he had been waiting in vain for 3 days for usable heliotrope light to measure angles. In addition, Brüttendorf was unsuitable as a connection point to the west, so that the continuation of the work seemed to be endangered. Fortunately, while climbing the almost 100 meter high tower of the Ansgari Church in Bremen, Gauss discovered that the top of the St. Viti Church in Zeven was just visible. During previous explorations from Zeven, the Bremen Tower could not be seen because of the bog smoke. In addition to Bremen, Zeven was connected to the previous triangulation points Steinberg, Wilsede and Litberg. The triangular chain could then be continued from Zeven via Bremen.
Memories of Carl Friedrich Gauß in Zeven
In the lantern of the St. Viti Church in Zeven there is still the oak plank on which the instruments for the national survey were adjusted. In addition, an iron bolt is embedded in the wall next to the entrance portal of the church. This marks the trigonometric point at exactly 18.959 meters above sea level. A street and a square in Zeven were named after Gauss, as well as a secondary school and a secondary school, which have since been combined to form a secondary school.
In the Zevener pedestrian zone near the town hall there are also three works of art with the “Gauss fountain”, “Refuge sticks” and “Field book frame”, which the artist HAWOLI designed in 2001 as a homage to the scientist. These are - according to the triangular measurement - set up at three different points. In the middle of the "Gauss-Platz" stands the "Gauss fountain" made of blue stone blocks and stainless steel. Its shape is based on the vice heliotrope that Gauss developed on the basis of a sextant. Within sight, four oversized “ranging poles” in a granite boulder remind of the surveying devices used at the time. The "field book frame" is on the other side of the street. The survey points and routes that resulted in the triangulation network were entered in the field book. Objects on the subject can also be found in the nearby Zeven Monastery Museum , and city tours with a “Gauss” actor can also be booked.
literature
- City of Zeven (Ed.): Zeven. Kloster Flecken city. JF Zeller KG, Zeven 1980, p. 12f., 19
- City of Zeven (Ed.): Zeven Mittendrin. Verlag Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 2002, pp. 10, 28, 46
Coordinates: 53 ° 17 ′ 43.2 " N , 9 ° 16 ′ 34.6" E