Altenberg (Bad Kissingen)

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The “Sisi” monument on the Altenberg.

The Altenberg ( pronunciation ? / I ) is a survey in Garitz , a district of the Bavarian spa town Bad Kissingen in the Lower Franconian district of Bad Kissingen . Audio file / audio sample

Geographical location and geology

On the north and west side of the Altenberg is the Garitz residential area. Its south and south-west sides are touched by the Westring, part of the Bad Kissingen bypass. Bad Kissinger Bismarckstrasse and Luitpoldpark are on the east side .

The 284 meter high Altenberg is a circular mountain in a loop of the Franconian Saale . Deposits of gravel on the surfaces of the Saale valleys suggest that the Saale ran differently during the Ice Age . The Altenberg was created by the curvature of the former course of the Saale around Garitz. On the crests of the Altenberg there are remains of shell limestone , deposits of the former shell limestone sea.

history

Beginnings

Already in the time of Celtic settlement there is said to have been a refuge on the Altenberg (the mons antiquus ) , the complex of which extended westward into the Garitz district (see Altenberg ring wall ). The first known mention of this facility comes from the year 1580 with the name "Altenburg", from which the name of the Altenberg was derived in 1847. In a council document from 1629, the facility is referred to as a "work". A cadastral sheet from 1847 documents the original semicircular structure of the Celtic castle.

There is a legend that since the times of this castle - especially on stormy nights - ghosts have targeted hikers on the path between Garitz and Bad Kissingen, which is why it was given the name Ghost Path. The Mayor of Garitz, Johann Michael Sell, reported that young men took advantage of this legend, which was first told in the 19th century, to frighten walkers on the Altenberg.

Remodeling (1849)

Memorial stone for Jacob Ickelsheimer

In the 19th century, the Altenberg received its current park character through park paths and trees planted by the royal Bavarian court gardener Jacob Ickelsheimer . As Professor Michael Stöger reported in his Chronicle Heilmittel der Kurort Bad Kissingen , Hofgärtner Ickelsheimer found “many half-rotten bones, deer antlers and boar weapons” within the Celtic castle complex and was given the task of “pouring and planting the walls with them because of that one has no more writing ”.

A monument erected in the neoclassical style in 1882 commemorates Ickelsheimer, who became an honorary citizen of Bad Kissingen in 1875 (see also list of honorary citizens of Bad Kissingen ). The monument is one of the Bad Kissingen architectural monuments and is registered in the Bavarian list of monuments under the number D-6-72-114-128 .

As part of the redesign, a garden temple was created in 1849, which is designed as a small prostyle with an open cella and bears the name Walhalla. The temple, which originally was probably made of wood, is equipped with partially shingled outer walls and columns made of artificial stone. According to the inscription on the front, the name Walhalla refers to the former Celtic refuge: “The old castle was destroyed here, the Germanic refuge. 'Walhalla' now belongs to the heroes, the resting place of our ancestors ”. The Walhalla is registered under the number D-6-72-114-126 in the Bavarian Monument List.

As a further result of the redesign of the Altenberg, the round temple and the sun salette were created as rest areas and vantage points. The round temple is located at the highest point of the Altenberg and is a red wooden building with a green pyramid roof. Two wreaths of round supports support the pyramid roof of the round temple. The round temple is registered under the number D-6-72-114-365 in the Bavarian Monument List. The Sonnensalett is an octagonal building made of white wood with a pyramid roof and houses a relaxation bench. The upper third of the pillars of the sun saloon are provided with a mesh pattern of penetrating struts . The Sonnensalett is registered under the number D-6-72-114-366 in the Bavarian Monument List.

  • Valhalla

  • Round temple

  • Sonnensalett

German War (1866)

German War Memorial Cross .

In the German War in 1866, Prussian troops came from the west via Garitz to Bad Kissingen and occupied what was then Villa Vay (today's Café Bellevue). Despite the destruction of the Saale bridges by Bavaria, the Prussian troops were able to get to Kissingen from the south via the remains of the former Lindesmühlsteg (at today's Südbrücke) and today's Preußensteg, located at the campsite below the Altenberg, by taking the remains of the bridge with them Removed benches, shutters and table tops from Villa Vay.

A sandstone cross erected on Altenberg above Café Bellevue commemorates the battle. Thirty meters from the sandstone cross there were two graves: In one grave were buried an ensign of the 2nd Company, a drum and a musketeer of the 3rd Company of the 15th Prussian Infantry Regiment; all three had fallen at Lindesmühlsteg. Three more Prussian soldiers found their final resting place in the second grave.

The ensign's grave was built by his mother and photographed by the Bad Kissingen photographer W. Cronenberg. According to oral tradition, this grave, as well as that of the three Prussian soldiers, was knocked over by drunk Americans in their jeeps in 1945 . In 1970 the spa nursery erected the sandstone cross 30 meters away in memory of the six fallen soldiers. A poem that Karl Schütte wrote on July 3, 1912 in memory of his comrade, the ensign in the infantry regiment, has been preserved in the Bad Kissingen city archive.

Empress "Sisi"

The Austrian Empress Elisabeth , known as "Sisi", liked to take walks on the Altenberg during her spa stays in Kissingen from 1862 to 1865. Her last stay was on April 18, 1898, a few months before her death, in the Villa Monbijou on a slope of the Altenberg. On the day the empress arrived, the local Saale newspaper published a poem of welcome that describes the joy of the flora and fauna of Altenberg at the arrival of the empress. In 1907, a few meters behind the round temple, the Sisi monument was erected in honor of the Empress .

Others

After the construction of the Israelitische Kinderheilstätte at Salinenstrasse 34 in 1905, a spa hospice for adults was built on Altenberg in 1927, which in the summer of 1928 looked after 196 Jews in need of spa and relaxation.

On Altenbergweg from Bismarckstraße to Altenberg there is a wayside shrine with a representation of Mary. It is one of the Bad Kissingen architectural monuments and is registered in the Bavarian Monument List under the number D-6-72-114-254 . On a weathered square shaft from 1758 there is a round-arched closing essay from around 1926 with a majolica relief Madonna and Child . The essay and relief are by the sculptor Balthasar Schmitt ; there is the signature "BS". A copy of the wayside shrine is in private hands.

  • Mary's shrine on Altenbergweg.

  • Mary's shrine (detail).

See also

literature

  • Josef Wabra: Stories and legends of the Kissinger area. In: Landeskundliche Schriftenreihe for northern Lower Franconia. Issue 3, published by the Rhön / Saale / Bad Kissingen working group. Bad Kissingen 1965, p. 10 f.
  • Heinrich Hack: Garitz. A home book. City of Bad Kissingen, Bad Kissingen 1986.
  • Denis André Chevalley, Stefan Gerlach: City of Bad Kissingen (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume VI.75 / 2 ). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-87490-577-2 , p. 110-113 .
  • The Altenberg - history and stories about the "Umlaufberg" ... In: Peter Ziegler: Celebrities on promenade paths. Emperors, kings, artists, spa guests in Bad Kissingen. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-87717-809-X , pp. 154-159.

Web links

Commons : Altenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edi Hahn: Bad Kissingen and its surroundings the most beautiful sagas, legends and stories, Bad Kissingen 1986, p. 104
  2. ↑ Peter Ziegler: Celebrities on promenade paths. Emperors, kings, artists, spa guests in Bad Kissingen. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-87717-809-X , p. 156 f.
  3. ^ Edi Hahn: Bad Kissingen and its surroundings the most beautiful sagas, legends and stories, Bad Kissingen 1986, p. 100-103.
  4. ↑ Volkmar Csallner: Guide to the war graves from 1866. Edition from 1978 (original edition: 1935), p. 27.
  5. ↑ Werner Eberth : A soldiers grave on Altenberg. In: Saale newspaper . May 18, 2016 ( infranken.de ).
  6. ^ Zvi Baruch Ophir, Falk Wiesemann: The Jewish communities in Bavaria 1918–1945. History and destruction. Munich, Vienna 1979, p. 262.
  7. ↑ Werner Eberth: Balthasar Schmitt - A Franconian sculptor. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in Aschach Castle from April 28 to July 30, 1995. Theresienbrunnen-Verlag, Bad Kissingen 1995, p. 41.
  8. ^ Denis André Chevalley, Stefan Gerlach: City of Bad Kissingen (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume VI.75 / 2 ). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-87490-577-2 , p. 12 f .

Coordinates: 50 ° 11 ′ 39 ″  N , 10 ° 4 ′ 12 ″  E