Old cemetery (Giessen)

View over what is now a park-like complex - old tombstone by the chapel

The old cemetery in Giessen in central Hesse is the first cemetery outside the city walls, which was built between 1529 and 1530 and is now mainly used as a park .

location

The area of ​​the old cemetery extends east of today's inner city over an area of ​​8.3 hectares on the mountain of food along Licher Straße.

history

For centuries, the city's dead were buried on a burial site next to the city ​​church , of which only the tower remains today. In the course of the expansion and fortification of Giessen under Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous , this churchyard was abandoned and relocated to the mountain food. Presumably a “plague field” had already been located at this point, on which “plague deaths”, ie dead from mass epidemics, were buried.

In 1635 not only about 1,200 deaths from the plague were registered, there were also 200 residents (including refugees and soldiers) who fled to Gießen and became infected with the plague there.

Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous had a rampart with a moat built around the city from 1530 to 1533 . Today's inner city ring, consisting of the north, east, south and west complex, still indicates the course and scope of these ramparts. The village of Selters, south of Gießen, had to give way to this measure, including the church and the cemetery located there, in order to guarantee a free field of fire.

The new cemetery on the "Narrenberg" (mountain of food) was initially named "Gottesacker" as the new city cemetery. The original extent of the cemetery area can roughly be seen from the basalt walls, some of which are still preserved today. Accordingly, the cemetery had a size of about 105 × 60 meters. The old walls were replaced at the beginning of the 19th century (around 1807) by walls made of sandstone from the Marburg region .

Until the end of the 19th century, the cemetery was expanded in several stages. In 1826 the Jewish community acquired an area adjacent to the cemetery along Licher Straße, which was a little lower down. The sloping terrain formed a natural borderline to the Christian part. Jews had previously buried their dead in Grossen-Linden . After the division of the Israelite community, the Orthodox Jewish community received a small cemetery in 1888 near the Lutherberg exit.

When the capacity in this cemetery was exhausted (it is estimated that around 28,000 people were buried here), the new cemetery was opened on the Rodtberg in 1903. Since then, the cemetery on the mountain is called "Alter Friedhof" and is a public park. As a rule, burials have not been carried out here since 1993; Exceptions are those who have died in families who already have a family grave in the Old Cemetery and who have continuously renewed the right of use.

Cemetery chapel

→ Main article : Chapel in the Old Cemetery (Giessen)

Chapel with tombstones, seen from the south

The chapel on the old cemetery was built from 1623 to 1625 under the direction of the then Gießen city architect, Johannes Ebel zum Hirsch, as the first stone house on the mountain food. It is a two-story building with a strictly symmetrical half-timbered upper floor and a gable roof.

During the coalition wars, the chapel served as an arsenal for the French artillery and suffered war damage. Because no repairs were made, the building may have collapsed in 1840. Hugo von Ritgen (1811–1889), who had already restored the Wartburg and was professor of architecture at the Ludoviciana in Giessen, was commissioned with the reconstruction . It can be assumed that von Ritgen reconstructed the framework and roof while he designed the bell tower himself in 1862.

The arched entrance portal of the cemetery located in the western wall (on today's street Food Mountain) was probably closed in 1717, at least this is the date of the new main chapel entrance on the north side. The main entrance to the cemetery has also been on Licher Strasse since then.

The Evangelical Luther Church has held its services in the chapel since 1927. After the takeover, the altar and the pulpit were moved from the east to the west side.

Inside the chapel there are numerous monuments, including three Renaissance - epitaphs Marburg sculptor Philip and Adam Franck. The epitaphs for the theologians and university professors Johannes Winckelmann (1551–1626), Justus Feuerborn (1587–1656) and Peter Haberkorn (1604–1676) are remarkable .

In addition, there is a crucifix dated 1630 and a circumferential gallery in the chapel .

Botany and wildlife

Both native and non-native plants can be found in the old cemetery. Wild meadow plants grow here as well as wall joint plants and wild herbs that use the gaps in the cemetery wall as a location.

A tree nature trail was set up by students in 1985.

The bird life in the old cemetery has been recorded regularly in recent years. The spectrum shows the typical types of gardens and parks, but also forest bird species. With around 20 breeding pairs, the wood pigeon, for example, is common, the green woodpecker has one territory and the great spotted woodpecker two. The songbirds include magpies and jays, 4 species of titmouse, chiffchaff, blackcap, summer golden-cockerel, treecreeper, various thrushes and finches.

Graves

Tomb of the Burgmannen family von Schwalbach

Tomb of the Spruck family

There are many personalities in the old cemetery who are related to the development of the city and the University of Giessen. The best known is the Nobel laureate Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923), who had his first full professorship for physics at the University of Giessen. The first student graves indicate very early on that young people from distant cities (such as Hamburg or Lübeck ) came to Gießen to study.

Gravestones are attached to the outside wall of the chapel and the inside of the surrounding wall (in the oldest part). It is not known which of them actually stand at the location of the original graves and which were brought here for protection.

In the following overview some of the dead from the different centuries are presented and individual graves are examined in more detail:

16th Century

The oldest tombstone dates from 1551 and is in the Upper Hessian Museum. It is a so-called disc cross, which is reminiscent of a Jost Becker. Also housed in the museum is the tomb of the von Schwalbach family, a Burgmannen family from Giessen who lived in the Burgmannenhaus (today: Wallenfels'sches Haus ) from the 14th century to 1771 . In the center of the tombstone is a relief showing the resurrection of Christ. The relief is framed by the family coat of arms. A copy is in the old cemetery.

17th century

• Conrad Vogt (1655–1676) was a butcher. The gravestone lists the names of the children who died during Vogt's lifetime and his first wife. In the gable zone, the family members are shown separated by sex under the crucified Christ. The zoologist Carl Vogt , delegate of the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1848, comes from this family .
• Johann Bast († 1703) was originally executioner, but worked long as a surgeon when he asks to have the "honesty letter" from 1701 Leopold I received. This enabled his sons to graduate from university and take up an “honest” job.

18th century

• Catharina Elisabetha Liebknecht († 1719) was married to the professor of mathematics and theology Georg W. Liebknecht; The later politician Wilhelm Liebknecht descends from him.
• The theologian and poet of Pietism Johann Jakob Rambach (1693–1735) is also buried here.

19th century

Grave of Heinrich Buff and his wife Johanna

• Double grave for Karl Siegfrieden and Karl von Müller from 1840
• August Bramm (1829–1889), Lord Mayor of Giessen
• Heinrich Buff (1805–1878), physicist and chemist
• Rudolf Buchheim (1820–1879), physician and pharmacologist.
• Philipp Phoebus (1804–1880), physician and pharmacologist, founder of the first German institute for pharmacology.
• Family grave for August Montanus from Hachenburg (1836–1914), owner of the "Maschinenfabrik Gießen August Montanus", and his wife Johannette Ronstadt (1837–1899) from Butzbach and four of their children. His niece Anna Montanus (1870–1934) was Heinrich Noll's wife.

20th century

• Peter Dettweiler (1856–1907), classical philologist, high school councilor and lecturer in the Ministry of the Interior
• Hellmuth Mueller-Leutert (1892–1973), painter, graphic artist and sculptor from Giessen. He was buried in the family grave with a historical border, in which his brother-in-law, Provincial Councilor Bruno Wolf , also found his final resting place.
• Ludwig Adolf Spruck (1858–1928) belonged to the Spruck family of tobacco manufacturers and worked as a folklorist, world traveler and collector. The family grave is decorated with an almost life-size female mourning figure.
• Heinrich Noll (1866–1940) from an old Gießen family (carters and bakers), master bookbinder and businessman, ran a paper and bookbinding shop on the corner of Marktplatz and Mäusburg (before 1944: Mäusburg No. 7, since 1945: Mäusburg No. 1), which was also one of the first photo studios in town. His mother is the native Butzbacherin Anna Ronstadt (1833-1897), the older sister of the above-mentioned Johannette Ronstadt (1837-1899), married Montanus. It was through these family relationships that he met his wife Anna Montanus (1870–1934). The son August Noll (1895-1944), who had taken over the business, died as a result of the bombing of December 6, 1944 in the basement of the old town hall. His daughter Ruth Noll (1921–2012) continued the business until it was dissolved in the 1990s.
• Wilhelm Gundel (1880–1945), classical philologist, professor at the University of Giessen

Individual graves

Gail

Grave of the Gail family

The tomb of the Gail family on the south wall shows Georg Gail in the middle, who died as an officer in the war of 1870/71. The goddess of victory, Victoria, hovers above him with the laurel wreath in her hand. On the two relief panels in the style of the Italian Renaissance there is a scene of farewell on the left and a scene of the resurrection on the right. To the side of it stand two female figures in arched niches, symbolizing hope (spes) and love (caritas) . The Gail family opened the first cigar factory in Gießen in 1812 , which became a flourishing industry in the region.

from Ritgen

Grave of Hugo von Ritgens

Hugo von Ritgen was the first professor for architecture and building art at the University of Giessen . He became famous with the restoration of the Wartburg, but was also involved in other restorations such as the castles Gleiberg and Staufenberg , and the chapel at the old cemetery in Gießen. The tower-like monument is dominated in the upper part by a portrait relief by Friedrich Küsthardt. Von Ritgen had worked with the sculptor on the Wartburg and the Gail family burial site, among other things.

roentgen

Grave of the Röntgen family

The grave of the Röntgen family is signposted with signposts. Constance Charlotte Röntgen (née Frowein, 1806–1880) and Friedrich Conrad Röntgen (1801–1884), as well as their son Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and his wife Berta (née Ludwig, 1839–1919), lie here . Wilhelm Conrad was the first Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1901 in recognition of his work in the discovery of X-rays, which are named after him in German-speaking countries: X-rays . Even if Röntgen died in Munich, he was buried in Gießen (urn burial) at his own testamentary request.

Wilson

The tomb for the Scottish mining expert Peter Wilson (1828-1893) is crowned by a so-called sun cross with a Celtic snake ornament ( Celtic cross ). Below is the inscription "I am the resurrection and the life" (I am the resurrection and the life). Wilson was the managing director of Fernie Pit .

Jewish graves

Giessen, old cemetery, Jewish burial ground

The graves of the Jewish burial grounds are close together, many of the stones are still there. Well-known dead are the cigar manufacturers Siegmund (1827–1884) and Ottilie Bock, the parents of the writer Alfred Bock . The parents of the women's rights activist Henriette Fürth , Siegmund Katzenstein and Sophie, geb. Loeb are buried here, as is Rabbi Benedikt Levi (1806–1899), father of the Wagner conductor Hermann Levi .

particularities

The Giessen Tourist Information Office offers various themed tours of the cemetery all year round. Students of the history of journalism at the Justus Liebig University, together with the production company AVEV and in cooperation with the city's garden and cemetery office, have created an audio walk that can be accessed free of charge on their smartphone and that combines scenic episodes and soundscapes with factual knowledge in eleven audio clips.

The entire cemetery stands as a material entity under monument protection . In addition to the graves and tombs, the cemetery chapel including interior, the kiosk with transformer system built in 1937 on the corner of Licher Strasse and Food Mountain, which is now home to the Neue Gießener Kunstverein, and the green belt laid out by Gustav Heyer along the outer wall (north) are included. on Licher Strasse. Some of the approximately 120 listed tombstones are in the Oberhessisches Museum to protect them from the weather.

The Freundeskreis Alter Friedhof in the Upper Hessian History Association takes care of the renovation of tombs, provides new benches and looks after nesting boxes for the many bird species in consultation with the responsible authorities of the city of Gießen.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Evangelische Luthergemeinde Gießen: The story of our chapel , accessed on February 23, 2017
2. ↑ August Montanus family grave. Retrieved January 26, 2020 . 
3. ↑ File: Giessen-AB-1927.djvu - GenWiki. Retrieved January 26, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Doolia: Ruth Noll, died on June 21, 2012 (obituary notice on Doolia.de). Retrieved January 26, 2020 . 
5. ^ Audiowalk in the old cemetery in Giessen. Retrieved June 28, 2017 . 
6. ^ University town of Giessen: University town of Giessen - press releases. Retrieved June 28, 2017 . 
7. ^ Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH & Co KG: New audio walk "Tales of Death" . ( giessener-anzeiger.de [accessed on June 28, 2017]).
8. ↑ www.giessener-allgemeine.de - Your newspaper for Giessen and the surrounding area: Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung | Audio walk to the old cemetery. Retrieved June 28, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Freundeskreis Alter Friedhof ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 10, 2012 

literature

• Literature on old cemetery in the Hessian Bibliography
• Bernbeck, Gerhard (1977): The old cemetery in Giessen . Brühlsche Universitätsdruckerei, Lahn-Gießen
• Broschek, Eva (1996): Nature + Stones - Park Landscape Old Cemetery . In: Karl-Heinz Brunk (Ed.): Beautiful pouring: University u. City of culture ad Lahn - center of Central Hesse . Self-published photography Brunk, Gießen, ISBN 3-00-000508-0 , pp. 62–73.
• Klein, Dagmar (2003): A cultural monument in a comprehensive sense and a historical park and place of remembrance . In: Matthias Recke , Wolfgang Maaß (Ed.): Pouring at second glance - walks through the university town. Brühlscher Verlag, Giessen, ISBN 3-922300-57-X , pp. 89-99.
• Klein, Dagmar (2007): The Giessen cemeteries. Memorial sites of the university . In: Horst Carl, Eva-Marie Felschow, Jürgen Reulecke, Volker Roelcke, Corinna Sargk (eds.): Panorama. 400 years of the University of Giessen. Actors, locations, culture of remembrance . Societäts-Verlag, Justus Liebig University Gießen, ISBN 978-3-7973-1038-5 , pp. 250-255.
• Lang, Karlheinz (1993): University City of Giessen. Series: Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural monuments in Hessen . (Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen) Vieweg, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-528-06246-0 , pp. 379–398.
• NABU Kreisverband Gießen (2012): Annual ornithological report Volume 21. ISSN  1435-5647

Web links

Commons : Alter Friedhof Gießen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Total material age cemetery In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse

Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 59.2 "  N , 8 ° 41 ′ 7.4"  E