Ovens
The Backöfele ( 1051 m above sea level ) is a former watch tower on the Schneeberg . It was built as part of a late medieval defense system in the Brandenburg-Kulmbach Markgraftum .
Margrave Friedrich issued a waiting order in 1498 to protect his margrave Kulmbach. The sophisticated monitoring and signaling system with guards in all parts of the principality served as an advance warning in the event of attacks, both in feuds and in times of war. The oven was part of this system. Before 1498 there was already a wooden tower, which was replaced by a stone round tower and equipped with two guards. The name Backöfele is said to have come up during the Thirty Years' War when residents of the area who fled to the mountains are said to have baked bread there. Rudolf Thiem derives the name from the appearance of the rock formation, where a game resembles a pottery hole . It is only in 1713 that it is said that the tower fell into disrepair. Johann Theodor Benjamin Helfrecht reported in 1799 about remains of foundations and stones lying around. The painter Georg Könitzer drew the Backöfele as a lithograph in his thematic area around the Fichtel Mountains . The stones of the tower were apparently used to build a shelter for the German-Austrian Alpine Club in the immediate vicinity. The refuge quickly fell into disrepair and in 1904 was replaced by a larger structure on the north side of the summit. The tower was restored by the Alpine Club as a wooden viewing platform at the end of the 19th century . Today's 14 m high wooden tower was built in 1926 by the subsequent Fichtelgebirgsverein from oak trunks . As a result of the Cold War , the oven could not be entered for a long time in the post-war years because it was located within the restricted military area on the Schneeberg. The Backöfele has been accessible again since August 1996 and is a hiking destination on the Höhenweg . In July 2016, the tower was closed because it was dilapidated. The oak wood withstood the rough weather on the Schneeberg for 90 years. In August 2017 the topping-out ceremony was held for the new construction of the observation tower, which looks exactly like the old tower. The oak comes from the Forchheim forestry company and was donated by the Bavarian State Forests.
literature
- Helmut Hennig: Warthen on the mountains . In: Local supplement to the official school gazette of the administrative district of Upper Franconia . Bayreuth. No. 256, November 1998. pp. 25-29.
- Dietmar Herrmann, Helmut Süssmann: Fichtel Mountains, Bavarian Vogtland, Steinwald, Bayreuther Land. Lexicon . Ackermannverlag, Hof (Saale) 2000, ISBN 3-929364-18-2 , p. 19th f .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Schneeberg in the Fichtelgebirge> Tourist use of the mountain on the website of the Fichtelgebirgsverein eV
- ↑ "Backöfele" - rock name and lookout tower on the website of Fichtelgebirgshalle eV
Coordinates: 50 ° 3 '8.7 " N , 11 ° 51' 12.4" E