Barry (rescue dog)

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The preparation in the 19th century (no later than 1883). Picture postcard by Emil Nicola-Karlen
Presentation since 2014

Barry (* 1800 on the Great Saint Bernhard ; † 1814 in Bern ) was a famous rescue dog. His preparation is a well-known exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Bern .

General

He was installed by the canons of the hospice on the Great St. Bernard and is said to have saved the lives of over forty people. In 1812 he was brought to Bern at the request of the prior and died old age there in 1814. After his death it was groomed and exhibited in the Natural History Museum in Bern so that “this loyal dog, which saved so many lives, will not be forgotten so soon after its death.” The humble attitude chosen at the time symbolized constant willingness to help .

The dogs at the beginning of the 19th century were not St. Bernard in today's sense, but mixed breeds from the area around the hospice. Barry probably weighed between 40 and 50 kg during his lifetime and was about 54 cm high at the withers . Today's St. Bernard dogs, on the other hand, often weigh more than 100 kg and are between 70 and 90 cm high at the withers. The first preparation from 1814 only lasted a short time. A new installation known from photographs comes from Hans Caspar Rohrdorf (1773–1843), who was a preparator in the then Museum of Natural History of Helvetia from 1826 . The first two versions contained the dog's skull, as well as at least parts of the remaining lost skeleton: with the stuffing preparations customary at the time, the body was modeled by wrapping the bones. The dermoplastic method was used for the third set-up, which was decided in 1922 : the body is now a plaster model with the preserved fur covered over it. Taxidermist Georg Ruprecht (1887–1968) not only gave up Barry's humble demeanor, but also approximated its appearance to that of the newly created St. Bernard breed: the head was enlarged and the legs lengthened. The preparation is still part of the collection of the Albert Heim Foundation today . It stood for a long time in a showcase at the entrance to the Natural History Museum in Bern. A permanent exhibition of his own has been dedicated to him since 2014, in which the original skull can be seen alongside numerous other exhibits. The keg is not historical, but is now regarded as a distinguishing mark of a St. Bernard dog. For this reason, it was retained in the presentation, but not without pointing out that this trademark is a “success story of early marketing ” (see also the section Background, Legends ).

Background, legends

The story that Barry was killed by the 41st man after his 40th life, as can be read on his memorial in the Cimetière des Chiens ( Il sauva la vie à 40 personnes… et fût tué par la 41ème! ), Is incorrect. In fact, he spent the last two years of his life in Bern. It is also invented that he always carried a keg (bottle) of alcohol around his neck to refresh those who had been buried, or even made an injured child climb on his back. What is certain, however, is that he and the other dogs from the hospice accompanied local mountain guides (Marroniers) who went to the hospice every day on behalf of the canons. They made it easier for the Marroniers to find and walk the often snow-covered paths, and even under adverse circumstances they turned back the way. In addition, they barked to indicate exhausted or unhappy travelers. Some dogs were used to occasionally carrying small pack saddles with food. A clergyman of the hospice said in 1956: "As for the rum barrel, the dogs never carried one". The boy's ride, i.e. carrying a child on his back, is a literary motif that existed even before Barry was born. Even a present-day Saint Bernard would be neither physically nor mentally capable of such an achievement, as described in the legend. Regarding the death of Barry, who is said to have been mistaken for a wolf by a Napoleonic soldier and stabbed to death, Dora Strahm, curator of the exhibition, notes that an equally heroic death was imputed to the rescue dog, who had been declared a hero. The only historical thing about it is that Napoleonic soldiers crossed the pass and there were also wolves at that time.

Boy ride

In 1840, the theologian and professor of philosophy and natural history Peter Scheitlin mentioned the most important motifs of the Barry legend, apart from the violent death:

“[…] Barry, the holy one on St. Bernhard. Yes, Berry, you highest of dogs, you highest of animals! You were a great, meaningful human dog, with a warm soul for the unfortunate. You saved the lives of more than forty people. With a basket with bread and a bottle of sweet, invigorating refreshment on your neck, you moved out of the monastery in snowstorms and thaw day after day, a benefactor! to look for snow-covered, avalanche-covered people, to scrape them out, or in case of impossibility to run home quickly so that the friars can come with you with shovels and help you dig. You are the opposite of a grave digger. You are resurrected. Like a sensitive person, you must be able to teach with sympathy, because otherwise that dug out boy would certainly not have dared to sit on your back so that you could carry him to the friendly monastery. When you arrived you pulled the bell of the holy door so that you could hand over the precious boulder to merciful brothers for care, and when the sweet burden was taken away from you, you hurried up and away again to search. Every success taught you and made you happier and more sympathetic. That is the blessing of the good deed that it must continually give birth to good things! [...] What would you have become if you had been human? Saint Vincent, a founder of a hundred merciful orders and monasteries. So you did, tirelessly and without wanting to give thanks, twelve years. [...] Whoever sees your body stuffed now in Bern, take off your hat and buy your picture lithographed there, and hang it in cream and glass on the wall of your room, and also buy the picture of the tender boy on your back, how you stand with him in front of the monastery gate and ring the bell, and show it to the children and pupils and say: go and do the same, like this good Samaritan, for Christ's sake, and throw the seal pierre , Marat , Hanikel , from the walls , Abällino and other portraits of murderers and robbers out of the window, so that the young mind can learn from dogs what it unlearned from humans [...] "

Surname

The name Barry could come from Bäri , the name for farm dogs with a dark color. Another possibility is a reference to the city of Bari , where the tomb of St. Nicholas is, the patron saint of the hospice founder Bernhard von Menthon . Friedrich Meisner, a member of the museum committee, used today's English spelling with "Y" as early as 1816, but Bari , Barri or Baril were more common at that time . After Barry's death, the name was repeatedly given to the hospice dogs.

reception

Monument in the Cimetière des Chiens

In the dog cemetery of Asnières-sur-Seine near Paris a memorial was erected for Barry in 1899. The Barry story was edited on film: in 1949 under the title Barry (Barry - Der Held von St. Bernhard) in France and in 1977 under the title Barry of the Great St. Bernard (Barry, der Bernhardiner) by Walt Disney Studios .

In Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's work The Hospice on the Great St. Bernhard , a rescue dog named Barry carries a half-frozen child in the second song .

Avalanche transceivers are still sometimes referred to as Barryvox ; a manufacturer also uses this as a trademark.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ cf. Schiller quote from Die Piccolomini : "That is the curse of evil deeds [...]" See also: Alastor

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Räber: Encyclopedia of the pedigree dogs. Volume 1. Kosmos 2014, p. 33.
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Stephens: Why Barry got a bigger head. swissinfo.ch, July 10, 2014, translated by Rita Emch. Accessed April 18, 2016.
  3. ^ Marc Nussbaumer: Barry from the Great St. Bernhard . Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, 2000. Chapter: What did Barry really look like? Pp. 56-71
  4. ↑ a b Exhibition brochure for Barry - The legendary St. Bernard dog . Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  5. ↑ welt.de: The St. Bernard schnapps barrel is a legend. June 7, 2014, accessed April 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ P. Scheitlin: Attempt at a complete animal soul science. Second volume. Stuttgart and Tübingen, printing and publishing by JG Cotta'schen Buchhandlung 1840. pp. 269–271.
  7. ^ Marc Nussbaumer: Barry from the Great St. Bernhard. Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, 2000. pp. 45–46
  8. ^ Marc Nussbaumer: Barry from the Great St. Bernhard. Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, 2000 (footnote on page 44).
  9. ^ Marc Nussbaumer: Barry from the Great St. Bernhard. Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern, 2000. p. 46
  10. ↑ Reinhold Schneider (Ed.): Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Collected Works. ISBN 3-87876-308-5 , pp. 600-681. projekt-gutenberg.org: The hospice on the Great St. Bernhard, Chapter 3: Second song. - First published in 1839.

Web links

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