Bastion (rock)
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The Bastei ( 305 m above sea level ) is a rock formation with a viewing platform in Saxon Switzerland on the right bank of the Elbe in the area of the municipality of Lohmen between the health resort Rathen and the city of Wehlen . It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Saxon Switzerland. From the bastion, the narrow rock reef drops steeply over 194 m to the Elbe. It offers a wide view of the Elbe Valley and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains . On the plateau behind the bastion is a hotel with a restaurant.
history
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The name Bastei already indicates the earlier integration of the steep cliffs into the defensive ring of the Neurathen Castle . In 1592 the rock was first mentioned as Pastey by Matthias Oeder in the course of the first Electoral Saxon land survey . In the course of the discovery and tourist development of Saxon Switzerland, the Basteifelsen developed into one of the first excursion destinations. The vantage point was first mentioned in travel literature in 1798 in a publication by Christian August Gottlob Eberhard . One of the first hiking guides who took guests to the Bastei was Carl Heinrich Nicolai , who wrote in 1801: What high feelings it pours into the soul! You stand for a long time without being able to cope with yourself (...) you tear yourself away from this point with difficulty.
Initially, the bastion was only relatively easy to reach from Wehlen and Lohmen. Numerous artists reached the bastion via the Malerweg . Caspar David Friedrich painted his well-known picture Felsenpartie in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains based on Bastei motifs . Even Ludwig Richter recorded at the Bastion. Access from Rathen was more difficult, since 1814 a staircase with 487 steps led from here from the Wehlgrund over the "Vogeltelle" to the rock.
At Whitsun 1812, the Lohmen butcher Pietzsch began supplying the Bastei visitors with food and drink. Bread, butter, beer, brandy, coffee and milk were offered in two bark huts. Two years later, a kitchen and a cellar were built below a rock overhang, and the viewing platform was given a railing. In February 1816 Pietzsch was granted a liquor license, but the modest buildings he built were destroyed in a fire in September of the same year. In June 1819 August von Goethe reported : “Freundl. Huts and good hospitality with Caffe Doppelbier liquer u. fresh bread and butter refreshed the tired wanderer very much… “In 1820 the license was transferred to the Rathen hereditary judge Schedlich.
Decisive development impulses arose in 1826. In that year, the first permanent restaurant building with overnight accommodation was built according to plans by Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer . From then on, the old bark huts served as night quarters for the hiking guides. Under the name “Bastei Bridge” a first wooden bridge was built over the deep crevices of the “Mardertelle”, which connected the bastion from the rocky reef in front of it with the rocks “Steinschleuder” and “Neurathener Felsentor”. In 1851 this wooden bridge was replaced by the sandstone bridge that still exists today due to the steadily increasing number of visitors . It has a length of 76.5 m and spans a 40 m deep gorge with seven arches, which is called "Mardertelle".
At the end of the 19th century, the bastion finally developed into the main excursion destination in Saxon Switzerland. The existing restaurant was completely rebuilt and expanded in 1893/94. A high pressure water line (1895) and a telephone line (1897) were laid for the supply. Around 1900 there were plans to build a mountain railway from the Elbe valley to the bastion, but these were not implemented. Even today, a ravine southwest of the bastion is known as the Eisenbahngründel . At the beginning of the 20th century, the Basteistraße was expanded in the course of increasing motorization.
After 1945 the number of guests increased again strongly, especially on weekends and holidays, a mass tourism developed . Between 1975 and 1979 the previous restaurant was replaced by an extensive new building (architect Horst Witter ), and later by a hotel. The planned construction of a 90 meter high house was not realized.
The Bastei bridge was subjected to a first major renovation in 1980–1982.
The viewing platform was closed to visitors in May 2016, as weathering spots in the sandstone were found about 15 meters below it, which endanger the long-term stability of the Bastei rock. The rock securing work was originally supposed to continue into the first half of 2017. At the beginning of February 2017, the geologists' investigations revealed that the rock could no longer be secured by technical means. The visitor platform was therefore secured with a fence and permanently blocked. In August 2017 it became known that protective fences against falling rocks were to be erected below the viewing platform and that the railing and the pavement slabs of the closed viewing platform were to be removed. In November 2017, the first plans to build a 20 meter long platform made of carbon concrete were published. The platform should only rest on intact rock and float in the front, eroded area at a low height above the rock. The platform should be 3.5 m wide and 70 t heavy. Before installing the platform, extensive measures to secure the rock are planned; thereby u. a. Steel piles are inserted up to 19 meters deep into the sandstone, porous areas are smeared with mortar and a shotcrete shell is applied to the base of the wall. Construction of the new platform can only be started after the rock protection has been completed, probably from 2022.
tourism
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The Bastei is one of the most striking viewpoints in Saxon Switzerland and attracts around 1.5 million visitors a year. There is no other point in the German national parks with such a high visitor density.
August von Goethe already praised the prospect in 1819: “Here where you can see the Elbe from the rugged rock walls, where in the small distance the lily, king and priest stones are grouped in a painterly manner and generally represent a whole to the eye can never be described with words ” . Today the bastion has the highest number of visitors of all viewpoints in Saxon Switzerland.
In addition to the actual view, there are other interesting tourist points. On the century tower, a rocky summit on the Bastei bridge, there are memorial plaques for the first mention of the bastion in travel literature (in 1797) and for Wilhelm Leberecht Götzinger and Carl Heinrich Nicolai . With their travelogues and works, these two are among the "discoverers" of Saxon Switzerland as a tourist destination. Another plaque commemorates the Saxon court photographer Hermann Krone , who took the first landscape photos in Germany on the Bastei bridge in 1853 . The famous view of the Bastei bridge is possible from the Ferdinandstein , part of the watchtowers. It can be reached via a junction on the way to the Bastei bridge. Another well-known formation near the bastion is the watch tower , a large part of which broke off in 2000.
From the bastion you can also reach the Neurathen rock castle , the largest rock castle in Saxon Switzerland , via the Bastei bridge . The remains of the castle, such as joists and rooms hewn out of the rock, a cistern and stone balls found from medieval slingshots or catapults can be viewed on a separate tour. A reconstructed slingshot was installed in the rock castle in 1986. Finds from excavations, especially pottery, can also be viewed. Finally, the ascent from Rathen to the bastion leads past an open-air museum about the Slavic settlement of the area and the junction to the Rathen rock stage .
The Eisenach – Budapest mountain hiking trail leads over the bastion .
natural reserve
Already at the turn of the 20th century, conservationists campaigned for the protection of the unique rocky landscape around the bastion. Plans to build a mountain railway were thus prevented. As early as 1938, the bastion was designated as the first nature reserve in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains . Today it is part of the core zone of the Saxon Switzerland National Park , in which particularly strict protection regulations apply.
Trivia
The main belt asteroid (26757) Bastei is named after the rock formation, as is the Bastei type of caravan produced between 1974 and 1990 by VEB Karosseriewerk Dresden .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Gotthold Sobe: August von Goethe's journey in 1819 to Saxon Switzerland . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter 16 (1970) 1, p. 42.
- ↑ a b Katrin Koritz: Castles in the air in Saxon Switzerland. Ed. Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2008, ISBN 978-3-938325-56-8 .
- ↑ Bastei view remains closed until 2017 , Sächsische Zeitung from August 22, 2016
- ↑ The Bastei prospect disappears , Sächsische Zeitung (Pirna edition) from 23 August 2017
- ↑ Bastei gets a floating platform. In: Saxon newspaper. November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017 .
- ^ The bastion needs steel and concrete , Sächsische Zeitung (Pirna edition) of April 12, 2019
- ↑ Bastei with the greatest flow of visitors of all national parks , Sächsische Zeitung (Pirna edition) from June 11, 2016
literature
- Alfred Meiche: Historical-topographical description of the Pirna administration. Dresden 1927 ( digitized ).
- Oskar Lehmann: The bastion in Saxon Switzerland. Festschrift for the centenary celebration of their entry into history on May 29, 1897. Köhler, Dresden 1897 ( digitized version ).
- Richard Vogel , Dieter Beeger: Königstein area - Saxon Switzerland. Series values of our homeland , Vol. 1. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1985th
Web links
- The bastion on the website of the Saxon Switzerland Tourist Board with information on how to get there, parking spaces and opening times.
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ' N , 14 ° 4' E