Bickelstein

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The Bickelstein is a 2.5 meter long and 1.2 meter high boulder made of potash feldspar granite , which has markings similar to a horseshoe and a cross. It is located in the Bickelsteiner Heide, a forest area between Ehra-Lessien and Boitzenhagen in eastern Lower Saxony . The stone is one of the most famous erratic boulders in the Wolfsburg-Gifhorn area and is the landmark of the Ehra-Lessien community. However, the largest boulder in the Gifhorn district is the " Gifhorn boulder " set up on the banks of the Ise .

The Bickelstein

location

The chair-shaped boulder was transported by glaciers from Scandinavia to northern Germany during the Ice Age in the Pleistocene . It is located in a forest clearing around 200 meters east of state road 288 between Ehra-Lessien and Boitzenhagen, around four kilometers north-northeast of Ehra at around 94 meters above sea ​​level . The way there is signposted. The stone gave the Bickelsteiner Heide between Ehra-Lessien, Boitzenhagen, Wiswedel and Voitze its name. The heathland was only afforested with pine trees in the 19th and 20th centuries . In the past, the Bickelstein was probably in a more open area with oak and juniper .

History and special features

The Bickelstein from a great distance

The foundling was first mentioned in a document in 1697 in a loan letter from those von Bartensleben about the Boldecker Land . The Bickelstein is not conspicuous because of its size and location, because many such boulders were deposited in northern Germany during the Ice Age in the Pleistocene . Instead, the special feature is the seven horseshoe - and seven cross-like symbols that are carved into the surface of the stone. The one centimeter deep and about ten centimeter large markings are unevenly distributed on the stone. The origin and age of the markings are unknown.

The Bickelstein could have been a cult place for worshiping Wotan in Germanic times . The horseshoe-shaped signs could then symbolize Wotan's horse Sleipnir . It is unclear whether the crosses are Germanic signs of salvation or atonement crosses that were added after the Christianization of the Germanic peoples. In the early modern period, the stone served as a boundary stone between the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Principality of Lüneburg-Celle . Today it is not only a destination for hikers in the large forest area, but also the venue for annual forest services during the heather bloom in August.

Surname

The name Bickelstein is derived from the way the markings are applied. These were obviously engraved with the help of tools . The corresponding Low German word for this is inbicken (“to cut into”), and the corresponding tool is called Bicke (see pimple ). Literally translated into High German, Bickelstein would therefore mean nothing more than “hewn stone” or “engraved stone”.

Genesis

This drawing from 1901 shows the Bickelstein from several sides, with special emphasis on the incised markings.

There are three legends about the origin and markings of the stone:

  • According to popular belief, the giants once threw the stone there, which comes from the Klieversberg in Wolfsburg . In the Hohenstein district of Wolfsburg, there are rocks of similar size, but these are rock and not boulders.
  • The axis Bickel closed at this point, a crowd of hostile francs a. He offered the leader of his opponents freedom if he would ride around the stone and the horse would throw a horseshoe against the stone, which then happened.
  • In the Thirty Years' War , a Swedish army persecuted by the imperial family under King Gustav Adolf II came to the Bickelsteiner Heide around 1630 . Surrounded by enemies, the king has called As little as my horse can step into this stone and I can cut my sword, so little will we be able to win. Then the miraculous signs appeared in the stone and the battle was won.

literature

  • Jürgen Delfs: Erratic boulders and boundary stones. In: Well-known and hidden natural monuments in the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg area. Gifhorn 1991.
  • Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Bickelstein near Ehra. Pp. 26-28. In: If stones could talk. Volume III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1 .
  • Eberhard Rohde: The legend of the Bickelstein. In: Legends and fairy tales from the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg area. Gifhorn 1994.

Web links

Commons : Bickelstein  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Largest foundling ever found in a circle ( memento from May 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), undated article on the website of Antenne Niedersachsen

Coordinates: 52 ° 36 ′ 4.2 "  N , 10 ° 48 ′ 22.4"  E