Pear tree on the Walserfeld
| Walser pear tree | |||
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 old tree until 2015
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| place | Walserfeld, Wals | ||
| state | Salzburg , Austria | ||
| Tree species | pear | ||
| Height above sea level | 440 m above sea level A. | ||
| Geographical location | 47 ° 47 '2.4 " N , 12 ° 58' 24" E | ||
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| Status natural monument | Natural monument | ||
| Age | 130 (planted in 1887) | ||
| Crown diameter | 5 | ||
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Pear tree on the Walserfeld
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| location | Salzburg , Austria |
| surface | 18 m² |
| Identifier | NDM00014 |
| Setup date | 1932 |
| administration | BH Salzburg-Umgebung |
| particularities | Tree replanted several times; Community symbol |
The pear tree on the Walserfeld , usually called the Walser pear tree, is a former natural monument that stands in an open field southwest of Salzburg , near Salzburg Airport, next to the Innsbruck main road.
There is evidence that several specimens have been replanted in the past two centuries.
History of the tree
The tree first appeared in a document in 1564. A certain Lazarus Gitschner, former servant of the town clerk of Reichenhall, is said to have reported on his deathbed that a monk had once shown him the interior of the lower mountain and pointed out the pear tree where a great battle would one day take place. At that time there was probably a striking tree on the Walserfeld.
The 19th century tree is said to have commemorated the battle of the Walserfeld , which was fought between French and Imperial Austrian troops from December 12th to 14th, 1800. The victorious French marched into actually neutral Salzburg and plundered the city and the surrounding area. In 1803, Prince Archbishop Colloredo, who had fled to Vienna at the time, handed over the archbishopric to Austria. After this time, the tree was considered a political symbol, and presumably one that was friendly to Bavaria, although the exact connection with the Napoleon Battle is unclear. The tree became known nationwide through the ballad Der Pirnbaum auf dem Walserfeld (1831) by the poet and naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso . In 1848 King Ludwig of Bavaria tried to buy the tree from the owner at the time, the Siglbauern, in order to fence it in and protect it from attacks. He thought that was entirely improbable because he accepted a veneration that was rooted in popular belief. He received an annual payment for care. The tree was sawed by strangers on the night of April 30th to May 1st, 1872. A week later he fell victim to a storm. At the time, the attack caused a sensation and outrage “beyond the borders of Austria.” The act is attributed to a Carinthian and anti-Bavarian “tangle” named Johann Wicherl. It is considered implausible that the Siglbauer saw down the tree himself "because the many admirers of the tree trodden the fields". At that time, two local boys were also suspected of attempting to cut down the tree in misjudgment of the Philippi custom (according to which the maypole is still stolen today).
In 1874 the kuk regimental doctor in the Reich Ministry of War in Vienna, Dr. Heinrich Wallmann, known at the time by the poet's name Heinrich von der Mattig, took a plot of land about 30 meters away from the Siglbauern in order to plant a new tree with the approval of the Salzburg Society for Regional Studies . A Major Skuppa ceremoniously planted a wild pear tree in 1875. This tree died in a storm on September 2, 1883. The property is still in the land register as that of the pear tree.
The tree at that time was bought in the spring of 1887 by Dr. Wallmann and the Salzburg historian Zillner. According to the will, the property and the property became the property of the City of Salzburg on May 9, 1899. In 1932 it was declared a natural monument. Since the end battle saga was reinterpreted during the Nazi era and the pear tree was declared an old Germanic " thing tree", it was supposed to be felled by the Americans after the war , but this was abandoned when they saw how the tree is actually not very impressive. On September 11, 1970, the city of Salzburg donated the tree to the Wals-Siezenheim community, whose community symbol it had become.
The specimen was probably also a pear wildling . He had been infected with a fungus for several years and, according to experts, had reached his natural age. Preparations were made for the next tree by purchasing a cider pear tree from an Upper Austrian nursery a few years ago. Since older trees can now be replanted without any problems, a stately specimen was available when the trees were replanted. The new tree was installed on December 3, 2015 on Ederweg and inaugurated on April 30, 2016.
Landmark and natural monument
Even before the First World War, it was planned to erect a large national monument, which was no longer possible because of the chaos of the war. The tree was then declared a natural monument by decision of the State of Salzburg of May 30, 1932, Zl. 449/1-III-1932 ( NDM00014 ). The new tree is no longer designated as a natural monument.
The Walser pear tree is now considered the community symbol of Wals-Siezenheim . In the blazon of the municipal coat of arms, it is described as "a natural, green, yellow-pollinated pear tree ". The Untersberg forms the background . The coat of arms was awarded in 1948.
In the year of the European Football Championship in 2008, a bronze sculpture with the Walser pear tree by the stonemason Harald Leitner was set up on the roundabout at the Salzburg-West motorway exit in the roundabout at the entrance to Wals. The tree stands in a lattice shell made of stainless steel tubing on the edges of a soccer ball and, as mentioned in a document, carries six pears. However, there is also a coat of arms with seven pears in Wals. On the night of Saturday, June 20, 2015, a pear from the sculpture was stolen. A few days later the thief brought them back.
The wood of the trees
A cabinet was made as a wedding present from the wood of the Walser pear tree, who died in 1872, for Crown Prince Rudolf , who welcomed his wife Stephanie of Belgium to Salzburg in 1881. The carving came from the Hallein art carver A. Baumann, represents the Unterberg legend and is no longer completely preserved. A paperweight made of wood went to Kaiser Wilhelm on the occasion of a spa stay in Gastein. The root of this tree is preserved in the Salzburg Museum (formerly Carolino Augusteum).
No older copies have survived.
Myths and legends
The existence of a pear tree here is traced back to Roman times. A tree is said to have sprouted here around AD 476 , which was soaked with the blood of ten Teutonic children sacrificed to Jupiter. The military leader Odoacer is said to have witnessed this deed on his way to Italy, which brought the Roman Empire down. The returning Germanic tribes are said to have taken the seeds of the now adult tree with them, and the Walser pear tree has become the progenitor of all pear trees in Germany. The age of this politically motivated ritual murder story is unknown.
The legend also entwines around the tree, according to which Charlemagne , who is supposed to sleep in Untersberg , will one day fight the final battle between good and evil on the Walserfeld. So when one day the ravens no longer fly around the summit of the Untersberg and “the need in the empire is greatest”, the emperor will wake up and ride with his entourage to the pear tree on the Walserfeld for the last fight, in which (hopefully) evil destroyed and good will prevail. But if the "evil" wins, according to legend, it will rain fire, and the riders of hell will rise from the ground and collect the souls of all.
When flying around the summit of the Untersberg corvids is jackdaws . This legend also has a historical core: In October 803, a provincial synod was held in Salzburg Cathedral under the chairmanship of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was very much in favor of the then Salzburg Bishop Arn , who also belonged around 811 to the circle of witnesses before whom Charlemagne made his will. The legend of the emperor in Untersberg finds a parallel in the roughly identical story about emperor Barbarossa , who is also supposed to wait for Judgment Day in Kyffhäuser .
According to another version of the legend, Barbarossa's grandson, Emperor Friedrich II , who sleeps in Trifels or in Etna (in Sicily), will lead the good on the Walserfeld into the final battle with the bad. The versions of the saga, which appear different in terms of content, time and place, obviously all have their origin in the long prevailing popular belief in the return of an emperor of peace .
In addition to these eschatological associations, popular stories have also come down to us. In the 19th century, for example, people believed that “whoever fell the pear tree will not die of natural causes and will not have any male descendants.” So there were also aspects of a fertility symbol.
literature
- Josef Aigelsreiter: The pear tree on the Walserfeld . Pages 1–4 in a folder on the small monuments of the municipality of Wals, undated ( online at pfarre-wals.at).
- Rudolf Freisauff von Neudegg : The pear tree on the Walserfelde, a small contribution to Salzburg regional studies . Oberer, Salzburg 1876.
- Herbert Hopfgartner: Adelbert Chamisso: The pear tree on the Walserfeld . Landesverband Salzburger Volkskultur, 33rd year May 2009, pp. 66–71.
- Nikolaus Huber (ed.): Religious sagas and legends from Salzburg . Mittermüller, Salzburg 1880, p. OA
- Werner Thuswaldner, Gerhard Bluhm: Natural monuments in the state of Salzburg . 2nd edition, A. Winter, 1985, 1a), p. 50.
- Christian Uhlir: Emperor Charlemagne and the Untersberg legends . Self-published, Grödig near Salzburg 2000.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lit. Aigelsreiter o. D.
- ^ Friederike Zaisberger: History of Salzburg. Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1998, p. 29.
- ↑ a b Salzburg Wiki: Battle of the Walserfeld
- ↑ a b lit. Thuswaldner / Bluhm, 1985
- ↑ a b c d Quotes from Ref. Aigelsreiter o. D.
- ↑ The Walser pear tree, history and myth ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Video, on Untersberg TV
- ↑ Untersberg: Legendary mountain and Hitler's Walhalla . No. 33 in In the shadow of the Mozartkugel. Travel guide through the brown topography of Salzburg. imschatten.org, accessed November 11, 2014.
- ↑ a b The Walser pear tree dies , salzburg.orf.at, October 6, 2014.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 12, 2017 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.
- ↑ Natural monuments of the State of Salzburg. State of Salzburg, Geodata Infrastructure Unit, May 27, 2016, accessed on June 6, 2016 (License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Austria ).
- ↑ http://salzburg.orf.at/news/stories/2717499/ Bronzebirne stolen from sculpture, ORF.at, June 22, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/salzburg/chronik/sn/artikel/vermisste-bronze-birne-in-wals-wieder-aufgetaucht-155310/
- ^ Friederike Zaisberger : History of Salzburg. Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1998, p. 270.
- ↑ pear tree on the Walser field , say.at
