Bismarckian Column (Kirn)

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The Bismarckian column from Kirn in 1910.

The Bismarckian column from Kirn an der Nahe in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate was built in honor of the first German Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898). The tower planned by the architect Wilhelm Kreis (1873–1955) stands on the Gauskopf south of Kirn, is twelve meters high and was inaugurated in 1901.

history

After Bismarck's death in 1898, supporters founded a Bismarck Tower Committee to erect a memorial for the former Chancellor in Kirn. The committee decided to have the Götterdämmerung model by the architect Wilhelm Kreis built on the Gauskopf south of the city . In 1899, Kreis won a German student union competition with his design . According to an idea of ​​the student body, a network of so-called pillars of fire should be set up throughout Germany in order to light large braziers on certain days in honor of Bismarck. The Bismarckian column from the Götterdämmerung model was built as a so-called type construction a total of 47 times in the German Empire until 1911 .

On July 16, 1900 the foundation stone was laid for the Bismarckian column, construction of which began immediately. The construction work was not supervised by the architect Wilhelm Kreis himself, but by the Kirner construction master craftsman Albert Pfeiffer. Basalt from a quarry in Niedermendig in the East Eifel and melaphyr from the Nahe region were mainly used as building material .

The construction work was completed in less than ten months, so that the Bismarckian Column could be inaugurated on May 12, 1901. On the evening of the same day the brazier on the tower was lit for the first time. A Bismarck relief was affixed to the front of the column ; the total cost of the building was a good 10,400 gold marks .

The Bismarckian column from Kirn survived the following decades largely unscathed. More recently, major damage was discovered and repaired on the pedestal of the structure. The building is no longer used as a so-called fire pillar - so the fire bowl at its top is no longer lit.

architecture

The Bismarckian column from Kirn an der Nahe was built on a square floor plan. The tower itself is also square, but the massive effect is softened by three-quarter columns at the corners of the tower body. Basalt and melaphyr were mainly used as building materials .

The Bismarckian Column is divided into four parts: The lowest part is an approximately two meter high platform that has a square base area of ​​nine by nine meters. At the back of the pedestal is a door through which you can get inside and climb up to the top of the column via metal rungs .

The pedestal of the column, which is also around two meters high and is divided into two levels, stands on the pedestal. The lower level has a square area of ​​around 5.5 by 5.5 meters and a height of around half a meter, the upper level is around four by four meters and almost one and a half meters high.

The actual tower, around five and a half meters high, rises above the basement. It is set back from the basement and rounded off at the corners by three-quarter columns. The front side is a Bismarck relief from bronze decorated that the sculptor Robert Cauer (1863-1947) from Bad Kreuznach was created. It shows the former Chancellor in profile from the right.

Above the tower body follows the approximately two and a half meter high upper floor, which consists of an architrave and a two-tier superstructure. The superstructure is set back a little from the tower body and is crowned by a large round fire bowl. The column (without the fire bowl) is twelve meters high.

To fire the so-called pillar of fire, the bowl on the pillar was filled with sand soaked in gasoline or petroleum and set on fire . Today the building is no longer used as a pillar of fire and the fire bowl is no longer lit.

See also

literature

  • Günter Kloss, Sieglinde Seele: Bismarck Towers and Bismarck Columns. An inventory. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 1997, ISBN 3-932526-10-4 .
  • Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of the Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-019-4 .

Web links

Coordinates: 49 ° 46 '59.4 "  N , 7 ° 27' 58.4"  E