Bismarckstein (Göttingen)
The Bismarckstein in Göttingen is a Bismarck monument near the Klausberg (Auf dem Toppe). The memorial was built in honor of the former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and is popularly known as the elephant toilet because of its grotesque shape .
Building history
As part of the national Bismarck worship in the German Empire a "club for the edification of a Bismarck column at Göttingen" 1900 was been founded to jointly chaired by the Rector of the University and the Mayor Georg Friedrich Calsow in addition to the already built in 1896 Bismarckturm a Bismarcksäule To be built according to the design “Götterdämmerung” by Wilhelm Kreis, which emerged from the tender of the German student body in 1898 . Otto von Bismarck had started his law studies in Göttingen in 1832/33 and was the most famous alumnus of Georgia Augusta during the German Empire . After the Auf dem Toppe square had been selected on the condition that “the column was made mountable so that it could serve as a vantage point”, the concept and a design by the city architect Friedrich Jenner , who envisaged an unusual fire altar-like structure made of limestone, changed , was approved at the general assembly of the association on June 14, 1902. The building contractor Rudolf Hannig (Hanover) was responsible for the construction; the foundation stone for the unusual building was laid on June 21, 1902, the inauguration for the solstice celebration on June 21, 1903. The construction costs of 18,000 marks were raised through fundraising and contributions from the association.
The viewing platform of the flame altar at a height of seven meters has a square floor plan and can be reached via two external stairs on both sides. A large fire bowl was originally installed on the viewing platform, but it was removed in the 1960s along with 12 fire pillars that surrounded the Bismarckstein in a semicircle. In fact, the memorial was so rotten in 1965 that the SPD parliamentary group recommended that the Bismarckstein be replaced by a memorial for the victims of National Socialism. After a heated letters to the editor's debate in the Göttinger Tageblatt , this plan was never implemented. Since a new metal parapet was installed in 1987, the total height of the structure has been 7.5 m. After extensive renovation, the Bismarckstein was made available to the public again on September 11, 2005, Open Monument Day .
Individual evidence
- ↑ W. Nissen: A Bismarck column became the Bismarck stone. On the history of the Bismarck memorial on the Toppe. In: Göttinger Tageblatt. 24./25. April 1965.
- ↑ C. Hantscher: Bismarck monuments in the Göttingen area. Presentation as part of the proseminar Remembering and Forgetting. On the importance of monuments in urban areas. Institute for Cultural Anthropology / European Ethnology at the University of Göttingen. (Full text)
- ↑ M. Gierl, R. Praß: Hospital and Klausberg. Students and patients, contortions and commemoration. In: C. Gottschalk (Ed.): Göttingen on foot. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-87975-593-0 .
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 32 ′ 59.5 ″ N , 9 ° 57 ′ 49 ″ E