Blucher Monument (Rostock)
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The Blücher Monument in Rostock commemorates Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher , the Rostock-born general of the anti-Napoleonic Wars of Liberation . The bronze figure stands on a pedestal, the four sides of which are provided with bronze reliefs. The monument in honor of Rostock's first honorary citizen was unveiled on August 26, 1819 on Hopfenmarkt (today's Universitätsplatz ).
layout
The larger-than-life statue of Blucher shows the field marshal without a headgear, with a flowing coat, a lion's skin with a head on his chest . In his right hand Blucher carrying the baton in his left hand a broadsword of Hussars . The bronze reliefs show 1. an allegorical representation of the battle of Ligny , in which Blücher fell on his horse, 2. an allegorical representation of the battle of Waterloo , 3. the family coat of arms of Blucher with the dedication to Prince Blücher of Wahlstatt his own , and 4. a saying from Goethe.
history
In the newspaper Hamburgische Unpartheyische Correspondent an article appeared on July 22, 1814, in which the city of Rostock reported on the plan to erect a monument to Blücher. There was also talk of the great approval of the population and the fact that the city's merchants had already collected 2,500 thalers. This message was taken from other papers and distributed. Blücher thanked him for this honor in a letter dated August 19, 1814. He wrote to the city fathers: I can see from the public papers that my hometown, which I so dearly loved, remembers me. I cannot find words to express my thanks to you, dear Sirs, and to all the inhabitants of Rostock as my heart feels it.
In Rostock nothing was known of this plan; the newspaper report was fictitious. Due to the resulting public pressure, the council turned to the royal houses of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the state assembly. After their approval of the building and the approval of the financing in December 1814, the Berlin sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow was commissioned with the design. The Baden Chamberlain August Claus von Preen was in charge of the building . Schadow consulted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on the conception of the work of art , who at the request of the Rostock Council wrote the saying that can be read on one of the bronze plaques on the base:
- In waiting and war,
In fall and victory
Conscious and great,
So he tore us - Get rid of enemies.
- In waiting and war,
The granite base was made in the former grinding mill in Schwerin , the statue in Schadow's Berlin workshop, using the then new monumental ore casting technique. The head was modeled after a bust that Christian Daniel Rauch had designed based on the living model. The monument was erected in a green area in the middle of the square and framed by an ornamental grille. In 1938, when the square was redesigned, it was necessary to implement it. Since then, the monument has stood southwest of its original location and is freely accessible.
The festival with the solemn unveiling of the monument took place on August 26, 1819, the anniversary of the Battle of the Katzbach . Blücher could no longer accept the invitation to the inauguration due to illness. He died just two weeks later. Schadow also stayed away from the event because of an illness, he was in Warnemünde to recover . Goethe received the invitation too late and Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I apologized because of too much business and a real ailment . Shortly afterwards, the hop market was renamed Blücherplatz .
In 1938 the monument was moved a few meters and rotated in the process. At the same time the protective fence was removed. Before the metal donation made by the German people for armaments since 1940 , the Blücher monument was spared as historically and artistically valuable by the decision of the Reich Minister for Science, Education and National Education on May 5, 1942. In the late autumn of that year, the statue was removed and walled up in St. Mary's Church as protection against bombing . When the Red Army occupied Rostock in April 1945, the memorial was to be destroyed. Bruno Claussen , the director of the Rostock University Library , allowed himself to be taken to the commanding officer and explained to him that Blücher had been an ally, “war comrade” of the Russians in the wars of liberation . The monument remained untouched.
literature
- Reiner Mnich, Lutz Nöh: Rostock and Warnemünde - visual arts in the cityscape. Hinstorff , Rostock 2000, ISBN 3-356-00850-1 .
- Karsten Schröder (Ed.): Within your walls there is unity and general well-being. Koch, Rostock 2002, ISBN 3-929544-68-7 .
- Friedrich Schlie : The art and history monuments of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Volume 1: The district court districts of Rostock, Ribnitz, Sülze-Marlow, Ticino, Laage, Gnoien, Dargun, Neukalen. Schwerin 1899, DNB 368136256 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mecklenburg State Main Archives, Sign. 5.1-7 / 1 No. 6986
- ↑ release Rainer Assmann to Claussens son Dr. Rolf Claussen (1932–2003), doctor in Kassel.
Coordinates: 54 ° 5 ′ 16.5 ″ N , 12 ° 8 ′ 2 ″ E