Ebersdorf cog model

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The Ebersdorfer cog model is a wooden ship model and a votive offering from the beginning of the 15th century. It is located in the Ebersdorfer Stiftskirche in the Ebersdorf district of Chemnitz . The prototype-like model is one of the oldest in Europe and forms a supplementary source for shipbuilding history for ship archeology .

origin

There is no reliable information about the origin or the reason for the donation. Steusloff only quotes the legendary origin of the model from one publication:

“A certain Junker Wolf von Lichtenwalde had moved to the promised land to fight the Saracens there. He had happily overcome all the dangers and exertions of war, and now returned laden with treasures to his fatherland, where a dear bride awaited him. Then it happened that the ship on which he sailed for Venice was attacked by a terrible storm. No skill of the seaworthy captain, nor the superhuman exertion could withstand the pressure of the angry elements, and everyone was looking forward to the sinking of the ship in the near future. Then the otherwise courageous crusader sank on his knees in wild despair and vowed to the holy virgin of Ebersdorf that if she would free him from this distress and happily return to his ancestral castle, he would offer her a boat filled with very good gold as a sacrifice want to offer, and he should use all his property for it. And see, almost immediately the storm died down, the waves smoothed out and a favorable wind drove the ship quickly and happily into the safe harbor. The knight did not forget his vows after his happy return home. He had a ship made by a skilled artist, filled it with gold and hung it in the church in Ebersdorf on the altar of the Holy Virgin as an eternal memory. "

In this former pilgrimage and today's collegiate church in the Ebersdorf district of the city of Chemnitz , the model is still present today. While it used to be under the organ stage, it can now be seen in the north chapel.

The model

The ship model in the Ebersdorf collegiate church

The current condition of the model shows only a wooden fuselage shell with a few inner woods. Only four frame pairs with deck or space beams have survived from them. The planking is clinkered throughout. The stern is sloping straight aft, while the stem describes a slight curve. There are no signs of rigging . At the stern suggest Ruderösen indicate a tail rudder. The few pieces of wood at the stern make it difficult to reconstruct the aft box. All details and the hull in its proportions do not show any recent adaptations. Black discolorations can indicate fire damage or come from a layer of tar.

meaning

A replica of a medieval ship is currently being built at the shipyard of the Ukranenland open-air museum . The Ebersdorf model serves as one of the templates. The replica is supplemented by archaeological and pictorial sources from the first half of the 15th century. For this purpose, the votive ship was measured on site by the Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Logistics at the University of Rostock with a 3D laser scanner .

The peculiarity of the model are the many points that are known on the one hand from earlier wreckage, but on the other hand can also be seen in more recent pictorial representations. This provides a third source form for the phase of transition from large single-masted ships to multi-masted ships. However, there are no scientific publications on the age determination of the model.

The Mataó model in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam is estimated to have been made around 1420 to around 1450. Although it is younger than the Ebersdorfer model , it is claimed that the Rotterdam model is "the oldest model in Europe".

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ as a reference, Steusloff names: Lichtenwalde . Council of the municipality of Lichtenwalde (ed.), 2nd edition, undated
  2. ^ Steusloff: Votive ships . Rostock 1981, p. 175
  3. ↑ Matarómodel the Maritime Museum, Rotterdam