Honor column (Hanau)

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Honor column in Hanau

The honor column in Hanau is a historical signpost and a monument of urban significance.

The construction

The monumental signpost from 1775 is in the shape of an obelisk . It stands on a cubic base with a late baroque / early classicist decor. The inscriptions point to the builder, Hereditary Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, the later Landgrave and Elector Wilhelm IX. / I. , the year of origin and the directions, such as "Dettingen" (today a district of Karlstein am Main ) and "Birkenh [ainer] -Straße". The monument is made of red sandstone .

Historical classification

The "honor pillar" was part of the infrastructure program for the County of Hanau (1760–1764 under the tutelage of his mother, Princess Maria of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover (1723–1772) ), which was ruled by the Hereditary Prince on the basis of the Hessian Insurance Act of 1754. . As part of this infrastructure program, wetlands were drained, and the main roads leading to the residence were placed on dams and some of them were re-routed. Further evidence of this infrastructure program that is still visible today are, for example, Philippsruher Allee and the arterial roads: Dettinger Strasse, Birkenhainer Strasse and Leipziger Strasse , originally designed as avenues and staged as a representative approach to his residence city of Hanau. The honor column was one of these testimonies of representation .

How it got its name, which does not correspond to its function, is unknown.

location

Originally, the monument stood in the middle of the old military and trade route Frankfurt am Main - (Hanau) - Nuremberg , which was expanded here in sections to the width of three cars. The obelisk stood at one end of a straight line (today: north-western leg of Willy-Brandt-Straße), which led from the “ Nürnberger Tor ” (today: Kurt-Plaum-Platz ), the east exit through the fortress wall of the Neustadt Hanau , and directly aimed at the monument. Here the road made its first slight bend.

But already a map from 1795 shows that the streets leading to the honorary column had been redrawn by a roundabout , the center of which was now the honorary column, which gave the square its name. The roundabout takes on the following streets:

  • B 43 (Barbarossastraße and southern branch of Willy-Brandt-Straße)
  • Birkenhainer Strasse
  • Dettinger Strasse
  • Güterbahnhofstrasse
  • Akademiestrasse
  • Willy-Brandt-Strasse (northwest branch)

Prominent buildings on the roundabout are next to the main entrance to the cemetery:

Roundabout around the honor column in a panoramic shot

meaning

The course is due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act monument legally part of the overall system Birkenhainer street, main cemetery and Rondell honor column . The honor column itself is an individual cultural monument on the same legal basis.

literature

  • Carolin Krumm: Cultural monuments in Hessen - City of Hanau . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2054-9 , p. 95 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Vollmar: Plan of the city and Vestung Hanau with the surrounding area at 2500 paces . Engraving by Jacob Müller. In: Gerhard Bott: healing exercise and amusement. The Wilhelmsbad near Hanau = publications on Hessian cultural history = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse 27.3. Hanau 2007, p. 33.
  2. ^ Carolin Krumm: Cultural monuments in Hessen - City of Hanau . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen . Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2054-9 , p. 258.

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 '35.2 "  N , 8 ° 55' 41.8"  E