Entrance portal Georgenberg-Friedhof (Spremberg)
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The entrance portal to the old Georgenberg cemetery in Spremberg was the main entrance to the Georgenberg cemetery in the 19th century . The entrance portal was probably built in 1828 and demolished in the 1970s. In 2017 it was rebuilt on the initiative of the LAGA Verein eV . The entrance portal is located in the area of application of the area monument " Ensemble Stadtpark with Festwiese (meadow ground), open-air stage, swan pond, Slamer cemetery, Bismarck tower, Loebenstein, Tietzstein " .
history
As the population grew at the beginning of the 19th century, it became necessary to develop additional burial areas for the town of Spremberg. In 1828 the Georgenberg cemetery was laid out on what is now the city park . At that time, access to the cemetery was only possible via a narrow paved path to the cemetery area. At the beginning of this path there was an entrance portal, which was probably built when the cemetery was laid out in 1828.
The entrance portal consisted of two simple plastered pillars about 3.50 meters high , each crowned by a metal cross about seventy centimeters high . Above between the columns was a metal band with the Fraktur lettering "RUHESTAETTE". The entrance portal could be closed by a simple double-winged white wooden gate. In 1865, panels were subsequently attached to both pillars showing the slogan “What you are now, we were” on the left pillar and the saying “What we are now, you will” on the right pillar. These quotes were obviously modified from the legend " The three living and the three dead ".
From 1925, the St. George Chapel , located just a few meters above the entrance portal, was officially held for the funeral. The staircase immediately to the right behind the entrance portal, which led directly up to the chapel, probably dates from this time.
Decay and demolition
With the closure of the old part of the Georgenberg cemetery and the beginning of the redevelopment into the current city park in the 1970s, the portal lost its importance and its original purpose. There were no considerations of preservation or even just preservation for posterity. The entrance portal continues to deteriorate as a result of the weather and vandalism . The ultimate elimination was only a matter of time. That point in time had obviously come with the demolition of the St. George Chapel in 1970. Unfortunately there is no reliable source for this, so it can only be assumed that the demolition took place at this point in time. Letters in regional newspapers about old photos of the entrance portal support this assumption.
Planning
With the demolition of the entrance portal, this disappeared on the Georgenberg, but it was by no means out of the minds of the Sprembergers. Every “old” Spremberger knew the sayings that once adorned the pillars, and the desire for rebuilding was loud. This was unthinkable in the times of the GDR and a shortage economy , only with the political change in 1989 did the corresponding opportunities arise. The first considerations for a reconstruction were made in the 1990s, but were not pursued for financial reasons. It was not until 2016 that the Laga Verein eV decided to rebuild this entrance portal as part of a desired overall solution with the establishment of an imagination of the St. George Chapel.
reconstruction
Since there were neither old planning documents nor traditional drawings, all dimensions could only be determined by taking measurements on old postcards or photos. The only clues for the reconstruction were the remains of the foundations , rediscovered during a search excavation in September 2016 , with the help of which the exact locations of the gate pillars and their area could be determined. On November 17, 2016, the Lower Monument Authority from Forst granted permission under monument law with corresponding conditions. The entrance portal is and was never registered as a monument itself or in corresponding lists of monuments, but it is within the scope of the area monument “Ensemble of city park with festival meadow (meadow ground), open-air stage, swan pond, Slam cemetery, Bismarck tower, Loebenstein, Tietzstein”.
All work relating to the reconstruction of the entrance portal was carried out by regional craft businesses. On September 11, 2017, the reconstruction began with the walling of the pillars, which was then completed on September 21, 2017 with the placement of the forged crosses on the pillars. The crosses that now crown the gateposts were forged from steel, hot-dip galvanized and then powder-coated in matt black. They are 750 mm × 520 mm in size and, like the pillars, were only made to measure on old postcards. The two message boards with each 650 mm × 600 mm and the cross band with 3360 mm × 350 mm were made of stainless steel and also powder-coated in matt black. The applied Gothic script was applied by means of foil in the negative process and then painted gold.
On December 21, 2017, the message boards could be attached to the pillars as well as the transverse band between the pillars, thus completing the reconstruction. The official inauguration of the entrance portal took place on April 14, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ^ Spremberg City Park . In: Monuments in Brandenburg . As of October 17, 2009
- ^ Spremberg: Georgenberg cemetery . In: Märkischer Bote . June 26, 2009
- ↑ A piece of city history returns . In: Lausitzer Rundschau. April 15, 2018.
Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ 31.4 " N , 14 ° 22 ′ 52.3" E