Elias Cemetery

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Elias Cemetery

The Elias Cemetery in Dresden is considered the most important cemetery in the city in terms of cultural history . The burial site in the Pirnaische Vorstadt, which has been closed since 1876 and closed for traffic and security police reasons, is a listed building. The cemetery was included because of its particular importance in 2015 in the program "valuable national cultural monuments" of the federal government.

history

Beginning as a plague and poor cemetery

Johann Georg II ordered the construction of the plague cemetery in 1680
Dilapidated Schwibbogen tombs on the south wall

In 1680 the plague , which had broken out in Vienna two years earlier , was brought to Dresden . Within a few months, more than 5000 people - a third of the city's total population - died as a result of the plague. At that time, Dresden had only a few burial sites: the Frauenkirchhof and the cemetery at the Bartholomäus Hospital had already become too small in the 16th century. The Johanniskirchhof in front of the Pirnaischer Tor , which was then created and expanded in 1680 due to the plague, could not alone contain the dead of the epidemic. For fear of the population being infected by the dead, Elector Johann Georg II, who fell ill with the plague himself a little later , ordered a plague cemetery to be laid out outside the city, which was designed as an emergency cemetery. The cost of acquiring the land and setting up the same should be paid for from the “God's box” - a collection box for charitable gifts. On July 10, 1680, the building land in front of the brick gate , "located behind the clay pits and brick kilns", was sold by Mayor Viegner (according to other sources Wiegner ) to the council of Dresden and the cemetery was set up in an open field within a very short time.

After the epidemic subsided, the area was used as a poor cemetery in the following years. The dead were allowed to be buried by their relatives free of charge. Even strangers, “suicides, executed and unbaptized” found their final resting place in the “Pestilenzkirchhof”. At that time, the property consisted of an irregular surface, about the appearance and design of which nothing is known. There seems to have been neither a cemetery wall nor a chapel. The wealthy citizens of Dresden were buried in the Frauenkirchhof or the Johanniskirchhof. Rich families often had their own open crypts there, and the right to occupy them was passed on to future generations. Noble residents of the city could also be buried within church buildings such as the old Frauenkirche or the Sophienkirche .

18th and 19th century cemetery of high estates

Restored crypt houses by George Bähr on the north side of the Elias cemetery

In 1721 the Johanniskirchhof was extended one last time. Three years later, the Frauenkirchhof, which was closed in 1714, was secularized by a resolution of the Dresden City Council in order to build the new Frauenkirche in its place . The Elias cemetery was chosen as the new cemetery for the higher classes because the Johannis cemetery could no longer be enlarged. In order to be able to fulfill the new function as a modern funeral complex, extensive renovations were necessary, which were decided by the city council. The cemetery area was expanded by 4000 square meters in a westerly direction, the area was divided by a network of paths and surrounded by a wall. Planning and construction were in the hands of George Bähr and Johann Gottfried Fehre . Valentin Ernst Löscher enforced crypt rights for the cemetery with Elector Friedrich August I , so that from May to July 1723 Bähr was able to build crypt structures with flying buttresses on the cemetery wall. A total of 41 crypt houses were built on the west and north walls, which were connected to crypts that were not built over on the east and south walls. While tombs had traditionally been laid out in older cemeteries such as the Johannis and Frauenkirchhof, closed tomb houses were a novelty in the Dresden area. They were laid out in rows and covered by a common roof. While the above-ground room, closed by an artistic wrought-iron grille, often contained elaborately designed epitaphs , the actual burial took place in the several meters deep vault under the structure. The crypt houses as well as the Schwibbogen crypts were in great demand and were given by long lease; could also be sold as part of private ownership. In the period that followed, hereditary burial sites were also created in the rest of the area through smaller crypts. The graves, with the exception of those on the cemetery wall, face east. The death bed master's house, which interrupts the row of crypt houses, was only built in 1864 as the road was straightened out.

The cemetery developed into the preferred resting place of the nobility and wealthy citizens of the city because of its crypt houses in the time of Friedrich August I. To distinguish it from the older Johannisfriedhof, the name "New Cemetery" was now common, as was the case on the first drawing of the extension in 1724. A little later, the name Elias-Kirchhof after the prophet Elijah , who was able to raise the dead, began to gain acceptance. The first evidence of this can be found in Johann Christian Crell . The Elias cemetery, which was soon to be filled, was relieved by the construction of the Trinity cemetery in 1815. In the mid-19th century, ten times more burials were carried out there than in the Elias cemetery, which was primarily due to a lack of space.

The Elias Cemetery since its closure in 1876

Elias cemetery in the foreground in 1915 with the original cemetery wall in front of the extension of Güntzplatz
Grave slab destroyed by roots

On the basis of a medical report, the city council of Dresden decided in August 1864, after a long discussion, to close the Elias cemetery. Hygienic concerns were decisive for this, because inhabited buildings in the city were getting closer and closer to the cemetery. But it was not until August 13, 1866, that the church inspection announced that the closure was planned on May 4, 1866 in coordination with the Royal Superintendent, the Council of Dresden and with the consent of the City Council and the approval of the Royal District Directorate . Existing tombs and grave sites could be used for a further 10 years as long as they were not already completely filled with coffins. Those who could prove a right to use a crypt or grave were assigned another grave site in the Trinity cemetery free of charge. On June 21, 1876, the last burial took place in the Elias cemetery.

The cemetery deteriorated in the following years. The crypt houses in the western part of the cemetery were dilapidated as early as 1890, which is why the roofs on crypts 1 to 10 were demolished the following year. The Güntz crypt remained unchanged for the time being. Its roof was then dilapidated in 1925 and was repaired on behalf of the City Council - Building Department and demolished to a flat roof. Around 1900 the ivy began to spread on the cemetery grounds, overgrowing entire grave fields and clogging the sandstone graves. As a romantic place, however, it also became a source of inspiration for painters: Max Pechstein, for example, created his painting Eliasfriedhof in Dresden in 1906 , while Franz Radziwill captured the Eliasfriedhof in 1927 and 1928 in a watercolor and an oil painting.

At the request of the "United District and Citizens' Association of the Pirnaische Vorstadt", a footpath was created in September 1907 through the cemetery, which was largely closed to the public, from Pestalozzi Straße (spelling at that time, today Pestalozzistraße) to Lothringer Straße, which is separated from the cemetery area with wooden fences has been. "... like a deep, never-to-be-healed wound, an ugly, pinned path has been cutting the churchyard in two for some years now, and the trappings of many hurried human feet now sound every day down to the sleepers under the green lawn," complained the State Association of Saxon Homeland Security in 1912. 1915 Lord Mayor Otto Beutler suggested setting up a memorial hall for the Dresden residents who died in World War I free of charge. There was no approval from the church for this, rather the site was to be sold or, alternatively, exchanged for municipal property. In this respect, the city council's request to set up a children's playground in 1918 had no chance and was outright rejected with reference to a violation of piety. As a result, the cemetery fell into disrepair, the future of which was uncertain and little investment was made in its maintenance. There was increased vandalism on the tombs and the tombs. Gravestones had loosened over the decades and tombs were in danger of collapsing, so that the cemetery passage was closed again in 1924 for traffic and security police reasons. On request, the state consistory approved the complete closure and the secularization that was possible as early as 1916 . This was then carried out by the responsible cemetery committee under its chairman Superintendent Ficker on July 18, 1928. To secure the facility, the death bed master's house was given to a cemetery worker from the Trinity cemetery in 1932 for a small rent as an official residence with the obligation to supervise the cemetery. In the previous year, the remains of the western tombs had been removed and the tombs filled. The crypt houses in the north, however, were re-covered in 1939.

During the bombing of Dresden in February 1945, the remaining crypt houses and the death bed master house, the ruins of which were removed after 1966, were destroyed. Further damage, each resulting from the impact of a stick incendiary bomb , can be proven on some grave slabs. In 1948 a narrow strip of the eastern part of the cemetery was given up when the Güntzplatz was expanded. The new eastern wall of the cemetery was interrupted by iron bars, which were brought here through the mediation of the Office for the Preservation of Monuments. The Elias cemetery continued to deteriorate over the years and became overgrown, especially due to a massive, several meter high maple vegetation.

The cemetery is owned by the Elias, Trinitatis and Johannisfriedhof in Dresden, which has not had the means to maintain the cemetery due to a lack of income since it was closed in 1876. Negotiations for the sale of the cemetery, which had been ongoing since 1927, resulted in a legally binding "Agreement on the safeguarding, preservation and partial reconstruction of the Elias Cemetery in Dresden and its transfer into public ownership" with the Dresden City Council on January 13, 1989. In 1995, however, the latter declared, with reference to the discontinuation of the contractual basis due to the changed social conditions after the fall of the Wall , that the agreement was invalid.

The costs for a partial repair of the cemetery were estimated at 850,000 to 1.5 million DM, with usage variants including guided tours to selected graves of well-known personalities and the reconstruction of the Bähr crypt houses and the burial house to set up a museum. As a result, in November 1998 the “Eliasfriedhof Dresden e. V. “, which is committed to the preservation and care of the cemetery. The association freed the cemetery from wild growth and secured grave sites so that the area could be opened to the public to a limited extent from September 1999. Thanks to donations, it was initially possible to close open crypts and put tombstones back up. From 1999 to 2002 twelve preserved George Bährs crypt houses on the north wall of the Elias cemetery were restored. Four more crypt houses, which were destroyed by a storm shortly before the renovation work began in 1999, were rebuilt at the end of 2016. In April 2017, members of the Frauenkirche Foundation planted a Luther beech on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation . A permanent opening of the cemetery is not possible due to security concerns and to protect the valuable building fabric. The friends' association organizes guided tours of the cemetery; Dates can be found on its website.

Important tombs

No tombs have survived from the early years of the Elias Cemetery. The oldest known tomb in the cemetery is that of the officer Johann Georg Lichtenegger (1672–1729). The youngest tombstone in the cemetery is that of geodesist Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann, who died in 1840 . The gravestone in the form of a sandstone block was so badly weathered that it was replaced by a copy in 2008 by master stonemason Elmar Vogel from Dresden. The original gravestone carried a sandstone cross, which was no longer present when the inscription was rewritten for the centenary of the Dresden University of Technology in 1928. The preserved part of the original tomb is kept in a crypt house.

Tomb of the Weinlig family, 2014 in the palace in the Great Garden

Numerous tombs in the cemetery were designed or created by well-known artists. The grave of the composer Johann Gottlieb Naumann was probably created by Franz Pettrich . The grave inscription is a poem written by Christian Gottfried Körner . The tombstone itself was donated by Körner and other friends of Naumann. A copy of the grave slab is in the lapidarium of the Loschwitz churchyard . Other tombs are attributed to Pettrich, such as that of the court cellar master Johann Gottlieb Hock (1739–1810).

The sculptor Johann Christian Kirchner designed his own tomb, which shows a life-size Chronos with an hourglass. The execution was done by his brother Gottlieb Kirchner. Caspar David Friedrich designed the tombs of Christian Ernst Ulrici (1750–1825), Augusta Kind and Major Ernst Müller. Friedrich's designs were carried out by Christian Gottlieb Kühn . Kühn also created the angel figures on the tombstone of Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer , who he designed and created himself. The tomb for Christian Gottlieb Welker comes from Johann Christian Feige the Elder. J. , son of Johann Christian Feige .

In 1857 the painter Johan Christian Clausen Dahl found his final resting place in the Elias cemetery. His bones were transferred to his birthplace in Bergen on May 29, 1934 , where a monumental tomb was erected for him. Dahl's simple tombstone, which incorrectly states his first name as "Johann", remained in the Elias cemetery and is one of the few stones that was not made of sandstone.

Reconstruction of the Güntzgrufthaus in December 2015

The Dresden patron Justus Friedrich Güntz found his final resting place in a crypt on the west wall of the cemetery. After the crypt houses there were demolished in the 1930s, his crypt was the only one that remained, due to the importance of the buried for the city of Dresden. It was badly damaged in the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and had to be removed above ground after 1950 because of its poor general condition. Since 2011, the Friends of Elias Cemetery have been involved in a reconstruction of the grave. The reconstruction of the Güntz Crypt took place from October to December 2015 and the re-inauguration on May 31, 2016.

In 1973, several tombs were brought to the workshop of the sculptor Werner Hempel to protect them from the weather . In order to make them visible again to the interested public, there are three gravestones - that of the Damoiseau family, the Weinlig family and that of Johann Christian Kirchner - in the palace in the Great Garden since 1987 . In November 2015 the so-called "snake vase" from the Walter family grave returned to the Elias cemetery.

Personalities who have found their final resting place here

Grave of Johann Christian Klengel (front) and August Alexander Klengel
Grave of Johann Gottlieb Naumann

literature

  • Cornelius Gurlitt: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. Issue 21: City of Dresden, Part 1 . In Commission at CC Meinhold & Söhne, Dresden 1900, pp. 199–207.
  • Hansjoachim Kluge: Dresden's cemeteries and grave monuments in the time of the wars of freedom and romanticism . Verlag Buchdruckerei der Wilhelm und Bertha v. Baensch Stiftung, Dresden [?] 1937. (Note: The author's first name was published incorrectly in 1937, Hans Joachim is correct.)
  • Hans Joachim Kluge: Caspar David Friedrich - drafts for grave monuments and memorials , Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-87157-160-1 .
  • Friends of Eliasfriedhof Dresden e. V. (Ed.): Eliasfriedhof . Dresden 1999.
  • Marion Stein: Cemeteries in Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 2000, ISBN 90-5705-130-3 , pp. 12-30.

Web links

Commons : Eliasfriedhof  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marion Stein: Cemeteries in Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 2000, p. 13.
  2. ↑ See Dehio-Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler . Dresden. Updated edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich and Berlin 2005, p. 83.
  3. ^ Karl Wilhelm Eck, Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis Cemetery in Dresden, E 1, May 24, 1853.
  4. ^ Marion Stein: Cemeteries in Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 2000, p. 14.
  5. ^ Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Main Archive Dresden, 10684 City of Dresden City Court, No. 2016.
  6. ^ Marion Stein: Cemeteries in Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 2000, p. 15.
  7. ↑ City map of Dresden, around 1690 , Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, 12884, maps and cracks, signature / inventory no .: Schr 009, F 001, no 002 & (KH 138)
  8. ↑ a b c d Christine Spitzhofer: The Dresden Elias cemetery and its crypt houses based on designs by George Bähr . In: The Dresden Frauenkirche. 2003 yearbook . Volume 9. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 2003, p. 174 ff.
  9. ^ Marion Stein: Cemeteries in Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 2000, p. 16.
  10. ↑ City Archives B XV 160 t Vol. II, October 28, 1864.
  11. ↑ Detlef Zille: The files from the years 1680 to 1724. In: eliasfriedhof.de. Friends of Eliasfriedhof Dresden e. V., accessed on March 22, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Cf. 1. Book of Kings , Chapter 17. EU
  13. ↑ Johann Christian Crell : The royal dress, which is almost on the highest peak of its perfection and bliss. Third, greatly expanded edition 1726, p. 122 ( digitized version ).
  14. ↑ Dresden City Archives: Acta the administration of the Johannis, Elias and Trinity cemetery re., 2.1 B.XV.160t Vol. I, 1851-1858 fol. 170 and 183.
  15. ^ Dresden City Archives: City Council Archives, prints of the minutes of the meeting, 1350 on May 4, 1864, pp. 49 and 52, 3.2 film roll 5.
  16. ↑ Dresdner Anzeiger No. 225 on August 13, 1866.
  17. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and St. John's cemeteries in Dresden, E 1 II, April 7, 1891.
  18. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemeteries in Dresden, E 1 II, November 30, 1925.
  19. ^ Gertraud Enderlein : The Elias Cemetery in Dresden . In: Messages from the Saxon Homeland Security Association . No. 12, 1923, p. 198.
  20. ^ Franz Radziwill in Dresden, 1927/1928 . Isensee, Oldenburg 2006, p. 12.
  21. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and St. John's Cemetery in Dresden, E 8, October 23, 1907.
  22. ^ Marianne L. Westphal: The old Eliaskirchhof in Dresden . In: Messages from the Saxon Homeland Security Association . No. 2, 1912, p. 219.
  23. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemetery in Dresden, E 1 II, February 23, 1915 to October 11, 1915.
  24. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemeteries in Dresden, E 1 II July 25, 1918.
  25. ^ Dresdner Anzeiger, July 15, 1924.
  26. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and St. John's Cemetery in Dresden, E 1 III July 18, 1928.
  27. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemeteries in Dresden, E 1 III, November 1, 1932.
  28. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis Cemetery in Dresden, E 2, February 25, 1966.
  29. ↑ State capital Dresden, city planning office, key number XI382.
  30. ↑ The eastern edge of the cemetery originally went as far as today's tram tracks.
  31. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemeteries in Dresden, E 2, note on December 19, 1964.
  32. ↑ Slide collection from 1958 , photographs from 1986 and 1991
  33. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemetery in Dresden, E 2 I, January 13, 1989.
  34. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemetery in Dresden, E 2 I, September 6, 1995 and E 2 II, May 2, 1997.
  35. ↑ a b Birgit Hilbig: The decline of the Elias cemetery should finally be stopped . In: Sächsische Zeitung , November 14, 1996, p. 12.
  36. ↑ Eliasfriedhof Dresden's Friends' Association is supposed to stop decay . In: Dresdner Latest News , November 21, 1998, p. 2.
  37. ^ Elias cemetery in Dresden can be entered again . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , September 7, 1999.
  38. ↑ Birgit Hilbig: Valuable tombs visible again . In: Sächsische Zeitung , September 11, 1999, p. 11.
  39. ^ The crypt houses of the Elias cemetery in Dresden . In: Dresdner Latest News , April 1, 2009, p. 10.
  40. ↑ Lohrmann's tomb is unveiled . In: Dresdner Latest News , April 5, 2008, p. 14.
  41. ↑ Christine Spitzhofer: The Dresden Elias Cemetery and its crypt houses based on designs by George Bähr . In: The Dresden Frauenkirche. 2003 yearbook . Volume 9. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 2003, p. 173.
  42. ↑ Ursula Pietzsch: Ancient lions and a dance of muses. Last December marked the 170th anniversary of the death of the sculptor Christian Gottlieb Kühn . In: Dresdner Latest News , February 15, 1999, p. 13.
  43. ↑ Katja Schlenker: Association wants to rebuild Güntz tomb . In: Sächsische Zeitung , May 3, 2011, p. 17.
  44. ↑ Kay Haufe: The forgotten grave of Dresden patron Güntz . In: Sächsische Zeitung , November 21, 2013, p. 17.
  45. ↑ say: Lost memorial back to Elias Cemetery . In: Sächsische Zeitung , November 14, 2015, p. 16.
  46. ↑ Detlef Zille: Inauguration of the Güntz crypt. In: eliasfriedhof.de. Friends of Eliasfriedhof Dresden e. V., accessed October 5, 2016 .
  47. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and St. John's Cemetery in Dresden, E 2, October 11, 1973.
  48. ↑ Archive of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and St. John's Cemetery in Dresden, E 2 II, April 29, 1998.
  49. ^ Karl Gautsch : The Saxon historian and rector at the Kreuzschule in Dresden M. Johann Christian Schöttgen. In: Archives for Saxon History. 1878, p. 348 ( digitized version ).
  50. ↑ There is no corresponding entry in the burial books from 1860, which are in the archives of the Arar of the Elias, Trinity and Johannis cemeteries in Dresden.

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 11.9 "  N , 13 ° 45 ′ 25.1"  E