Epprechtstein granite
Epprechtstein granite ( called Hercules granite until 1914 ) is a yellow to pale yellow medium-grain granite that is quarried on the 798 meter high Epprechtstein in the northern Fichtel Mountains , two kilometers west of Kirchenlamitz in the Wunsiedel district . The biotite muscovite granite is a two mica granite from the Upper Carboniferous .
Mineral inventory
Epprechtstein granite contains 33 percent quartz , 37 percent alkali feldspar , 20 percent plagioclase , 6 percent biotite , 2 percent muscovite and chlorite, as well as 2 percent accessories such as hornblende , zircon , apatite , tourmaline and opaque ore. The light gray color of the granite comes from quartz, the white to pale pink from the feldspars and the black from the biotite. The mineral grains are 1.5 to 1.6 mm in size.
History of the quarries
The quarries are located on Epprechtstein in the northern Fichtelgebirge, west of Kirchenlamitz.
Found blocks of this granite were already used for Epprechtstein Castle, which was built in the 12th century, without a systematic quarry operation.
On August 22nd, 1724, for the first time, a church master stonemason received a margravial fiefdom letter ; the Bavarian mining law of 1869 only allowed the planned and approved quarry operation.
With the beginning of railway construction in Germany, the granite industry developed in the Fichtelgebirge. For the construction of bridges and walls, stone was needed, for the track construction one needed ballast ; this is how numerous quarries arose on the Epprechtstein. As early as 1897, five stonemason companies in Kirchenlamitz employed around 450 workers.
Six quarries (Lenks-Bruch, Alberts-Bruch, Schoberts-Bruch, Geyers-Bruch, Blauer Bruch and Schloßbrunnen-Bruch) can be visited on a circular hiking trail. In 2009 three quarries were still in operation, the abandoned ones are mostly renatured.
use
Epprechtstein granite is weatherproof , polishable and resistant to chemical aggressions. This granite was mainly used as solid building blocks for bridges and masonry , building plinths, facade cladding, floor and stair coverings, for garden design, for fountains and sculptures, door and window frames, gravestones, milestones, as paving, for archways and as curbs.
Large raw blocks can be extracted from the deposit.
Epprechtstein granite was built into the Reichstag building , the State Library and the National Gallery in Berlin; at the main post office in Cologne, at Nymphenburg Palace and at the Hypo-Passage in Munich.
See also
Web links
- Quarry path and history of granite extraction on the Epprechtstein
- Use of Epprechtstein granite in the Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich
literature
- W. Dienemann and O. Burre: The usable rocks of Germany and their deposits with the exception of coal, ores and salts, Enke-Verlag, Stuttgart 1929, p. 23
Individual evidence
- ↑ Friedrich Müller to baufachinformationen.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 26, 2009
- ↑ a b Wolf-Dieter Grimm, picture atlas of important monument rocks of the Federal Republic of Germany , ed. from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, Rock No. 006, Lipp-Verlag. Munich 1990. ISBN 3-87490-535-7
- ↑ a b The Fichtelgebirge: From the Kirchenlamitzer granite industry
- ↑ Dienemann / Burre: Gesteine Deutschlands, p. 20, see literature
Coordinates: 50 ° 8 ′ 45.7 ″ N , 11 ° 55 ′ 22.5 ″ E