Fjære granite
The Fjære granite ( Norw. Fjæregranitt , also Grimstadgranitt and Fevikgranitt ) is a reddish to red granite that was mined east of Grimstad and in the incorporated village of Fevik in the province ( Fylke ) Agder in Norway . The rock was formed over 950 million years ago in the Proterozoic .
This stone was already ordered by Nazi Germany in 1940 for victory monuments after an expected " final victory " by Albert Speer on behalf of Adolf Hitler .
Surname
Fjæregranitt , Fevikgranitt and Grimstadgranitt are names that refer to the location of the quarries. From 1993 the Fjære granite was made an official Fylkesstein , the type of rock that is typical and economically important for the region where it occurs.
Rock description and occurrence
The Fjære granite is a bright red, especially when viewed from a distance. The coarse-grained granite contains large crystals of the red microcline with small grains of light albite , bluish quartz and biotite nests up to 10 mm in size .
The rock deposit forms an almost oval area and extends from Grimstad almost to the border with Arendal . The granite deposit extends underwater in the Skagerrak .
use
The stone is suitable for construction as a solid stone and for interior fittings, stone monuments and gravestones. Mining of this granite began in the 1870s. In 1905 there were three stonemasons with 50 to 75 employees each. Most of the granite was exported. After the Second World War , quarrying did not really get going because numerous other red granites were offered on the world market. In 1966 the Fjareheia quarry was put back into operation and tried to market this natural stone under the name New Red Star , which was abandoned in 1970 due to insufficient demand.
Fjære granite was used to build Fjære kirke east of Grimstad and Tårnskirke in Skien and, before World War II, also for buildings in Hamburg and Berlin.
"Hitler Stone"
Adolf Hitler planned huge monumental buildings as early as the 1930s. After his “ final victory ”, large amounts of natural stone would have been required for this, especially granite. He commissioned Albert Speer with the procurement of the required masses of rock, and he intended to use the deposits of Fjære granite in Norway, along with other granite deposits in southern Sweden ( e.g. Vånevik granite ) and in Finland .
After the occupation of Norway in 1940, rough blocks weighing up to 10 tons from this Norwegian deposit were ordered and broken. A stone industry company with branches in Fredrikstad and Oslo was commissioned with this task . The company still exists today, but no wartime documents have survived. An estimated 25 men were working on the job in two adjacent stone quarries. Germans were not involved in the quarry work in Fjæreheia. In the port of Grimstad, large quantities of rough granite blocks were prepared for export to Germany. Some rough blocks are said to have been delivered before the end of the occupation of Norway on May 8, 1945, but most of them remained in the quarries or were sold after the war.
Various Hitler rough blocks were stored in the Fjæreheia granite quarry until the end of the 1970s. These stones were known in Norway as Hitler stones and were used as wall stones, paving stones and floor slabs after the war .
Quarry as an open-air stage
From 1992 to 1993 an open-air stage with around a thousand seats, the Agder Teater - Fjæreheia , was built in the disused quarry Fjæreheia with the granite quarry in the background.
photos
Reference to the use of the Hitler stones in Weststrasse in Arendal
Stone wall on Weststrasse in Arendal made of Fjære granite, in which Hitler stones are built
Fjæregranitt , aflame
Fjæregranitt , polished
Outcrop of the granite deposit on the West Street of Ardendal
Eastern outcrop in Birketveit, Fevik
The open-air theater Agder Theater - Fjaereheia
The nature stage at Fjæreheia open-air theater
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ folk.uio.no : "Nøkkel" til noen viktige fasadesteiner i Oslo (with illustration of the Grimstad granite ), in Norwegian, accessed on May 12, 2011
- ↑ a b nhm.uio.no ( 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. : Grimstadgranitt , in Norwegian, accessed May 12, 2011
- ↑ aps.ngu.com : Geological survey of Norway: The Natural Stone Database. Fjæreheia Deposit no. 602 in Grimstad , in Norwegian, dated February 16, 2010, accessed on May 12, 2011
- ↑ addgerteater.no ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Jarle Bjørklund (NMF curator): History , in Norwegian, accessed on May 12, 2011.
- ↑ nb.no: Marte-Kine Sandengen: Dramatikk i granitt, in Norwegian, from August 28, 2009, accessed on May 12, 2011. ( Memento from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
