Glomuci
The name Glomuci is the main sanctuary of an Elbe Slavic people, the Daleminzians .
mention
According to Bishop Thietmar von Merseburg (975-1018), the Daleminzians called the landscape around this sanctuary “Glomaci” or “Glomuzi”, also known as “Zlomizi”. Thietmar writes:
"... by the Germans Daleminzien , but called Glomaci by the Slavs ."
"Glomaci is a spring that ... no further than two miles from the Elbe ..."
"It feeds a lake which, according to the local people and the confirmation of many eyewitnesses, often produces wonderful appearances."
history
The history of this lake extends far beyond the settlement of Slavic tribes, as is confirmed by a large number of finds around the lake. The shores of the lake have been populated since the Neolithic . In the early Bronze Age , the lake was already used for religious rites, as suggested by a treasure made of bangles sunk in the lake.
etymology
The name of the lake, on the other hand, is difficult to interpret. A frequently presumed derivation through various sound changes from the word Daleminzien , which may come from the pre-Slavic settlement period, is generally considered to be the most conclusive word origin, but cannot be definitively established. Intensive dealt u. a. the Sorabist Ernst Eichler with the origin of the name, who also provided various other approaches that suggest a meaning of the word at sea itself.
The derivation of the place name Lommatzsch is simpler , as the lake was originally pronounced in the Old Sorbian * Głomač , which has been handed down in the Polish spelling Głomacz . The word change from G to H , which is typical in the Upper Sorbian language , probably resulted in the word Hlomač , which was correctly translated into modern Sorbian , and which almost corresponds to the place name Lommatzsch .
After the Christianization and the extinction of the Sorbian language in this part of the country due to language bans in the 14th century, the lake was also named Paltzchener See after the neighboring village, Heiliger See or Baalscher See after the Old Testament idol Baal .
sanctuary
The lake served as a sanctuary until Christianization and was ultimately an immunity zone , as the lack of finds at the lake point suggests. The nearby castle wall of Paltzschen , also called the dance floor , which was leveled around 1976 , had an almost quadrangular shape and served more for religious purposes than for defense, whereupon its location, like the wall of Hohenwussen of the same shape , in which today the local church is characteristic stands, lets close. But even after the Christianization of the Elbe Slavs , the lake was still frequently visited as an oracle lake by the surrounding peasantry, according to various chronicles, and this custom was only gradually lost. The Dörschnitzer pastor Johann David Pielitz reported in detail in 1744 in the Curiosa Saxonica about the lake and describes in detail still strange properties of the lake, as well as various finds, such as the finding of a small idol, which he ascribes to the Slavs, but presumably in comparison to similar ones Finds from much older times. Until around 1700 it was also usable as a fish pond.
According to a note in the Dörschnitz parish archive, the draining of the lake began in the winter of 1807 using a ditch. According to land maps from 1838, the drainage was largely complete and only a few swampy areas with tree cover remained of the lake.
The Riesa-Lommatzsch railway line (1875/77) was later built in the area .
The ditch, however, was called Seegraben by the population and continues to drain the water that originally collected in the lake. In 1984/1985 this trench was mostly piped.
Location and shape
The lake was a little more than 2 km north of Lommatzsch between the villages of Paltzschen and Dörschnitz . The Seegraben at the site now forms the field boundary between the places. The lake was not in the middle of the natural depression that the landscape forms here, but was located just next to the Lommatzsch - Riesa road, roughly at the point where the Seegraben is still open today.
The soil at this point consists of diluvial loess and loess loam soil, with a tendency towards sealing slurry, which is why the density of the soil is still very suitable for water accumulation today and only remains dry and agriculturally usable through drainage and the ditch. Originally the lake had no drain and was formed from a source by the groundwater . The size and shape of the lake were very variable. When the water level was low, only a small puddle of water 5 to 15 m wide remained of the lake, but when the water level was high it could even happen that the water surface could extend over several 100 m into the village of Dörschnitz. In the first illustration of the lake on a map in the Ur-Öder around 1600, the lake appears as an elliptical area approx. 360 by 250 m in size. It must be taken into account that regardless of the water level, the entire area of the lake was considered to be the lake area at that time, which could not be otherwise used due to reeds and the like. When the water level was low, as was the case in the last period of its existence, the lake was divided into two parts, the Great and Small Lake , with the Large Lake at the point mentioned next to the road, while the Small Lake was roughly at that point , where today the embankment is crossed by the Seegraben. According to tradition, the small lake was rarely filled with water and was more like a swamp or pond. According to a note in the Dörschnitz parish archives from 1807, in which the drainage according to a resolution of February 28, 1807, was the result of subsidence in this area, the lake fell into two parts. What exactly is to be understood by this remains the subject of research. In addition, the lake is said to have been the source of the wells in Altlommatzsch in ancient times. The high groundwater level in the surrounding villages, such as in Scheerau, which can sometimes only be regulated with drainage ditches, makes this tradition quite conceivable. Next to the lake was the Paltzschen castle wall, which was leveled in 1976, the destruction of which was rated as a serious offense against the national cultural heritage of the GDR . 7 km to the west was the main Daleminzian castle: Gana Castle .
Religious meaning
The religious ideas of the ancient Sorbs have only been handed down very fragmentarily and therefore remain difficult to understand. The Christian mission that began as early as the 9th century and even earlier contacts with Christianity raise the question of the extent to which the Slavs' beliefs were influenced by Christianity. Apparently, the belief of the Sorbian tribes in today's Saxony was more of an animistic local religion , as the natural spirits of the Sorbs handed down in legends suggest. Water was considered a sacred element and evidently played a central role. Not only was the Paltzschener See holy, but also the Göttwitzer See and the mill pond at Mockritz near Dresden, which is now a swimming lake. Lake Glomaci was used as an oracle lake. According to legends, years ago, wheat, oats and acorns appeared on the surface of the water with good harvests, but before wars the surface of the water was said to have turned blood red. This tradition, however, dates back to Christian times and is therefore uncertain. It was also said that the lake was never completely dry and that the water level could even increase during droughts, which is confirmed by Pastor Pielitz's description. However, in the 18th century, the lake was now and then almost dry during droughts. The lack of finds in the lake area speaks against the fact that the lake was sacrificed in Slavic times. A taboo zone around the lake, i.e. a sacred area reserved for priests, is more likely.
literature
- Werner Trillmich in: Thietmar von Merseburg . Chronicle . Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages, Vol. 9. 8th edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2002, ISBN 3-534-00173-7 .
- Reinhard Spehr : Christianization and the earliest church organization in the Mark Meissen. An attempt . In: Judith Oexle (ed.): Early churches in Saxony. Results of archaeological and architectural studies (publications by the State Office for Archeology and State Museum for Prehistory 23) Stuttgart 1994, pp. 8–63, on this p. 31. ISBN 3-8062-1094-2 .
- Günter Naumann: The Paltzschener lake north of Lommatzsch in messages of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz eV 2/2006
- Johann Georg Theodor Grasse The Treasury of the Kingdom of Saxony , 1874, number 86
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Reinhard Spehr : Christianization and earliest church organization in the Mark Meissen. An attempt . In: Judith Oexle (ed.): Early churches in Saxony. Results of archaeological and architectural studies (publications by the State Office for Archeology and State Museum for Prehistory 23) Stuttgart 1994, pp. 8–63, note 111. ISBN 3-8062-1094-2
- ↑ Ernst Eichler Slavic place names between Saale and Neiße Volume II, pages 145–146
- ↑ a b c d Günter Naumann: The Paltzschener See north of Lommatzsch in messages of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz eV 2/2006
- ↑ G. Bierbaum in communications from the Saxon Heritage Protection Association , Volume XXI, Issue 1/3, 1932
- ^ A b Johann Georg Theodor Grasse The Treasure of Legends of the Kingdom of Saxony , 1874, number 86
- ↑ See publication of the Umweltzentrum Ökohof Auterwitz eV Appendix 9 Detailed area-specific results of the archaeological damage survey
- ↑ Joachim Herrmann (Ed.) World of Slavs Urania-Verlag Leipzig Jena Berlin, 1986, ISBN 3-332-00005-5
- ↑ Wilfried Baumann, excavations in the area of the former Göttwitzer See near Mutzschen, Kr. Grimma in Arbeits-Forsch.ber. Saxon soil monument preservation 19 , 1971, 113 ff.
- ^ Johann Georg Theodor Grasse The Treasure of Legends of the Kingdom of Saxony , 1874, number 86, footnote
Coordinates: 51 ° 13 ′ 20.8 " N , 13 ° 17 ′ 51.7" E