Gold mine (Bad Homburg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold mine
General information about the mine
Gold mine.jpg
Information about the mining company
Start of operation 2nd century
End of operation 1739
Funded raw materials
Degradation of
Geographical location
Coordinates 50 ° 13 '37.9 "  N , 8 ° 32' 8.3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 13 '37.9 "  N , 8 ° 32' 8.3"  E
Gold mine (Hessen)
Gold mine
Location gold mine
Location Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
District ( NUTS3 ) Hochtaunuskreis
country State of Hesse
Country Germany

The gold mine near Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and Oberursel on the mountain of the same name was an experimental mine with three tunnels and several shafts , which probably dates from Roman times, possibly also of Celtic origin.

history

Site plan gold mine

In 1719, two abandoned old tunnels were rediscovered at the foot of the Hangelstein mountain, and since then the mountain has also been called the gold mine. The lower and the upper tunnel were found, the third tunnel further south was not known at the time.

Already on July 16, 1719 Baron von Creutz received from Landgrave Friedrich III. as a fief, the lending of ores and coal and thus sole mining rights for the gold mine area.

Baron von Creutz, actually Johann Christian Würth von Mackau, from 1727 then Baron von Creutz and Herr zu Würth (lived from 1682 to 1732) was at that time the gray eminence of the noble houses, alchemist and deceiver, he was the “great and secret confidante” of the Landgrave Ernst Ludwig zu Hessen-Darmstadt , who was very interested in alchemy , was also the closest advisor to Landgrave Friedrich III from around 1715. in Homburg. He had laboratories and an apartment in the Holzhausen Oede at the gates of Frankfurt . This remote area made unobserved experiments possible, especially since it had been used as a tannery since 1663 and the considerable odor nuisance associated with it kept the curious away. This was financed by the wealthy Frankfurt patrician family Holzhausen , in particular Justinian von Holzhausen, who also owned the Holzhausen Oede . As early as 1722 he had plans drawn up for a magnificent new building - the little wooden house castle - at the same location. On the ground floor, two spacious rooms called "Chambres pour la Médecine" were planned, which - disguised as medical rooms - contained an extensive and expensive alchemist laboratory for Freiherr von Creutz.

With the express permission of Landgrave Friedrich III. and at the instigation of Freiherr von Creutz, a mining union was founded in 1719, which consisted of the following trades :

The tunnels buried in the entrance area were immediately cleared up , and it was found that the lower tunnels, which are still open today, had a length of around 90 m from ancient times, the average height of only 1 to 1.2 m made the work difficult.

Although both tunnels did not show any ores that could be mined, a stamping mill was built to crush the ores at the instigation of Baron von Creutz and a smelter was set up to carry out the metal extraction. In the following years until 1722 the Landgrave granted Baron von Creutz extended mining rights, which related to the areas of Platzenberg, Hans-Wagner-Born, Fahrborn, Oberstedten and the eastern slope of the Feldberg in the vicinity of Bad Homburg.

By February 1722 at the latest, the Landgrave's doubts about the company were so strong that the smelter was on leave and the very experienced Johann Gottfried Schreiter was appointed as an external expert.

On February 14, 1722, Schreiter wrote an appraisal of the mine and attested that there were no ores that could be mined and that the enormous costs for the further advancement of the tunnels and the complex drainage would be disproportionate to the expected yield. Landgrave Friedrich III. then had all further work stopped, in another report by Schreiter of April 9, 1722, the activities were already described as dormant, the mine had been closed.

In the following years, the mine operation was nevertheless resumed, a mine plan describes a final cessation of operations around 1739. With major interruptions, the lower tunnel was advanced by 20 m between 1721 and 1739, it was 110 m long, no ores were found .

The beginnings of the tunnels can no longer be determined with certainty, the tread profile and the use of tools speak for at least medieval origins.

The archaeologists Louis Jacobi and Karl August von Cohausen reported in 1879 that a bronze coin of the Roman Emperor Commodus (161–192 AD) was found in the rubble of the gold mine. They also identified the path directly at the mine as Roman, which marked the beginning of mining activities at the latest in late Roman times makes it likely.

In the immediate vicinity of the gold mine is one of Europe's most important fortified settlements from the Iron Age, the Celtic city of Heidetränk-Oppidum , the northeastern rampart is only 150 m away from the gold mine, the northeast gate is directly opposite the mine, a connection with the gold mine is possible but not proven.

Pit building

Ground plan of the gold mine, lower gallery

Taunus quartzite , with a hardness of 7 (Mohs), is an extremely hard rock and more difficult to work than granite . The Roman and medieval miners only had mallets and irons as tools, so they achieved an annual advance rate of 4–5 m in the tunnel. A drill pipe found documents the use of gunpowder in the 18th century. The quartzite is so stable that the tunnels did not have to be supported in the past centuries .

Of the three tunnels in the gold mine, only the lower tunnels are accessible; this was used in 1985. It was expanded to a height of 1.70–1.90 m by drawing in the old tunnel profile, which was only 1.20 m high, by deepening the bottom . Of the original 110 m length, 108 m are still preserved, as the expansion of the new mouth hole in 1982 cost substance. At a distance of 20 m from the mouth hole, a 7 m long cross passage branches off to the north, which has a rounded profile at the roof, 1.30 m high and 0.70 m wide. Directly next to it is the second cross passage with a height of 1.55 m and a width of 0.65 m, which extends 2.50 m to the south. 30 m in the mountain, a third cross passage leads 4.60 m to the south, in which a - now water-filled - 0.90 × 1.50 m cavity was sunk . The tunnel is 108 m long and has a trapezoidal profile with a height of 1.70 m.

A later inspection showed a short crosscut of approx. 1–2 m at the bottom of the die.

The mine building is barred and serves as a wintering place for bats.

See also

Web links

Commons : Gold mine - mine  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The mine is located directly on the boundary, the upper and lower tunnels on Bad Homburg, the southern tunnels on Oberursel territory.
  2. ↑ Elias Neuhof (Fürstlich Hessen-Homburgischer Regierungs-Rath): Message from the antiquities in the area and the Gebürge near Homburg vor der Höhe , p. 11f, Homburg vor der Höhe 1780, digitized
  3. ↑ a b c Friedrich Rolle: Homburg Antiquities XVIII. Century , inventory E06, Rolle estate, city archive Bad Homburg vor der Höhe.
  4. ↑ Survey on: Old barons for Johann Christian Würth von Mackau with Freiherr von Creutz and Herr zu Würth, in Vienna on August 22, 1727. In: August von Doerr: The Adel of the Bohemian Crown Lands; a list of those coats of arms and nobility diplomas which are registered in the Bohemian hall books of the aristocratic archives in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior in Vienna , Volume 212, 1900, digitized .
  5. ↑ Elschenbroich, Adalbert: "Creuz, Friedrich Karl Kasimir Freiherr von" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 3 (1957), p. 413 f. Online version
  6. ^ Georg Andreas Will: Nürnbergische Gelehrten-Lexicon , p. 331, 1756 digitized .
  7. ↑ Hannelore Limberg: "See this hospitable house, all around the water of the spring" : from the Große Oed to the Holzhausenschlösschen; the metamorphosis of a patrician property and its functional change in the historical, social and topographical context. Dissertation, Frankfurt, 2012.
  8. ^ Friedrich Rolle : Documentary news on the history of mining in Homburg , in: Der Taunusbote 8, No. 14ff., 1869.
  9. ^ Floor plan of the gold mine after 1739, drawn by Friedrich Rolle in 1851, Bad Homburg Palace Library, inventory E06, Rolle estate, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe town archive.
  10. ^ Friedrich Lotz: Die Landgrafenzeit, History of the City of Bad Homburg, Volume 2, pp. 126-127, Kramer Verlag 1975.
  11. ↑ a b Manfred Wenzel: Die Goldgrube , B03 of the Geological Working Group Bad Homburg vdH, Bad Homburg 1985. As well as: Gerald PR Martin: Vom Bergbau im alten Amt Homburg vdH , communications from the Association for History and Regional Studies Bad Homburg, No. 21, P. 21ff, Bad Homburg 1952.
  12. ^ Louis Jacobi , Karl August von Cohausen : The Roman fort Saalburg near Homburg in front of the height , 1897.
  13. ^ Map Heidetränk-Oppidum , State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Hesse, accessed on November 30, 2014.