Gollenstein

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Gollenstein, summer 2005

The Gollenstein near Blieskastel in the Saarpfalz district in Saarland is an approximately 4000 year old menhir and, at 6.58 meters high, is considered the largest menhir in Central Europe . It stands on the Blieskasteler Berg northwest of the city center and is a landmark of the baroque town of Blieskastel.

history

Gollenstein by night

The stone consists of a light-colored sandstone and was probably built at the end of the Neolithic Age (approx. 2000 BC). It is associated with a prehistoric ancestor cult.

The Gollenstein remained unscathed for almost 4,000 years, but after the start of the Second World War , officers of the Wehrmacht feared that it could serve as a “reference point for the French artillery ” due to its exposed position in the landscape . As a result, pioneers laid down the Gollenstein in 1939. The soldiers prepared a pit filled with straw for this, but it was calculated too short. When it was turned over, the rope tore, so that the stone fell, hitting the edge of the too short pit and breaking into four large and some small parts. At the instigation of Mayor Alfons Dawo , the concrete parts were put back together again in November 1951, and the Gollenstein was erected again because of the wide joints.

Experts estimate that the niche with the cross was probably only carved in 1809 and that Christian cult objects (crosses, small figures of saints, candles) found their place here. This gave the pagan stone a Christian meaning. Fragments of a human figure are carved in relief under the niche. Two legs with feet, parts of the trunk, the head and an arm with a hand are supposed to represent a prehistoric figure of a god reminiscent of the Celtic weather god Taranis .

In 2002 the Gollenstein was completely scaffolded and completely renovated.

origin of the name

The origin of the name is puzzling; the most widespread is the derivation from the Latin term "colus", the rod around which the fibers are wound by hand during spinning. According to a tradition from 1553 the menhir was called "Guldenstein". On a map of the Zweibrücken office from 1564 it was marked as “Güldenstein” and “Pirmanstein”. According to the literature by Hans Cappel listed below, the name could come from the earlier vegetation of the mountain with yellow / gold gorse . The place name researcher Hermann Albert Prietze traces the name back to "Goldenstein". He equates “gold” with sacrifice, since gold objects were sacrificed in the Bronze Age and the “money” derived from the word “gold” is the sacrifice in Heliand, written around 800 AD . Accordingly, the Gollenstein got its name because it was part of a sacrificial site.

Others

Another monolith in the Saarpfalz district, the Spellenstein in Rentrisch near St. Ingbert , is comparable to the Gollenstein. The Gollenstein Verlag , based in Saarbrücken, is named after the Gollenstein .

literature

  • Hans Cappel: Gollenstein and Spillenstein . In: Saarpfalz, sheets for history and folklore . 4, 1989, ISSN  0930-1011 , pp. 4-10.
  • Hans Cappel: The Gollenstein - a landmark of our homeland . In: Saarpfalz, sheets for history and folklore . 3, 2002, ISSN  0930-1011 , pp. 5-24.
  • Johannes Groht: Menhirs in Germany. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-943904-18-5 , pp. 366–367.
  • Wolfgang Krämer: History of the City of St. Ingbert - From the Beginnings to the End of the Second World War - A local history based on archival sources , Second, completely revised and significantly expanded edition in two volumes, Volume 1, City of St. Ingbert self-published, St. Ingbert 1955. And: Reprint of the 2nd edition in one volume, St. Ingbert 1989
  • Hermann Albert Prietze: The secret of the German place names , Hannover-Linden, 1929
  • Detert Zylmann : The riddle of the menhirs . Probst, Mainz-Kostheim 2003, ISBN 3-936326-07-X .

Web links

Commons : Gollenstein  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Albert Prietze, 1929, pp. 102, 205

Coordinates: 49 ° 14 ′ 41 ″  N , 7 ° 14 ′ 58 ″  E