Greifswald salt works

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Greifswald saltworks , also known as the Greifswald salt works , was used for salt production near Greifswald until 1872 . It was on the Rosental opposite the city on the north bank of the Ryck .

history

middle Ages

The first mention of a salt pan is from the year 1206. Prince Jaromar I von Rügen confirmed in a document that the mint master Martinus had donated a salt pan to the Dargun monastery . In 1207 by Jaromar I. the donation of real estate to the Hilda (Eldena) monastery and its confirmation in 1208 by Duke Casimir II of Pomerania , a "locus salis" (salt place) is mentioned. In other documents from the first half of the 13th century, the salt areas were repeatedly mentioned by both the Ruggish and the Pomeranian side, in 1248 as "sultae", which indicates several salt production sites and in 1249 for the first time as " salina ". In the document from 1249, in which Duke Wartislaw III. took the newly founded city of Greifswald from the monastery as a fief , the saltworks was expressly excluded from the fief .

In a confirmation document from 1267, Wizlaw II of Rügen reserved jurisdiction over the salt works and half of the salt yield. In 1288 he and his son Wizlaw III. the city of Greifswald their shares in the salt springs and waived all previous claims in return for a cash payment. In addition to the monastic and the princely or urban salt station, there was a third one that was owned by the Lords of Gristow , a sideline of the Rügen Princely House. In 1309, a storm flood destroyed all salt production facilities. It is not known whether there were attempts to restore it. As a result of the expanding maritime trade, sea ​​salt , known as "Baisalz" or "Boysalz", came from Spain and France to the Baltic Sea region in the following centuries . Its low price made the continued use of the local salt springs unprofitable.

The city of Greifswald acquired the Rosental with the salt springs and all claims based on them from the Eldena Monastery in 1452. On behalf of Duke Ernst Ludwig von Pommern-Wolgast , the salinist Johannes Rhenanus carried out an investigation of the brine springs and made an economic calculation. He determined a salt content between 1 and 3 percent. However, there was no resumption of salt production.

Thirty Years' War

When Greifswald was conquered and occupied by imperial troops during the Thirty Years' War in 1627 , the condottiere Francesco Ludovico Perusi had the salt wells uncovered in order to secure the supply of the troops with salt. The boiling took place in a house near the Steinbeck Gate. The surplus of production was sold to the citizens of Greifswald. In 1634, however, the wells were destroyed by a flood. The city lacked the means to continue salt production.

Swedish Pomerania

Around 1740 the Greifswald salt merchant Trendlenburg acquired the land with the salt springs. He used the brine to the coarse, gray and unsightly Baisalz in a renewed boiling process to clean ( refining ). His nephew David and Stenz Evert built from 1745 on the model of the Mecklenburg Saline aspic , from which it also brought professionals, a Saline with salt works . Low sales and disputes between the brothers led David Evert to sell his majority stake in the now neglected saltworks to the Greifswald businessman Moritz Christian Dommes. He had to deal with the bureaucracy of the Greifswald magistrate and the Swedish Pomeranian government in Stralsund , which cost him a lot of time. In the 1770s he had a new graduation tower built based on the more modern graduation towers built by Jakob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen in Sülze. He was supported by the Greifswald mathematician and architect Andreas Mayer . The salt production could be increased significantly, the profits remained low because of the high investment and production costs.

The Upper Chamber Councilor Caroline Waitz Freifrau von Eschen, daughter of Jakob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen, acquired the saltworks in 1781 and invested in the modernization of the plant in the following years. But even she and her successors did not succeed in generating greater profits. The required peat had to be transported by barge from a separate peat dig on the Peene south of Pinnow via Peenestrom and Ziese . Later peat deposits at Ladebow and Neuenkirchen could also be used. Difficulties were the procurement of the required for Siedehäuser clay and used in the Gradierwerken sloe (blackthorn).

Pomeranian Province

With the transition from Swedish Pomerania to Prussia , the time of the free salt trade ended. Delivery quantities and prices were dictated by the Royal Prussian General Salt Administration as the sole purchaser. Boreholes undertaken between 1825 and 1827 did not uncover any brine that was significantly more saline. A salt well was at times contaminated by sand washed out.

In the middle of the 19th century, the saline's graduation towers had a total length of 330 meters. The Solpumpen were eight wind turbines, wind Arts named driven. There was a large boiling house with two and a smaller one with one pan. The average amount of salt produced annually was 450 tons. The unprofitable situation led to the closure of the salt works in 1872. The name of the Salinenstrasse still reminds of this today.

literature

  • Heinrich Berghaus : Land book of the Duchy of Pomerania and the Principality of Rügen . Part 4, Vol. 1, W. Dietze, Anklam 1868, pp. 151-224 ( digitized version ).
  • Hans-Heinz Emons, Hans-Henning Walter: Old salt pans in Central Europe. On the history of salt production from the Middle Ages to the present . VEB Deutscher Verlag für Grundstofftindustrie, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-342-00352-9 , pp. 59-61.

Coordinates: 54 ° 6 ′ 3.5 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 8 ″  E