Hammundese oak

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Hammundeseiche (also called Hoheneiche ) is a desert . It is located at 440 m above sea level. NN , between Friedewald and Wildeck -Hönebach in the Seulingswald in northeastern Hesse . Not far away from there are the 3069 road and the federal motorway 4 that runs parallel here .

Part of the former Flößholzstrasse turns off the Landstrasse at the Nadelöhr . After about 600 meters you reach the church of the desert, about 200 meters southeast of it is the village oak, in between is the village fountain with the village pond.

Desolation

Foundation walls of the church in the desert

Hammundeseiche was founded at the beginning of the 10th century by the Hersfeld abbot on the trade route “ through the short Hessians ”, which connected the two exhibition cities of Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig . The place was mentioned for the first time in 1141 . This year the stone church was rebuilt ( novella ecclesiola ), consecrated by the Würzburg bishop and elevated to the status of a parish church. In 1312 the place was mentioned as Hamndeych or Hamyndech . In the corresponding document, the place is referred to as a long-abandoned village. In the same document, Friedewald Castle is mentioned as a new, important center in the Seulingswald. It is therefore assumed that Friedewald is the successor site of Hammundeseiche. The church stood until the beginning of the 15th century when it was demolished.

Natural monument Hammundeseiche

The place was then completely forgotten. In the 19th century the people in the surrounding villages only knew to tell about a former village that was wrongly called Lingelbach . In 1969 excavations were carried out and it was possible to prove that it is the traditional deserted Hammundeseiche. Based on these excavations, it is estimated that the village had around 20 farms. The foundations of the church, graves, the village well with the village pond, a kiln with broken pieces as well as an oven and medieval farm border were found.

Today only the church, the village fountain and the thick oak can be seen of the place. All other buildings were made of wood and have therefore completely disappeared. The foundation walls of the church were restored after the excavations in 1973 .

Oak

The former village oak is now a natural monument and is located about 200 meters southeast of the church at 435 meters above sea ​​level . The age of the 1000-year-old village oak is estimated to be between 400 and 600 years, its trunk circumference is 8.77 meters. See also: Distinctive and old trees

Eye of a needle

The eye of the needle stands in a narrow strip of forest, between the above-mentioned country road and the motorway. It used to be at the highest point of the old road "through the short Hessen" in the Seulingswald, at 470.3 meters above sea ​​level . ( Location → )

The eye of the needle consists of three sandstone blocks and is shaped like a small house with a gable roof. It is 63 cm deep, 102 cm wide and about 100 cm high. The opening in the form of a small gate is about 60 cm wide and 65 cm high. On the northern gable field, “NĀDELR 1561” was engraved with artless, irregular letters. On the opposite side are the initials "ML ZH" under an eight-pointed star. The abbreviation stands for Moritz Landgraf zu Hessen .

It was first mentioned as Nollenöhr and described as a hollow oak, the opening of which was usually elongated and narrow. Such trees with openings, e.g. B. knots, Astschlingungen, branch forks or root holes that were also created artificially, was also called Zwiesel trees , pull-through oak trees or elves holes . It was considered beneficial to crawl through there.

Behind this is the custom of purification ( rites de passage ). This healing rite is based on a Celtic or Germanic custom. There were also ritual similarities when victorious Roman armies passed through a porta triumphalis , a triumphal arch . The church adopted this custom (slip folding) and the architectural form of a triumphal arch was also adopted in church buildings in the Romanesque and Renaissance periods. This also explains the current shape of the eye of the needle, in which the architectural element of such portals was reproduced in a reduced size.

The decayed tree was probably in 1561 replaced by a gate-like structure made of red sandstone to the medicinal and Hansel custom to get the through creep. Allegedly, the Landgrave got lost on a hunting trip and the Landgrave found her at the eye of the needle. This is said to have been the reason for Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel to have the stone renewed. The initials on the stone refer to it.

Today it is said: "If you crawl through the eye of a needle, you will stay healthy". It was also customary to put coins under the eye of the needle for the same purpose. This is probably why an offering box was set up next to the eye of the needle in 1747 . On it is the year and in a ribbon around the stone: "A sacrificial token before the wise children of Hersfeld".

  • General view with offering box

  • Southern view with initials

  • Northern view with year

  1. ↑ Another tree, which was also called the eye of the needle, is said to have existed near the Franziskushospital in Marburg. A plot of land in the neighborhood was called “Am Nolenohr” for a long time. There are also approaches to a no longer existing slip altar on the back of the high altar in the Elisabeth Church, which could go back to the local eye of the needle (source: Dehio Hessen 1966)
  2. ↑ The most famous slip-ons include the Schliefstein in the Falkenstein Chapel near Sankt Gilgen , the Kilian Altar in Neumünster in Würzburg and the grave of St. Otto von Bamberg in Michelsberg Monastery .

literature

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 16 ″  N , 9 ° 53 ′ 26 ″  E