Main cemetery (Kaiserslautern)
| Main cemetery | |
|---|---|
 Main entrance (in the background the lion fountain) |
|
| Data | |
| place | Kaiserslautern |
| architect | Eugen Bindewald, Hermann Hussong |
| Construction year | 1874-1918 |
The main cemetery in Kaiserslautern is the largest cemetery in the city. The old part, laid out between 1874 and 1918, is a listed building.
history
A first cemetery in Kaiserslautern was near the collegiate church and is said to have been occupied until 1580. At the latest during this time, a new cemetery was created outside the city walls (today the intersection of Albrecht- / Mannheimer Straße). This was expanded in 1677 and existed until the early 19th century. In 1834 the cemetery was moved to Friedenstraße and a sanctuary was built there. After this cemetery could no longer be expanded, a new location was sought in the early 1870s and finally found on Kahlenberg on Mannheimer Strasse in the east of the city, where a Jewish cemetery was set up since the mid-19th century and a military cemetery since 1870 had been created.
The cemetery was initially laid out along Mannheimer Strasse as a rectangular park with an orthogonal system of paths around the old Jewish cemetery. Most of the paths were lined with tall trees. The first burial took place here in 1874.
The cemetery had to be expanded to the north and east for the first time as early as 1892. In 1902 the facility was expanded once more according to plans by Eugen Bindewald . In 1909 the cemetery was enlarged again according to plans by Hermann Hussong . With all of these extensions, the path system was preserved and expanded. Roundels should loosen up the strict geometry. In the following years the cemetery was enlarged again and a new main entrance was created south of a central ellipse with a lion fountain. In 1912 the forest cemetery was laid in the northeast of the site in a mixed forest based on plans by Hussong. A narrow network of paths was laid in the gently sloping terrain.
In the 20th century the cemetery was expanded several times to the north and east. Only the oldest part of the cemetery, as it was built until 1918, is a listed building. To this day it is enclosed by a sandstone wall.
Buildings
Main entrance
The main entrance on Mannheimer Strasse was built in 1918. On either side of a central gate with square pillars are two narrower passages for pedestrians. This is followed by two concave walls, which are closed by a console frieze with a straight roof. On the walls there are sandstone reliefs with evangelist symbols, which were created by Karl Gern .
Lion fountain
The lion fountain, created by Karl Dick in 1917/1918, stands in the axis of the new main entrance in the central ellipse. The bowl fountain consists of two shell-shaped bowls arranged one above the other, which are carried by four lions on a round base. In front of this are two cascading oval pools of water.
Cemetery chapel
The chapel was built between 1903 and 1905 according to designs by city architect Ernst Spieß and rebuilt and expanded by architect Hermann Folz from 1981 to 1984. The magnificent hall was built on a cross-shaped floor plan made of sandstone blocks in the historicizing style with echoes of neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque. The gable facades are decorated with rich tracery. A tall, narrow roof turret sits centrally on the slated gable roof. Low extensions are placed on both sides of the towering building. From an oval terrace with an outside staircase, you climb up to the main entrance, which is located in a portico with round arches.
Cemetery cross
In the entrance axis of the cemetery chapel is a cemetery cross created in 1874. The sandstone cross with a base was executed in historicizing forms with an inscription.
Shelter
In 1912, Hermann Hussong built a shelter in the form of a pillared hall near the main entrance. The building is closed on three sides, on the fourth side four Doric columns support an architrave supporting a pergola. The pavilion stands on a high terrace with a polygonal sandstone parapet.
pavilion
In the area of the forest cemetery, Hussong built a small pavilion on an octagonal floor plan in the course of the expansion in 1912. The small building with contemporary painting inside has a slate roof with a central tab.
Karl Huber family grave chapel
The burial chapel was built around 1925 according to plans by Hussong. A high terrace rises above the family crypt with its expressionistically decorated bronze door, on which there is a grave chapel with a semicircular end on the north side. The plastered hall building with slated hipped roof and ridge turrets is entered via a portal with a blind gable. The family coat of arms can be found above.
Monuments
Ehrenfeld and war memorial
To the north of the Jewish cemetery is a field of honor for the prisoners of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. Cast iron crosses were placed on sandstone plinths on a lawn. In addition, a war memorial created by Jakob Menges in 1878 commemorates the victims of the war. A square column with the names of the dead was placed on a stepped base. On it is a larger than life statue of Germania with a wall crown, sword and laurel wreath in a pleated dress.
Cemetery of honor
In the newer part of the cemetery north of the forest cemetery, a cemetery of honor was created in 1953 for the fallen of the two world wars. In the center of the tiered complex with three terraces stands a monument made of red sandstone. Three pylons flank two flights of stairs. On the front of the middle pylon a relief with a Pieta by Jakob Menges and a wooden cross on it. To the north and south in front of the memorial are two burial grounds. To the west of it is a field of honor for the Russian victims of fascism. In the center is a cuboid monument made of sandstone with a circumferential band with a Cyrillic inscription.
Gravestones and artists
Many of the monumental tombs were created between 1890 and 1920. A not insignificant part of the art-historically valuable sculptural work from the period of historicism comes from Jakob Menges or Karl Menges. One of the oldest grave monuments in the cemetery is an iron sarcophagus for August von Gienanth from 1829. This was moved here from the older cemetery. Around 60 grave monuments are protected monuments. The most important are:
- Tomb of the Franz Karcher family from 1886: sandstone aedicula on a high base with bronze putti
- Tomb of the Philipp Karcher family from 1894: aedicule made of marble with coat of arms, in front of it a grieving female figure in bronze
- Tomb of the Carl Cafitz family: Grammonument made of yellow and red sandstone. Divided into three parts with a raised aedicula in the middle part, in a mourning robe figure in a niche
- Tomb of the Emil Braun family: life-size mourning figure sitting on a pedestal with a broken marble column
- Tomb of the Jakob Menges family: a three-part monument with a raised central section, inside a stylized urn in a niche. Head portraits of the couple in the form of Tondi on the side panels
- Tomb of the Karl Kroeckel family: grave monument made of red sandstone. In the raised central part aedicula with a niche in which stands a life-size draped figure made of yellow sandstone
- Tomb of the Ritter family: three-part system with historicizing forms made of cast stone. Arched wall with a raised stele in the middle
- Tomb of the Georg Michael Pfaff family : on a small hill, cubic tombstone with bronze tones and floral decoration in the style of Expressionism
literature
- Mara Oexner (arrangement): City of Kaiserslautern . (= Volume 14, Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate ), State Office for Monument Preservation, Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1996, pp. 134–145
Web links
- Plan of the cemetery, city of Kaiserslautern
Individual evidence
- ↑ Informational directory of cultural monuments. Independent city of Kaiserslautern , Directorate General for Cultural Heritage, May 4, 2016, p. 10f (PDF)
Coordinates: 49 ° 26 ′ 42.7 " N , 7 ° 48 ′ 7.5" E