Main cemetery Koblenz

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Main cemetery Koblenz: cemetery cross with a chapel and morgue behind it
Map of the main cemetery in Koblenz
Memorial to the German veterans of Napoleon's army , known as the Napoleon Stone
Slice of a giant sequoia (6 m diameter) at the eastern entrance to Beatusstrasse

The main cemetery in Koblenz is the largest cemetery in the city of Koblenz and also a landscape park . The terrace-shaped complex was inaugurated in 1820 and is located on the edge of the gold mine on the northern slope of the Karthauser . There are some interesting grave monuments from the 19th century such as rare classicist steles and neo-Gothic tombs. The third largest forest cemetery in Germany is characterized by its old trees and is now part of the route of the World Heritage Gardens in the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley .

history

The construction of the main cemetery became necessary when the Prussian military needed the location of the cemetery at Löhrtor, consecrated in 1777, for the construction of the city ​​fortifications . The first burial in the new cemetery at the foot of the Karthaus took place on January 22nd, 1820, before the cemetery was consecrated, which took place on May 28th, 1820. Regular burials began one day after the consecration.

At that time the cemetery was still outside the city and in the field of fire of the fortifications . Since the field of fire should remain as free as possible, tombstones , tombs and solid fences were initially forbidden ( Rayon law ). The oldest part are today's grave fields 3 and 4, partly also 5 and 6. The restrictions including the short occupancy periods of ten years and the prohibition of further expansion could not be maintained, so that the cemetery was opened to the west and east for the first time in 1833 was allowed to be expanded and then grew along Beatusstrasse and finally up the Karthauser. The plane tree avenue was laid out in the middle of the 19th century. Both the growth of the city into a large city and the war events contributed to the continuous expansion of the main cemetery.

After the municipal garden and cemetery office was founded in 1916, it took care of the further development of the main cemetery. It was badly damaged in the air raids on Koblenz in World War II , as the nearby Koblenz-Mosel depot was mostly the main target of the Allied bomber fleets. The new city garden director Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer took care of the restoration and redesign of the site from 1950. After a further expansion in the 1960s to the southwest towards Hüberlingsweg, a new cemetery chapel was built here from 1969 to 1972. The last extension took place between 1978 and 1980 along Beatusstraße.

features

The area of ​​the main cemetery rises sharply to the south and gives it the face of a terrace cemetery. An old avenue of plane trees dominates the historic core of the cemetery. In its axis is the cemetery cross in front of the morgue , which was built according to plans by Johann Claudius von Lassaulx in the years 1821-22 based on the basic shape of the Matthias Chapel above Kobern on a hexagonal floor plan . The morgue was built by Ferdinand Nebel and rebuilt in 1895, 1930 and 1935. After it was destroyed in the war, it was rebuilt as a cemetery chapel in 1960. A morgue parallel to the slope was built behind it between 1958 and 1960, and an administration building on Beatusstrasse.

Dense greenery with many evergreen trees characterizes the cemetery. The graves are embedded in the green. Paths and grave fields are closely intertwined up the slope of the Karthauses to Hüberlingsweg, where a more modern funeral hall is located.

Furnishing

Graves of famous people

The graves reflect the way people have dealt with death since the main cemetery was founded, as well as history and art history. Near the entrance next to the Beatusstrasse administration building, some 18th century gravestones are placed on the path, reminding of the Koblenz churchyards and the cemetery at Löhrtor. There are only a few larger grave complexes, only a few large tombs and no burial chapels .

Spread over the cemetery, but concentrated more in the historical part, there are graves of important people such as:

In addition, some of the Koblenz Lord Mayors, commanding generals of the 8th Prussian Army Corps based in Koblenz , members of various orders working in Koblenz, some of which were founded here, such as the Brothers of Mercy of Maria-Hilf, rest in the cemetery . The American general and diplomat Peter Joseph Osterhaus , who was born in Koblenz, was also buried here. The grave site on a steep slope was badly damaged by a landslide in 1969 and was abandoned seven years later. On June 23, 2012, a memorial stone financed by the city of Koblenz and Osterhaus' descendants was inaugurated above the original family crypt.

Because of the increase in cremations, there are now larger fields for anonymous or named urn burials . For some years now, children who died prematurely and who died before or during birth in Koblenz hospitals have found their final resting place in their own field.

Memorials

Allied Cemetery of Honor
The Hübeling battery houses the place of honor for those who fell in World War II

Arboretum

The arboretum , created in the 1980s under horticultural director Wilhelm Wolf , is an educational tree trail that includes over 500 tree and shrub species, and extends over the eastern slope of the cemetery grounds up to the Karthauses. The main attraction is the disc of a giant sequoia in the entrance area (Beatusstraße). The giant overturned in 1945 in the 2,450 m high mountains of California's Sierra Nevada was 31 m high and, according to the annual ring count, its age goes to about 250 BC. BC back. In 1991, a Koblenz garden architect and his wife managed to remove the 6 m diameter disc with the help of sponsors. It was presented as a gift to Mayor Willi Hörter in 1992 for the 2000 year celebration of the city of Koblenz.

Monument protection

The main cemetery Koblenz is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Koblenz-Goldgrube in the main cemetery monument zone .

The main cemetery in Koblenz has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .

See also

literature

  • Manfred Böckling: Koblenz - city guide . Gudensberg-Gleichen: Wartberg Verlag 2014. pp. 95-104 (Tour 14: Park of the Living and the Dead - The Koblenz Main Cemetery). ISBN 978-3-8313-2339-5
  • A park for the dead and the living. 200 years of the main cemetery in Koblenz. Published by the City of Koblenz Green Space and Funeral Services. - Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2020. ISBN 978-3-7954-3483-0
  • Main cemetery Koblenz. Documentation on the 160th anniversary of the main cemetery. Koblenz: City of Koblenz 1981 (Documentations of the City of Koblenz, 9).
  • Susanne Just: My last garden. A cemetery guide for children. Editor: Jörg Hahn et al. A publication as part of the special exhibition "My last garden - 10,000 years of grave culture on the Rhine and Moselle" of the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate, Landesmuseum Koblenz April 15, 2011 to November 2012. Koblenz: General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate - Direction Landesmuseum Koblenz and own operation of the city of Koblenz Green space and funeral services 2011. ISBN 978-3-925915-72-7 - Is available in the Landesmuseum Koblenz and in the advice office at the Koblenz main cemetery.
  • City of Koblenz. The cemetery signpost. This world & the hereafter. Leipzig: Mammut-Verlag 2005. Without ISBN, can be obtained free of charge at various locations in Koblenz.
  • Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .

Web links

Commons : Hauptfriedhof Koblenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maximilian von Braumüller: History of the Queen Augusta Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 4 . 2nd Edition. Berlin 1907, p. 281 .
  2. ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 5 ″  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 34 ″  E