House to the Stock-im-Eisen (Timișoara)

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Replica of the stick-in-iron on the outside wall of the house

The Haus zum "Stock-im-Eisen" ( Romanian Casa cu pomul breslelor ) is a listed building in Strada Proclamația de la Timișoara No. 3 , at the intersection of Strada Francesco Griselini , in the 1st district of Cetate in the western Romanian city ​​of Timișoara .

history

The house at Stock-im-Eisen was built in 1752 by the master baker Leopold Kayser and was then number 116. In 1827 the house came into the possession of the dealer Andreas Trandaphill (according to other sources also Trandafir ). On his travels in Vienna he had seen the house sign Stock-im-Eisen , which prompted him to give his house a similar landmark. He gave the Timisoara master locksmith Moritz Heim the order to make a stick-in-iron and fix it in a corner niche on the outside of his house. Heim made a stick-in-iron in Arad in 1827 .

The stick-in-iron is a tree trunk covered with thin sheet iron that is studded with innumerable nails. It is held in place on the outside wall of the house by an iron bracket on which the year 1828 can be seen. The iron shackle has a large square padlock which, however, cannot be opened due to the lack of a keyhole.

In the course of history the house changed hands several times. It has been proven that the house was at times the seat of the locksmith's guild, which held their meetings in this house. During renovation work, restaurant owner János Kocsonyai discovered an oil painting depicting the stick-in-iron with a journeyman driving a nail into it. This reflects the old custom of the locksmith's guild, according to which traveling locksmiths hit a nail in the stick-in-iron as a sign of their presence. These nails were hand-forged and had an ornate crest-shaped head in which the journeyman's initials were engraved.

The stick-in-iron was badly damaged by repeated vandalism and was brought to the Banat Museum in Hunyadi Castle for restoration in 1990 , where the original is still located today. An imitation by the artist Alexandru Fota was installed in its place in 1997 . However, the imitation lacks the nails and padlock.

Such house signs were not uncommon in the 18th century. In addition to the “Stock-im-Eisen” house, there is also the house with the iron axis and the house at Prinz-Eugen-Tor in the city . Other specimens of a similar type can also be found in Austria ( Vienna ), Hungary ( Budapest , Győr , Székesfehérvár ) and Slovakia ( Bratislava ).

Legend

According to legend, the locksmith Martin Mux arrived late at the gates of the fortress one evening, so that he was no longer allowed to enter. Then the devil appeared to him and offered him access to the fortress in exchange for his soul. The devil gave the journeyman the order to make a lock that could not be opened by anyone and to attach it to a tree. Since then, journeyman locksmiths have been hammering a nail into the iron stick as confirmation that they could not open the lock.

In Vienna the story was told in a modified version, from where it spread throughout Austria-Hungary .

See also

literature

  • Franz Engelmann: Temeschburg / Timisoara. A Southeast European City in Times of Change , Offsetdruck Bürker GmbH, 1994 Karlsruhe, 672 pages
  • Florin Medeleț: Copacul de fier din Timișoara , Timișoara, 1998, 665 pages, in Romanian

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gtztm.ro ( Memento from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 246 kB), Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2004 des Județ Timiș , 128 TM-II-mB-06161, in Romanian

Coordinates: 45 ° 45 ′ 21.5 ″  N , 21 ° 13 ′ 50.6 ″  E