Jungfernsprung near Gösting

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Photograph from 1901

The Jungfernsprung (also called Jungfrauensprung in older depictions ) is a rock spur in the western Grazer Bergland in the Austrian state of Styria . The dolomite rock , which owes its name to a legend , is located in the immediate vicinity of the Gösting castle ruins in the provincial capital of Graz . As a popular vantage point over the Murtal, the Jungfernsprung is one of the most important natural sights in the greater Graz area and has been a popular postcard motif for decades.

Location and surroundings

View of the Murtal on Raach as well as Kanzel and Admonter Kogel , on the horizon Gleinalpe , Hohe Rannach , Schöckl and Lineckberg

The rocky ridge of the Jungfernsprungs stretches across the northern slope of the Göstinger ruins mountain within sight of the Gösting castle ruins in the Graz district of the same name . The highest point is 550  m above sea level. A. and towers over the valley floor below by about 180 m. Diagonally below the rock formation lies the Raach district, the northernmost Graz settlement on the right bank of the Mur . In addition, at the foot of the Jungfernsprung there is the north portal of the Plabutsch tunnel with the clearly recognizable ventilation structures by the architect Eilfried Huth - when driving on the Pyhrn Autobahn (A 9) to the south, the rock is thus prominently in the field of vision. The Jungfernsprung can be reached via hiking trails from the Gösting bus stop ( Graz lines 40, 48 and 85) and from Raach in 25 to 30 minutes.

Geology and geomorphology

North tower with sandstone (yellow)
Pen drawing by Franz Heritsch (1915)

The rock walls of the Jungfernsprung are essentially made up of light and dark gray Dolomites and belong to the Graz Paleozoic . Stratigraphically , these rocks are assigned to the Lower Devonian Flösserkogel Formation within the Rannach facies . The SSE-NNW-striking ridge can be divided into two rock towers, which are separated by a sharply cut notch. The southern tower, now covered by trees, consists of light, massive dolomite, while the northern tower is defined by a sequence of layers of different dolomites. In both sections yellowish sandstone banks of different thicknesses are inserted, which dip from 40 to 55 ° in a north or north-north-west direction.

A 1.5 m thick bank of blue dolomite, which is particularly well exposed in the notch, contains fossils that are unusually well preserved for the dolomite, which is brittle compared to limestone and therefore more susceptible to weathering . The paleontologist Franz Heritsch examined several thin sections from the Jungfernsprung and determined the occurrence of three different tabular coral species . In addition to the particularly common Pachypora cfr. Orthostaehys Pen. , Which are 5 to 6 mm thin branches fused with the rock, he found isolated specimens of Favosites ottiliae Pen. And Favosites polymorphus Goldf.

Flora and fauna

Wundklee with red flower heads

Not only geomorphologically but also floristically the rocks of the Virgin jump are a special feature of the Göstinger Ruinenberg is on this heat favored location thrive right in. Book - mixed forest around haws , black pine and the most thermophilic Flaumeiche . The latter also occurs on the neighboring Admonter Kogel on the other bank of the Mur, where it is a Natura 2000 protected property. The grassland communities between the rock outcrops are home to numerous species of flowers such as the rare black anemone , Aurikel , Donarsbart , cloves and black salsify . Due to this diversity of plants, the state of Styria lists the Jungfernsprung as a potential candidate for designating a natural monument or nature reserve . As early as 1956, a protected part of the landscape ( GLT-1298 ) with a total area of ​​around 1.5 hectares was decreed for the auricle inventory . In addition, the rock, like the entire ruin mountain, is part of the western mountain and hill country conservation area of Graz (LSG-39). A faunistic peculiarity is the occurrence of the hardwood saber insect .

history

The name "Jungfernsprung" goes back to a legend , the background of which is historically doubted. The lord of the castle Wulfing, the last of the Göstinger family, is said to have had two daughters. Katharina was married to Otto von Thal , while two knights competed for the younger Anna's hand. Anna's lover finally lost in the fatal sword fight and the girl threw herself, heartbroken, from the rock near the castle into the Mur. Wulfing then hit the blow.

The event is said to have occurred in the 13th century. Josef August Kumar allegedly came across the material in the rhyming chronicle of a monk and compared it with two entries in the Reiner Totenbuch , which the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, however, date to the 14th century. He published the text in 1814 in the Mahlerisches Taschenbuch for Friends of Interesting Areas .

On Sannd Margritn dacz it happened
Man pey the Purkh ze Gestnich sac'h
About Hern Wulphings Junkhfrawn two
knights Menigkleichn quarrel.

At Sankt Margarethen that happened.
One saw two male knights
arguing for Herr Wulfing's virgin at the castle in Gösting
.

From 1915 the historian Hans Pirchegger expressed doubts about the authenticity of Kumar's statements in various publications. On the one hand, the name Anna, in contrast to Wulfing and Katharina von Gösting, does not appear in any of the church sources, on the other hand, the relationship between Wulfing and Katharina cannot be proven. Pirchegger was of the opinion that Kumar could have given an "unadorned legend from a peasant's mouth a splendid knight's costume" and forged the aristocratic background. In addition, Anna was not a common baptismal name in Styria before 1250 , which suggests the suspicion that Kumar simply named the girl after the godmother of the Gösting castle chapel . The clumsy verse structure and the obviously enforced antiquity of the language speak against a medieval text original. In addition, there is no example of a girl of that era who took her own life out of lovesickness. The “ Werther sentimentality ”, on the other hand, would allow an assignment to early romanticism . Pirchegger found the original form of the saga, which was even included in their German sagas by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 , in a sermon by Abraham a Santa Clara .

In Styria alone there are several rocks that were called Jungfernsprung in the past - for example at Rabenstein or at Kugelstein . According to Pirchegger, they all have in common a location that is important in terms of transport technology and the addition of various sagas and legends. Johann Peisker saw in them religious places of worship of pre-Christian devil worship . The from the Sanskrit derived demon "Daeva" was, according to him Slav , which translates as "virgin" means "deva". Many rocks were mentioned in contemporary travel literature , the Göstinger Jungfernsprung, for example, in Johann Ritter von Kalchberg and Joseph Kyselak (1825), who expanded the legend to include a variant in which Wulfing himself kills his daughter's lover.

Development

View of the castle ruins (1908)

The viewing platform at the Jungfernsprung can be easily reached via a 100 m long path with a handrail. A brass plaque on the rock still reminds of the repair of the climbing system in April 1932. In previous years there had been several accidents due to inadequate safety precautions. In order to counteract an official closure of the popular viewpoint, the market town of Gösting decided to revitalize it with the municipal beautification association , the association for the preservation of the castle ruins, the association for the protection of tourist interests as well as the Styrian mountain association and nature lovers .

After landowner Graf Attems approved the expansion from a simple rocky path to a wide, easy walk , the Army Ministry , State Government and Brigade Command No. 5 made a total of 17 pioneers available for the work. Four carrying horses brought the building material provided by local companies with a total weight of 1200 kg up the mountain, while the Gösting water welfare association made it possible to draw drinking water. The viewing platform was enlarged and received a new iron railing with a close-meshed wire mesh and a metal plate embedded in the rock with the legend of the Jungfernsprung. The opening ceremony on May 8, 1932 was attended by a delegate from Governor Rintelen, the Gösting mayor and army representatives. The local media described the restoration of the tourist attraction as “proof of true and sincere love of home”.

literature

  • Reinhard M. Czar & Gabriela Timischl: Mysterious Styria. Magical, special, curious and unknown. Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz 2011, ISBN 978-3-7020-1305-9 , pp. 101-103. Online .
  • Franz Heritsch : Corals from the Göstinger Jungfernsprung near Graz. Contributions to the geological knowledge of Styria X. In: Mitteilungen des Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein für Steiermark , Vol. 55, Graz 1918, pp. 87–92. Online PDF .
  • Hans Pirchegger : The maiden jump. In: Zeitschrift für Volkskunde , Jg. 1935, Vol. VII, Issue 1/2, pp. 112–119.

Web links

Commons : Jungfernsprung bei Gösting  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrick Riedner & Bernhard Hubmann: Geology, physical geography and history in the north-west of Graz. The smartphone-supported “GeoHistoryTrail” to the Gösting castle ruins. In: GeoGraz , Volume 57, Graz 2015, pp. 30–34. Online PDF , accessed August 1, 2018.
  2. ^ A b Franz Heritsch : Contributions to the geological knowledge of Styria X. Corals from the Göstinger Jungfernsprung near Graz. In: Communications from the Natural Science Association for Styria , vol. 55, Graz 1918, pp. 87–92. Online PDF , accessed August 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ Hike to the blooming Black Pasque Flower (Jungfernsprung). Naturschutzbund Steiermark, April 7, 2017, accessed on August 1, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Landscape protection area No. 29. (PDF) State of Styria , accessed on August 1, 2018 .
  5. ^ Posch: Kumar, Josef August (1789-1818), writer. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 . Institute for Modern and Contemporary History Research , Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , Vienna 2003–2018, ISBN 978-3-7001-3213-4 . Online , accessed October 16, 2018.
  6. ^ Anton Schlossar : Kumar, Josef August . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie . Volume 17 (1883), pp. 367-368 Online , accessed October 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ a b Hans Pirchegger : The maiden jump. In: Heimgarten , Vol. 44 (1920), pp. 672-677.
  8. ↑ a b c Hans Pirchegger : The maiden jump. In: Zeitschrift für Volkskunde , Jg. 1935, Vol. VII, Issue 1/2, pp. 112–119.
  9. ↑ R. Schwach: The legend of the maiden jump. In: Neues Grazer Tagblatt , 36th year, edition of May 15, 1926, p. 1.
  10. ↑ Joseph Kyselak : Sketches of a foot trip through Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Tyrol and Bavaria to Vienna, along with a romantic, picturesque depiction of several knight castles and their folk tales, mountain regions and ice glaciers on this hike, undertaken in 1825 . Anton Pichler Verlag, Vienna 1829, pp. 46–47. Online , accessed July 27, 2018.
  11. ↑ a b c Richard Planner: The maiden jump. A new point of attraction in Graz. In: Tagblatt , volume 42, edition of April 24, 1932, p. 7.
  12. ↑ a b The Jungfernsprung at the Gösting castle ruins. In: Grazer Volksblatt , 65th year, issue of May 1, 1932, p. 8.
  13. ↑ Reopening of the Jungfernsprung in Gösting. In: Kleine Zeitung , Volume 29, Issue of May 9, 1932, p. 6.

Coordinates: 47 ° 6 '16.3 "  N , 15 ° 22' 58.8"  E