Royal Prussian rifle factory Saarn

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Saarn Monastery, inner courtyard
Saarn Monastery, west side

The Royal Prussian Rifle Factory Saarn in the former Cistercian monastery Saarn was a Prussian production facility for handguns from 1815 to 1862 .

Founding and operation of the rifle factory

After the Abbey of Saarn was abolished by the Regensburg Reichstag in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 and about five years of administration by the French, the Prussian domain administration took over the property in 1813 right at the beginning of the Wars of Liberation . A Magdeburg entrepreneur, Isaak Bonte, supplied Westphalian hospitals with soap and candles during the Napoleonic Wars. After the victory of the Prussians, the demand for these products fell. While looking for a new field of business, he and the Liège- born entrepreneur Sylvester Trenelle received permission from the Prussian government in 1814 to set up a rifle factory in the Rhine provinces on their own account. The former Saarn monastery was assigned to the two founders as the location and a corresponding contract was signed with Prussia on January 6, 1815. Production lines that had been abandoned by the Essen rifle factory were continued in the new factory. A part of the Saarner production took place in Hattingen (on the Ruhr in the area of ​​the Ruhr bridge ). Due to the technical ingenuity of Trenelle, rifle production flourished and at times amounted to 10,000 pieces per year. In 1840 the factory was taken over by the Prussian state.

The location near Mülheim on the Ruhr waterway and the proximity to the Rhine were decisive factors in the selection of the location, as this enabled raw materials such as coal and steel, as well as the finished products, to be transported quickly and inexpensively. The hydropower of the Ruhr was also used to drive the machines, for example in Hattingen for a hammer forge and boring mills to manufacture the gun barrels . The Hattingen hammer mill of the "Ruhrmühle" was also a supplier for the Essen rifle factory, which continued to produce rifle locks. The steel came from the Dahlhauser colliery a few kilometers away . The Hattingen products were shipped down the Ruhr for assembly to Saarn.

Relocation of the rifle factory

After the factory was taken over by the Prussian state in 1840, it was decided later, in 1858, to relocate production to the newly built Royal Prussian rifle factory in Erfurt . The most important reason for the relocation was the changing water level in the Ruhr. In addition to the disruptive flooding, falling water levels, which shut down the mills, led to production losses. Dredging the Ruhr twice in 1853 and 1856 did not solve the problem. Another reason was the location's proximity to the French border, which in the event of war could have quickly led to the factory being occupied. The Erfurt rifle factory started production on September 28, 1862 and quickly became the city's largest employer.

Saarn Monastery after the rifle factory moved out

From 1874 the wallpaper factory "Niederhoff & Cie." Used part of the farm buildings. In 1905 the industrialist August Thyssen acquired the monastery buildings, which he sold ten years later to the Catholic parish of Saarn. The Catholic welfare association in Mülheim was the owner from 1919 to 1920. The city of Mülheim took over the facility in 1936 and furnished apartments for older couples there. After the period of decline from the 1920s and the inactivity due to the war and crisis, the first renovation measures began in 1958. In the years 1979–1989 the restoration of the entire monastery complex took place while securing the archaeological findings. Today the former Saarn Monastery, together with Broich Castle and the Petri Church, are one of the most important architectural and cultural monuments in Mülheim.

literature

  • Bernd Könnig: The Prussian-German Garrison Erfurt from 1860 to 1918 , Verlag epubli, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8442-3061-1

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1896, p. 579
  2. ^ Family Bonte (ed.): Family register and history of the Bonte family ("Bonte book") . Hänel'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Magdeburg 1844, p. 215-216 .
  3. ↑ a b Saarn Monastery after the abolition. kamps-toechter.de, December 6, 2011, accessed April 3, 2013 .
  4. ^ Johann Daniel Friedrich Rumpf : The Prussian Monarchy , Verlag CW Kecht, Berlin, 3rd edition 1836, p. 193
  5. ↑ Press information: Steel and iron from Dahlhausen an der Ruhr. Lecture in the LWL-Industriemuseum Henrichshütte and last torch tour. Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), March 20, 2003, accessed on April 3, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Kai Rawe: TIME MARK September 28, 1862: Laying the Saarner gun factory in Erfurt. City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, May 17, 2017, accessed on May 28, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Saarn Monastery homepage. (No longer available online.) Parish of St. Mary's Assumption, archived from the original on May 29, 2018 ; accessed on May 28, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kirchengemeinde.net

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 '10.6 "  N , 6 ° 52' 53.9"  E