Castor fountain
The Kastorbrunnen on the forecourt of the St. Kastor Basilica in Koblenz is a curious testimony to the Napoleonic Wars . The well , built in 1812, was connected to the first electoral water pipe .
history
Jean Marie Thérèse Doazan , the prefect of the French department de Rhin-et-Moselle , had the classicist fountain made of basalt blocks built in front of the Castor church in 1812. His hastily written inscription, which was also chiseled in incorrectly spelled French, was intended to commemorate Napoleon's supposedly successful Russian campaign . The text says:
- " To mdcccxii / Mémorable par la campagne contre les Russes / sous le Préfectura de Jules Doazan ."
- (German: In 1812 / Memorial to the campaign against the Russians / under the Prefecture of Jules Doazan.)
In fact, Napoleon's Russian campaign ended in disaster. In the Sixth Coalition War , on New Year's Eve of 1814, the predominantly Russian army corps under General Saint-Priest , which formed the right wing of Blücher's Silesian Army , crossed the Rhine between Neuwied and the Lahn estuary, with a focus on Koblenz. The French had evacuated the city shortly before and left it to the Russians without a fight. Their commander, however, showed a sense of humor and did not remove Doazan's well or the first inscription, but put a second under it. It is:
- " Vu et approuvé par nous Commandant / russe de la ville de Coblentz / le 1 er janvier 1814. "
- (German: Seen and approved by us, Russian commander of the city of Koblenz, on January 1st, 1814.)
construction
The Kastorbrunnen is a large square block made of Niedermendiger basalt blocks and originally stood in the middle of the square. It was created by the Aachen sculptor Rauch according to plans by the military engineer Dagobert Chauchet and has a high, fluted base and a protruding, also fluted end plate. There are two semi-circular fountain shells made of Lahn marble . The well was fed with spring water from the Metternich aqueduct and has been supplying the Kastorviertel with clean drinking water since August 15, 1812 (the emperor's birthday). He carried a limestone group of figures with the personifications of the Rhine and Moselle. Due to severe weathering, the sculpture was removed shortly after 1817. In the 1950s, the fountain, which the French had placed in the axis of Kastorgasse and thus in the line of sight to Kastorkirche, was moved a few meters to the north in order to clear the view of the church.
Monument protection
The Kastorbrunnen 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's old town at the Kastorhof .
The Kastorbrunnen has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .
See also
literature
- Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The profane monuments and the suburbs , Munich Berlin 1954, pp. 176–180 (The art monuments of Rhineland-Palatinate first volume).
- Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
- Vol. 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992. ISBN 3-8062-0876-X
- Vol. 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8062-1036-5
- Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate Volume 3.2. City of Koblenz. City center , edited by Herbert Dellwing and Reinhard Kallenbach , Speyer 2004, p. 152. ISBN 3-88462-198-X
- Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People of the city's history. Namesake for streets and squares. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Publishing house for advertising papers GmbH, Mülheim-Kärlich 2005.
Web links
- Kastorbrunnen in: regionalgeschichte.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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 ′ 45 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 12.5 ″ E