Crown
The crown is the symbol of the Westphalian city of Siegen . The sculpture, which is several meters high, is a blacksmith's work made of gold-plated iron. It represents an oversized crown with a wind arrow and compass rose . Since 1658, the year it was founded, the original of the little crown has stood on the top of the spire of the Evangelical Church of St. Nicholas in Siegen. In 1993 it was replaced by a replica made of gold-plated stainless steel for conservation reasons .
history
The crown is a gift from Prince Johann Moritz zu Nassau-Siegen to the city of Siegen and its citizens. The reason for the gift was the elevation of Johann Moritz to the prince status in 1652. The prince had the sculpture made at his own expense in the hammer in front of the Hardt in Weidenau by the three blacksmiths Gerlach Burchmann, Jakob Schleifenbaum and Johannes Pickardt.
In the summer of 1829, the slater Prince from Siegen and his three journeymen Steffe, Römer and Vogel attached a new arrow to the crown. In 1889 the so-called basket that carries the crown was enlarged and the Siegen company Friedrich Hinderthür installed a lightning protection system. Both in this work and in further gilding work in May 1955 with 24-carat gold leaf , historical documents were deposited in a capsule.
Since the crown had suffered from the effects of the weather, it should be cleaned and re-gilded in 1992. It turned out that the crown had to be replaced in order to protect it from further damage. The Siegen metalworking shop Sarges made a replica from gold-plated stainless steel. Before the original could be removed from the tower, an autumn storm in November of that year overturned parts of the scaffolding erected on the tower for work on the little crown . In the process, the seven-meter-high mast of the little crown was snapped off, and the sheet copper tower that served as the base for the sculpture was destroyed. The stainless steel replica was placed on the tower in March 1993. The original from the 17th century has been hanging in the portal area in the church tower since then. Parts of the copper ball, which was destroyed in 1992, and part of the broken mast of the little crown are exhibited there.
Appearance
Seen up close, the little crown is an enlargement, weighing several tons, of an open crown of the lily crown type with eight lily-shaped prongs. The 1.90 meter high wrought iron crown has a diameter of 135 cm at the middle crown height and 235 cm at the prongs. The wrought iron was added to the time in Siegerlandhalle solely by refining generated and then hammering from the non-malleable cast iron. The supporting ball is made of sheet copper . A stick iron weather arrow 3.5 meters long is attached above the crown, which can be moved by the wind and rotates around a ball bearing containing 19 agate balls . The tip of this weather arrow is embossed with the inscriptions in Latin:
- Renovatum et inauratum 1756 (in German: "Renewed and gilded 1756")
- Refectum et subauratum Imperatore Guilielmo II 1889 (translated: "Mended and re-gilded under Kaiser Wilhelm II. 1889")
Inside the sphere there is a third inscription over the names of two Siegen master craftsmen, the slater Fr. Busch and the locksmith Fr. Jung. Translated into German it reads:
- Johann Moritz, Prince of Nassau, Katzenellenbogen, Vianden and Dietz, Herr zu Beilstein, Master of the Order of St. Johannis, had me made and set up at his expense in 1658.
Web links
- Article 350 years of the crown on the Nikolaikirche on the website of the Ev. Parish Nikolai Siegen (accessed on May 2, 2011)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article 350 Years of the Crown
- ↑ Hermann Eberhardt: Die Nikolaikirche zu Siegen, p. 14 f., Vorländer, Siegen 2010
- ↑ Unser Krönchen - Volume 1, A symbol of our Siegerland homeland, p. 8 f., Verlag Vorländer 1983
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 29.3 " N , 8 ° 1 ′ 33.7" E