Lion Monument (Bad Honnef)

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Lion Monument (2016)

The Lion Monument in Bad Honnef , a city in North Rhine-Westphalian Rhein-Sieg district , which is the memorial for the First World War fallen of the Rheinische Foot Artillery Regiment no. 8 . It is located in the Stadtgarten on Alexander-von-Humboldt-Straße. The war memorial stands as a monument under monument protection .

history

The first "Great Reunion" after the First World War of the former members of the Rhenish Foot Artillery Regiment No. 8 (1864–1918), united in the Association of the 8th Rhinelander based in Cologne , took place in May 1926 in Honnef. The last peace commander of the regiment called on you at this event to make a donation for the intended erection of a memorial for the more than 1500 fallen comrades of the regiment. In the same year, a design for the memorial was presented, which included, among other things, six to ten meter high blocks as lateral and rear borders and a bronze eagle with a wingspan of over five meters with two crossed gun barrels in its claws . Initially, a site on the Korferberg above Rommersdorf was planned as the site of the monument .

The lion sculpture as part of the overall complex of the monument, which is still to be completed, was executed by the Düsseldorf sculptor Johannes Knubel based on a design by Wilhelm Kreis and - initially intended as a provisional location - erected on Austraße near the banks of the Rhine and ceremoniously unveiled on June 19, 1927. The sleeping lion should, among other things, symbolize a future Germany awakening. The plans for the memorial on the Korferberg were finally abandoned for financial reasons, so that the location on Austraße remained. There the lion sculpture was given a new, definitive base with an inscription and was inaugurated on June 9, 1929 as part of the second meeting of the 8th Rhinelander and also handed over to the city of Honnef. Every year, the former members of the foot artillery regiment commemorate the lion monument. Probably in 1930 a boulder erected by members of Infantry Regiment No. 460 was added to the lion monument.

The Lion Monument on Girardetallee (2012)

After the Second World War, the tradition of honoring the dead at the Lion Monument was regularly resumed on National Mourning Day by the 8th Rhinelander, now known as the “Old Eighth”. In the 1950s, the memorial was moved as part of the construction of the new federal highway 42 . In 1964 it was again moved to a new location at the end of Girardetallee on the Rhine at Bundesstraße 42. From 1965 on, the tank artillery battalion 145 in Niederlahnstein also took part in the honor of the dead at the Lion Monument, and in 1967 it adopted the tradition of the Old Eighth. In 1972, the comradeship of the former Artillery Regiment 70 (1938–1945) in Niederlahnstein was added to the annual wreath-laying ceremony. Its tradition was also taken over in 1976 by the Panzerartilleriebataillon 145, which was later renamed "Feldartilleriebataillon 545" and dissolved in 1990. Even after that, the honor of the dead at the Lion Monument was continued by former members of this battalion and its predecessor associations for their comrades who had fallen in the war.

Base of the lion monument at the new location, still without a lion sculpture (2015)

In 2011 a bronze plaque attached to the boulder next to the lion monument was stolen. After the monument increasingly presented itself in a poor general condition - the gilded inscription had become illegible and the joints of the base had begun to crumble - the initiative Wirtschaft für Bad Honnef began with plans for a restoration of the monument and its relocation to a more appropriate location. On December 17, 2014, the monument was dismantled and - both the lion sculpture and the base - then cleaned and treated to make it water-repellent. During dismantling, a metal tube with the memorial's founding document dated May 15, 1929, a memorial book and columns with names of those who died in the First World War were discovered in the cavity under the lion sculpture. On June 1, 2015, the restored lion sculpture was lifted onto the previously built plinth in the city garden on Alexander-von-Humboldt-Strasse and a brass scroll with documents was placed in the plinth; the inauguration of the monument at the new location took place on June 19. The boulder remained at the old location.

The annual honor of the dead and the laying of a wreath at the Lion Monument on Memorial Day is celebrated today by the former artillery units by the traditional community of Old 145/545 and by the city by the mayor and the city council. The lion monument was entered in the list of monuments of the city of Bad Honnef on June 18, 1997.

description

The lion sculpture is made of Würzburg shell limestone , is around 2.70 meters long and 80 centimeters wide and weighs around four tons. It is modeled on the lion monument by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen in Lucerne . The inscription on the base, underlaid in gold, reads: OUR FALLEN COMPANIES OF THE RHEINISCHE FUSSARTILLERIE REGIMENTES NO 8 1914–1918 (obverse); 61 OFFICERS and 1478 SUB-OFFICERS AND TEAMS DIED THE HEROIC DEATH TREU METZ ALL WEGE (back side).

Web links

Commons : Lion Monument  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b List of monuments of the city of Bad Honnef , number A 263
  2. ^ A b c d Dietrich Gülow: Honoring the dead at the lion monument in Bad Honnef - Soldier comradeship and maintaining military tradition
  3. ↑ a b Metal thieves steal the bronze plaque at the lion monument . In: General-Anzeiger . November 19, 2011, p.  15 .
  4. ^ Karl Günter Werber : Archive pictures Bad Honnef . Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2004, ISBN 3-89702-718-6 , p. 100 .
  5. ↑ a b Initiative applies for restoration and relocation , General-Anzeiger , September 5, 2014
  6. ↑ "No longer an acceptable place of remembrance" , Kölnische Rundschau / Bonner Rundschau, December 2, 2014
  7. ↑ The "Sleeping Lion" memorial moves , General-Anzeiger , December 6, 2014
  8. ↑ a b The future location is the Stadtgarten , General-Anzeiger , December 18, 2014
  9. ^ Valuable chance find , General-Anzeiger , March 11, 2015
  10. ↑ The lion is back , press release from the city of Bad Honnef, June 1, 2015
  11. ^ At its new location: Ceremonial inauguration of the lion monument , press release from the city of Bad Honnef, June 19, 2015
  12. ^ Karl Günter Werber : Honnefer walks . 2nd revised edition. Verlag Buchhandlung Werber, Bad Honnef 2002, ISBN 3-8311-2913-4 , p. 59 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 38 '48.6 "  N , 7 ° 13' 8.8"  E