Lutherstein (Düben Heath)

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The Lutherstein (2012)

The Lutherstein is a boulder in the Dübener Heide, linked to the reformer Martin Luther through numerous anecdotes and legends . It is a listed building.

location

The Lutherstein is located in the Dübener Heide on the east side of the federal highway 2 between the cities of Bad Düben and Kemberg , about ten kilometers away from both. The stone lies on a slightly raised surface with oak and linden trees. There is a parking lot next to it.

description

The inscription on the stone:
"A strong castle is God"

The Luther stone has dimensions of about two by one meter. It consists of granite containing biotite . According to its nature, it is a so-called cup stone , that is, the heavily weathered surface has irregularly distributed depressions. These have sometimes been interpreted as depictions of the sky from the Bronze Age .

Clearer, albeit difficult to decipher, is an inscription carved on the stone: "A fortress is God". It is said to have been attached in 1817 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, as was the design of the area surrounding the stone. Other, even more difficult to find letters "DML" designate Dr. Martin Luther.

Legends

According to tradition, Luther is said to have stayed at this place several times, for the first time in 1508 as a rest in the heath, when he was traveling as an Augustinian monk from Erfurt to Wittenberg , where he was supposed to teach moral philosophy and continue his studies in theology at the artist faculty of the university there .

On his trip with Melanchthon , Karlstadt and a large entourage to the Leipzig disputation in June 1519, the Wittenberg students accompanied the tour group to this point. They received Luther here again on his return, where he is said to have preached from the stone.

Popular belief also led to stories such as the one that Luther helped push the wagon in a mountainous place in the heath on his trip to the Reichstag in Worms in 1521 . When he felt a stone in his shoe and got rid of it, the stone grew to its present size. Just as the devil is said to have practiced the stone in the shoe, according to another legend he is said to have thrown the stone at Luther to prevent his journey to Worms.

Web links

Commons : Lutherstein  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. List of natural monuments in the Wittenberg district (Reg.No. ND0024WB)
  2. a b Dübener Heide - Lutherstein. Retrieved June 20, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 34 "  N , 12 ° 36 ′ 20"  E