Nail column (Mainz)

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Nail column Mainz, after the restoration in 2011

The nail column in Mainz is a column erected during the First World War on Liebfrauenplatz in front of the east side of the Mainz Cathedral , which was created as a war nailing as part of a German propaganda and donation campaign .

History and description

Mayor Karl Göttelmann announced a competition for the design of the column on November 9, 1915. 71 drafts were submitted, from which one selected on December 23, 1915 the model of the city architect Adolf Gelius and the Mainz sculptor Ludwig Lipp .

On July 1, 1916, the seven-meter-high nail column, consisting of oak trunks and three surrounding stone pillars, crowned by an iron cross and the saying In War Distress, God Help Us, was ceremoniously inaugurated.

On the pillar itself is the fourth stanza of the " Watch on the Rhine " ( a call roars like thunder ):

As long as a drop of blood is still glowing,
a fist is still pulling the sword,
and an arm is still cocking the rifle,
no enemy will step onto your beach here!
Dear fatherland, may you be calm,
stand firm and true to the watch on the Rhine!

All Mainz institutions, associations, clubs and larger companies of that time are listed on numerous plaques. The nail column is surrounded by three smaller columns made of shell limestone , on which the allegories of charity, bravery and unity are enthroned.

Each donor was allowed to drive a nail into the wood. The smallest nail cost 50  Reichspfennig , the most expensive one with a gold-plated head 20 marks. The first and most prominent donor was the family of the Hessian Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig von Hessen : his wife and the two princes drove the first nails in. The money went to the war child welfare and the association for holiday colonies . It helped children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds to relax in the countryside. Part of the donations went to the National Women's Service , which tried to support the soldiers' wives. The fundraising campaign, which ended on August 20, 1916, brought in a total of 170,000 marks, around 412,000 euros based on today's purchasing power  , which should benefit the needy population.

  • Allegory unity

  • Allegory Charity

  • Allegory of bravery

Redevelopment

A sign informed about the whereabouts of the nail column in its place (April 2007)

The nail column is located east of Mainz Cathedral on Liebfrauenplatz. It was restored and set up again from February 2006 to summer 2010.

Due to the effects of the weather for decades, the stability of the nail column was no longer guaranteed. With the support of experts from the Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for Monument Preservation and the Roman-Germanic Central Museum and other specialists, the column was dismantled, secured, restored and statically strengthened from February 2006 to the end of 2011. Restorer Michael Recker from Mombach designed the concept for the immediate renovation including all mountings and nail surfaces. With his employees, he was able to implement this with extensive work and technology. In 2009, under the direction of the restorer Andreas Rentmeister, trial cleaning and a sample restoration of the shell limestone column "Die Deutsche Kraft" took place in the workshop of the Berlin company Steinhof Restoration.

After the restoration

After completion of the renovation work, the restored nail column was handed over to the public on July 21, 2011. The cost of 370,000 euros was mainly borne by private donors, including a single large donation of 60,000  US dollars . The column, built like a wine barrel, no longer stands on the floor, but hangs on a seven meter high stainless steel construction. The wood was preserved and the nails covered with a protective layer.

Nail column Mainz

literature

  • Hans Ludwig Linkenbach (ed.): The war landmark of the city of Mainz: a memorial . Mainz: Mainz. Publishing house u. Print., 1916.
  • Wolfram Kraffert: The nail column. Thoughtful guide to a Mainz monument. Mainz: Verlag Dr. Hanns noise. 1984. ISBN 3874391019 .
  • Tobias Wilke: "We want to be one people of brothers." The "War Pillar" of Mainz - an aid operation during the First World War. In: Mainz. Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history. Vol. 19, No. 1, 1999, ISSN  0720-5945 , pp. 94-98; No. 2, pp. 74-78.
  • Gerhard Schneider: In iron time. War symbols in the First World War. A catalog. Schwalbach / Ts. 2013. ISBN 9783941264137 .

Web links

Commons : Nail column  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historical Mainz on mainz.de
  2. ↑ Article oA In: Allgemeine Zeitung on November 20, 2010
  3. ^ Wax layer for the Mainz nail column in: FAZ of July 23, 2011, p. 51.
  4. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung of July 22, 2011

Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 56.9 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 29.5 ″  E