Püstrich von Sondershausen
The Püstrich von Sondershausen (also Püsterich ) is a cast bronze figure in human form from the group of the Püsteriche , which has been in the city of Sondershausen in Thuringia for more than 400 years and whose replicas are in Halle (Saale ) can be found.
The origin, time of origin and former importance of the Püstrich are not known, which is why it has been the subject of numerous studies and speculations for centuries. In earlier times the Püstrich attracted many curious people to Sondershausen, including high-ranking personalities. Today it is still a symbol of the city.
description
On the surface, the figure is primitive, which led many historians to suspect that the Püstrich did not come from more recent times, but rather had pre-Christian origins.
The figure is made of bronze, which, according to the chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, consists of 916 parts of copper , 75 parts of tin and 9 parts of lead . It is 57 cm tall, weighs around 35 kg, is hollow on the inside so that it holds almost 8 liters, and has two openings on the head.
The Püstrich has the shape of a kneeling young man with a chubby face, a flat nose and thick lips. The medium-length hair is combed down straight and curls at the nape of the neck. The stomach is full, the arms and legs are narrow in relation to the torso. The torso of the figure is completely naked, only in the lumbar region there are shadowy hints of clothing.
The lack of the left forearm goes back to the destructive curiosity of Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel (1572–1632), who brought the Püstrich to Kassel and had his type of metal examined.
Discovery and Owner
The figure was found in the ruins of the Rothenburg on the Kyffhäuser between rubble and stones in the former chapel in the 1540s . At that time it was still owned by the lords of the castle, the lords of Tütcherode . This had given the figure to one of Reifenstein, who sold the figure to its ultimate owner. Günther XL. acquired the figure and exhibited it in his art and natural history cabinet in Sondershausen.
The Püstrich was first mentioned between 1561 and 1565 by Georg Fabricius , who referred to him as "Pustericius" and " Götzen Bildnis" . A single-sheet print with a true-to-life representation of the figure and the title "War-like illustration of the idol bust, which the Thuringians honored and worshiped as a god before their conversion near the town of Kelbra on the Rotenburg mountain" appeared in the 17th century.
Surname
Over the centuries the püstrich has been called quite differently. The terms Beister, Büster, Piester, Püster, Puster, Bansterich, Bustrich, Pisterich, Beustard and finally Püstrich were found . The names are probably derived from the Low German word "pusten", which means something like "to blow" , as the boy depicted has inflated his cheeks and pricked his mouth to blow .
Attempts at interpretation
By the 18th century, 50 authors were already considering the interpretation of the Püstrich. The most important and well-known are:
The Püstrich as an idol
Shortly after the find in the 16th century, it was already believed that the püstrich was an idol that was filled with water and placed by the fire so that the contents could blow away the bystanders with a roar and intimidate them. The site on the Kyffhäuser is said to have served as an underground sanctuary for the ancient Teutons . In order to placate their God, they had given him abundant sacrifices.
In 1830 Püstrich was said to be one of the strangest idols of the old Thuringians , and in 1842 it was reported that he was a Thuringian idol who was also worshiped by the Saxons , Sorbs , Slavs and Wends .
The Püstrich as a historical steam apparatus
The figure was recognized as a steam apparatus as early as the 16th century. Siegfried Friedrich Saccus (1527–1596), cathedral preacher in Magdeburg , wrote that the ore image had been filled with water and the openings corked. Then they put the plastic over a fire to bring the water to a boil. As a result of the increasing pressure, the corks finally shot out and large clouds of steam pushed out of the opening.
According to this, it is probably one of the oldest surviving steam machines in the world. Since the middle of the 3rd century, the steam power of small devices has been used in primitive form to fan smokers or to make small pipes sound. In the 13th century, the German universal genius Albertus Magnus described a vessel made of ore, which he calls "Sufflator": "It is customary to shape it after the shape of a blowing man". The Sondershäuser Püstrich could also be such a blowing male.
The Püstrich as the steam gun of the emperor Barbarossa
In the 17th century Moncaeius (actually Praetorius) wrote about the "Puester, idolum and deastrum" that he had been employed by the monks in the papacy, and makes him a tool to protect Emperor Frederick I . He had his court camp at Kyffhausen Castle (Rothenburg) and the Püstrich is said to have been his policeman. He had stood on the mountain and spat fire around him and with his glowing rain and ejections kept the enemies of Barbarossa from approaching him.
The blow as a horror picture of Christian missionaries
It was also initially believed to have been an earlier instrument of shameful fraud by Catholic clergymen. The reason for this assumption was the teaching of Martin Luther , which was emerging at the time of the discovery . Their followers tried very hard to attach all possible bad things and various grievances to the servants of the old Christian teaching.
Saccus made the Püstrich the subject of a sermon:
“But the Peustrich was a portrait [...] on the Harz [...] in a church, to which a large whale species was annually. […] A Münch preached […] that the Lord God was very angry, and so that they would obviously want to see this, the Peustreich would thunder and Hellisch Fewer would spit out. [...] Münch manages that the Peustrich could not be redeemed otherwise than when one offered it mildly [and people] would be released from their sins. "
The Püstrich as a brandy burner
In the opinion of the writer Rosenthal, the figure should have been a brandy bubble. He believed that the stump legs and an eyelet on the back, a supposed remnant of an adjustable foot, together formed a tripod. However, it was later found out that the eyelet was probably from more recent times.
The Püstrich as a baptismal font
Another for the purpose of the Püstrich is that it was once one of the bearers of a medieval baptismal font that could have been made in the 10th or 11th century. Then his posture would only be an expression of the physical exertion associated with carrying the baptismal font. There are said to be signs that the opening of the mouth may have been drilled later to provide an explanation and evidence of the steam emission.
But there are also doubts about this interpretation, for example because there is no trace of the other carriers and the back of the figure is just as well worked out as the front. That would not be the case if the viewer had only seen the front anyway.
The Püsterich as an object of desire
In addition to the technical and cultural-historical interpretation of the Püstrich, its social resonance must also be taken into account: The Püstrich appeared at a time when the German and European mansions were led to a passion for collecting by the large numbers of curiosities , mostly imported from the New World Objects added enormous value. In addition to Landgraves Wilhelm IV and Moritz von Hessen, Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria also tried to acquire the Püstrich between 1590 and 1592.
During a visit to Sondershausen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe examined the Püstrich. He dedicated the following lines to the work of art:
"Püsterich to
look horribly at an idol !
Blow over the clear field of
chaos, stench and horror. "
The blow today
Blow tight
In Rüdigsdorf , now a district of Nordhausen , the Pustefest has been celebrated since 1866 and the Püstrich is worshiped with it.
The extraordinary figure is part of the natural and curiosity cabinet that is still in Sondershausen Castle and can be viewed in the Castle Museum. The Püstrich is still well known in the professional world today and is shown at special exhibitions throughout Germany.
literature
- The blow to Sondershausen . In: Christian August Vulpius (Ed.): Curiosities of the physical-literary-artistic-historical past and present . tape II , no. III . Weimar 1812, p. 216-220 ( digitized version ).
- WL Hildburgh: Aeolipiles as Fire-blowers. in: Archaeologica or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity 94. Oxford 1951, pp. 27 ff.
- Ines Jucker : The Aventicum fire blower. in: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History , Volume 21 (1961), Issue 2, p. 49 ff.
- Wa. Ostward: PROMETHEUS - Illustrated weekly publication on progress in trade, industry and science, No. 1253 ; Leipzig, 1913
- Eugen von Philippovich: Curiosities / Antiques . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig 1966
- Martin Friedrich Rabe: The Püstrich zu Sondershausen ; Berlin 1852
- Albert Schröder: The Püsterich von Sondershausen. in: The Thuringian Flag. Monthly magazine for the Central German homeland. Volume 3, issue 7. 1934, picture supplement, pp. 454–455.
- H. Toepfer: The Püstrich in Sondershausen. in: Reprint from the communications of the Geography Association in Halle a. S .; Born in 1903.
- Christa Hirschler: Der Sondershauser Püsterich , in: Aufbruch in die Gotik, exhibition catalog Magdeburg, 2009, vol. 2, p. 259.
- Ludwig Friedrich Hesse: History of the Rothenburg Castle. Appendix "Von dem Püstrich" . In: Thür.Sächs. Association for the research of patriotic antiquities (ed.): Mittheilungen from the field of historical antiquarian research . Third booklet. Naumburg 1823, p. 53–64 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ The Tütcherode family died out as early as 1576 and their possessions fell to the Counts of Schwarzburg as an open fiefdom . The figure must have reached Sondershausen .
- ↑ The princes of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, who were still underage around 1590, were considered to be the owners, so one could formally put forward legal reasons to drive interested parties to ever higher offers through tedious haggling. Finally, Landgrave Moritz received the object "on loan".
Individual evidence
- ^ Schweigger: Journal for Chemistry and Physics , Nuremberg 1811
- ^ A b Carl Eduard Vehse: History of the German courts since the Reformation . Hoffmann and Campe, 1856 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- ^ Walter Heinemeyer : The history of Hesse and Thuringia in the 16th century ... In: Historical Commission for Hesse (Hrsg.): Hesse and Thuringia - from the beginnings to the Reformation. An exhibition by the state of Hesse . Catalog. Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 3-89258-018-9 , The mutilation of the idol Busterrich, p. 332-333 .
- ↑ Püster. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . 16 volumes in 32 sub-volumes, 1854–1960. S. Hirzel, Leipzig ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
- ↑ Martin Friedrich Rabe: The Püstrich zu Sondershausen. Berlin 1852, p. 69 ff.
- ↑ Martin Friedrich Rabe: The Püstrich zu Sondershausen. Berlin 1852, p. 57 ff.
- ↑ Fritz Kirchner: Some new findings on the history of the Flemish settlements in the upper Golden Aue . In: Meyenburg Museum (ed.): Contributions to local history from the city and district of Nordhausen . Issue 13. Nordhausen 1988, note 5, p. 43 .
- ^ Jörg Michael Junker: The Pustefest in Rüdigsdorf . In: Meyenburg Museum (ed.): Contributions to local history from the city and district of Nordhausen . tape 13 . Nordhausen 1988, p. 1-8 .