Racing field

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Knight piercing the lance on the racing meadow

Rennwiese , derived from [a horse] race in the sense of fast riding (cf. Rennweg for military bridle path, or racing flag for equestrian standard ), is a medieval name for a tournament site, which was later used as a synonym for horse racing tracks.

Functional change

At the time of the knight tournaments , racing fields were laid out near many castles and towns. After lancing with the racing spear went out of fashion, the racing meadows were often used for horse races. Some horse racing tracks, such as the one in the Magdeburg district of Herrenkrug or the one at the Zweibrücken State Stud, are still called Rennwiese today. Sometimes, as in Reutlingen or Oberstimm, they were also converted into sports or festival grounds.

Racecourse on the racing meadow in Zweibrücken
Rennwiese in the
Herrenkrug district of Magdeburg
The Mannheim Rennwiese is used as a fairground and park

Name relics

Racing fields can still be found in some cities, in many places hallway or street names remind of this:

See also

literature

  • Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 18th edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 1960, p. 596.

Web links

Commons : Rennwiese  - collection of images, videos and audio files