Roland (statue)

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Roland statue in Halberstadt

The Roland is a statue of a knight with a bare sword ( sword of execution ) and is considered a symbol of city ​​rights . Roland statues are therefore - comparable to the court pillars more widespread in southern Europe - on marketplaces or in front of town halls and are more common, especially in northern and eastern German cities. There are also other statues in Central Europe , Croatia and Latvia as well as replicas in Brazil and the United States of America . Most Roland statues are made of sandstone .

meaning

In the Middle Ages , Rolandes were set up in many cities as a symbol of civil liberty ("Rolandstadt"). The Roland figure was considered a symbol of the independence of a city with market rights and its own jurisdiction and thus freedom . Other reasons for construction could also play a role. The Brandenburg Roland was also an expression of the city's economic prosperity.

The figure of Roland, made famous by the Roland song , had the status of a folk hero in the Middle Ages. The fame goes back to the fate of Hruotland , who was Count of the Breton march under Charlemagne . Roland fell in a battle of retreat against the Waskonen (Basques under Count "Lupus") in the Pyrenees in the Roncesvalles valley on August 15, 778. This is briefly reported in two lines in Einhard's biography of Karl, the Vita Caroli Magni . This is how the Roland song arose. Roland later served as a counter-symbol to ecclesiastical rule. The oldest figures of Roland, especially in southern Europe, however, had a strong Christian connection. Rolande stood mainly where Saxon law applied.

In addition to the statues expressly designated as Roland, similarly designed knight figures were also created as symbols of the urban freedom defended or at least claimed by the citizens, e.g. B. the so-called "giants" on the Trier Steipe .

Roland statues in selected German cities

Brandenburg

One of the most famous Roland statues can be found in Brandenburg an der Havel in front of the old town hall . In contrast to the New Town Hall, the Roland statue survived the Second World War unscathed and was then placed in front of the Old Town Hall. According to legend, the figure is supposed to protect a clump of thunder beard in a hollow on the head from lightning strikes.

Bremen

Bremen had scriptures say the predecessor of the Bremer Roland early a wooden Roland, however, in 1366 on behalf of Archbishop Albert II. Said to have been burned. In 1404 the Bremen Roland was rebuilt from light Elm limestone as a symbol of justice and freedom in the Franconian Empire . It was set up on the Rathausplatz across from the Bremen Cathedral . For the bishop, this was an affront, as it strengthened the desire of Bremen's citizens for independence from their supremacy. From Bremen, the image of Roland as a symbol of freedom spread throughout Europe. In July 2004, 600 years after its construction, the Roland of Bremen was together with the Bremen Town Hall because of this importance for the independence of the city in the list of World Heritage of UNESCO added. The German 2-euro commemorative coin from 2010 bears the motif of Roland in front of the town hall.

Saxony

Roland in Belgern

In Belgern there is a Roland statue next to the Roland Park, where miniature editions of Rolanden from all over Germany are on display.

Saxony-Anhalt

About 55 Roland statues are documented, 20 of which have been preserved. 13 of the known statues are located in Saxony-Anhalt , which shows a clear concentration in the eastern and western area of ​​the central Elbe . This corresponds to the eastern and northern border area of ​​the Franconian Empire around 800 and indicates the connection to Charlemagne.

Castle

The Roland zu Burg , also called Roland de Ries, with its height of 5.60 meters is one of the largest Roland statues in Germany and is a copy based on a historical model.

Halberstadt

The Halberstädter Roland is one of the oldest demonstrable Rolande.

Haldensleben

The Haldensleben Roland is the only riding Roland in Europe.

Halle (Saale)

The Hallesche Roland is the only Roland statue not in armor and, in terms of art history, is dated to around 1245.

Lutherstadt Eisleben

In front of the town hall of Neustadt von Eisleben , a copy made of shell limestone from 1926 shows the figure “Bergmannsroland” (Kutzke) or “Comrade Martin” as a symbol of the legal independence of the new from the old town of Eisleben. The original from around 1590 is in the exhibition at Luther's birthplace in Eisleben, a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The coat of arms of the city's founders, the Counts of Mansfeld- Hinterort, is depicted on the shield of the contemporary kneeling miner with a wedge hoe.

Magdeburg

The Magdeburg Roland is a copy based on a historical model.

Quedlinburg

The Quedlinburg Roland is one of the smallest, but also one of the oldest surviving Rolande.

Questenberg

The Questenberger Roland is one of the few Rolande made of wood.

Stendal

The Stendaler Roland is only six centimeters smaller than the Bremen Roland and with a base is 7.8 meters high. He also wears the longest sword of all Rolande.

Zerbst

The Roland in Zerbst is the third oldest Roland in Germany. A wooden figure has been documented since 1385, and in 1445 it was replaced by a stone Roland.

Schleswig-Holstein

Along the historic Ochsenweg there is a Roland statue in Bad Bramstedt and the Wedeler Roland in Wedel . There is also another Roland in Westerland on Sylt , which reflects the memorial of the First World War.

Thuringia

Nordhausen

The Nordhäuser Roland is an oak figure in the northern Thuringian city of Nordhausen . It was first mentioned in 1411. The current shape of the figure dates from 1717, this Roland can be found in the new town hall . A colorful copy of the original is on a sandstone plinth in front of the old town hall . This statue is made of epoxy resin , but is almost identical to the wooden figure from 1717.

Neustadt / Harz

The Neustadt Roland is located in the southern Harz resort town of Neustadt . Today the figure stands in front of an inn and has small similarities with the Nordhausen Roland, but does not hold a sword in his right hand. It is not known that it was first mentioned in a document, but today's figure was made in 1730 after the predecessor fell victim to a city fire.

Westphalia

In the major cities of Westphalia there were analogies to the Roland statues. In the imperial city of Dortmund , the function was transferred to city patron Reinoldus . An oversized, wooden statue of the saint from the early 14th century is still in the Reinoldikirche today , another statue was formerly placed on the city wall. In the town of Soest , which was once about the same size , the “Roland function” was projected onto St. Patroclus , he is honored here in the St. Patrokli Cathedral with a statue .

The Roland as a coat of arms

In some places the Roland later developed into a coat of arms, for example in Wedel , Bad Bramstedt or Wolfsburg - Hehlingen . The Hehlingen coat of arms shows a riding Roland, the Haldensleber figure who, according to legend, was kidnapped from Hehlingen in 1419. In 2012, just in time for Hehlingen's 900th anniversary, a 3.50 m tall, bronze cast and designed by the artist Georg Arfmann, a new riding Roland was set up again at the local St. Pankratius Church. Similar legends of kidnapping can be found more often in connection with Rolanden, which can be seen as a further sign of their high symbolic importance. Until the end of the legal independence of Neustadt Eisleben (1809), the "Bergmannsroland" (see above) was also shown on their seal.

Modern Roland figures

  • Kiel : The Swordman by Adolf Brütt (1912)
  • Bad Windsheimer Roland , erected in 1928 as a memorial, eight meter high Roland figure made of shell-lime sandstone and eleven meter high column
  • Bremen land registry office: "Rolandplastik" by August Welp (around 1975)
  • Debstedt : "Blechroland" by Albrecht von der Reith (around 1995)
  • Hamburg : The Bismarck monument erected in 1906 by Hugo Lederer in the form of a Roland
  • Brobergen : The 2007 from the ferry and history association Brobergen u. Environment e. V. erected a wooden Roland at the historic castle site on the Oste
  • Calcutta : In the "Botanical Garden" in Shibpur a statue of Roland by Narayanan Ramachandran, erected in 1991 as a symbol for city rights

photos

Stamp series

Historical monuments: Roland columns is the title of a series of stamps issued by the GDR 's Deutsche Post in 1987 and 1989 . In this series, Roland columns were shown in the GDR.

literature

  • Dietlinde Munzel-Everling : Rolande: the European Roland representations and Roland figures . Stekovics, Dößel 2005, ISBN 3-89923-104-X .
  • Dietlinde Munzel-Everling: Rolande of the world. CD-ROM. 2004, ISBN 3-00-013829-3 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Paskarbeit, Karl Feldkirch: 600 years of Bremer Roland (1404–2004) . COBS Multimedia, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-936587-05-1 .
  • Dieter Pötschke (Ed.): City law, Roland and pillory. Contributions to the legal history of Halberstadt, Goslar, Bremen and cities of the Mark Brandenburg (= Harzforschungen. Volume 14). Lukas, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-931836-77-0 .
  • Dieter Pötschke (Ed.): Rolande, Kaiser and Law. On the legal history of the Harz region and its surroundings (= Harz research. Volume 11). Lukas, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-931836-30-4 .
  • Friedrich-Christian Schroeder : The Rolande, enigmatic warriors . Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne 2005. (annual edition, not on sale)
  • Dieter Pötschke (ed.): Vryheit do ik ju openbar… Rolande and city history (= Harz research. Volume 23). Lukas, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86732-019-1 .
  • Renate and Roger Rössing: Rolande in Germany . Hinstorff, Rostock 2004, ISBN 3-356-00976-1 .
  • Adriana Kremenjaš-Daničić (Ed.): Roland's European Ways . Europski dom Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik 2006, ISBN 953-95338-0-5 .
  • Bernd Feicke: The Roland von Quedlinburg. Symbol of royal privileges for the city's merchants - antipode to the city rule of the abbess of the imperial monastery. In: Harz-Zeitschrift. 63, 2011, pp. 125-138.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. vanderkrogt.net
  2. sanktreinoldi.de
  3. faehre-brobergen.de: The Roland