Meissen granite

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Samples of Meissen granite (light red type)
The Maxmonument in Munich with bronze sculptures and a five-meter-high base made of Meissen granite on gray syenite
The pillars of the old Elbe bridge in Meissen are faced with Meissen granite

Meißner Granite or Red Meißner Granite is mined on the northeastern edge of the district town of Meißen near the district of Zscheila in the Free State of Saxony . It was formed in the Carboniferous 320 million years ago .

Surname

The Meissner Granit was before 1914 Rose de Saxe and giant stone granite called. The name Red Meißner Granite is also widespread . The name Riesenstein refers to a quarry that is now in the urban area of ​​Meißen, has flooded with water and serves as a diving lake.

geology

The Elbe valley zone is a pronounced geological fault zone in which numerous tectonic rock shifts took place. In the Central Varisticum , granitic melts penetrated this zone and formed the granite deposit, which is part of the Meißner massif of monzonites and granites . The large magma chamber cooled in long periods of time and formed the crystals of the Meissen granite. The complex of the Meißner massif was further tectonically stressed in the following time and was strongly fissured.

Rock description and mineral inventory

The medium-grained Meißner granite is light to flesh red. It is composed of 38% orthoclase , 32% quartz , 23% plagioclase , 4% biotite and together 1% hematite and magnetite . Accessories in the rock are muscovite , zircon and apatite .

Quarry history

The first Meissen granite quarries were set up around 1830 and, until the end of the 19th century, stone and above all masonry stones were extracted. This changed with regard to the production of mainly stone. Since numerous red granites are traded on the international market, the demand changed from 1990 onwards from ashlar to the production of fine chippings as well as wall and water stones as well as gabions . Currently (2011) there is only one quarry mainly producing crushed stone, stone chippings and concrete blocks.

The former Riesenstein quarry, which is now filled with water and is a diving lake, is located opposite the employment office and in the immediate vicinity of the Elbe Center in Meißen.

use

Before 1945, Meißner granite was a sought-after granite in construction as well as for tombstones and monuments. After the Second World War , the demand for this natural stone was great in the GDR . Due to the strong fissures of the deposit, the extraction of ashlar was limited. Meißner granite was often used for monuments as pedestals , altars and baptismal fonts and in sculpture, whereby the dark red types were particularly popular. In construction it was used as brick and for floor and stair coverings.

Many motorway bridges and structures in Saxony and Brandenburg were built from Meissen granite. The Maxmonument of the Bavarian King Maximillian II in Munich , the Lindenplatz fountain in St. Gallen in Switzerland , the Belle Alliance Bridge at Mehringplatz in Berlin and the neo-Gothic St. John's Church in the Meissen district of Cölln are also made of Meissen granite . Meißner granite was also used in 1857 for the erection of the Napoleon Stone, a memorial stone at the command post of Emperor Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig- Probstheida .

Others

The approximately 700 meter long Schottenberg Tunnel , which was opened in 2007, leads through the Meissen Pluton.

photos

See also

List of types of granite

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c baufachinformation.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Alkaline granite: Meissner granite , accessed on May 16, 2011@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.baufachinformation.de  
  2. ↑ a b Karlfried Fuchs: Natural stones from all over the world, discover, determine, use . Sheet 61. Vol. 1. Munich (Callwey) 1997, ISBN 3-7667-1267-5
  3. ↑ Information on jansenmeissen.de , accessed on May 16, 2011
  4. ↑ Walz, Münch, Schmidt (2008): In Napoleon's footsteps through Sachsenland, p. 216

Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 43.2 ″  N , 13 ° 30 ′ 1.4 ″  E