Benches in Alsace

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rest bench in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn
Rest bench in Marmoutier

The benches in Alsace are public benches that were set up in Alsace in the 19th century in two phases. Most of the benches that still exist today are protected as a cultural monument ( Monument historique ).

history

On market days , the farmers carried their goods in baskets or huts to the markets in the surrounding towns. To rest for a moment, they sat on benches and put down their goods. Trees that were planted near the benches provided shade.

There are two types of benches in Alsace:

"Bancs-reposoirs du Roi de Rome"

On the initiative of the prefect of the French departments of Bas-Rhin , Adrien de Lezay-Marnésia , the benches were set up in the years 1811-12 to the birth of Napoléon-François-Joseph Charles Bonaparte, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte to remember . In a letter to the local government on April 22, 1811, he stated that these stone benches should be set up along the country roads and shady trees should be planted behind them. The costs had to be borne by the communities. The Alsatians called them in their dialect the Nabele Bank (Napoleonsbank, bancs de Napoléon); this name is also common in the neighboring Palatinate .

"Bancs-reposoirs de l'Impératrice Eugénie"

Again on the initiative of a prefect of the Bas-Rhin department, Auguste-César West , in commemoration of the first wedding anniversary of the Empress Eugénie, married to Napoleon III. , stone benches set up. This time the department took over the costs, so the municipalities showed more interest in putting up the benches.

More than 400 of these banks made of sandstone from the Vosges mountains were built, and a few dozen of them have survived. In the 1980s they were added to the list of Monuments historiques .

See also

literature

  • Yves Bonnel: Monuments de Légende - Les petits Monuments Napoléoniens en Alsace - Les Bancs-Reposoirs , 1ère Partie Strasbourg 1982; Deuxième game 1983
  • Rudolf Wild: L'origine des bancs napoléoniens. Cercle d'histoire et d'archéologie de l'Alsace du Nord, Revue l'Outre-Forêt, Wissembourg 2008, ISSN 0766-5792, No. 143 , pp. 29–34 (German at  suehnekreuz.de : The origin of the Napoleons banks )
  • Rudolf Wild: Les bancs napoléoniens dans la région de Wissembourg . Cercle d'histoire et d'archéologie de l'Alsace du Nord, l'Outre-Forêt, Revue Trimestrielle, Wissembourg 2010, ISSN 0766-5792, no. 149 , pp. 29-36. - German: Napoleon's benches in the Wissembourg area (draft text)

Web links

Commons : Banc-reposoir napoléonien  - Collection of images, videos and audio files