Schmorsdorfer Linde

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View from the south

The Schmorsdorfer Linde is a natural monument in the center of Schmorsdorf , a district of Müglitztal in the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district in Saxony . This summer linden (Tilia platyphyllos) is 400 to 800 years old according to various estimates. The circumference of their trunk is about 11 meters, their height about 24 meters. It was first mentioned in writing around 1630 during the Thirty Years War because of its size. The pianist and composer Clara Schumann visited the Linde several times between 1836 and 1849. In her honor, the linden museum that opened next to the tree in 2006 and is the only one in Germany bears her name. The "German Tree Archive" counts the linden tree among the "Nationally Significant Trees (NBB)", with the trunk size serving as the most important selection criterion.

location

The linden tree marks the center of the small district of Schmorsdorf near Maxen , which was created as a loose round square village . It is located five kilometers south of the city limits of Dresden on a hill in the hilly foreland of the Eastern Ore Mountains and stands on a piece of lawn sloping slightly to the south about 305 meters above sea ​​level . There is a bench on two sides near the trunk. The linden tree is surrounded by paths on three sides; the Clara Schumann Linden Museum is on the fourth side . Next to the museum are three old distance columns ( lapidaries ) and a bust of Clara Schumann created by the Lungkwitz sculptor Hans Kazzer in 2008 . Overhead lines and sealed surfaces as well as driving into the root area impair the location of the linden tree.

history

Linden in mountain flowers (1888)

The linden tree is said to have been mentioned for the first time in official documents around 1630 because of its size and shape during the Thirty Years' War , in which troops marched past it. It stands on a formerly important road to Dresden, which was used by troops in the Seven Years' War and by Napoleonic warriors at the beginning of the 19th century . Schmorsdorf gained notoriety during the Seven Years' War during the battle of Maxen , in which Friedrich August von Finck , a Prussian general , was captured by the Austrian field marshal and general Leopold Joseph von Daun on November 21, 1759 . The Maxener Schloss of the Prussian major Johann Friedrich Anton von Serre, which he had acquired in 1819, was a popular meeting place in the 19th century for artists from different countries who stayed with his wife Friederike Serre . The pianist and composer Clara Schumann, born Wieck, stayed with her husband Robert Schumann several times between 1836 and 1849 in Maxen Castle. From there she went on many walks around Maxen, including several times a night to the Schmorsdorfer Linde. In her diary she wrote that a woman is supposed to walk there at night.

Linden in mountain flowers (1888)

On August 9, 1873, a fire broke out in a manor house in the village. Stormy winds spread it to neighboring houses. As it turned out later, it was a matter of arson a little boy. In this damaging fire, in which no human life was to be lamented, but some cattle died, the linden tree also suffered great damage. On January 21, 1884, several large branches broke out of the linden tree, which was still weakened by the fire, in a storm. On February 3, the community council decided to sell four healthy pieces of wood to a timber dealer for 50 pfennigs per cubic foot or 22 marks per cubic meter. The unusable scrap wood was auctioned on February 4th as firewood. The branches of the crown were held together by a heavy chain of ships that was sold after the storm. The linden tree is said to have been 44 meters high before the storm. It was measured by Hermann Schneider. According to some literature, the storm in 1884 is said to have been preceded by the damaging fire that destroyed half the village in the same year. There is no report of another fire in 1873. There is, however, a memorial plaque that was attached to a rebuilt building in 1874: Commemorates August 9, 1873. Where the flames embers, consumed belongings. With God's help in grace inherited. CFA Singer 1874 In the journal of the Dresden History Association of the year 1888, the height of the linden tree was given as 30 meters. The trunk had a circumference of 15.25 at the bottom and 10 meters at a height of 1.5 meters. The linden tree is described there as an old tree that was struck by lightning and burned out, but still remained vital. Also in 1888, the linden tree for the mountain flowers , the illustrated leaves of the Strehlen section of the mountain association founded in 1877 for Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland , was drawn. In 1892, the journal Die Gartenlaube reported in the series Germany's strange trees :

Linden tree in the gazebo (1892)

"[...] It is an age-gray linden tree that this time lifts our picture out of the row of Germany's strange trees. - South of the Elbe valley, between Dresden and Saxon Switzerland, on the border of the Ore Mountains lie the villages of Schmorsdorf and Maxen, known from a battle in the Seven Years' War, in which the Austrian Daun captured the Prussian General Fink on September 21, 1759. A hill between the two villages is still called the 'finch catch' today. In general, it is historically memorable ground that we have before us; to this day it still has remains of the former Wendish settlement by the 'Sorbs'. Some linguists derive the name Schmorsdorf itself from the Wendish word 'smorden', meaning 'dreschfröner'. So near Schmorsdorf is the linden tree, which is striking because of its peculiar shape. Their age cannot be determined exactly, at least it reaches up to Wendish times. Their growth is enormous, the main trunk, measuring 9 meters in circumference at the weakest point, rises 5 meters above the earth and then divides into a series of branches which protrude up to a height of 40 meters in the air. There is room for 12 to 15 people in the hollow interior of the trunk, and according to tradition, the meetings of the community court should have taken place there earlier. Unfortunately the linden tree suffered from a damaging fire in 1884, which destroyed half the village; and thereupon a storm wind tore off the three most heavily damaged of the seven keels. However, the tree is rejuvenated by offspring, which will hopefully keep this giant from past centuries upright for the admiration of later generations too. "

- The Gazebo, 1892
View from the north

The magazine shows a picture of the linden tree, which was taken from a photograph by Th. Kirsten in Dresden. In the local museum of Maxen there is an artfully painted picture in oil based on the same photograph. The illustration is supposed to show the linden tree before the storm in 1884. However, some literature describes the illustration as the state of the linden tree after the event in 1884. A photo taken around 1900 shows that half of the crown was made up of shorter, young branches. The magazine of the mountain association Über Berg und Tal reported that on May 7, 1911, 40 people interested in the Saxon History Association moved from Malter via Reinhardtsgrimma and Maxen past the Schmorsdorfer Linde to Ploschwitz .

Open trunk from the south

The linden tree was designated as a natural monument on July 31, 1939 under the Reich Nature Conservation Act (RNG) by ordinance of the Dresden-Bautzen district government . Towards the end of the Second World War , Soviet troops passed the linden tree. During a severe thunderstorm on July 24, 1957, a horizontally extending branch known as a bathtub and pointing south broke out. This branch had a large hollowed out place in which the rainwater collected and slowly dripped out. Children climbed the tree and bathed in it. The stump has left a break that looks like the face of a tree. The linden tree was designated as a natural monument two more times, on October 11, 1979 by resolution of the Pirna District Council (RdK) with the number 75-12 / 79 and on May 12, 1988 with the number 1129-115 / 88 . In 1991 experts carried out a crown protection with wire ropes and a bark care. A gravel pad was placed over the root area to better supply the linden tree and a drainage system was installed. The costs for the renovation amounted to 8,000 marks. In 1993, representatives of the Forestry Office and the German Forest Protection Association examined the linden tree. They determined a crown diameter of 21 meters and estimated the age at about 600 years. Parts of the treetop were shortened in 1997. In 2000, the crown's steel securing device from 1991, which had proven too rigid, was replaced by a flexible belt system. The cost for this was 2,760 marks. To avoid breaking the too large crown, it was shortened again in 2004. The linden tree is examined for impairments every two years on behalf of the district administration . The Lindenmuseum Clara Schumann has been in the immediate vicinity since 2006 .

description

Trunk view and museum

The linden tree is about 24 meters high with a crown diameter of about 20 meters. Before it lost part of its crown in a storm in 1884, it was 44 meters tall. The trunk has two gate-like openings on one side. They lead to two interconnected cavities that can accommodate up to 15 people. There adventitious stems have formed that supply parts of the crown with nutrients. The inner walls of the trunk cavity are covered with new bark - a skill that only linden trees have. The trunk cavity continues in seven individual trunks. At a height of four meters, large branches form a harmonious, leafy crown despite the damage at the end of the 19th century. The strong branches of the crown are connected to each other with a flexible belt system to prevent branches from breaking out. The dynamic safety mechanism allows the crown to move naturally and gently brakes strong movements.

Trunk view with two people in the cavity
Tree face - detail on the trunk

The tree has been measured at different heights in recent years. The circumference around the rhizome is 15.5 meters and 10.9 meters at a height of 1.5 meters. The forest scientist Hans Joachim Fröhlich gave a circumference of 10.70 meters for the year 1994 at a height of 1.3 meters, the place of the so-called breast height diameter (BHD). In 1999, the Dutch forester Jeroen Pater named Europe's Old Trees , also measured at a height of 1.3 meters, with a circumference of 10.50 meters. In a brochure from the Radebeul State Environment Agency, Tree Natural Monuments in the Upper Elbe Valley / Eastern Ore Mountains region from 2004, the trunk circumference is 11.15 meters. In 2007 Michel Brunner stated a circumference of 11.30 meters in Significant Linden . The German Tree Archives determined in 2001 at the point of the smallest diameter (waist) a circumference of 10.46 and in 2010 at a height of 11.58 meters. With these dimensions, the linden tree is not only one of the largest linden trees in Germany, but also in Europe.

It is not possible to count the annual rings , for example with the help of a drill core or by measuring the drilling resistance using a resistograph , as the oldest wood is missing in the center of the trunk. For the same reason, it is not possible to determine the age of the radioactive carbon content ( radiocarbon dating , also called 14 C dating); The samples taken are from a much younger wood tissue. The age of the linden tree can therefore only be estimated approximately. There are different statements in the current literature from 400 to 800 years. The German Tree Archives estimated the age of the linden tree in 2012 to be 400 to 600 years. In 1994, Hans Joachim Fröhlich assumed an age of around 800 years. Michel Brunner estimated it to be 700 years in 2007 and Jeroen Pater in 2006 to be 500 to 600 years. In the brochure Tree Natural Monuments in the Upper Elbe Valley / Eastern Ore Mountains , an age of 600 to 700 years is given.

Clara Schumann Linden Museum

Clara Schumann Linden Museum

The Clara Schumann Linden Museum is located right next to the linden tree. The museum, named after the pianist Clara Schumann , who wandered to the Linde a few times, is open all the time and freely accessible. The first evidence of the building, a drawing of the linden tree in the mountain flower , comes from 1888, when it was used as a syringe house. The suspension device for fire hoses in the roof structure is still preserved. From 1992 it was used as a post office by Schmorsdorf. The barred window on the back bears witness to this. It was inaugurated on May 27, 2006. With an exhibition area of ​​6.85 square meters, it is less than the Schillerhäuschen in Dresden and is considered the smallest free-standing museum in Saxony, possibly even Germany. It is also the only museum about a linden tree in Germany and about the pianist Clara Schumann. Citizens of the district expanded the museum with the support of companies in the area. The history of the linden tree and the village of Schmorsdorf is told on four large display boards. The display boards contain excerpts from the log book of the Schmorsdorf-Crottaer community board, in which the most important events that affected the village from 1874 to January 20, 1954 are recorded. Clara Schumann is also honored on display boards. The offer is supplemented with a film from Ernst Hirsch's local festival 700 years of Maxen from 1955 on a television set in the roof of the building.

stories

The linden tree in the center of the village has been part of village life for centuries with many stories, legends and customs. In the past, meetings of the community court are said to have taken place under the linden tree, but this cannot be proven due to the lack of written certificates. Every year the linden tree should fulfill one wish of those who sit quietly under it. At weddings, the newlyweds and the wedding party line up in front of the linden tree for a group photo. The dead of the place are carried past the linden tree on their last way.

literature

  • Karen Trinks: Regional nature conservation: Natural tree monuments in the Upper Elbe Valley / Eastern Ore Mountains region . Ed .: State Environmental Agency Radebeul. Ubik, Radebeul 2004.
  • Bernd Ullrich, Stefan Kühn, Uwe Kühn: Our 500 oldest trees: Exclusively from the German Tree Archives . 2nd, revised edition. BLV, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8354-0957-6 .
  • Michel Brunner: Important linden trees. 400 giant trees in Germany . Haupt-Verlag, Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-258-07248-7 .
  • Jeroen Pater: Europe's old trees: their stories, their secrets . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 3-440-10930-5 (translated from the Dutch by Susanne Bonn).
  • Hans Joachim Fröhlich: Old lovable trees in Germany . Cornelia Ahlering, Buchholz 2000, ISBN 3-926600-05-5 .
  • The Schmorsdorfer Linde . In: The Gazebo . Issue 20, 1892, pp. 643 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Schmorsdorfer Linde  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schmorsdorf in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony
  2. a b c d Karen Trinks: Regional nature conservation: Natural tree monuments in the Upper Elbe Valley / Eastern Ore Mountains region . Ed .: State Environmental Agency Radebeul. S. 83 .
  3. a b c d e Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 6th revised edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8354-0740-4 , p. 86 .
  4. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lindenmuseum Clara Schumann in Schmorsdorf, founded by the Heimatverein Maxen in 2006. (The information comes from the permanently attached display boards in the museum.)
  5. ^ Community of Müglitztal - Schmorsdorf. In: gemeinde-mueglitztal.de. September 1, 2019, accessed September 1, 2019 .
  6. a b c d e f g Schulförderverein Grundschule Mühlbach (ed.): Legendary Müglitztal: Old and new stories from Zinnwald to Heidenau . Niggemann and Simon, Maxen 2003, ISBN 3-9808477-1-3 , pp. 114 .
  7. a b c Protocol book of the Schmorsdorf-Crottaer community board from 1874 to 1954, year 1884.
  8. a b c d e f g Jeroen Pater: Europe's old trees: their stories, their secrets . S. 98 .
  9. a b c Michel Brunner : Significant linden trees - 400 giant trees in Germany . S. 263 .
  10. a b c d Jeroen Pater: Europe's old trees: their stories, their secrets . S. 99 .
  11. a b The Schmorsdorfer Linde . In: The Gazebo . Issue 20, 1892, pp. 643 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
  12. log book of Schmorsdorf-Crottaer Municipal Board from 1874 to 1954, the year 1911th
  13. a b c Karen Trinks: Regional nature conservation: natural tree monuments in the Upper Elbe Valley / Eastern Ore Mountains region . Ed .: State Environmental Agency Radebeul. S. 82 .
  14. a b Hans Joachim Fröhlich: Old lovable trees in Germany . S. 417 .
  15. a b Bernd Ullrich, Stefan Kühn, Uwe Kühn: Our 500 oldest trees: Exclusively from the German Tree Archives . S. 120 .
  16. Michel Brunner: Giant trees of Switzerland . Werd Verlag AG, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-85932-629-3 , p. 150 .
  17. Lindenmuseum Clara Schumann in Schmorsdorf
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on September 25, 2012 in this version .

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 52.3 "  N , 13 ° 49 ′ 13.7"  E