Schwedenschanze (Höhbeck)
The Schwedenschanze is a former rampart on the elevation of the Höhbeck in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district .
description
The Schwedenschanze is located on the Höhbeck, which overlooks the Elbe floodplain by around 60 meters. In the past, the area of the Schwedenschanze was a legendary place, the old names "Hexenberg" and "Sonnenberg" suggest that this place was used before Christianity. The designation as Schwedenschanze is probably based on the common mistake that it was a ring rampart that the population had built during the Thirty Years War as a refuge to protect against the Swedish troops, or that the Swedish troops themselves built a hill .
The Schwedenschanze is a semicircular rampart from the 8th to 9th centuries with an area of 1.75 ha. The rampart has a base width of almost 13 meters and is still 3.1 meters high. A trench is in front of this fortification. There are also several section walls. On the side facing the river, the steep slopes facing the Elbe offered sufficient protection. The builders of the Schwedenschanze are not known.
In 2008 an excavation took place, which was carried out as a cut through the wall. It revealed that the construction was based on layers of clay and sand. In contrast, the Höhbeck-Kastell was a wood and earth construction. At the Schwedenschanze there were signs of fire on the inside of the wall, with the remains of burnt whale structures. An interior development of the ramparts could not be derived from this.
Just under 1 km west of the Schwedenschanze is the Vietz Schanze that Charlemagne the Frankish annals was built according to the Höhbeck-castle ( "castellum hohbuoki") in the early 9th century.
tourism
Since 1920 there has been a restaurant of the same name with a coffee garden within the ramparts of the Schwedenschanze, which is a popular excursion destination. At times the building served as a country school home for a school in Wittenberge and during World War II as a flak position. The Schwedenschanze forms a junction where the Elbe Cycle Path , cycle routes from nature conservation associations, signposted hiking trails such as the Wendland circular path and several bridle path systems meet.
From a nearby 22-meter-high wooden observation tower, which was built in 2009 as a successor to an 18-meter-high wooden observation tower, you can see far over the Elbe. In the immediate vicinity is a 344 meter high radio tower ( transmitter Höhbeck ), which for the first time enabled a trouble-free communication link between West Berlin and West Germany at the end of the 1970s .
See also
literature
- Thomas Saile: Early historical castle walls at Höhbeck near Lenzen In: Mamoun Fansa , Frank Both, Henning Haßmann (editor): Archeology | Land | Lower Saxony. 400,000 years of history. Landesmuseum für Natur und Mensch, Oldenburg 2004. Pages 562–565.
- Jens Schneeweiß: Archäologische Streiflichter vom Höhbeck (2010) ISBN 978-3-00-031553-4 , (Book title: Online )
Web links
- Entry by Sandy Bieler and Stefan Eismann about Schwedenschanze in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Brief description of the Schwedenschanze
- Mention of the Schwedenschanze at: Slavs on the lower Middle Elbe
- Excavations at the Schwedenschanze and the Höhbeck-Kastell ( Vietzer Schanze ) in 2008
- Höhbeck observation tower. In: Structurae
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 23.7 " N , 11 ° 26 ′ 13.4" E