Siegfried grave

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The Siegfried grave was a prehistoric burial mound in the urban area of Worms , which, according to popular belief, was the burial place of Siegfried the dragon slayer . The lost original findings were taken up in 2003 by the landscape artist Eichfelder and recreated as a work of art on the gate tower square in Worms.

Siegfried's grave Worms.JPG
Modern recreation of the "Siegfried grave"

The prehistoric complex

Geographical location

The prehistoric grave mound was located at a cemetery south of the Cistercian nuns - monastery Mariamünster . There were two chapels , one dedicated to Saint Cecilia and the other to Saint Meinhart . After the latter, the cemetery was also named "Meinharts-Kirchhof". The cemetery was profaned in 1811 . There is now an industrial park.

Duration

Siegfried's death in the Hundeshagen Codex

Written sources about the grave have been preserved since the end of the 15th century. These include:

  • Acta Wormatiensa by the Worms town clerk Adam von Schwechenheim, a chronicle of the town
  • Kirschgarten Chronicle from 1502
  • Information from Caspar Bruschius from 1551
  • Mentioned by Marquard Freher from 1613: "The grave of the giant that has been sung about all over Germany and who made the place famous with his monument."

According to this, the burial mound system originally consisted of a hill about 13 meters long, which was flanked by at least two stones protruding from the earth. Further details are not described. Neither the height of the stones nor the position of the stones in relation to the grave nor the height of the burial mound have been handed down. It is also unknown how many stones there were originally, because only Bruschius mentions the number two in the middle of the 16th century. These poor sources make it impossible to assign the original system to one or more prehistoric epochs. All information on this is pure speculation.

interpretation

In popular belief, the complex was interpreted as the grave of Siegfried the Dragon Slayer early on, at the latest since the 15th century . In contrast to the Nibelungenlied , Siegfried is portrayed as a giant in the saga, which was originally only passed down orally. In the imagination of the late Middle Ages, his grave must therefore also be gigantic.

The subsequent interpretation, on the basis of modern, archaeologically well-founded knowledge about prehistory, sees the complex as a prehistoric burial mound on which at least two menhirs stood. Due to the sparse records on the appearance of the complex, dating is not possible.

Excavation by Friedrich III.

Emperor Friedrich III.

On April 12, 1488, Emperor Friedrich III visited the tomb. Friedrich III. had heard of the famous tomb of the giant "Sifridus of the Horns" and wanted to know exactly. The emperor gave instructions to dig up the hill "crosswise". For a few gulden day laborers were hired to dig down to the groundwater. There are different statements in the sources about what was found: The city chronicle recorded in the same year reports of a skull and numerous bones that were larger than those of normal people. The Chronicle of the Kirschgarten Monastery denies that anything was found. As a church work, she distanced herself from the “dubious” sources on the grave, which prompted the emperor to take action. This is a story to which the "lack of understanding of the peasants" stuck, so "only" oral tradition.

The action of Emperor Friedrich III. represents an early approach to archaeological research: he had material remnants of the past searched in the ground, whereby the decisive factor was not the material value of what he hoped to find, but the question of the historical core of the traditional legend. The "crosswise" excavation of the facility is a technique that is still used today when digging barrows .

Emperor Maximilian I is also reported to have tried to excavate Siegfried's bones. However, there are no contemporary reports on this, and it cannot be ruled out that reports written later may be confused with the activities of his father, Friedrich III. present.

loss

Today nothing is left of the original system. It has not been documented since the second half of the 17th century.

The artwork

The location chosen for the work of art “Siegfried's Grave” has nothing to do with that of the historic burial mound. As a work of art, the new “grave” consists of two stone steles that stand north and south of a heaped hill. The artwork was created in 2003. It stands in a green area, the gate tower square, near the Nibelungen Museum, east of the city wall, on the side of the old town facing the Rhine. The sparse tradition gave the artist great freedom in the conception of the work of art “Siegfried's Grave”. He chose a mixture of different shapes from different prehistoric cultures, which can be proven for the Worms area, and saga traditions: two four meter high monoliths refer to menhirs from the Neolithic Age . They are made of red sandstone , weigh 6 tons each and were set on March 13, 2003. The artwork was completed in May 2003. Menhirs of approximate size still stand today at Rockenhausen , Saulheim and Blieskastel ( Gollenstein ).

literature

  • Eugen Kranzbühler: Worms and the heroic saga . Worms 1930.
  • Christopher S. Wood: Maximilian as an archaeologist . In: Jan Dirk Müller and Hans-Joachim Ziegeler (eds.): Maximilians Ruhmeswerk. Arts and sciences in the vicinity of Emperor Maximilian I = Studies and documents on German literature and culture in a European context 190. De Gruyter, Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3-11-034403-5 , pp. 131–184.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ It is located in the space between the two churches and at a certain distance from them. The tumulus is marked with two stones protruding from the earth and measures 47 feet in length (quoted from: kreuzstein.eu); Caspar Bruschius, however, writes 45 feet: habet in longitudine pedes quadraginta quinque .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kranzbühler, p. 84.
  2. ↑ Kranzbühler, p. 89.
  3. ↑ Eichfelder homepage (2).
  4. ↑ Information from kreuzstein.eu, unless otherwise noted.
  5. ^ Heinrich Boos : Monumenta Wormatiensia. Annals and Chronicles. Weidmann, Berlin 1893, p. 563 ( digitized version ).
  6. ^ Heinrich Boos: Monumenta Wormatiensia. Annals and Chronicles. Weidmann, Berlin 1893, p. 92 ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Caspar Bruschius : Monasteriorum Germaniae praecipuorum ac maxime illustrium centuria prima. Ingolstadt 1551, fol. 82r ( digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Quoted from: Homepage of the city of Worms: Monuments and fountains.
  9. ^ Homepage Eichfelder (1).
  10. ↑ Eichfelder homepage (4).
  11. ↑ See for example: Homepage Eichfelder (4).
  12. ^ Homepage of the city of Worms: Monuments and fountains.
  13. ^ Homepage Eichfelder (3).
  14. ^ Homepage Eichfelder (3).
  15. ^ Wood, p. 150.
  16. ↑ Kranzbühler, pp. 87f.
  17. ↑ Eichfelder homepage (2).
  18. ^ Homepage Eichfelder (1).
  19. ^ Homepage Eichfelder (1).

Coordinates: 49 ° 37 ′ 16.9 ″  N , 8 ° 21 ′ 27 ″  E