Talking tombstones (Amrum)

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Church and speaking tombstones in fog on Amrum

The talking tombstones of Amrum , also narrative tombstones, are in a separate area on the cemetery surrounding St. Clement's Church in the municipality of Nebel . Their inscriptions tell of the life of the deceased and / or contain quotes from the Bible . They provide information on the profession, outlook on life, rank and family of the buried. The most famous gravestone is that of the navigator Hark Olufs .

The 152 stones are under monument protection. They date from the years 1678 to 1858 and consist mainly of sandstone. The symbols on the stones represent the zeitgeist of that time and the prosperity of part of the island's population that was dependent on whaling . Almost without exception, they were made by local stone masons. The speaking tombstones on the neighboring island of Föhr are comparable to the Amrum tombstones .

Origin of the raw material

The largest stone blocks in the cemetery in Nebel are two meters high and weigh 800 kilograms. A mineralogical investigation carried out in 1927 by Walter Wetzel from the Geological Institute of the University of Kiel showed that the tombstones were mainly made from Obernkirchen sandstone . Other stones are made from sandstone imported from Sweden or the Baltic States . Four are made of calcoolites , believed to have come from Gotland . Because of the lack of stone, some of the grave monuments were partially ground down and recycled or their back was used for a new bereavement.

Stonecutters

The grave slab of the stonemason Jan Peters

Apart from the few exceptions of the large slabs, which are likely to have been created by external, professional stone masons , all of the tombstones were made by island friezes. At first it was probably Dutch wood carvers who were on the mainland who were hired to decorate tombstones before ship carpenters from the neighboring islands and Amrum itself were commissioned with the production. Well-known are Tai Hinrichs (1718–1759) from Hallig Nordstrandischmoor , Jens Payen (1711–1787) and Arfst Hanken (1735–1826) from the neighboring island of Föhr and Jan Peters (1768–1855) from Amrum, who is also at the Nebeler Friedhof is buried. The latter made about 36 of the tombstones still preserved today. Tai Hinrichs created the most famous tombstones of Oluf Jensen and his son Hark Olufs. Although the sculptors were not professional stonemasons, the quality of the work is above average.

Language and symbolism

The writing on the stones is mostly chiseled in, but in some cases also protruding. Different fonts were used. The oldest stones have inscriptions in Low German . The texts of the other stones are almost without exception written in the “elegant” church language High German , although the island belonged to Denmark for many centuries and Öömrang (Amrum Frisian) was and is spoken in everyday life, as it is today . However, this everyday language was not written down. The standard and church language High German was therefore used for the grave inscriptions.

The texts often provide information about the date of birth and death, marriage, married life and the number of children. Some contain detailed résumés, some of which are so long that the back of the stone was also used. The inscription on the most famous tombstone is exemplary. On its front it says:

The tombstone of Hark Olufs - front side
Hark Olufs tombstone - back side

“Here lies the great war hero, resting gently on Amrom Christenfeld. As the blessed Harck Olufs, he was born there in Amrum in 1708 on July 19th. Soon afterwards, when he was young, he was captured by the Turkish pirates at Algiers in A [nn] o 1724 d [en] 24. Martii. In such captivity, however, he dined the Turkish Bey at Constantin as Casnadaje 11 and a quarter of a year, until finally this Bey A [nn] o 1735 d [en] October 31st gave him his freedom out of favor because he had that the following year, when A [nn] o 1736 on April 25th happily arrived here on his fatherland again, and A [nn] o 1737 put himself in the state of holy marriage with Antje Harken, so now with herself 5 children in the sad Wittwestande is located. In such a marriage they fathered a son and 4 daughters. So with her all must feel the death of her father, since he died A [nn] o 1754 d [en] October 13th, and his life was 46 years and 13 weeks. "

- Hark Oluf's tombstone on Amrum.

The text on the back reads:

“God give the body a joyous resurrection on the last day. To my family, I call these lines back from the grave to the Andencken: Alas, in my younger years I have to go to rob the Algiers and hold the Slaverey for almost twelve years. Yet God made me free by his hand. So I say again: I know, my God, I have to die now. I want, but I ask for one thing. Don't let my own people perish. You keep the widow's house. Oh God, because I can't take care of you, adopt a wife and children. "

- Tombstone of Hark Olufs
Many depictions show typical ship types at that time

The largest stones once stood on the graves of the Amrum Greenland commanders . Other elaborately crafted gravestones with long inscriptions indicate that the deceased belonged to the upper class. After all, only wealthy families could afford such monuments. Because an engraved letter cost three courant marks . A simple man earned around 10 Courantmarks a year, a captain could return after a good shipping season with 900 Courantmarks. The poorer deceased were therefore usually given an unadorned red sandstone tile attached to a stake with meager dates of life and death (often only the initials) or an ephemeral wooden cross on their grave.

Many tombstones are decorated with ships. At that time they show typical ship types such as delicatessen ships for seafaring on the North and Baltic Seas , galiots , tjalks , kuffships , briggs , barges and sloops as well as bulbous whaling ships and armed merchant frigates . The depiction of ships does not necessarily mean that the deceased was a seafarer, but rather they symbolize the course of life. Many of the ships shown have been dismantled, some even lashed in the harbor. They stand for the end of the journey of life.

The gravestone of Erk Knudten
A motif composed of a cross, heart and anchor can be found on many funerary monuments

The Dutch windmill is reminiscent of the seafarer and later miller Erk Knudten (1733–1801), the man in the Sunday skirt in the gable of another tombstone shows the sexton Hark Knudten.

Flowers are commonly interpreted as symbols of impermanence. Sometimes hanging on the graves of mothers with their heads hanging, they show how many children had died before them. Tulips stand for male family members and star-shaped (often roses) symbolize female family members.

From the cross , heart and anchor composite designs are available for the particular from the Paul first letter to the Corinthians ( 1 Cor 13:13  EU ) known Christian virtues of faith, love and hope. The lamb with the flag of the cross is a common symbol of the resurrection of Jesus Christ .

history

The "avenue of stones" with the viewpoint (steel cube) in the north

The first stones were made in the last decades of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The oldest was built in 1678, according to another representation as early as 1672. During this time, the prosperity of part of the island's population rose rapidly. Amrum seafarers, including many captains, were particularly active in whaling and merchant shipping between the 17th and 19th centuries .

The decline began in the first decades of the 19th century. Only a few speaking tombstones were made . In the middle of the century, this special form of grave culture was completely unusual.

Until well into the 19th century, the dead were buried indiscriminately in a meadow around the church, as can be seen in a painting in the church of Nebel. After the German-Danish War of 1864 , Amrum, like all of Schleswig , was ruled jointly by Austria and Prussia . Then Amrum fell to Prussia and in 1867 became part of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein . The new rulers did not like the disorder of the grave steles in the cemetery, which were only surrounded by grass. They had dead straight paths across the cemetery across old graves and relocated old gravestones to the cemetery wall or to the cemetery wall. In this unfavorable location, they fell into disrepair due to the weather. Over time, many of them became illegible, so that as early as 1928 the local researcher, building maintenance and photographer Theodor Möller demanded that something should happen soon.

Starting in 2009, an Amrum project group began restoring and re-erecting the gravestones in the Nebel cemetery, many of which showed clear lichen infestation . Above all, the stones deposited on the cemetery wall were very green and dirty. Others had flaws and were damaged by cracks, weathering, old iron parts and intensive discoloration specific to the stone. Others had sunk deep into the ground and were up to a third larger than originally visible after being recovered. About ten tombstones were completely sunk in the cemetery wall. Surprisingly, they were recovered during the project and also restored.

The campaign cost a total of around 330,000 euros, of which around 152 to 5,200 euros per stone were used for restoration. For the repositioning of the 152 stones, the community donated a strip of the adjacent spa park with a total area of ​​around 450 square meters to the church. There the tombstones were arranged thematically and set up according to the plan of the landscape architect Holger Muhs . He had the extension of the cemetery with the historical grave stelae aligned as an "avenue of stones" to the north on a viewing point (steel cube).

literature

  • Theodor Möller : The churchyard in Nebel from Amrum and its old gravestones. With 2 [imprinted] maps, 1 graphic representation and 57 [imprinted] images based on photographs by the author. K. Wachholtz, Neumünster in Holstein 1928, DNB 579489280 .
  • Georg Quedens : In the port of eternity: The old gravestones on the Amrumer Friedhof (= Nordfriisk Instituut , No. 75), 3rd revised edition, Quedens, [Wittdün], Amrun 2009, ISBN 3-924422-00-1 , OCLC 743094405

Web links

Commons : Talking Gravestones (Amrum)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Rheinheimer : In the port of eternity? The Amrum cemetery as a tourist attraction ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amrum-kirche.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , (PDF; free of charge, 22 pages, 13.1 MB) from: Nordfriesisches Jahrbuch , Volume 47, 2012, PDF file
  2. ^ [1] Ohlsdorf magazine for mourning culture
  3. ↑ a b c d e Roland Hanewald : Island of Amrum . 7th, revised and completely updated edition. Reise-Know-How-Verl. Rump, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8317-2285-3 . P. 89ff.
  4. ↑ a b c State Office for Monument Preservation Schleswig-Holstein: Reorganized: Historic gravestones in the old cemetery in Nebel on Amrum, district of North Friesland, Nebel on Amrum, Stoltenberag, Kirchhof (short reports 2012/2). Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c Brochure of the St. Clemens parish: Historic tombstones St. Clemens Amrum . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c d Georg Quedens, Hans Hingst, Gerhard piece, Ommo Wilts: Amrum. Landscape, history, nature. Amrum 1991, p. 108.
  7. ↑ a b Matthias Schulz: Precious memory . In: Der Spiegel . Edition 29/2008. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b c d Georg Quedens, Hans Hingst, Gerhard piece, Ommo Wilts: Amrum. Landscape, history, nature. Amrum 1991, p. 107.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g Renate Preuss: Speaking stones . In: Land and Sea . Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ Christa Langenhan, Michael Langenhan: Historical gravestones in the cemetery in fog on Amrum . In: OHLSDORF - magazine for mourning culture . Edition: No. 120, I, 2013 of February 2012. Accessed September 21, 2016.
  11. ↑ a b c Malaika Krohn: Restoration of the cemetery in Nebel on Amrum . In: OHLSDORF - magazine for mourning culture . Edition: No. 117, II, 2012 from May 2012. Retrieved on September 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ a b c d Beatrice Härig: The speaking stones of Amrum. Souls under sail . In: Monuments-Online from June 2015. Retrieved on September 21, 2016.
  13. ^ Georg Quedens, Hans Hingst, Gerhard piece, Ommo Wilts: Amrum. Landscape, history, nature. Amrum 1991, p. 109f.
  14. ^ A b Georg Quedens, Hans Hingst, Gerhard Stück, Ommo Wilts: Amrum. Landscape, history, nature. Amrum 1991, pp. 84f.
  15. ^ Georg Quedens, Hans Hingst, Gerhard piece, Ommo Wilts: Amrum. Landscape, history, nature. Amrum 1991, p. 110.
  16. ↑ a b c Simone Viere Church on Amrum saves “speaking” tombstones . epd message from October 12, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ Christa and Michael Langenhan (project group historical tombstones): The wonderful historical tombstones in the old cemetery. Great progress . In St.-Clemens-Bote (Winter 2012 edition). Retrieved September 21, 2016.

Coordinates: 54 ° 39 ′ 11.4 "  N , 8 ° 21 ′ 19.7"  E