City cemetery (Hildburghausen)
The Hildburghausen city cemetery - also known as the central cemetery - is the main cemetery of Hildburghausen in Thuringia . The city cemetery was opened on March 12, 1885 as a general burial place.
history
The history of the Hildburghausen cemeteries begins with the foundation of the city in the Middle Ages. The cemetery of St. Lawrence's Church was initially used as the burial place for the townspeople . For the deceased who had not acquired the Hildburghausen town charter, the burials took place on a plot of infirmary near the chapel of Our Lady on the tree garden north of the suburb.
Another burial site known by name, the Old Judengottesacker , was mentioned in the city chronicle for the year 1412; its exact location is assumed to be on the Wallraps corridor border (field name Judengraben).
With the introduction of the Reformation, the city's population broke away from the tradition of burial in the St.Lorenz churchyard, and this inner-city cemetery was already overcrowded. The then city administration ordered the creation of a new cemetery in the Werra floodplain in front of the southeast corner of the city fortifications. This square is known as the New Cemetery on Coburger Strasse , it was located roughly in the area of today's theater and bordered the eastern part of the palace park, which was later laid out. The walled cemetery was in use until 1820. There were 22 hereditary burials along the wall, owned by the city councilors, the landed nobility and wealthy residents. There was also a morgue. Most of the burials were buried in the ground.
For the year 1635 the city chronicle of Hildburghausen reports the invasion of imperial troops and at the same time the introduction of the plague. This marked the beginning of the great death in the region with countless deaths. A plague cemetery was required, the exact location of which is also unknown, possibly it was on the Werra, below the city.
The hereditary burial in the Hildburghausen Castle Church was used by the members of the ducal family , this existed until the church was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century, at the same time its function as a residence ended, so a princely burial place was no longer required.
As a result of a major fire, the main church of the city, St. Lorenzkirche, was destroyed down to the foundation walls and torn down, and the local cemetery was also prepared as a building site. The new building was consecrated as the Christ Church.
In 1820 the previous cemetery was abandoned, it had been in use for about 300 years and was considered overcrowded as a result of the now rapid population growth. The cemetery could not be expanded by purchasing land.
The city government opened the on October 13th, 1820 New Cemetery , it was about 500 meters north of the old town hall brick field created. The site belonged to a former brickworks and was chosen inappropriately: the required topsoil was only available there in a thin layer, the graves had to be laboriously sunk into the sandstone. The city administration did not want to agree to another relocation for cost reasons, and for decades they made do with the backfilling of broken topsoil. In the center of this new cemetery, which was initially used until 1885, is the memorial column for the Duchess Charlotte, who is extremely popular in the city. In accordance with the new cemetery regulations, burials were also permitted for Jewish residents and foreigners in the cemetery. The visitor entered the cemetery from the city side through a portal that was decorated with the comforting slogan "Welcome to the cradle of heaven" .
The Hildburghausen city cemetery was given a park-like character through the planting of foreign wood and the contemporary design of the graves. In the 20th century it was avoided to sacrifice the historical part with the honorary graves and artistically valuable grave monuments to the taste of the times. The historical area was completed in 1885 and is a listed building. At the same time, the current cemetery was laid out as the latest extension on the eastern edge of the cemetery area.
Today's cemetery includes a war cemetery for those who died in the two world wars , for those who died in bombs on February 23, 1945 and other victims of war and tyranny.
literature
- Rudolf Armin Human: Chronicle of the city, the diocese and the duchy of Hildburghausen . Kesselringsche Hofbuchhandlung, Hildburghausen 1886, A walk through the city's cemeteries, p. 1-186 .
- Werner Schwamm: Cemeteries in Hildburghausen - places of reflection and remembrance . Published by Hildburghausen City Administration. Verlag Frankenschwelle KG, Hildburghausen 2005. ISBN 3-86180-173-6
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rudolf Armin Human: Chronicle of the city, the diocese and the duchy of Hildburghausen . Kesselringsche Hofbuchhandlung, Hildburghausen 1886, A walk through the city's cemeteries, p. 1-186 .
- ↑ a b Hildburghausen Local Court District . In: Paul Lehfeldt (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Thuringia. Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen. Hildburghausen district . Issue XXXIX. Publishing house Gustav Fischer, Jena 1903.
- ^ Werner Schwamm: Friedhöfe in Hildburghausen . 2005. pp. 39-46
Coordinates: 50 ° 26 '0.3 " N , 10 ° 43' 57.6" E