Dear Christian
The Theure Christian is a road construction monument . It is considered the oldest road monument in Saxony-Anhalt . It is located on the old connecting road between Radegast , a district of the city of Southern Anhalt and Zörbig in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld , on the former border between the Duchy of Saxony-Merseburg and later the Electorate of Saxony and the Principality of Anhalt- Dessau , the later Duchy of Anhalt . Until June 30, 2007, the border between the districts of Bitterfeld and Köthen, which was merged in Saxony-Anhalt as a result of the second district reform, was also located here .
The monument was erected in the year 1688 to commemorate the fortification of the dam through the foothills between Radegast and Zörbig in the baroque style . It consists of a 5 m high substructure with a square base, each side of which is about 2 m long. It consists of rubble stone foundation , sandstone plinth and shaft made of plastered bricks and sandstone cornice. The top, about 4 m high up to the ball point, consists of red sandstone and is divided into a pedestal , a pyramid and finally a large ball. The memorial is not decorated figuratively, but has the typical baroque ornamentation on the inscriptions.
The Fuhnedamm fortified a swampy section of the trade route from Magdeburg to Leipzig . It was first mentioned in a document on October 21, 1475, but it did not last permanently. Repairs and fortifications were probably not carried out for centuries because three countries - Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Dessau and Kursachsen - bordered one another, which apparently made no attempt to agree on how the work should be carried out.
It was not until Duke Christian I of Kursachsen-Merseburg decided to renew the Fuhnedamm, whereby no obstacles were put in his way from the Anhalt side. So the dam was finally fortified between 1683 and 1685. The road building monument was erected three years later in honor of Duke Christian.
The content of the dedication for the theor Christian reads:
You will, my traveler, know best,
How you dreaded this Tamm so much,
In which many a horse, had to work to death. When
this Orth was still groundless and unbuilt,
It will no longer increase the burden of your journey
Because in two years of time with stones this path can be
improved by diligent, great diligence and expense,
The majority of his land the dear Christian in
1688
In the head of the memorial stone there is a second plaque dedicated to Heinrich , the last Duke of Kursachsen-Merseburg. He had the dam repaired later.
The content of this table reads:
The Dam, which Hertzog Christian set
here on the Fuhnen Sumpff,
Hertzog Heinrich looks graciously
and corrects what hurts the time.
That is why
this stone alone should not be
a witness of your care
. Castles
, Güther, streets will
leave a feast of your fame
.
The chronicle of the city of Radegast reports on another panel that was located on the north side of the substructure directly above the base on an embedded plate. The reason for attaching this plate was a publication in the Köthenschen Zeitung from 1886, which is said to have contained completely incorrect data on the construction of the dam and the monument. It was written on the board
This monument, along with the Fuhne-Radegast dam
, came from Sachsen / Merseburg-Kursachsen in 1738,
to Prussia in 1815, and to Anhalt in 1842/43.
On May 7, 1990, the monument, which at that time was on a main artery, fell victim to a traffic accident and was almost completely destroyed. However, the Radegast city council decided to rebuild the monument. Reconstruction was completed at the end of 1990. The plate from the 19th century was apparently destroyed in the accident, because today it can no longer be found on the "Theuren Christian".
The fourth plaque, which was attached to the side of the monument facing the city of Radegast, commemorates these incidents:
In memory of the reconstruction,
thanks to the city lords of Radegast,
who, with
great effort and diligence, made
the reconstruction possible as a result of
the destruction of May 7th, 1990
.
Radegast, December 1990
Web links
- Items. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , January 9, 2013
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 57.6 ″ N , 12 ° 5 ′ 54 ″ E