Stepping stone
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Stepping stones or step stones are mostly cuboid shaped stones that make it easier to walk on marshy or dirty terrain or - as a bridge substitute - make it possible to cross shallow waters such as watercourses and ponds.
history
Step stones were already being used in Pompeii to cross streets that served as sewers. In the streets of the ancient city, large rectangular stepping stones with rounded corners were inserted into the pavement at regular intervals and at the intersections, through which one could get from one sidewalk to another; There was space between the stone blocks for cars to drive through. This facility proved to be extremely useful in bad weather, when the rainwater on the roadway could swell into a stream due to the slight slope.
Even Goethe describes step stones that are created by traders for customers and maintained.
Types
Stepping stones arranged horizontally
In order to cross streams or rivers with low currents, flat stones were laid in fords in a line with narrow gaps between them in the water. In Lauterbach stepping stones lead over the Lauter . They are the oldest surviving means of crossing and were relocated in place of a bridge around 1596 for lack of money.
In Germany, you can rarely find step stones on hiking trails, one example is the Gronach crossing in the Hohenlohe plain . Stepping stones are more common on public footpaths in England and Wales.
Vertically arranged stepping stones
In rare cases, stepping stones can be found on the outside walls of buildings. Here they can be recessed in the masonry like a niche or protrude from it; in any case, they must be offset to the side. Examples are the storage castles ( agadire ) in the Berber- inhabited areas of the Anti-Atlas in southern Morocco , where higher-lying storage chambers could also be reached through the staggered arrangement.
Stepping stones can also be used as stairs in well shafts.
Stepping stones today
From today's point of view, stepping stones represent an inexpensive alternative to paved paths, especially in gardens. The paths can be adapted to the respective planting and can also have a creative effect.
Stepping stones also have a permanent place in the design of Japanese gardens . There they are supposed to reduce the risk of slipping on slippery moss and dirtying their shoes and kimono . At the same time, the path leading through the site and over ponds opens up a view of the different views of the garden, with the route also slowing down the pace of the visitors.
See also
literature
- Entry "Pompeii". In: Meyers Konversationslexikon ; 4th edition. Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1885–1892, Volume 13, p. 220.
- Heinrich August Pierer: Pierer's Universal Lexicon of the Past and Present. Latest Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts, Volume 15 . Altenburg, 1862.
- Salvatore Ciro Nappo: Pompeii - the sunken city . Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1998, ISBN 3-86070-748-5 , p. 41.
- Herbert Popp, Mohamed Ait Hamza, Brahim El Fasskaoui: Les agadirs de l'Anti-Atlas occidental. Atlas illustré d'un patrimoine culturel du Sud marocain. Natural Science Society, Bayreuth 2011, ISBN 978-3-939146-07-0 .
Web links
- fuldaerzeitung.de: hr team filmed step stones in Lauterbach , accessed on December 30, 2012
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johann Christoph Adelung, Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau, Franz Xaver Schönberger: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect: With constant comparison of the other dialects, but especially the Upper German. Bauer 1811, p. 1659
- ↑ George Clarke: Pompeii: Containing etc public buildings, institutions . Volume 2, Baumgärtner 1835, p. 98
- ↑ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich Düntzer, Georg Witkowski, Karl Julius Schröer, Alfred Gotthold Meyer, Rudolf Steiner: Goethe's works . Volume 28, Sansyusya Publishing Company 1974, p. 98
- ^ German half-timbered road. Retrieved December 30, 2012 .
- ↑ Wandermagazin, issue 139 (March / April 2008). Archived from the original on March 1, 2013 ; Retrieved December 30, 2012 .