Tower cross of the Wartburg

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View from the south (2013)

The tower cross of the Wartburg is a gilded cross visible from afar on the former viewing platform of the main tower ( keep ) of the Wartburg near Eisenach . The tower cross has been the highest point of the castle since it was built in 1858 and is 411  m above sea level. NN . At the same time, it is a symbol that has already been renewed several times for the religious significance of the Wartburg in the history of the state of Thuringia. For this reason, the flagpoles, which are also attached to the keep, are always mounted in such a way that the cross towers over them by a small amount.

description

The original tower cross of the Wartburg was made in Weimar in 1858 by a purveyor to the court, the master coppersmith W. Sträubing and provided with fire gilding by the Weimar company A. Wallach . The cross was made of steel rods with a copper sheet jacket at a height of 3 m and a width of 1.87 m. The construction stiffened by internal struts should be as dimensionally stable and light as possible. The cross was mounted on the tower platform on an oak base in 1858 and faces south. The production costs were put at around 710 thalers, plus the costs for transport and installation on the main tower of the Wartburg, which have not been recorded.

Today the cross has a total surface of 5.85 m 2, which is covered with a multilayered storm gold foil . For aesthetic reasons, during the last renovation in 1994, all parts of the lightning protection technology visible on the cross and the approximately 250 retaining screws were elaborately gold-plated. The work was carried out on site by Mangold (Struth-Helmershof).

history

History of origin

Partial view with lighting technology (around 1919)
Electrical lines (around 1919)

During a visit to the Wartburg in 1838, the then owner of the castle ruins, Grand Duke Karl Alexander of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , decided to largely restore the medieval castle ruins as a national monument and testimony to the history of Thuringia. When planning the construction, the results of the archival and building site investigations were taken into account, which testify to the existence of a defensive tower immediately north of the main building, known as the main building, in the second courtyard.

The foundation stone for the new tower was laid on December 11, 1853. When designing the tower, an installation of a gilded monumental cross on the viewing platform of the tower, proposed by the chief castle architect Hugo von Ritgen , was implemented. In alternative designs, he had also presented various tower domes with brick or slate roofing, but the design with a viewing platform was favored - probably based on the neighboring south tower of the castle. The keep was solemnly inaugurated on June 11, 1859, the Saturday before Pentecost, with a small box with historical documents being deposited inside the cross.

As the builder, the Weimar Grand Duke Carl Alexander wanted to use the Wartburg Cross to give a "sign of the pious spirit of the lord of the castle and the religious significance of the Wartburg". This also corresponded to his life motto "Omnia cum Deo - nihil sine Eo" (Latin for "Everything with God, nothing without Him!").

As a result of rot damage to the holder, the cross had to be dismantled for the first time for a long time in autumn 1919. The exchange of the wooden parts was celebrated on January 28, 1920 with a solemn re-inauguration and the depositing of further documents in the box.

With the gradual electrification of the ducal living quarters on the Wartburg, the idea of ​​illuminating the cross on special occasions came up. The postcard motifs handed down from the time around the turn of the century probably show a cross initially illuminated with Bengali fire . Thanks to a power line laid in the tower, a light bulb could be operated for several hours on certain occasions before the First World War . The Eisenacher Elektrizitätswerk opened the Eisenacher Elektrohaus on Karlsplatz in 1928, which advertised the most modern lighting technology and presented several designs for neon lighting in the 1930s , which, however, proved to be too prone to failure during practical testing. Due to frequent problems caused by corrosion of the lamp sockets and the latent risk of fire as a result of short circuits, the lighting system was only rarely used; the remains of the original electrical wiring were not removed until 1966.

First destruction in April 1938

The swastika on the Wartburg in April 1938 (retouched photo?)

Against the documented resistance of the Wartburg administration, with the support of the then Eisenach NSDAP district leader, parts of the scaffolding were carried onto the tower on Sunday, April 10, 1938 and at the same time the rumor was spread among the population that the stability of the cross was being checked by rotting in the wooden substructure of the cross must be. With this ruse a harmless pretext should be found for the already planned dismantling of the cross on the following day. At the instigation of the Thuringian Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel , the Wartburg was to be provided with an already prepared swastika on the tower, which should also be visible at night using electrical lighting. The project initially succeeded and was also celebrated on April 11 with a march of the Eisenach Hitler Youth and their BDM comrades led by the Eisenach Gauleiter.

In the city, on the other hand, there were protests against the events at the Wartburg and groups of “Wartburg friends” vented their outrage in front of the newspapers. Some of them were then threatened with severe sentences by SS men.

First restoration May 1938

The reaction from the imperial capital Berlin was clear, they feared foreign policy complications and demanded the immediate restoration of the tower cross, which was implemented with a slight delay. On May 14, 1938, the cross was installed on the tower by employees of the Eisenach locksmith's shop in Laufer. Press reports about the events and the distribution of photos with the swastika on the Wartburg were prohibited.

Second destruction in November 1944

After six years, the group around Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and his Eisenach followers made a second attempt to remove the tower cross. Another ruse was supposed to dampen the expected outrage in the population: an English fighter pilot accidentally tore off the cross from the tower in poor visibility while flying by! With this report in the press of neutral European countries one wanted to cheat the legitimation for an installation of the swastika on the Wartburg. However, this hoax did not spread. In fact, in the night of November 25, 1944, the cross was dismantled again and the approximately 700 kg heavy construction was dismantled with cutting torches. The components were then thrown down by the workers in the deserted courtyard and placed in a confiscated room in the knight's bath. The partly badly damaged and bent remains were inspected there on December 10, 1944 by representatives of the Wartburg building administration.

Second restoration for the Luther year 1946

The restored tower cross (1952) - next to it the black, red and gold flag of the GDR flies on the mast.

With the invasion of the American combat units in Eisenach in early April 1945, the tyranny of the National Socialists ended there. At the first meeting with the American military administration (Lieutenant Colonel Hanston) employees of the Wartburg came under the leadership of the castle captain Hermann Nebe, who discussed the military protection of the Wartburg area against looters and other matters. The talks were also used to obtain permission to replace the tower cross as quickly as possible. First, however, the war damage found to the castle had to be repaired.

In April 1946, the castle captain Nebe turned to the new bishop of the Thuringian regional church Moritz Mitzenheim in order to be able to show the cross symbol again on the castle in the year of the Luther anniversary (1946). Mitzenheim had been chairman of the Lutheran Confessional Community in Thuringia since 1943 , which had resisted the usurpation of the church by the German Christians ; as an opponent of the Nazis he was suitable for the rebuilding of the church, in May 1945 he became regional pastor, from December regional bishop in Thuringia.

It needed both financial resources to procure the necessary building materials and political support (for fear of Stalinist repression). The Eisenach art locksmith Gustav Laufer was able to assemble the tower cross, which had been rebuilt from parts of the original destroyed in 1944, on the tower in July 1946. At the Luther Festival on November 10, 1946, the re-erection of the tower cross on the Wartburg was honored. At the time, it was erroneously reported in the press that a newly made cross had been erected on the tower.

Restoration for the Wartburg anniversary in 1967

View (2013)

From 1964 to 1966 the main buildings of the Wartburg were extensively restored in preparation for the Wartburg anniversary in 1967. During the assessment of the tower cross, considerable decay damage to the wooden base plate was again found, so restorers and employees of the construction hut erected solid work scaffolding on the tower platform in August and September 1965 to remove the damage and also used the scaffolding to be carried out by the Dresden restorer Ernst Baumann to completely renew the gilding. At the end of the work, a new watertight cassette with contemporary documents and the previously viewed old documents was deposited in the foundation area.

Tower restoration in 1994

Nocturnal View (2008)

After heavy rainfall in the spring of 1994, water damage to the masonry on the weather side of the tower became apparent, which made it necessary to renovate the masonry immediately. From July 1994 the keep was completely covered with scaffolding and protective tarpaulins. During the work, the state of preservation of the tower cross was checked by metal restorers. Weather-related corrosion damage was found in the lower part of the cross and it was recommended that this damage be repaired immediately. Dozens of “scars” on the metal surface of the cross also documented the numerous lightning strikes on the cross. During the preparatory work, it was also possible to document incised inscriptions on the surface of the cross by the master craftsmen involved in the production, and the repair work carried out by the Eisenach metalworking shop Laufer. The complete re-gilding was carried out on site by Mangold (Struth-Helmershof). After the work was completed, an automatically operating weather station was installed on the crenellated crown of the keep, which primarily serves to control the air conditioning systems in the Wartburg and also provides exact hourly data on the weather on the Wartburg.

literature

  • Rosemarie Domagala: The cross on the keep . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 148-153 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Lehmann: The value retention and partial renovation of the keep in 1994 . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 182-185 .
  • Hermann Nebe: The fight for the Wartburg cross . In: Glaube und Heimat - Journal of the Protestant Church of Thuringia . 1948.
  • Katharina Leinhos: The keep of the Wartburg . In: Eisenacher Geschichtsverein eV (Hrsg.): Wartburgland history . tape 4 . Eisenach 2003, p. 7-10 .
  • Max Baumgärtel, Otto von Ritgen (ed.): The restoration of the Wartburg. A contribution to German cultural and art history . Max Baumgärtel publishing house, Berlin 1907, Der neue Bergfrid. The laying of the foundation stone. Consecration of the castle 1853 to 1859, p. 342-349 .
  • Ernst Badstübner: The "restoration" of the Wartburg. Aspects of historicism and the preservation of monuments . In: Castles and Palaces . tape 45 , 2004, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 18-27 .
  • Hugo von Ritgen: Thoughts on the restoration of the Wartburg (handwritten manuscript) . Ed .: Wartburg Foundation. Eisenach 1847, p. 140 .

Web links

Commons : Tower Cross of the Wartburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Rosemarie Domagala: The cross on the keep . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 148 .
  2. ^ A b c Hans-Jürgen Lehmann: The preservation of value and partial renovation of the keep in 1994 . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 184 .
  3. ↑ a b c symbol of defiance in turbulent times. The gold cross on the Wartburg, erected 150 years ago, shines in new splendor. In: Current news from the Church and the world on Domradio. Retrieved November 12, 2013 .
  4. ^ Hugo von Ritgen: Thoughts on the restoration of the Wartburg (handwritten manuscript) . Ed .: Wartburg Foundation. Eisenach 1847, p. 140 .
  5. ↑ Max Baumgärtel, Otto von Ritgen (ed.): The restoration of the Wartburg. A contribution to German cultural and art history . Max Baumgärtel publishing house, Berlin 1907, Der neue Bergfrid. The laying of the foundation stone. Consecration of the castle 1853 to 1859, p. 342-349 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Katharina Leinhos: The keep of the Wartburg . In: Eisenacher Geschichtsverein eV (Hrsg.): Wartburgland history . tape 4 . Eisenach 2003, p. 7-10 .
  7. ↑ Rosemarie Domagala: The cross on the keep . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 149 .
  8. ↑ Rosemarie Domagala: The cross on the keep . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 150 .
  9. ↑ Rosemarie Domagala: The cross on the keep . In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 1994 . S. 151-152 .