Watchful chicken
The Vigilant Chicken monument is located in the city center of Essen and commemorates those who died in Essen in the First World War . The motif comes from a regional legend .
history
legend
The motif of the monument goes back to a legend in which a watchful rooster protected the small town of Essen from harm. They are told as follows:
On a hot summer day, the mayor's daughter had invited to her splendid wedding. There was vigorous partying and drinking in the tavern in the evening so that even the night watchmen and the tower blower could not appear for their service. Meanwhile, early in the morning, a band of twenty robbers, apparently unnoticed by the population, climbed the city wall with ropes . The rooster was awakened by the noise of the robbers and shouted his Kikeriki loudly over the small town of that time. The Essenes were immediately awake, as they were used to getting up at the first crowing of the cock. It didn't take long before the band of robbers was discovered. The town bells were hurriedly rung, the riflemen took up their weapons and drove the robbers to flight. So the people of Essen celebrated one more day and, out of great gratitude, gave the watchful chicken a life in freedom.
Max Fiedler, former music director of the city of Essen, used the shooting song in memory of the watchful chicken in the overture "Essen" composed by him in 1931:
“Who is buying, who is buying a watchful chicken? It's so lovely, as white as a swan. Who will buy a watchful rooster? "
monument
The vigilant chicken is the symbol of the Essenes Sagittarius and is still part of their coat of arms. On their initiative, the memorial with the gold-colored, watchful chicken sitting on a stele was erected, which also reminds of Essen's war dead from the First World War.
In 1929 a general assembly decided to erect a memorial, and the city of Essen was asked for a suitable place for the memorial. When the drafts were published in February 1930, the Schützenmal was already planned as a war memorial. The inscription on the stone stele reads:
"The Essenes Protect Their Fallen 1914–1918"
The Kornmarkt was initially chosen as the installation site, where the ceremonial unveiling took place on June 1, 1930. After a church service there, delegations from several rifle clubs gathered on the Kornmarkt and went to the Burgplatz in a parade .
In 1933, during an inspection of the Kornmarkt, the riflemen discovered that this place was no longer appropriate and in October of that year asked for the memorial to be relocated, which consequently took place in April 1934. Since then, the war memorial has been located on Kurienplatz, which has been called Kardinal-Hengsbach- Platz since 1994 . In 1936, the then mayor Theodor Reismann-Grone had the figure of the watchful chicken sitting on the monument gilded. This possibility arose from the balanced balance sheets of the city, which at that time was also able to reduce liabilities.
In 1978 the monument was dismantled due to the renovation of the Kurienplatz and stored at a company in Mülheim . This disappearance led to great regret among the Essen population, according to the then mayor Horst Katzor . As a temporary solution , the memorial was erected in March 1979 on Kennedyplatz in front of the Amerikahaus , which, due to the lack of a town hall, served as the mayor's seat. After the completion of the Kurienplatz, the memorial finally got its location there in October 1980.
Until 1995 the monument to the watchful chicken served as a memorial for the Essen riflemen. At commemorative events, wreaths were laid for deceased rifle brothers.
Trivia
One of the trains on the Grugabahn was christened Vigilant Chicken .
The vigilant chicken is also a figure in the nearby carillon .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b City Association of Citizens and Traffic Associations Essen eV: The history of the "watchful chicken" ; accessed on September 20, 2018
- ↑ a b c d Simon Gerich: Monument Vigilant Chicken commemorates war dead from Essen; In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of September 10, 2018
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 21.2 ″ N , 7 ° 0 ′ 42 ″ E