Schillerhain

The watch tower on the Schillerhain

The Schillerhain is a district of Kirchheimbolanden in Rhineland-Palatinate .

location

The Schillerhain is located west of the center of Kirchheimbolanden on a hill about 80 m higher.

history

The snail tower

The Schillerhain has been known as the Wartberg since the Middle Ages, as the still existing watchtower was built on it, which supplemented the city fortifications. Until the middle of the 19th century, the Schillerhain was a desolate hill in the west of Kirchheimbolanden, also called Geißberg, which was used as a goat pasture and for sandstone mining.

The water tower

The park

Emergence

On the occasion of Friedrich von Schiller's 100th birthday in 1859, Schiller celebrations were held throughout Germany in honor of the freedom-thinking poet . In Kirchheimbolanden, too, the choral society "Liederkranz", with the participation of the Kirchheimbolander "Donnersberger Musikverein" and choral societies from Gauersheim, Morschheim and Bischheim, paid tribute to the poet with a concert and a celebratory speech. To commemorate this festival, they wanted to create a public park, especially since it was only ten years ago that 17 militants had lost their lives fighting for a life in a free, democratic country in Kirchheimbolanden.

The citizens founded a Schiller Club to create a place that would commemorate the poet and the freedom struggle for democracy and at the same time be a beautification of the then still bare hill. This Schillerverein, later the beautification association, bought farmland and received generous donations and foundations from wealthy citizens that were subject to conditions imposed by the city fathers.

With regard to the sale of fields it was stated:

»The acquisition is made for the municipality of Kirchheimbolanden, to which the fields belong from now on under the following conditions:

a) The city of Kirchheimbolanden unites the property belonging to it, adjoining the objects of purchase, including the watch tower, with the above properties. The whole resulting from this will be rebuilt into a facility which has to bear the name Schilleranlage and must never be used for any other purpose or sold.

b) The Schiller Club pays the purchase price without involving the Kirchheim city treasury, but is entitled to build the system according to its own plans and discretion. The city of Kirchheim does not need to contribute anything to the construction of the square or to the restoration of the waiting tower.

c) The city has the duty to maintain the Schilleranlage according to its purpose and to bear its taxes, levies and other burdens. "

Over decades, the association designed and created this Schiller Park with the involvement of all citizens, still made possible by donations and foundations. Commerce Councilor and Director of BASF Dr. Heinrich von Brunck acquired the restoration with ancillary buildings and farm garden on the Schillerhain in 1893 and later made the following conditions for the local community in favor of the general public:

“The same person bought Butz's property on Schillerhain for a purchase price of M 25,000 in order to dedicate it to the general public interest. This great gift is an eloquent testimony to the noble way of thinking and the common spirit of the gift giver. The administration of the Brunk'schen Foundation is entrusted to a special committee, to which the respective mayor as a representative of our city, then the respective boards of the district and forest office as well as the board of the beautification association and the gift giver or a deputy belong. "

Equipment of the plant

To 1900

The park was equipped with shady walkways and avenues, monuments and pavilions as well as a restoration and offered a view over the city and in the distance to the Haardtrand, Odenwald and Taunus. The watch tower was restored and expanded as a lookout tower.

In 1862 the watchtower was repaired and provided with a spiral staircase and an entrance door. In 1874 the Kaiser Wilhelm pavilion was erected and paths and the terrace on the Geißberg, known today as the "Warrior Memorial", were built. In 1876 the veranda in front of the watchtower was built and the Bismarck pavilion, also known as the spring house, was erected at the current location of the warrior memorial and a cast-iron urn on a group of rocks between the lawns. Warning signs were put up everywhere to protect the facility and benches were set up. The refreshment salon, called "Lindenschänke", was built in 1877. This salon consisted of an open hall, cellar, stables, poultry yard and farm garden. In 1879 the snail tower and a fountain were built. The Sulzbach Pavilion was erected in 1882. In the following year, a mirror ball was erected. In 1886 a playground was built and numerous signposts to the Schillerhain were put up on the way from Dannenfels . In 1888 the "Cleopatra" was set up. The women took offense at this little dressed figure and so she disappeared at some point. In 1891, the war club placed an oak tree on the veranda of the waiting tower to commemorate Field Marshal Graf von Moltke and put a memorial plaque on the east side of the tower. The pavilion on the snail tower was donated in 1891 by the brothers Karl and Heinrich Giessen. In 1893 the Schillerhain received a flora (spring goddess) made of terracotta. On May 17, 1896, the unveiling of the Schiller memorial was celebrated - a bronze bust from the Geislingen bronze goods factory. The bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I, erected the following year, also came from there. The festival developed into a spring and folk festival with a pageant through the city to the Schillerhain, singing, lectures and concerts. Similar festivities were held in 1905 on the centenary of Schiller's death.

Health resort

The location of Kirchheimbolanden on the edge of the Thunder Mountain Forests prompted the Kirchheimbolanden city administration to raise the status of an air corort . In 1903, the beautifully situated Schillerhain was chosen for the construction of a spa house. In the same year, BASF began building a rest home on the Schillerhain. These structural measures required the construction of a water tower. On July 10, 1904, the inauguration of the city's Kurhaus took place. At first a gardener and Schillerhainwart was employed, later the work on the Kurhaus was taken over by the nurseries Mertz and Schitters. In the summer months, music bands gave guest performances in the music pavilion; in the 1920s, spa concerts were held on Sundays. The Kurhaus was initially leased out several times. In the 1920s, too, a small youth hostel was set up in the former utility rooms opposite the Kurhaus. The 1926–1928 Gehann days ended at the Schillerhain. Through a foundation from Privy Councilor Dr. Michel could u. a. the rose garden can be laid out on the former tennis court. During the Second World War in 1943, the Schiller bust, the bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I and three memorial plaques that were attached to the watch tower (Friedrich III., Bismarck and Moltke) had to be surrendered because of their copper content. After the war, the Kurhaus temporarily served as quarters for Allied troops, then the Landau Catholic Teachers' Academy was housed here, and from 1949 the Rhineland-Palatinate State Fire Brigade School. In 1951 a new sandstone statue of Schiller was erected. This comes from the workshop of the sculptor Richard Menges from Kaiserslautern.

The park today

Despite neglect of maintenance in recent years, the structure of the park that still exists is still clearly recognizable in its original form, route and design. Apart from the snail tower and the Schiller monument from 1951, none of the original temples, pavilions or monuments remain. The area with the spa house and salon was sold in 1960 and converted into a hotel. The restoration - the historic "Lindenschänke" with beer garden and farm building was demolished at the beginning of 2016 in favor of a large hotel extension to the original Kurhaus and parking spaces.

Towers

In Schillerhain there are three listed towers not far from each other .

• The earlier 11.5 meter high watchtower ( ⊙ ) built in the 15th century was converted into a lookout tower in 1859 , the 10.5 meter high viewing platform of which can be climbed via 51 steps of a metal spiral staircase.
• The snail tower is 45 meters north of the waiting tower. Instead of a staircase, a spiral-shaped entrance leads after three laps to a 4.1 meter high concrete slab with a diameter of 7.8 meters to the central viewing pavilion. This was built from 1880–1884 as a founding belvedere . The octagonal wooden building is 7.4 meters high, has five wooden benches inside and is crowned with a slate roof. Both towers offer a good overview of the area.
• The former water tower was erected in 1904 as a late founding brick building and stands approx. 65 meters west-southwest of the Wartturm. Until it was shut down in 1970, it supplied the higher-lying districts of Kirchheimbolanden with water from a 30 cubic meter steel tank.

Other facilities

On the Schillerhain there is also the Villa Michel, the Schillerhain curative education of the Evangelical Home Foundation Palatinate , for leisure activities the Jakob-Enders-Stadium with parking lot as well as a skate park and a beach volleyball field. There is also a restaurant with a beer garden on the sports field, and a few residential buildings to the south-east.

literature

• Lucae, Konrad: The Schillerhain.
• Kremb, Klaus: The Schillerhain in Kirchheimbolanden. Historical interior design and the creation of political and cultural meaning. In: Kirchheimbolander Hefte 2nd ed. By the city of Kirchheimbolanden 2001
• The Schillerhain near Kirchheimbolanden. In: Zeitbilder. Illustrated supplement of the Pfalz Presse (May 17, 1896)

Web links

Commons : Schillerhain  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

1. ↑ City of Kirchheimbolanden - Statistics of the city of Kirchheimbolanden ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Lucae, Konrad: The Schillerhain .
3. ^ Kremb, Klaus: The Schillerhain in Kirchheimbolanden. Historical interior design and the creation of political and cultural meaning . In: City of Kirchheimbolanden (Ed.): Kirchheimbolander Hefte 2 . 2001.
4. ↑ The Schillerhain near Kirchheimbolanden. In: Zeitbilder. Illustrated supplement of the Pfalz Presse (May 17, 1896) .
5. ↑ The Schillerhain near Kirchheimbolanden. In: Zeitbilder. Illustrated supplement of the Pfalz Presse (May 17, 1896) .
6. ↑ Land acquisition 1860, file 2504 (Kirchheimbolanden town archive)
7. ↑ The Schillerhain near Kirchheimbolanden. In: Zeitbilder. Illustrated supplement of the Pfalz Presse (May 17, 1896) .
8. ↑ Brunck's donation 1893, file 2505 (Kirchheimbolanden town archive)
9. ↑ The Schillerhain near Kirchheimbolanden. In: Zeitbilder. Illustrated supplement of the Pfalz Presse (May 17, 1896) .
10. ↑ Lucae, Konrad :: The Schillerhain.
11. ^ Kremb, Klaus: The Schillerhain in Kirchheimbolanden. Historical interior design and the creation of political and cultural meaning . In: City of Kirchheimbolanden (Ed.): Kirchheimbolander Hefte 2 . 2001.
12. ↑ sale Kurhaus with Brunk'scher donation in 1960, Act 2836 (Stadtarchiv Kirchheimbolanden)
13. ↑ Kirchheimbolanden tower on warttuerme.de
14. ↑ Information based on our own measurements and investigations
15. ↑ Leisure activities ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the city of Kirchheimbolanden 

Coordinates: 49 ° 40 '  N , 8 ° 0'  E