Wippchensteine
The Wippchensteine (regionally primarily called Wippersteine or Wipperstein) are a natural monument between Merzhausen , Röllshausen and Holzburg in the Schwalm-Eder district in the state of Hesse . They went down in Hessian history as an archaeological site and nationwide as a historical meeting place.
Location and geology
The area monument is located on a hill at the edge of the forest in the "Merzhausen Forest", height 316 m above sea level. The stones are made of tertiary quartzite . In contrast to metamorphic quartzites, these tertiary nodular quartzites are former sands that have been cemented by penetrating silica-rich solutions. The hard quartzites used to be mined nearby and used in the refractory industry. The stone formation no longer juts out of the ground as imposingly as it did in prehistoric times, as the layer of humus has risen by 1.5 - 2 m over time and covers the stone feet. On the hiking trail through the Merzhausen Forest, the Wippchensteine are located on hiking trail "N". Alternatively, you drive from Willingshausen to Röllshausen on the K112 and turn off to Holzburg on the K114, about 400 meters after the crossroads on the right-hand side a dirt road leads to the otherwise unmarked area monument.
Surname
The name has its origin in the archaeologically named "Wippfingerstein". At least one of the stones was placed unstably on another stone as a so-called rocking stone, so that the upper stone began to rock when touched lightly and still did not fall down ( rocking stone ).
history
Archaeologists found very old traces of human blood on the largest stone . They indicate that the Wippchensteine were used as pre-Christian sacrificial sites.
From the beginning of the 19th century, the Schwalm democrats used the Wippchensteine as a meeting place. It was here that the emerging political resistance against Napoléon Bonaparte was organized. Citizens came together for the first time in 1812 against French rule at the Wippchensteinen. After that, the Wippchensteine were a secret meeting place against the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna , then from 1830 to 1848 also for democratic meetings with a revolutionary character.
legend
According to legend, two giants who lived on the Amöneburg and the Landsburg are said to have thrown the stones at each other. In addition, the "Wilde Reiter" is said to have been up to mischief on the Wippchensteinen, which, according to legend, frightened nocturnal hikers to death.
Another legend about the Wippchensteine mentions the white or wise women who served the German god Thor on the Wippchensteine . Due to the spreading Christianity after the felling of the Donariche by Bonifatius near Geismar in Hessengau , the once holy place was declared a non-place .
See also
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ Max Blanckenhorn : Explanations on the geological map of Prussia and neighboring German countries. Delivery 261, sheet Schrecksbach, grading 68, sheet 12 . Prussian Geological State Institute, Berlin 1926. Hessian State Office for Environment and Geology, Wiesbaden.
- ↑ FJ Krüger et al. a .: Walks in the history of the earth, Volume 19, Braunschweiger Land . Publishing house Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich 2006.
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 33.5 ″ N , 9 ° 14 ′ 36.5 ″ E