Petersberg Citadel

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Petersberg Citadel (aerial photo 2006)
Peter's Gate (erected between 1666 and 1668)

The Petersberg Citadel (also Petersberg Fortress ) is an originally Electoral Mainz , later Prussian city ​​fortress from the 17th to 19th centuries, which is located in the center of the Thuringian capital of Erfurt .

It is considered to be one of the largest and best preserved of its kind in all of Europe and was built in 1665 as a fortress against the city in the New Italian style by order of the Elector of Mainz and Archbishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn . As the northernmost fortress it was to protect the electorate from attacks by the Protestant powers. The strategic importance of the citadel was later recognized by Prussia and then France , who annexed it for a short time at the beginning of the 19th century . With the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it finally came to Prussia with Erfurt and was used as a fortification until the German Empire was founded in 1871. It remained a central military location in the region during the two world wars and in the post-war period.

From 1963 the site was partially open to the public. From 1990 the state of Thuringia and the city of Erfurt carried out renovations on a larger scale. Today the buildings of the fortress house state offices, apartments and tourist and cultural facilities.

history

prehistory

The city of Erfurt had been the ecclesiastical, political and economic center of Thuringia since the early Middle Ages and belonged to the Archdiocese of Mainz from 750 . During the following centuries, the city gained extensive political and economic autonomy, which led to the city's heyday in the Middle Ages. In the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Erfurt was reassigned to the Electorate of Mainz. Erfurt makes then resistance and was the emperor with the outlawed occupied. Finally, an army of 15,000 Electoral Mainz and French soldiers forced the city to give up and Erfurt was given the status of a provincial city, which was directly subordinate to the Elector of Mainz. In order to prevent further uprisings and as protection against the Protestant powers, the Elector of Mainz and Archbishop, Johann Philipp von Schönborn , had a citadel built on the site of the Petersberg. The Münster Bishop Christoph Bernhard Baron von Galen was probably involved in the planning. At that time, the Benedictine monastery St. Peter and Paul (Peterskloster) was located on the Petersberg . The first settlement by the Benedictines took place around 1060. Between 1103 and 1147 they built the Peterskirche and in 1530 the Schirrmeisterhaus.

Construction of the citadel (1665–1707)

Access bridge (built in 1670) with St. Peter's Gate and Commandant's House (built in 1669)
Bastion Franz (built around 1680)

On June 1, 1665 the foundation stone of the Petersberg Citadel was laid, which was initially called the Citadelle Johann Philippsburg. This marked the beginning of the first of three construction phases. First, up to around 1669, indulgent farmers from Erfurt, together with Italian stonemasons under the direction of the engineer Wilhelm Schneider, built the four bastions facing the city - Martin, Philipp, Leonhard and Kilian - in the New Italian style as well as the Peterstor with commandant's house designed after Antonio Petrini. The newly created fortress wall was connected to the old city fortifications and counter mines ("listening corridors") were created at its base . Soldiers patrolled them in order to locate enemy miners early in the event of a siege and to prevent them from their work of destruction. Between 1675 and 1700 the four remaining bastions Johann, Michael, Gabriel and Franz, the three barracks buildings and the two ravelins Anselm and Lothar were built. They are outer works in the form of ramparts, which were built in front of the curtains (connecting wall between two bastions) for protection. There were repeated delays during construction. Only after almost forty years (1702) was the fortress enclosed on all sides. This ended the first phase of construction (1665–1702). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the 500 to 800 man strong Mainz garrison and the Erfurt militia were located in the barracks of the Petersberg.

First modernization and subsequent dilapidation (1707–1802)

Upper barracks / barracks A (built around 1675)
Reconstructed Ravelin Peter (built 1708)

During the Great Northern War (1700–1721) the Swedes threatened the northern areas of the electorate, to which Erfurt belonged. For this reason, Mainz decided to expand the Petersberg Citadel and engaged the fortress builder Johann Maximilian von Welsch to do this . Following the example of the French fortress builder Vauban , he attached particular importance to the reinforcement of the fortresses and moat defenses.

This led to the erection of two lunettes and two further ravelins (Wilhelm and Peter) with short wall pieces (1708) and to a new horn work in front of the Gabriel Bastion (between 1725 and 1728). Von Welsch probably relied on the first building plans for the fortress. In addition, a large moat with a staggered palisade system was created around the fortress and the counter mines in the masonry were further expanded. In order to be able to better control the access to the core fortress, a guard building was built in front of the Ravelin Peter (1735). With the completion of the two gun casemates in the Philipp and Johann bastions in the direction of the Franz bastion (1737), the second construction phase (1707–1737) came to an end. The high financial expenditures for the maintenance of the buildings and facilities as well as new military developments led to new considerations among those responsible in Mainz in the 1770s. They even thought about razing the fortress. But with the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779) the perspective changed. The fortress with its external works continued to be used and makeshift repairs were made.

Under Prussian rule (1802-1806)

In anticipation of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , France had assured Prussia of its support in a secret treaty dated May 23, 1802, if it would take possession of Eichsfeld and Erfurt as compensation for the areas on the left bank of the Rhine that were lost to France . Then in June 1802 Prussian troops under Ludwig Ernst von Voss and Leopold Alexander von Wartensleben occupied the city with the Petersberg. As early as March 1803, the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul (Peterskloster) was dissolved by the new owners of the citadel in order to have space for the much stronger occupation. In addition, the fortress should be renewed due to its important geopolitical location. But these plans were initially followed by small repairs. Only with the outbreak of war between France and Prussia (1806) did the expansion work resume. These concentrated on the construction of new palisade walls and a ski jump ( glacis ) behind them . In addition, in the event of a siege, a food supply was created to feed the crew for a month.

Siege of the citadel by the Allies 1813/1814

After the defeat in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806, parts of the defeated Prussian army fled to the protective Petersberg citadel. On the following day, the Prussians surrendered to the Napoleonic troops on the orders of Prince Wilhelm of Orange .

Under French rule (1806-1813)

When the fort was handed over without resistance, the French fell into their hands with the fortress’s large supply of military equipment. The approximately 1400 Prussian soldiers were taken prisoner of war. On June 23, 1807, Napoléon Bonaparte arrived in Erfurt to have both the city and the citadel directly subordinate to him. On this occasion and as part of the of Erfurt Congress in 1808, accompanied by Tsar Alexander I . he visited the fortifications of the Petersberg. In the years that followed, Napoleon ruled southern and central Europe without restrictions, so he toyed with the idea of ​​grinding the system. The turning point was to be brought about by the Russian campaign in 1812 , in which the French military was decisively defeated for the first time and then had to be pushed back to the west. The state of siege was declared in the citadel on February 24, 1813, and the expansion and repair of the defenses began. Many buildings were given bomb-proof roofs, the glacis renewed and trusses created to restrict the view from outside. Food for the 2,000 man crew and horse feed were put on for six months and stored in St. Peter's Church, which has been converted into a warehouse. Napoleon arrived in Erfurt for the last time in April and October 1813 to visit the Petersberg Citadel. The Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (October 16-19, 1813) sealed the fall of the Napoleonic troops. Parts of the French army fled to the city of Erfurt after the battle. The French army was to gather here and a first resistance center against the persecutors was to be established. General Field Marshal Alexandre d'Alton was in charge of this project , who on October 25, 1813, initiated the blockade of the city by closing all gates and shops. After three days, a 34,900-strong siege army, consisting of the Prussian II Army Corps under Lieutenant General Count Kleist von Nollendorf and Austrian and Russian troops, had surrounded Erfurt on all sides and moved into their quarters in the surrounding villages. The siege guns were set up near the Schwedenschanze.

At first, the French tried to defend themselves by attacking, destroying the village of Daberstedt in order to make it unusable as a quarters for the besiegers. As a result, on November 4, 1813, the French occupiers were asked to surrender the citadel without a fight. But Field Marshal Alexandre d'Alton declared: The Kaiser has entrusted me with the defense of the Erfurt square. I will meet his expectations by doing my duty. I cannot agree to any other arrangement. When the village of Ilversgehofen was attacked by 1500 French on the same evening , the siege troops were forced to act. The throwing down of the Petersberg , discussed a few days earlier by the council of war, was now to be put into practice. For this purpose, two Austrian and Russian batteries were brought into position in the village of Marbach and a Prussian battery in the Steigerwald on the evening of November 5, and fire was opened on the fortress on November 6 at 6 a.m. After a short time, the first buildings on the Petersberg were on fire. The monastery building, the old main guard, parts of St. Peter's Church and numerous houses below the mountain fell victim to the flames.

Despite the heavy bombing and extensive destruction, the French did not surrender. However, an armistice was reached, which was gradually extended in the following period. At the beginning of January 1814, the city of Erfurt was handed over to the Prussians without the two citadels Petersberg and Cyriaksburg . While the French capital Paris was taken by the allied troops in April 1814, the Napoleonic troops were still in the Petersberg citadel. It was not until May 5, 1814, that Field Marshal General Alexandre Dalton gave up and peacefully surrendered the citadel to the Prussians. He had received a power of attorney for this from the French government. Thereupon the 1700 French soldiers withdrew unmolested to Strasbourg with 6 guns .

Defense barracks (built between 1828 and 1831)
Peace powder magazine No. 5 (built in 1822), the only one of its kind that has been preserved in all of Germany

Fortress in Prussia (1814–1871)

After the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), Europe was reorganized. As a result, Prussia received, among other things, the city of Erfurt, which was added to the new province of Saxony . The Erfurt fortress was now one of the southernmost fortifications in Prussia. Therefore it should be developed as a fortress of the first order together with the two citadels Petersberg and Cyriaksburg. This marked the beginning of the last construction phase (1815–1831). During this period, the damaged buildings and weir systems were initially repaired. Furthermore, according to the New Prussian system, between 1823 and 1825 gun capons were built to defend the fortress moat. A cannon yard was built at the top of Bastion Martin in 1830 , and between 1828 and 1831 a defensive barracks was built on the site of the completely destroyed Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul . As an artillery position, it was intended to restrict the view of the upper plateau from the north and, together with the section wall, split the fortress into two independent sections.

Remains of the Gabriel Bastion with the Hornwerk barracks (built between 1912 and 1913)
Bastion Martin in the southern part of the citadel

In addition, peace powder magazines were built on the Ravelin Anselm and the Hornwerk in 1822 to store the powder in times of war or peace, and war powder magazines were built around 1830 on the Franz and Philipp Bastion. The last modernization measure was to erect seven forts that were far forward , of which only No. I in front of the Auenschanze and No. II on the Schwedenschanze were built between 1866 and 1869. These independent, strongly fortified outer works were supposed to prevent the core fortress from being bombarded by the rifled guns emerging at the time. In addition to the expansion of the citadel, there were also changes within the occupation. In 1860, a new regiment called the 3rd Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 71 was founded, which was stationed in the Petersberg defense barracks until the end of the First World War.

Location of the German Army (1871–1945)

With the establishment of the German Empire in 1871, Prussia and the southern German states that were previously hostile to it, such as Bavaria and Württemberg, became allies. As a result, numerous fortresses lost their importance, which were subsequently exposed or even razed. For the Erfurt Fortress with the Petersberg and Cyriaksburg citadels, Emperor Wilhelm I gave the order to de-fortify (June 20, 1873). Because of a lack of money, only the two ravelins Peter and Wilhelm, the hornwork and the cavaliers along the walls were removed. Furthermore, an access road was built, with large parts of the Gabriel bastion and the lunette I being completely razed and various moats filled. After a few years, interest in the Petersberg military site increased again, so that new buildings such as workshops, storage buildings, the Hornwerk barracks were built between 1912 and 1913 and a military detention center between 1913 and 1914. Instead of the earth filling on the previous two-story low-rise building, the defensive barracks in neo-baroque style received a mansard roof with an upper floor, architecturally well adapted to the neighboring St. Peter's Church. The increased defensive barracks has since been part of the city crown of Erfurt, which can be seen from afar. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the military facilities were gradually evacuated. Until 1933 it was partly used as a residential building and as a quarters for the police force and, in the meantime, for the Thuringia Freikorps . In 1921 the Lauentorstraße was completed, which has since separated the tip of the Martin Bastion from the citadel.

In the time of National Socialism , the area on the Petersberg was used again for military purposes. Between 1936 and 1938, parts of the barracks served as quarters for the newly established Motorized Infantry Regiment No. 71 and between 1938 and 1943 as the headquarters of the Wehrmacht's administrative offices. In addition, from 1940 the military court 409th ID was located in the commandant's house and a pre-trial detention center for political prisoners was located in the former police prison . The Army Construction Office moved into the artillery barracks and a transit and capture camp for displaced persons in the defense barracks. The underground counter mines were given new entrances on the city side, in which Erfurt citizens could find refuge in the event of air raids . In April 1945, the combat commander, Colonel Otto Merkel, who was responsible for the defense of Erfurt, set up his command post on the Petersberg. The citadel was occupied by the Americans on April 12, 1945. On July 2, 1945, the city of Erfurt and the state of Thuringia belonged to the Soviet zone of occupation (SBZ).

Use after the Second World War

Monument to the unknown Wehrmacht deserter in front of the Philipp bastion
Federal Labor Court on the former horn factory

In the first five years after the end of the Second World War, there was a mixed use of apartments, administrative and commercial buildings. When the GDR was founded on October 7, 1949, the military returned to the site. Buildings in front of the Johann Bastion were used as the state security service and the barracks were used as quarters for the barracked People's Police , a police school and the National People's Army (NVA). From 1963, the Petersberg came back into municipal ownership, which made the site partially accessible to the public. However, the city's limited funds were only sufficient for the makeshift maintenance of the buildings and facilities. The defense barracks and St. Peter's Church were converted into storage rooms and the pioneer organization Ernst Thälmann moved into the commandant's house .

At the turn of 1989/1990, the city of Erfurt built a construction hut on the Petersberg. Since then, numerous ABM workers have been responsible for the renovation and reconstruction of the various facilities and buildings, which had been neglected for decades, under the direction of the municipal building department . At the same time, a circular hiking trail was set up across the entire site at the foot and on the crown of the fortress walls.

In 1995 the artist Thomas Nicolai created the memorial for the unknown armed forces deserter and for the victims of Nazi military justice in front of the Philipp bastion. It bears the inscription Seid Sand, not the oil in the gears of Günter Eich's world and consists of eight steles, one of which stands out from the row and is intended to symbolize the deserter. Since 1940 the commandant's house of the Petersberg Citadel has housed the military court 409 ID of the Wehrmacht, which sentenced around 50 deserters to death and had them shot near the memorial.

In connection with the renovation work, a usage concept was developed that provides for a mixed use of administrative buildings, apartments and tourist and cultural facilities. Since 1993, the headquarters of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology (TLDA) has been located in Artillery Barracks / Barracks B and in the Neue Hauptwache, and the Birthler Authority (Erfurt branch office of the Federal Commissioner for the records of the State Security Service of the former GDR ) in the Lower Barracks ) as well as a youth club and a folklore ensemble in the Kommandantenhaus since 1998. The upper barracks, the military detention center and the Schirrmeisterhaus have been used as residential buildings and offices for a few years. Since 1999, the Federal Labor Court , which has moved from Kassel , has been located in a modern building designed by the architect Gesine Weinmiller on the former horn factory. No user has yet been found for the unrenovated defense barracks. There are currently plans to use it as a youth hostel and children's museum . The annual Petersberg Festival and Bundeswehr events have been taking place on the former parade and parade ground since 2000 .

Nowadays, the Petersberg Citadel is a much-visited ensemble of buildings that offer a wide panoramic view of the city.

construction

Site plan of the Petersberg Citadel (2009)

The Petersberg Citadel is one of the largest and best-preserved city ​​fortresses from the 17th century in Germany. Its core fortress extends over an area of ​​approx. 12 hectares and has an irregular, star-shaped floor plan, which is composed of the eight bastions Martin, Gabriel, Michael, Johann, Franz, Philipp, Leonhard and Kilian in the New Italian style. On the bastion crown, a Kurmainzischer post path with a man-high parapet wall and guard core at the bastion tips leads almost completely around the citadel. The walls have a length of approx. 2 km and a height between 8 and 23 m and are crossed by counter mines in the 4 to 6.5 m thick foot area . Soldiers patrolled them in order to locate enemy miners early in the event of a siege and to prevent them from their work of destruction. Around the core fortress, in front of the former fortress moat, there are ravelins and lunettes , which were intended to strengthen the north-west side as independent defenses. This also included the horn work , which was razed together with the Ravelin Wilhelm and the lunette I after the fortress was lifted in 1873. The interior of the citadel can be reached via the Petersbrücke with Peterstor, originally the only access and, since 1828, via the Anselmi auxiliary gate. In addition, two streets from the time of the demolition in 1873 and a staircase built a few years ago at the Franz Bastion lead to the fortress grounds. The baroque facade of the Peter Gate is adorned with pillars, cornices and lion heads and bears the coat of arms of the Elector of Mainz, Johann , between an openwork triangular gable Philipp von Schönborn . In the gate hall there are casemates on each side and two portcullis and pitch holes are anchored in the ceiling. The Petersbrücke was originally built as a wooden structure with a drawbridge and vaulted with stones under the Prussians in 1864. Remains of the city wall towers, tower no. III, high bell tower and lauenturm can be found in the core fortress, which were converted into powder magazines with the construction of the citadel and reduced in height several times. The Lauenturm, together with the Lauentor, a city gate below the Martin Bastion, was owned by the Counts of Gleichen until 1308 and named after the count's heraldic animal, a lion. When Lauentorstraße broke through in 1921, the tower was rediscovered and since then has served as a viewing platform with Bastion Martin. The middle area of ​​the core fortress is called the Upper Plateau and extends between the Leonhard and Philipp bastions and the connecting wall of the Gabriel / Michael bastions. In this area is the Peterskirche , which was built between 1103 and 1147 as a Romanesque three-nave pillar basilica and served as the monastery church of the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul until the secularization in 1803. In 1813 artillery shells destroyed large parts of the monastery extensions and a little later it was permanently converted into a warehouse under the Prussians . Nowadays the Peterskirche is used as an art exhibition room. To the northwest, the Upper Plateau is closed off by the Defensionskaserne, which was built between 1828 and 1831 on the site of the former Benedictine monastery in Prussian classicism. Its northern walls are up to 2.5 m thick and are interspersed with infantry and artillery loopholes over three floors. The former crew quarters with three entrance portals are on the south side and, thanks to the construction of a mansard roof in 1912/13 , offered space for a total of 750 soldiers. Inside, the defense barracks consists of numerous individual sections that could be separated from one another by deployable palisade walls in the event of an enemy storm. After being used as troop accommodation and camp, it has been empty since 2000. A side caponier with a fortress bakery has been attached to the east side of the defense barracks since 1832 and is still in use today. In the north of the Upper Plateau is the Upper Barracks, built in 1675, which is one of the oldest barracks buildings in Thuringia.

Fortress commanders

Under Electoral Mainz reign:

  • Major General Baron von der Leyen (1665–1673)
  • Colonel Schütz von Holzhausen (1674–1680)
  • Colonel Johann Theodor Mortaigne (1680–1690)
  • Colonel Sergeant von Sommerlat (1690–1690), interim commander
  • Baron Johann Adolf Langwerth von Simmern (1690–1700)
  • Major General Christoph Erhard von Bibra (1700–1706)
  • Major General Johann Sigmund Freiherr von Hirschberg (1706–1718)
  • Major General Georg Melchior von Harstall (1718–1733)
  • Major General Philipp Wilhelm Lucas Freiherr von Rieth (1733–1748)
  • Major General von Schwan (1748–1748), interim commander
  • Lieutenant General Otto Christoph Baron von Hagen (1748–1770)
  • Lieutenant General Ludwig Wilhelm Baron von Harstall (1770–1773)
  • Lieutenant General Franz Arnold Freiherr von Brencken (1774–1776)
  • General von Rothelinsky (1776–1778), interim commander
  • General von Faber (1778–1779), interim commander
  • Major General Ernst Friedrich Freiherr von Hagen (1780–1787)
  • Major General Christoph Freiherr von Knorr (1788–1802)

Under Prussian rule:

Under Napoleonic reign:

Under Prussian rule:

See also

literature

  • Rolf Berger: The Peterskirche on the Petersberg in Erfurt: a study of Hirsau architecture. 1st edition. Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1994, ISBN 3-925267-86-7 .
  • H.-P. Brachmanski, HW Schirmer: The Erfurt Petersberg history and stories. VHT 1993, ISBN 3-86087-107-2 .
  • Georg Dehio (Hrsg.): Handbook of the German art monuments Thuringia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-422-03095-6 .
  • Hans Giesecke: The old Erfurt. Publishing house Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1972.
  • Willibald Gutsche (ed.): History of the city of Erfurt. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1986, ISBN 3-7400-0095-3 .
  • Mathias Haenchen: The developmental position of the monastery church on the Petersberg near Erfurt in the architecture of the European High Middle Ages. Habilitation thesis, Dresden 2003.
  • O. Kürsten: The Petersberg: the Acropolis of Erfurt. Volume 27, Engelhard-Reyher-Verlag, Gotha 1943.
  • Horst Moritz: The Petersberg fortress under Kurmainz 1664–1802. Erfurt City Museum, Erfurt 2001.
  • Horst Moritz: The Petersberg fortress under Prussia 1802–1918. Erfurt City Museum, Erfurt 2002.
  • Placidus Muth: About the influence of the royal Benedictine monastery on the Petersberg in Erfurt on the first reclamation of the local area. Beyer & Maring, Erfurt 1798.
  • Frank Palmowski: The siege of Erfurt 1813/14. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2015, ISBN 978-3-95400-604-5 .
  • Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation: 700 years of the Peterskloster in Erfurt: History and art on the Petersberg in Erfurt 1103–1803. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2004, ISBN 3-7954-1675-2 .
  • Dieter Zeigert: Military buildings in Thuringia. A catalog of the barracks buildings with a detailed description of the military-historical circumstances in Thuringia since the German military constitution of 1821 . Ed .: Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology. Verlag Bildung + Wissen, Bad Homburg / Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-927879-94-0 .
  • Lower Saxony State Library Hanover, Defense Department Library, Sign .: WBB 24034-5926-2
  • Friends of the Citadelle Petersberg zu Erfurt eV: 350 years Citadelle Petersberg Historical context - construction phases - fate and opportunities of the Petersberg

Web links

Commons : Zitadelle Petersberg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Giesecke: The old Erfurt . Verlag Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1972, pp. 173-176.
  2. ^ Horst Moritz: The Petersberg fortress under Kurmainz 1664–1802 . Stadtmuseum Erfurt, Erfurt 2001, p. 6.
  3. ↑ ibid
  4. ^ Horst Moritz: The Petersberg fortress under Kurmainz 1664–1802 . Stadtmuseum Erfurt, Erfurt 2001, p. 24.
  5. ↑ Thomas Stamm-Kuhlmann : King in Prussia's great time. Friedrich Wilhelm III., The melancholic on the throne. Siedler, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-88680-327-9 , p. 177 f.
  6. ^ O. Kürsten: The Petersberg: the Acropolis of Erfurt . Volume 27, Engelhard-Reyher-Verlag, Gotha 1943, p. 48.
  7. ↑ Anja Buresch: Battle for Erfurt. The American occupation of the city in April 1945. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-95400-718-9 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 43 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 6 ″  E

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on July 20, 2007 in this version .