For the past three years, I have been following the restoration work of the memorial to those from Oberursel who died in the First World War: The Ehrenmal. The war memorial, which stands next to the Christuskirche at the crossing of the Oberhöchstadter Straße and the Füllerstraße, was badly in need of restoration when the Hessentag took place in the town, but now, thanks to the donations of not only the town itself but many private families, once again is glittering in the evening sunset. With the mosaic pieces returned to the column and the column itself now stabilised, it was a solumn ceremony that took place on Wednesday, 23rd July, 2014 to commemorate the war dead and officialy re-dedicate the memorial.
The Ehrenmal in Oberursel – almost finished
November 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Today, 17th November, 2013 is “Volkstrauertag” in Germany. Remembrance day. And this time last year I wrote about the progress being made on the war memorial in Oberursel for those who served and died in the First World War. I had hoped to post a photo of the restored monument, the “Ehrenmal”.
But although work has progressed since last year, the project is still to be completed.
Saving the Ehrenmal and Remembering Oberursel’s War Dead
November 18, 2012 By 3 Comments
When I went on a walk visiting the war memorials in Oberursel last year, the one that we started at happened to be the one that I did not publish a photograph of. This was partly due to the weather but also because it was undergoing restoration work at the time.
A year has now passed, and it is still being restored. However, being „Volkstrauertag“ in Germany today, the equivalent of Remembrance Sunday, I decided to take a look at the progress that has been made in the past year.
The „Ehrenmal“ is located next to the „Christuskirche“ church, at the junction of the Oberhöchstädter Straße leading out of the town centre and the Füllerstraße, which used to be part of the main B455 road from Königstein.
Unveiled on 12th October 1930, it was designed by an artist from called Lina von Schauroth, who had already designed the monument for a location in her home city of Frankfurt. But in the end, as we know, it ended up in Oberursel.
The „Ehrenmal“ is a concrete column, placed on a block inscribed with the names of the town’s war dead in the First World War. On the top there is a copper sphere. But what makes the monument particularly special is the mosaic on the outside of the column.
The mosaic depicts the image of Jesus Christ, with a smaller image beneath of soldiers in uniform. There is a colour photo taken before restoration began on Wikipedia.
But the years took their toll on the momument. Cracks began to appear and pieces of the mosaic began to fall off. [Read more…]
