On 15. June 1619 jorg borst was killed by "the fall of a tree". Today we know so much about the accident of the reiterswiesener, because his descendants relatively quickly to his memory a "marterl", that is, a wayside shrine, which still stands today on the kissinger strabe that runs through reiterswiesen. Although its location has been adapted to the course of the road over the years, it has actually always stood, and this for almost 400 years now, on the driveway to the castle ruins of botenlauben.
But also stones come to an age, in which nature can harm them more than a "young stone". Especially the red, french colored sandstone from the local area is very "weather-beaten", it should be lifted, it cracks easily. And when water penetrates and a cold winter comes along, whole parts of the stone can easily chip off.
No longer state of the art
About 20 years ago, the stone had already been prescribed a health cure, was treated with acrylic, and yet now shows coarser cracks again. A procedure that, according to stone restorer petro schiller, is no longer used today, not least because the chemicals used are not without danger. "In the winter" is the spontaneous advice of the stonemason and restorer who runs a studio in konigsberg in bavaria. And schiller must know, in the meantime he has restored almost a dozen similar sculptures from the same period.
Something else sticks the stone expert immediately in the eye: "the cross on the wayside shrine is not real", should heiben, it does not fit into the time span, in which the monolithic bildstock originated. "Either there was never a cross intended, or it was only later, much later a cross put on it", according to the expert. The monolithic wayside shrine, i.E. A wayside shrine in which the top and the pillar are made from a single piece, is typical of the period around 1600, he explains to the bystanders, who are watching attentively as he prepares the wayside shrine for loading with two helpers and a mobile crane.
Difficult dismantling
He tells us that the top and the saule weigh several hundredweight, and in spite of the crane, the three of them soon have beads of sweat on their foreheads. The chestnut tree and the bush are now so close to the wayside shrine that the crane and trolley have to be moved several times before the four hundred year old stone is safely loaded into the small truck.
Only then does petro schiller have time to look at old photos of the monument, which neighbor harald dees brings over. But they also show a different cross than it was originally, or now the last few years on the bildstock.
So it is not surprising that the estimated renovation costs of just under 2000 euros refer only to saule and gehause. The largest contribution to the renovation was 800 euros from the reiterswiesen orchard and horticultural society, 395 euros came from the district of lower franconia, and the rest of the renovation costs were covered by the town of bad kissingen.