Saxon post milestone
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A Saxon milepost (german: kursächsische Postmeilensäule, colloquially ''sächsische Postmeilensäule'' or ''Postsäule'') was a milepost in the former Electorate of Saxony that gave distances expressed as journey times to the nearest eighth of an hour. With one hour being the equivalent of one
league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...
, this corresponds to a distance of about 566 m. The design of the mileposts varied according to the distance at which they were placed. They were hewn from natural stone into the shape of an
obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...
, an ancient herma or a stele. Their prototype was the Roman milepost. From its German name ''römische Meilensäule'' the rather inaccurate German description of ''Säule'' (lit.: "column") was derived. The Saxon head postal director (''Oberpostdirektor''), Paul Vermehren, brought about their inception based on official distance surveys, whose results were given in
league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...
s on the post mileposts. A league in Saxony at that time (1722 to 1840) was meant to be an hour's journey, equivalent to half a mile or 4.531 kilometres. Saxon postal mileposts were set up during the reign of August the Strong and his successor along all important postal and trading routes and in almost all towns in the Electorate of Saxony to indicate the official distances. This was intended to be the basis for the creation of a unified calculation of postal charges. Because the territory of the Electorate of Saxony was larger than that of the present-day German state of
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, these mileposts are nowadays also found in the states of
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
,
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
and
Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
, as well as in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
. The locations and images of surviving or replaced Saxon mileposts may be seen in the Gallery of Saxon postal mileposts.


Forerunners

In 1695, the head of the Saxon post office, ''Oberpostmeister'' Ludwig Wilhelm, proposed a systematic survey of the road from
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
to
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
with wooden, roadside posts at regular intervals. This prompted
prince elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
Augustus the Strong, on 18 June 1695, to order ''"that certain mileposts are to be erected"''. He charged the ''Kondukteur'' (building supervisor) Heinrich Niedhart with this task. The Electoral Saxon forestry superintendents were instructed to provide the wood, and the administrators of the electoral Saxon districts were to ensure that the posts were erected. Furthermore, before 1700 wooden
fingerpost A fingerpost (sometimes referred to as a guide post) is a traditional type of sign post primarily used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, consisting of a post with one or more arms, known as fingers, pointing in the directio ...
s withs distance markings (so-called ''Arm(en)säulen'' or "arm columns") were commonplace on the roads of Saxony. These consisted of a wooden post, at the upper end of which were direction indicators in the shape of human arms and hands. Because the wood rotted rapidly as a result of its constant exposure to moisture, many of these fingerposts collapsed a few years after they had been erected and became unusable. The establishment of postal mileposts in electoral Saxony was not an isolated phenomenon. Similar posts or stones with distances marked on them were erected along the roads in a number of countries.


State survey by Zürner

The basis for the introduction of Saxon mileposts was the
cartographic Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
work of the pastor, Adam Friedrich Zürner, from Skassa. Zürner had prepared a map of
Großenhain Großenhain (also written as Grossenhain; hsb, Wulki Hojn) is a Große Kreisstadt (German for major district town) in the district of Meissen, Saxony, Germany. It was originally known as Hayne. The current name simply means "big Hayne" History ...
, which attracted the attention of Augustus the Strong. After further cartographic work, the prince elector gave him the task on 12 April 1713 of: "recording districts, including the lordships, manor estates, towns, villages and the like, on geographic maps" (original: "''Aemter samt denen darinnen befindlichen Herrschaften, Rittergütern, Städten, Dörfern und dergleichen mehr in mappas geographicas bringen''). This entailed the
topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...
survey of Electoral Saxony. In addition to the heartland, it covered the electoral Saxon parts of the counties of Henneberg and
Mansfeld Mansfeld, sometimes also unofficially Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Protestant reformator Martin Luther grew up in Mansfeld, and in 1993 the town became one of sixteen places in ...
, the Schönburg estates, the estates of the Albertine branches of
Saxe-Merseburg The Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, with Merseburg as its capital. It existed from 1656 or 1657 to 1738 and was owned by an Albertine secundogeniture of the Saxon House of Wettin. History The Wettin Elector Jo ...
,
Saxe-Weissenfels Saxe-Weissenfels (german: Sachsen-Weißenfels) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire from 1656/7 until 1746 with its residence at Weißenfels. Ruled by a cadet branch of the Albertine House of Wettin, the duchy passed to the Electorate of Saxony u ...
and
Saxe-Zeitz The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Zeitz) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as a secundogeniture of the Electoral Saxon house of House of Wettin. Its capital was Zeitz. The territory fell back to ...
as well as the two
Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
s. The resulting cartographic material remained largely secret for several decades for
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
reasons. The prince elector only had an improved
post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...
al map published which was the result of an extension to the contract that followed a few weeks later. This "''Chur-Sächsische Post-Charte'', first published in 1718, and its subsequent editions, remained in use until the 19th century. Because the distances stated at that time were frequently based on imprecise estimates, Zürner had to survey the distances afresh or verify existing data. To achieve that he designed a survey vehicle in the shape of an electoral Saxon baggage coach. Each revolution of the rear wheel of the coach with a circumference of one Dresden rod (''Dresdner Rute''), i.e. 4.531 metres, was transmitted to a mechanical
counter Counter may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Counter machine, a subclass of register machines * Counter (digital), an electronic device, mechanical device, or computer program for counting * Loop counter, the variable that controls the iter ...
in the coach by means of a chain. Zürner's assistants used a measuring cart in the shape of a wheelbarrow for those tracks unsuitable for a coach, which likewise measured the distances by the turning of a wheel and which was carried as the so-called "fifth wheel on the wagon" (''fünftes Rad am Wagen'') in a case on the surveying coach. Both methods enabled a very accurate survey of roads. Another problem was the lack of standard units of measurement. At that time there were miles (''Meilen'') of various length even within the Electorate. To achieve standardization, the Electoral Saxon post mile was therefore introduced on 17 March 1722, whereby 1 mile = 2 leagues = 2,000 Dresden rods = 9.062 kilometres. To indicate distances on the mileposts, Zürner used the league (''Wegstunde''), which equalled a half mile. The survey journeys usually began in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
or
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, the counter being set to zero at the posthouse in each city. As a result, a Leipzig or a Dresden distance is quoted. During such a journey, the assistant to the surveyor had to drive a numbered wooden stake into the ground every quarter of a mile and dig a hole next to it. The excavated material was then used to help fix the wooden post securely. The landowner was responsible for looking after the survey stake. In several cases the surveys were also conducted outside the territory of the electorate.Anywhere Saxon land was interrupted by other territories, roads used by the Saxon post office were surveyed, with the permission of the territorial owner. Surveying was especially difficult in
Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
because landowners of the
estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed an ...
there tried to impede Zürner's activity. Zürner was able to begin surveying Upper and
Lower Lusatia Lower Lusatia (; ; ; szl, Dolnŏ Łużyca; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the sou ...
only on 29 June 1723. The survey work on the most important roads in the state was completed by 1733.


Erection of the columns

On 19 September 1721, an Electoral order was issued to the districts ('' Ämter'') of Dresden,
Meißen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrech ...
and
Großenhain Großenhain (also written as Grossenhain; hsb, Wulki Hojn) is a Große Kreisstadt (German for major district town) in the district of Meissen, Saxony, Germany. It was originally known as Hayne. The current name simply means "big Hayne" History ...
, to erect stone columns as mileposts. On 1 November 1721, this order was extended to the entire state. On the same day the state authorities in charge issued the general ordinance for the "Establishment of Stone Postal Columns" (''Setzung der steinernen Post-Säulen'') and the instruction that the costs of erecting them were to be borne by the landowner of the locations affected. For Upper Lusatia, a separate instruction followed on 24 November 1721. Zürner, who had been tasked by Augustus the Strong on 14 December 1721, worked out himself the details of which mileposts were to be erected. Zürner set forth that a large distance column (''Distanzsäule'') was to be erected immediately in front of the gates of a town. Similarly there were to be quarter-mile, half-mile and whole-mile stones at the corresponding intervals. In the Saxon part of the
County of Henneberg The House of Henneberg was a medieval German comital family (''Grafen'') which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a princely county (''Gefürstete Grafschaft'') in 1310. Upo ...
cast iron posts were erected instead of the usual stone columns, and in the
County of Mansfeld The House of Mansfeld was a princely German house, which took its name from the town of Mansfeld in the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt. Mansfelds were archbishops, generals, supporters as well as opponents of Martin Luther, and Habsburg admini ...
there were no mileposts at all. Originally about 300 distance mileposts and around 1,200 other roadside mileposts were erected. About 200 of them have at least partly survived or have been faithfully reconstructed. Replicas were increasingly made after 1990. Today the Saxon section of the Old Dresden to Teplitz Post Road is considered the historic transport link with the most surviving postal mileposts. The material used for the mileposts in Saxony varies widely. They were usually made from the prevailing building stone of the local area, which is also reflected in the building materials used in Saxony's architecture in general. Elbe sandstone from several quarries in
Saxon Switzerland Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sand ...
and the area of the
Tharandt Forest The Tharandt Forest (german: Tharandter Wald) is a landscape in the centre of the German Free State of Saxony and lies southwest of the forest town of Tharandt, south of the town of Wilsdruff, roughly between the cities of Freiberg and Dresde ...
was used for most of the stones. Other frequently used materials were Rochlitz porphyry in Central Saxony and
Lusatian granite Lusatian may refer to: * Lusatian languages (''Sorbian languages'') * Lusatians (people) (''Sorbs'') * Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorb ...
in eastern Saxony. In the Chemnitz area, Hilbersdorf porphyritic tuff quarried at
Hilbersdorf Hilbersdorf is a German municipality in the Thuringian district of Greiz. It belongs to the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Wünschendorf/Elster and lies in upper Wipsetal. Geography From Hilbersdorf, one can reach Gera, Linda bei Weida, and Ronneb ...
and
Flöha Flöha () is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. Flöha is situated on the confluence of the rivers Zschopau and Flöha, east of Chemnitz. Flöha station connects the town to Dresden, Chemnitz, Freiberg, Annaberg-Buc ...
was used as a milepost material In the upper Ore Mountains and the
Vogtland Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...
mileposts were made of local
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, for example, Wiesenbad Granite, granite of the
Greifensteine The Greifensteine is a rock tower in the Ore Mountains, Germany, between the towns of Geyer, Ehrenfriedersdorf and Jahnsbach. The highest of the seven granite rocks reaches 731 m. Another six rock towers were demolished by quarrying, which ended ...
area, Schwarzenberg Granite, Kirchberg Granite or Bad Brambach Granite of the "
Fichtelgebirge The Fichtel MountainsRandlesome, C. et al. (2011). ''Business Cultures in Europe'', 2nd ed., Routledge, Abingdon and New York, p. 52. . (german: Fichtelgebirge, cs, Smrčiny), form a small horseshoe-shaped mountain range in northeastern Bavaria ...
type". The different weathering properties of these diverse types of stone proves to be a challenge for the conservation of these monuments in many cases. This is also the reason why numerous mileposts no longer exist.


Opposition

Both the costs and the responsibility for erecting the mileposts had to be borne by the authorities of the respective towns and villages. As a result, the measures did not gain universal approval throughout the land. Because the means of the towns varied considerably depending on their size and industrial structure, the financial impact on them was very variable. Regardless of their size, they often had a similar number of town gates and therefore a comparable number of milestone columns to put up. Frequently there were three to five gates. In 1722, the Saxon ''Landtag'' asked the prince elector to cancel the expensive project that had invoked the opposition of many town councils and landowners. Many towns tried to ignore the edict or delay its implementation. In order to enforce the implementation of his instructions, the elector had resort to harsh measures and threatened negligence, tardiness or damage to the mileposts with disciplinary action in an order of 24 July 1722; and in another edict of 7 September 1724, fines of 20 talers were imposed against every official guilty of missing deadlines and in each individual case of neglect. Especially on the roads of Central Saxony, in the towns of
Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the ...
,
Grimma Grimma ( hsb, Grima) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south o ...
,
Oschatz Oschatz () is a town in the district Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is located 60 km east of Leipzig and 60 km west of Dresden. Geography Site and climate Oschatz lies in the Saxon Lowland and is located on the river Dölln ...
,
Rochlitz Rochlitz (; hsb, Rochlica) is a major district town (Große Kreisstadt) in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. Rochlitz is the head of the "municipal partnership Rochlitz" (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Rochlitz) with its other members ...
and Waldheim, as well as the routes from these towns to Leipzig and thence
Zeitz Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony. History Zeitz was first recorded u ...
the gaps were particularly noticeable and were, in a decree of 7 September, subject to public reprimand by the prince elector. In the course of this dispute, many places strove to erect one milepost column only. Zürner knew the location of many small towns and villages very precisely. During the course of his project, he proceeded to support the towns in their requests and advocated the elector's consent. In many cases their requests were granted. On the national roads, therefore, only wooden mileposts were erected or existing ones repaired. After 1727 the practice of erecting one column per town was carried out in many cases. As the order dated 19 September 1721 incorporated a comprehensive memorandum of 24 items and was accompanied by a list of the benefits of the regulation, it appears that problems had been anticipated from the outset. For example, as advantages of the national survey, the memorandum called pointed out that the payment of ''"delivery men, relay services, postal items and other goods"'' would be verifiable and the prices could no longer be fixed arbitrarily, that there would be fewer complaints from travellers about high fees that had hitherto taken up the time of courts and higher authorities, and that journey times and delivery times would be precisely defined by the survey. Another argument was that the roads would be more easily recognisable in the winter and at night. Opposition to the postal mileposts was especially strong in
Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
. In 1723, the
town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second t ...
s of
Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budi ...
and Görlitz refused to entertain Zürner in this matter. Not until 31 March 1724 did the estates of Upper Lusatia declare themselves ready to carry out the instructions. Because mileposts were occasionally damaged or even knocked down, an order was issued in 1724 that such crimes would be punished by imprisonment and other "hard and exemplary punishments". Due to persistent opposition the Saxon Landtage was finally able to issue a decree on 12 April 1728 that - contrary to the Elector's wishes - the mileposts need only be erected on main and postal roads.


Design

To what extent Augustus the Strong was personally involved in the development of the designs for the mileposts is not clear. Their final appearance, which was based on baroque and classical prototypes, was linked to the senior state architect (''Oberlandesbaumeister''),
Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662–1736) was a German master builder and architect who helped to rebuild Dresden after the fire of 1685. His most famous work is the Zwinger Palace. Life Pöppelmann was born in Herford in Westphalia on ...
.


Distance mileposts

The large distance mileposts (''Distanzsäule'') comprised seven elements. The
pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...
was formed by the
plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...
, dado and cornice (or cap). The column consists of the base (''Zwischenplatte'' or ''Schaftfuß''), the shaft, a block sowing the coat of arms (''Wappenstück''), and the finial (''Aufsatz'' or ''Spitze''). The columns have an average height of 8 ells (4.53 metres) and rest on a pedestal half an ell high. The individual elements were held together by means of iron pegs cast in lead. On the shaft of the column the names of the destinations were inscribed at Zürner's direction in a
Fraktur Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. The blackletter lines are broken up; that is, their forms contain many angles when compared to the curves of the Antiqu ...
font and based on the distance tables that had been worked out for each town. Several routes crossed state borders, and this was indicated by the letters ''gr'' (for ''Grenze'' or "border") or a horizontal line. Part of the inscription on all columns was a
post horn The post horn (''also'' post-horn) is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with a cupped mouthpiece. The instrument was used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach. It was used especially by postilions of the 18 ...
on all four sides, which was the emblem of the state's postal sovereignty. The arms of the Electorate of Saxony with a gilded crown and the Polish royal crown with the royal Polish-Lithuanian coat of arms were shown on the superstructure. The mileposts originally erected in front of the town gates usually had the distances marked on two sides and the names of the destination towns on the other two sides. Later columns, erected in the market squares, had the distances marked on all four sides.


Full mile stone

The full mile stone (''Ganzmeilensäule'') was to mark every full mile along the post road. It is about 3.75 metres high and resembles the large distance milepost in shape. They are however more slender and have no section showing the coat of arms. The information was inscribed on two sides so that travellers in both directions could read them. On the road side was the so-called serial number (''Reihennummer'') with which all roadside columns and mileposts were numbered in sequence. Because a number was assigned every quarter of a mile, each full-milepost had a serial number divisible by four.


Half mile stone

The half mile stone (''Halbmeilensäule''), also called the league post (''Stundensäule'') because the league corresponded to half a mile, had a lower pedestal surmounted by a shaft that tapered from top to bottom. A roof-shaped, chamfered finial formed the uppermost element. Its total height is about 3 metres. It bore the same inscriptions as the full mile stone. The herm-like design of this column is a reason why only a few stones of this type have survived until today. The serial number is even, but not divisible by four.


Quarter mile stone

The quarter mile stone (''Viertelmeilenstein'') rests on a low pedestal and consists of a rectangular column or stele. Its total height is about 1.7 metres. There are no inscriptions on these mileposts other than the monogram "AR", a
post horn The post horn (''also'' post-horn) is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with a cupped mouthpiece. The instrument was used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach. It was used especially by postilions of the 18 ...
symbol, the year of manufacture and, on the narrow side facing the road, the serial number which was an odd number. File:Neustadt Sachsen Postmeilensäule.JPG, Distance milepost on the market square at
Neustadt in Sachsen Neustadt in Sachsen is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Czech Republic, 35 km east of Dresden (centre), and 23 km southwest of Bautzen. At Neustadt, th ...
File:Breitenau GM-Säule (4) 2006-05-04.jpg, Full-mile post on the Old Dresden to Teplitz Post Road near Breitenau File:0x-kursaechs-mkneukirchen-1.jpg, Half-mile post in
Markneukirchen Markneukirchen () is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in Saxony, Germany, close to the Czech border. It lies in between the Erzgebirge and the Fichtelgebirge in the Elstergebirge, southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Aš (Czech Republic ...
File:BadLausick Viertelmeilenstein.jpg, Quarter-milestone in
Bad Lausick Bad Lausick () is a town in the Leipzig (district), Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 12 km southwest of Grimma, and 29 km southeast of Leipzig. History Middle Ages to 18th century In 1096 Bad Lausick was mention ...


Successors

Preparations for the introduction of the
metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
in the
Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...
were made as part of the work of the Standardization Commission (''Normalaichungscommission''), led by Albert Christian Weinlig and Julius Ambrosius Hülße. These two men envisaged a transition phase from the old units. Almost simultaneously, similar efforts were being made at the level of the
German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
.Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für das Königreich Saxony, 1858, 12 March 1858 ''No. 18, Gesetz, die Einführung eines allgemeinen Landesgewichts und einige Bestimmungen über das Maaß- und Gewichtswesen im Allgemeinen betreffend''. A new survey was carried out in 1858, and between 1859 and 1865 a new system of milestones – the Royal Saxon milestones were made in the shape of station milestones (''Stationssteine''), full mile, half mile, junction (''Abzweig-'') and border crossing stones (''Grenzübergangssteine''), noting that, from 1840, 1 mile = 7.5 km. Upon the full introduction of the metric system around 1900, some of these were converted to kilometer,
chaussee ''Chaussee'' is an historic term used in German-speaking countries for early, metalled, rural highways, designed by road engineers, as opposed to the hitherto, traditional, unpaved country roads. The term is no longer used in modern road construct ...
, boundary (''Flurgrenz'') and roadkeeper stones (''Straßenwärtersteine'').


References


Further reading

* Carl Christian Schramm: ''Saxonia Monumentis Viarum Illustrata. - Wege-Weisern, Armen- und Meilen-Säulen''. Wittenberg, 1727. * Eberhard Stimmel: ''Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen – Bibliographie''. Herausgegeben von der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V. Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin, 1988. * Autorenkollektiv: ''Lexikon Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen''. Herausgegeben von der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V.. transpress Verlag für Verkehrswesen, Berlin, 1989, . * Gustav Adolf Kuhfahl: ''Die kursächsischen Postmeilensäulen beim 200jährigen Bestehen.'' In: ''Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz.'' Band 11, Heft 4–6, Dresden, 1922, pp. 69–95, . * Gustav Adolf Kuhfahl: ''Die kursächsischen Postmeilensäulen.'' In: ''Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz.'' Band 12, Heft 4–6, Dresden 1923, pp. 97–109, . * Gustav Adolf Kuhfahl: ''Die kursächsischen Postmeilensäulen Augusts des Starken…''. Verlag des Landesvereines Sächsischer Heimatschutz, Dresden, 1930. * Heinz Burckart: ''Zur Geschichte der Postsäulenstellung in Kursachsen.'' In: Sächsische Heimatblätter. Heft 6, 1971, pp. 241–250. * Hans-Heinrich Stölzel: ''Vorhandene kursächsische Postmeilensäulen und Reststücke.'' In: ''Sächsische Heimatblätter''. Heft 6, 1971, pp. 261–271. * Siegfried Rühle: ''Postsäulen und Meilensteine.'' Herausgegeben von der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V. 2. Auflage, Sächs. Druck- und Verlagshaus, Dresden, 1996. * ''Postsäulen und Meilensteine''. Herausgegeben von der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V. Dresden/Grillenburg (Stadt Tharandt). 3. überarbeitete Auflage, Schütze-Engler-Weber Verlags GbR, Dresden, 2007, . * Autorenkollektiv der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen: ''Rundbrief'' 1–88 (1964–2011), Herausgegeben von der Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V.


External links

{{Commons category, Postmeilensäule, Postal mileposts
Research group: the ''Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V.''

Map of the Ämter of Wurzen, Eilenburg & Düben (Schenck, Amsterdam 18th century, no mention of Zürner)
This map shows two of the Saxon post mileposts erected by Zürner: a half-mile post (fallen over, with the monogramme "AR") and a standing quarter-mile post. Culture of Saxony-Anhalt Culture of Saxony Culture of Thuringia Heritage sites in Saxony Monumental columns in Germany Polish culture Surveying