Mountain town Freiberg (EN)

My grandfather, Klaus Kolbe, often talked about creating a mechanical candle arch with a Freiberg motif during his lifetime. Unfortunately, he was no longer able to make this dream come true himself. So we have spent the last 5 years working on creating a candle arch that reflects the city of Freiberg and its history.

Freiberg is a city steeped in history and closely linked to mining. This is remembered by the striking buildings, the distinctive culture and, above all, by the people who live or have lived there.

A brief look back:

In around 1162, the then Margrave of Meissen, “Otto the Rich”, ordered the clearing of the primeval forest, called Miriquidi, in the area around Freiberg. Individual forest villages were established there, including Christiansdorf. A few years later, in 1168/70, rich silver-bearing lead ores were discovered there. As word spread that the “mountain was free”, many people settled there, who very quickly promoted silver mining, trade and the growth of Freiberg. The name Freiberg was first mentioned in 1201.

Little by little, the buildings that characterize the cityscape were built, such as Freiberg Cathedral, Freudenstein Castle and the entire Obermarkt with its town hall. These buildings can also be seen on our candle arch. In 1572, the highest silver yield since the beginning of mining took place. However, the Thirty Years’ War caused mining to stagnate. A number of large city fires also slowed the development of silver mining, so that it only began to flourish again after 1700. The highest silver production was achieved in 1884 with around 35 t of silver.

However, the Freiberg Mining Academy was founded a little earlier, in 1765; the academy building is of course also immortalized on the candle arch, where people such as Alexander von Humboldt worked. In fact, there were a number of famous people at work in Freiberg, including Gottfried Silbermann, whose construction of the organ in Freiberg Cathedral established his legendary reputation. These were all very impressive people, but for me the real heroes can be found elsewhere. People who did hard work, hardly saw sunlight, didn’t live very long and led a very modest life – the miners. These are the people who laid the foundation for our privileged present. They toiled from dawn to dusk in the dark so that they could provide their families with a modest meal.

Of course, the past and the present are not comparable. It is therefore important that we exercise a little humility when we look at the living conditions of those days and remember the brave miners with honor. The silver that their hands wrested from the mountain made Freiberg the city it is today. But it was not just Freiberg that benefited from this – the whole region grew because of it. We have tried to depict the difficulty of the work and have also discussed some of the more advanced mining techniques, such as the sweeping wheel and the Huntebahn, which is pulled by horses. Both can be found in the base of the candle arch.

The “Alte Elisabeth” and “Reiche Zeche” mines are of course not to be missed. In order not to completely succumb to melancholy when remembering the hard-working miners, the cheerful Christmas market on the Obermarkt can of course also be admired here. In this way we have immortalized the main features of Freiberg and built a bridge between the past and the present.

Of course, the city has a lot more to offer. However, an important part of what makes Freiberg what it is can be seen and demonstrates its history. However, I did not develop this work of art alone. Therefore, I would now like to take the opportunity to thank my family, who always support me and without whom neither the factory nor our wonderful candle arches would exist.

The same applies to our employees, who work diligently every day to ensure that our bows always have the same high quality. And of course I would also like to remember my grandfather, who founded the manufactory together with my grandmother and made it what it is now, a think tank for historical works of art.

Seiffen, October 20, 2023