German legend about Frederick Barbarossa

Frederick Barbarossa is the subject of a so-called king asleep in mountain legend. According to it, he didn't die drowning on 10 June 1190 in the Calycadnus River in Asia Minor during the Third Crusade, but was bewitched in a cave underneath the Kyffhäuser Mountains. There he sleeps on his throne, his faithful servants at his side, awaiting his awakening.

 

The Kyffhäuser hills and the Kyffhäuser Monument

His head rests in his hands and his red beard grows around the stone table. Every one hundred years he wakes up and sends one of his servants to look whether the ravens still circle the mountain. If so, the emperor goes back to sleep. The ravens represent discord and misfortune and will be cast out by an eagle at the end. According to the legend, his beard needs to grow around the table once – in other versions three times – to disenchant the spell. As in the similar legend of King Arthur, Barbarossa supposedly awaits Germany's hour of greatest need, when he will emerge once again from under the hill. Similar rapture legends refer to Emperor Frederick II or to Charlemagne sleeping in the Untersberg near Salzburg.

The Barbarossa myth was first documented in the late 17th century and later popularized by the Brothers Grimm and a poem written in 1817 by Friedrich Rückert. Frequently taken up by Romantic authors, and satirized in Germany. A Winter's Tale by Heinrich Heine, it became the expression of the desire for the Old Empire's re-emergence as a German nation state. When the Kyffhäuser Monument was built at the ruins of the Imperial Castle in 1890–1896, with a statue of Frederick Barbarossa and an Emperor William monument, the German Emperor William I was thought to have "laid to rest" Barbarossa by the 1871 unification of Germany.

The Kyffhäuser Monument was designed by architect Bruno Schmitz (1858–1916) and it is the third-largest monument in Germany.

Central tower and equestrian statue of Emperor William I

A little scenic stone quarry surrounded by terraces on the east side of the monument forms the backdrop for the emperor Frederick Barbarossa sandstone sculpture created by Nikolaus Geiger (1849–1897). The 6.5 m (21 ft) high figure was fashioned on site from several sandstone blocks. At its feet linger knights, mythical creatures and members of his court, with whom the old emperor is lying in wait for resurrection in his underground dungeon. The emperor himself is depicted as one might imagine an ancient powerful monarch in poems and legends at the very moment of awakening. This moment has been highlighted by the crawling movement of the left hand, that rests in the bottom-long beard and a slightly recessed leg that is not covered by the coat. Sculptor Nikolaus Geiger decorated the emperor's red beard with the imperial crown, as its original is on display in the Vienna Hofburg.

In the Kyffhäuser Hills there is also the Barbarossa Cave, a cave with large caverns, grottos and lakes. It was discovered in 1865 as a gallery was being driven during prospecting works. Its location in the Kyffhäuser Hills gave rise to its link with the Barbarossa Legend and its proximity to the Kyffhäuser Monument led to it being renamed the Barbarossa Cave at the end of the 19th century. Of interest to visitors are the underground lakes whose gypsum content gives them an iridescent green colour, and a human made stone construction, known as Barbarossa's Table and Chair.

Barbarossa's Table and Chair.

 

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