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Guns and ammunition buried - ordnance clearance service secures old weapons

2022-05-11T03:41:05.502Z


The prelate's garden of the Schäftlarn monastery: a gem that is known far beyond its borders. Weapons from World War II have now been discovered during the restoration of the walls surrounding it. The explosive ordnance clearance service was notified.


The prelate's garden of the Schäftlarn monastery: a gem that is known far beyond its borders.

Weapons from World War II have now been discovered during the restoration of the walls surrounding it.

The explosive ordnance clearance service was notified.

Schäftlarn

– The prelate's garden of the Schäftlarn monastery: a gem that is known far beyond its borders.

The area itself is surrounded by high walls - and they are now in a crooked position.

Relics from the past were discovered during the renovation: weapons from the Second World War.

The explosive ordnance clearance service was notified.

Baroque wall

"A structural engineer had identified a need for action," says the administrative manager of the monastery, Stefan Rührgartner.

They were lucky: “Down here there are different, calmer wind conditions.

If the wall were up in Hohenschäftlarn, the area might have had to be closed.” The approximately three meter high wall from the Baroque period is a listed building, as is the floor area.

"So an archaeologist had to be called in at every ground-breaking ceremony." And he immediately made two surprising discoveries when the foundations, whose stones were not frost-proof and therefore began to crumble, were uncovered.

Bolt action rifles appear

And then came the afternoon when the explosive ordnance clearance service had to move in.

"On the outside, about 50 centimeters deep, two bolt-action rifles from the Second World War suddenly appeared." The experts examined the spot with a probe and discovered two more machine guns and two associated magazines.

"Some of it was no longer recognizable at all," recalls Rührgartner.

"The wooden stock of one gun was completely rotted, but the plastic one looked like new." Why the guns and ammunition were buried here remains a mystery.

"On the outside, you could have been seen immediately while digging," the administration manager reflects.

"It's an absolutely exposed position." It would have been much easier to sink the guns in the next pond or in the manure pit.

Garden formerly used as a kitchen garden

Incidentally, the reason for the redevelopment is as follows: "The current wall stands at a depth of about one meter on a much older one." Rührgartner knows that the garden was part of the monastery economy in the past and was used as a "kitchen garden".

Only in 1998 was it transformed into a dream garden with countless rose and lavender bushes, perennials and summer flowers by the “Schönes Schäftlarn” association under the leadership of Martin and Maria Stangl.

The members of the association still take care of the maintenance of the 1200 square meter area on a voluntary basis.

The damp subsoil was partly to blame for the foundations of the current wall decomposing.

"The monastery was repeatedly affected by the flood."

Fields used to be flooded

The head of administration shows a postcard from the 1940s.

The fields around the abbey were flooded, the water was up to the bottom of the windows of the current administration building.

"It was only with the construction of the dam on the Isar, but even more so with the construction of the Sylvenstein reservoir that it was over."

Now the foundations were cleared and laid dry again, sealing plaster was applied to prevent further moisture.

In addition, a border of gravel on both sides should prevent splashing water from hitting the white walls.

The bottom line is that the renovation will cost around 150,000 euros.

“The monastery takes on a lion’s share.

Another part is taken on by monument protection – but the pots are getting smaller and smaller here.” The wall is to be painted white again in the near future, “only then will the final bill come”.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-11

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