Petrified forest
The Petrified Forest is a special attraction in the city of Chemnitz. Formed 290 million years ago by silicification during a volcanic eruption, the Petrified Forest is now one of the most important collections of siliceous wood in the world.
Most of the logs are now on display in the Museum of Natural History in Tietz. Until the Museum of Natural History moved in 2004, the Petrified Forest was located on the east gable of the museum on Theatre Square.
The first logs were found in 1737. To this day, fossilised wood has been recovered time and again during excavation work in the Hilbersdorf district of Chemnitz. In 2008, researchers uncovered a horsetail several metres tall.
Experts consider the Petrified Forest to be one of the oldest natural monuments.
Window into the history of the earth
At the "Window into the Earth's History", visitors to the Sonnenberg district can look over the shoulders of the excavation team as they uncover further parts of the Petrified Forest.
Discovery and exploration
The forest of stone, which has been preserved for eternity at a shallow depth in the Hilbersdorf district, has been known for centuries.
The mayor of Chemnitz, Georgius Agricola, mentioned the fossilised trees as early as the Middle Ages. He was also the one who coined the word "fossil", Latin fosslis - that which is dug out of the ground. There are reports from 1737 in which fossilised trees are reported in Hilbersdorf.
In 1751, David Frenzel discovered a trunk with 12 attached roots while searching for gemstones, which was excavated and documented a year later.
This palaeobotanical excavation also became internationally known. In 1759, the Dresdnische Magazin reported in detail on the sensational seven-day transport of the trunk to Dresden on a specially constructed wagon drawn by 28 horses. The Hilbersdorf treasure was on display in the Dresden Zwinger for over a century until it was destroyed in a fire in 1849.
The large-scale discovery of the prehistoric treasure was made possible by the rapid growth of the city of Chemnitz in the 18th century. After 1870, many fossilised trees were found during the construction of streets and houses in Neuhilbersdorf.
The only municipal museum at the time, the Lechlasche Villa in Annaberger Straße, took up the growing collection in 1875 and made it accessible to the public. The founder of the municipal natural science collections, Johann Traugott Sterzel, endeavoured to combine the interesting finds into a natural monument.
Master builder Max Güldner (1872-1947) made a lasting contribution to the recovery of pebble wood. He ran a building business at Frankenberger Straße 140 and built stately homes on Frankenberger Straße and Hilbersdorfer Straße at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. During excavation work, he came across the main site of the Hilbersdorfer Kieselhölzer (pebble wood).
It was to Güldner's credit that the recovered pebble wood could be safely recovered under the expert guidance of Otto Weber. The latter introduced Güldner to Professor Sterzel and thus initiated the good cooperation that resulted in Güldner donating many fossilised logs to the museum, which are now displayed under the glass dome of the Tietz.
The Berlin building councillor Orth, who had bought the farmland of two Hilbersdorf estates after 1875, handed over the fossilised forest finds from these areas to the Natural Science Society in Chemnitz.
Monument on Zeißstraße/Orthstraße
In Orth's honour, his heirs erected the small monument surrounded by pebbles at the fork in the former Zeppelinstraße, now Zeißstraße/Orthstraße, on 14 October 1911. They decided that Orth's artefacts should be given on permanent loan to the city's natural history collection. The city of Chemnitz also honoured Orth by naming the street adjacent to the memorial. The memorial plaque reads: "In memory of the Privy Building Councillor August Orth, who further opened up the classic site of a fossilised forest from the Rotliegend period during the structural development of the adjacent site."
A "giant tree", which was discovered in 1900 during excavation work on the Sonnenberg and is still the largest trunk in the Petrified Forest today, caused a particular stir.
In September 1909, the natural history collection moved to the completed König-Albert-Museum on Theaterplatz. The Petrified Forest was first placed on the west gable before being moved to the more frequented east façade in 1939 and from then on became a symbol of the city of Chemnitz.
65 years later, the Chemnitz Petrified Forest was given its fourth location in the atrium of the Tietz House, where the Museum of Natural History, the City Library, the Adult Education Centre and the Neue Sächsische Galerie moved into in 2004.