The Kyffhäuser in northern Thuringia is shrouded in legend. Now the monument and plateau are to be made more attractive for tourists. A large part of the necessary money will come from Berlin.
Berlin/Bad Frankenhausen (dpa/th) – The Kyffhäuser monument in northern Thuringia is to be fundamentally renovated with financial help from the federal government. According to the Thuringian SPD deputy and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider, the budget committee of the Bundestag released 9.8 million euros for this on Thursday. The money should serve the museum use of the monument area. The federal government is thus providing half of the funding for the Kyffhäuser District project. The aim is to develop the area into a European educational and cultural center.
The monument erected for Kaiser Wilhelm I at the end of the 19th century is the third largest monument in Germany with a height of 81 meters. Like the adjacent ruins of the Staufer imperial castle, it is in a dilapidated condition.
According to the Gera SPD member of the Bundestag Elisabeth Kaiser, the money comes from a new federal funding program “KulturInvest”.
“The Kyffhäuser should develop from a national monument in Europe to a European peace monument,” said the district administrator of the Kyffhäuser district, Antje Hochwind-Schneider (SPD). The district established a Kyffhäuser Foundation in 2021. It should be “a democratic place of learning of national importance”, but also an attraction for tourists.
Overall, renovation and investment costs of around 20 million euros are expected in the coming years. The foundation provides 1.82 million euros. In addition to 2.8 million euros from the district, she also hopes for funding from the state of Thuringia in the amount of 5.1 million euros. The German Foundation for Monument Protection has promised 80,000 euros for the Kyffhäuser, the district said.
“It’s just a shame that many people from the West of the Republic have never been to the East,” said Schneider. He also hopes that the million-euro investment will boost tourism. The renovation of the monument and the entire plateau would have priority. The Kyffhäuser is linked to the Barbarossa legend, according to which Emperor Barbarossa sat asleep at a stone table in an underground castle and woke up every 100 years.
According to the district administrator, an entrance and visitor center should be created, which will also house exhibition rooms. It should be ensured that the Kyffhäuser area – as has happened in the recent past – can no longer be politically taken over by right-wing forces.
