Barricades are particularly dramatic symbols of the 1849 Revolution. Especially in Saxony, where 250 people died in barricade fights in May 1849, they also became a subject in fine art. The painter Julius Scholtz (1825-93) depicted a very striking Dresden barricade scene. <\/p>\n
As a close-up, it conveys an impression of the intensity of the confrontation between irregulars (here in civilian clothes) and the Prussian-Saxon military. It also documents the ‘architecture’ of the barricades: torn-up cobblestones, wagon wheels, wooden barrels. The latter (French barrique = barrel) also led to the term ‘barricade’. <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/visit-kirchheimbolanden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sw-47-barrikadeamschlossgarten-2.jpg” title_text=”Sw-47-Barrikadeamschlossgarten-2″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||30px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” column_structure=”1_2,1_2″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” custom_margin=”||-1px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”off|desktop” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]
As a symbolic site of resistance against perceived oppressive authorities, the events at the barricades have often fostered myth-making \u2013 as was also the case in Kirchheimbolanden.<\/p>\n
Mathilde Hitzfeld [Location 59] provided the personification necessary for a myth. An illustration published in 1893 shows the 23-year-old (in 1849) with a black-red-gold flag on a barricade. Accordingly, the Kirchheimbolanden ‘Lokalanzeiger’ also recalled in an obituary for Mathilde Hitzfeld in 1905: ‘She participated in the barricade fight in Kirchheimbolanden and, with a small group of daring freedom heroes, tried in vain to halt the advance of the Prussians.’ The newspaper text and book illustration are thus consistent. <\/p>\n
However, since no barricade fights took place in Kirchheimbolanden in 1849, a dramatic event is constructed \u2013 not as ‘fake news,’ but as an incentive for emotional imagination and romanticization.<\/p>\n
But the events of June 14, 1849, were already portrayed in this manner shortly thereafter. A letter from the irregular Joseph Regnier from Mainz provides information: ‘It was a strange state of mind we were in; we had forgotten everything around us and thought it couldn’t be any other way.’ <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/visit-kirchheimbolanden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sw-47-barrikadeamschlossgarten-1.jpg” title_text=”Sw-47-Barrikadeamschlossgarten-1″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||30px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barricade at the Palace Garden Revolutionary Site: Barricade Barricades are particularly dramatic symbols of the 1849 Revolution. Especially in Saxony, where 250 people died in barricade fights in May 1849, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-corps"],"yoast_head":"\n