When excavators deepened the Elbe in Hamburg in 1999, they encountered a huge boulder - one of the largest in Germany. Since then, the "Old Swede" has had to put up with a lot.
Even Pippi Longstocking couldn't have lifted it out of the water. But the fabulously strong girl is of course not present when one of the heaviest boulders in Germany is lifted out of the Elbe in Hamburg in 1999. Instead, a floating crane with a lifting capacity of 1,600 tons is sufficient. He lifts the huge boulder onto a pontoon. From there the erratic boulder will be placed on the banks of the Elbe near Övelgönne on October 23rd. Hundreds of spectators watch the spectacle. Scientists later analyze the composition of the rock and find out:It is granite from the Swedish Småland - the home of Astrid Lindgren and her fictional character Pippi Longstocking. A few months later, the new attraction on the banks of the Elbe got its name:"Old Swede".
The first rescue attempt goes wrong
The experts assume that the stone was pushed to northern Germany by Ice Age glaciers around 400,000 years ago. The rock was discovered in September 1999 during Elbe deepening work - at a water depth of 15 metres. The first attempt to recover the boulder went wrong at the time. Because the "Big Stone of Övelgönne", as it is initially called, is much heavier than expected. It was estimated at "only" 140 tons - and when trying to rescue it, it promptly slipped out of the mooring and splashed back into the Elbe. Divers have to wrap the stone again with steel cables. The difficult task was successful on the second attempt:"This time we managed to attach the ropes much further under the stone than the first time," says Jörg Oellerich from the Office for Electricity and Port Construction after the successful salvage. The boulder is then measured:it has a circumference of 19.7 meters, is almost eight meters thick at its widest point and is 4.5 meters high. The weight is a whopping 217 tons. For comparison:an almost 40 meter long Airbus A 320 weighs only 80 tons fully occupied, loaded and fueled.
"Stumbling block":St. Pauli versus HSV fans
Again and again the foundling is "embellished" by strangers. Among other things, football fans deliver a color duel.On June 6, 2000, the boulder was christened "Old Swede". In 2001 it was placed under protection as a natural monument. The boulder must therefore not be destroyed, damaged or altered. However, that hasn't quite worked out in recent years:the stone is repeatedly daubed with slogans. Or sometimes painted with the club colors of FC St. Pauli - which of course doesn't make fans of HSV long to hesitate to return the favor. Finally, the stone is given a special seal to make graffiti easier to remove.
2019:Unknown people spray boulders with gold paint
The most spectacular is the "embellishment" campaign by strangers who completely sprayed the "Old Swedes" with gold paint in early 2019. Hundreds of people then make a pilgrimage to the Elbe to take pictures of the rocks, which are now sparkling in the sun. But the "golden age" of "Old Sweden" didn't last long:rain washed the color off the boulder fairly quickly. And finally, the Hamburg port authority decides - despite many Hamburg residents demanding otherwise - to also remove the gold remains and restore the original state of the natural wonder from Småland in Sweden.