The sandstone wolf of Friedewald

A sitting wolf of stone keeps watch over the Friedewald in the community of Weinböhla. Carved from sandstone, this monument commemorates a particularly strong wolf that was killed during a drive hunt on April 20, 1618. Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony, ordered the monument's construction to mark the event.

The sculpture rises from a rectangular pedestal, a block of history inscribed on all four sides. If you look closely at the base, you can see the names of all thirty-six people who participated in the pursuit. Among them was Anthoni Brum. He was a Jäger-Jung, a term that likely suggests a young, untrained hunter. He was one of the lowest-ranking individuals in the hunting party.

Time and war have left their marks on the pillar. While Sebastian Walther of Dresden was the original sculptor, the wolf you see today is a copy from 1950, created to replace the original which suffered damage during the conflict. The monument has been repaired and renewed multiple times, in 1736, 1866, 1913, 1945, and 1981, as recorded in a circular inscription just below the wolf's seat. It stands at a height that records vary on, cited as 4.5 or 5.5 meters depending on whether the substructure is included in the count.

Succession brought further layers of memory to the site. In 1672, the Elector's son, Johann Georg II, renovated the structure and added a new inscription to the back. He chose to immortalize his own triumph over a large red deer, a 16-Ender, killed on September 4 of that same year.

Today, the monument stands in the community of Weinböhla, a protected piece of heritage near the Lobetanzwiese. To the north of the monument is the S80 state road, and the Kreyern forest house is located approximately 700 meters southeast. The last wolf in the Friedewald was reportedly seen in 1750.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons