Cotta memorial stone back in the Zeisigwald forest
The memorial stone in Chemnitz commemorating the world-famous forestry scientist Heinrich Cotta (1763 - 1844) (photo) has now been returned to its original location on Grenzweg in the Zeisigwald forest near the city centre, which is part of the Chemnitz municipal heritage.
The memorial stone had been stolen around the turn of the year 2012/13; unknown persons had stolen the Dadoxylon - a 290-million-year-old piece of silicified wood. The new Dadoxylon is on permanent loan from the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz. The green space authority commissioned the Chemnitz-based construction company Klaus Nestler to carry out the complete professional restoration of the memorial stone. The costs totalled just under 2,500 euros.
The Cotta memorial stone in Zeisigwald was unveiled in 1984 to mark the 150th anniversary of the forest scientist's death. Cotta, who transferred his private forestry school from Zillbach in Thuringia to Tharandt in Saxony in 1811, is regarded as the founder of modern sustainable forestry and forest science. Today, the globally recognised forestry training centre in Tharandt, which was elevated to the "Royal Saxon Forestry Academy" in 1816, is part of Dresden University of Technology.
Incidentally, the very first memorial stone to Heinrich Cotta was erected in Chemnitz in today's Küchwald Park at the intersection of Cotta-Weg and Cotta-Schneise, when this park was still a Royal Saxon State Forest. However, this memorial stone has been missing since the Second World War. Since Küchwaldpark - as it is still officially known - has no longer been a forest but a park since the beginning of the 20th century, it was only logical to find a place for the Cotta memorial stone in an urban forest.