Freyburg - GymFreyburg - Gym
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Memorial Gym
in Freyburg (Unstrut), photo: J. Leirich (2008)
On June 10, 1894, more than 3000 gymnasts from all gymnastic regions of Germany and Austria met for the inauguration of the memorial gymnasium.
On the one hand, the building served as a representative place of remembrance, in whose crypt below the gable the "gymnastics father" Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was to find his final resting place.
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On the other hand, the lavishly designed gymnastics hall was to be an expression of the esteem in which German gymnastics was held, which after the publication of Jahn and Eiselen's main work "The Art of German Gymnastics" (1816) had developed significantly and led to the founding of thousands of gymnastics clubs and the German Gymnastics Federation (1848).
In the deed of donation of the German Gymnastics Association to the town of Freyburg is recorded:
"The municipality of Freyburg takes over the gymnasium together with the newly produced grave monument and the equipment located in the hall and [...] leaves the room located behind the hall [...] to accommodate a Jahn museum which remains the property of the German Gymnastics [...]."
The gable end of the hall was prepared over the old gravesite with Jahn's bust as a place for commemorative events.
To this day, the Remembrance Gym is used by Freyburg schools and clubs as a training facility. In 1994, the gymnasium was renovated and supplemented with an underground sanitary wing.
