In the footsteps of Baroness von Löwendal

Benedicta Margareta von Löwendal, born in 1683, was a Danish-German noblewoman and founder of the iron factory in Lauchhammer. The industrial town of Lauchhammer was born in 1725 with the lighting of the first blast furnace. Her godson Detlef Carl von Einsiedel then succeeded in making Lauchhammer the centre of iron art casting with his collection of copies of antiquities. In 1784, his sculptors were able to report a ground-breaking achievement: the first hollow iron casting of a figure. From the 1830s, bronze casting was also carried out here and famous sculptors handed over the completion of their works to this foundry, which is still a leader in the casting of monumental sculptures today. In the Art Casting Museum, visitors can discover the models for the foundry’s iron and bronze casts. At the original location of the foundry, built in 1725, almost 3000 surviving models kept at the foundry can be seen in a display warehouse; the models are now under monument protection.

Length: 29 kilometres

Start/finish: Lauchhammer train station, Güterbahnhofstrasse 4 (coordinates 51.474389N, 13.744325E)
via: Lauchhammer Mitte (Bockwitz) - Lauchhammer Ost (Naundorf) - Kleinleipisch - Grünewalde

Cycling-by-numbers
Cyclists going on the full-day tour “In the footsteps of Baroness von Löwendal” can use the new signposting system based on intersection numbers. You will go past the following intersections, if you choose Lauchhammer train station (intersection 22) as your start/finish point: 22 - 42 - 41 - 26 - 19 - 18 - 20 - 21 - 22

Points of interest along the route

• Protestant St Nikolai church; Baron and Baroness von Löwendal are buried in a crypt that can still be accessed
• “Germania” - a recasting of the art cast figure of 1896 in the market square in Lauchhammer-Mitte
• Art casting and bell foundry
• Art casting "Large Vase" in the park of the art casting foundry, made in 1784, recalling the beginning of iron art casting in Lauchhammer
• Art Casting Museum
• Bio-Towers, a stop along the ENERGY Route of Lausitz industrial culture
• Castle grounds in Lauchhammer-West (Mückenberg), which Baroness von Löwendal had built, plus the castle church and animal enclosure
• Recasting of the “Herkulanerin” (Woman from Herculaneum" in the castle grounds in Lauchhammer-West. The original of the “Woman from Herculaneum” was once made as an art iron casting for the castle in Mückenberg.  To mark the 275th anniversary of the Lauchhammer factory, a recasting was erected again at the location in the castle grounds in August 2000.

Parking: Lauchhammer station

Bicycle rental: Fahrradhaus Pötschke cycle rental in Lauchhammer

Maps/Literature: Radwanderkarte Landkreis Oberspreewald-Lausitz, 1:50.000,