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 Großer Wegestern - Potsdam, Germany
N 52° 22.550 E 013° 08.790
33U E 373830 N 5804457
Originally, 16 trails radiated from here. Four streets are still there today.
Waymark Code: WMHE5G
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
Date Posted: 06/29/2013
Views: 18
Panoramic 360-Degree-image of Potsdam's "Great Trail Star"
Why limit ourselves to four streets, if we can quadruple that and present a Sedecimivia?
Well, Potsdam's "Great Trail Star" (Großer Wegestern) once had 16 routes leaving from the same point. Eight of them are still there - and while four of them are merely hiking and cycling trails, the other four are streets, and they all have indeed different names.
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Prussia's King Frederick William I loved coursing, a kind of hunting in which the prey is simply run down. In addition do fast horses and dogs, this activity needs an area in which the animals can excel to top speed.
Between 1725 and 1729, the King had 40 square miles of brush-land turned into a coursing-heath. That included sixteen trails (called "Gestell"), all radiating from a star-shaped center, called the "Great Star." Hunters could easily make it back just by heading to the nearest trail.
"Great Star" in a 1780 map. (Source: Wikipedia)
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Today, Parforceheide (German for coursing-heath) is a popular hiking area. Eight of the original trails still exist, and they still lead to the "Great Star."
Four of the former trails are now "real" streets and three of them have been renamed. Unfortunately, there is no street sign of any kind, but there is a marker in the center, showing the original names. We have turned our picture of the marker by 45 degrees and added a Google map satellite image to illustrate:
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Stern-Gestell (1) is now Sternstraße, Mittelgestell (2) has been renamed Jagdhausstraße. Originally, Breites Gestell (3 and 4, left picture) was the only trail crossing the "Star" and keeping its name. The northern part was later renamed Kohlhasenbrückstraße (3, right picture), while the southern part (due to a newly highway south of the area now a dead-end street) kept its original name Breites Gestell (4, right picture).
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Today's Kohlhasenbrückstraße,
arriving at the Star
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former Thurm Gestell,
now a bike- and hiking trail |
Today's Breites Gestell,
leaving the Star
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Location: Potsdam, Brandenburg State, Germany
First street name: Sternstraße
Second street name: Jagdhausstraße
Third street name: Kohlhasenbrückstraße
Fourth street name: Breites Gestell
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Visit Instructions:
To document your find of quadrivia, a picture (or pictures) of the four different street names is required, but your GPS receiver need not be shown. A photo of you at the quadrivia is requested. Be safe!
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