The Fishermen’s Stone
The oldest and smallest monument in the city of Hrádek nad Nisou is The Fishermen’s Stone dated from 1565. Then, as now, fishermen had their private fishing spots marked by the stones, though only two of the original four remain and not in their original positions. The stones do not mark the fishing spots anymore but they are an interesting characteristics of the period.
The first stone is located next to the Hrádek fishermen’s clubhouse in Tovární Street No. 628 and it was positioned there in 1984. Originally it was set on the Czech – Saxon border in a place called Barborka. The location and its surroundings were named Barborka after the old adit of the same name.
The stone is set in a cone made from concrete and pebbles. Inscribed on the stone is the year 1565 and the German text: “AD 24. IVLI GREFENSTEINISCH DER WEISSBACH HEGWASSER GEGEN DEN GEBURG AVF WARTS AN BEDEN UFERN”, which means: “AD, July, 24th, the Grabštejn protected water of the stream named Bílý potok flows towards the mountains on both banks.”
Under the text there is a carving of three lillies which represent the coat of arms of Jiří Mehl of Střelice, the master of the Grabštejn manor in that time.
The position of the stone gave permission to the local fishermen to fish from that point upstream.
In the past there was another stone on the other side of the border which allowed fishermen to fish up to the confluence of the stream Bílý potok and the river Nisa, which was a Saxon fishing spot.
The fishing rights were divided between the two banks of the river Nisa as it was on the Bílý potok stream. Evidence of this can be found at the centre of the Hartava village where the stone was repositioned from the river bank. Similar German inscription can be found on this stone: “1565. AD 24 JULJJ DER VON ZJTTAU HEGEWASSER DER NEJSSE NJEDERWARTS AN BEIDE UFFERN”, which means: “AD, July, 24th, the Zittau protected water downstream the Nisa river on both banks”.
We believe the fourth stone had a position right opposite the stone mentioned above but we have no evidence to support this.
