A summit cross (German: Gipfelkreuz) is a cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a "summit register" (Gipfelbuch) at the cross, either in a container or at least a weatherproof case.
Various forms of other marking or symbol such as cairns, prayer flags or ovoos may be found around the world on passes and hills, in particular on sacred mountains. In the Italian Alps a madonna is sometimes placed at the summit instead of a cross.
Summit crosses are normally about two to four metres high and are usually made of wood or metal. In April 2010 the world's first glass summit cross was erected on the Schartwand (2,339 m) in Salzburg's Tennengebirge mountains.[1] They are mainly found in Catholic regions of the Alps, especially in Austria, Switzerland and Bavaria, but also in America. They usually stand on mountains, whose summit are above tree line, but they are also found in the German Central Uplands, for example in the Black Forest on the Herzogenhorn.
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By the end of the 13th century a few large crosses had been erected in passes and on hills. Examples from this period include the Confin Cross in St. Valentin on the Mals Heath, which also acted as a boundary marker, or crosses on the Arlberg, the Gardena Pass or Birnlücke.[2] An early example of large crosses, visible from the valley floor, being set up on mountain tops, occurred during the first successful climb of Mont Aiguille in 1492, when three crosses were put up at the corner of the summit plateau.[3] In the 16th century crosses were erected with increasingly frequency on mountain peaks, especially for the purpose of marking alpine pasture and municipal boundaries. In the 17th century, especially during the Thirty Years' War, these religious symbols gained importance. The crosses of this period were mostly of simple, wooden crosses hewn from branches found near the site or house crucifixes. During this time crosses were often made with two cross beams in the form of so-called patriarchal crosses (or Scheyern crosses). These "weather crosses" were intended to supersede the old pagan superstitions associated with thunder, storm and hail. Further layers of Christian imagery for the Romantic generation made summit crosses a motif favoured by Caspar David Friedrich more than one mystic landscape.[4]
In the 19th century the summits of many mountains were adorned usually with simple, wooden crosses during the course of mountaineering expeditions or survey work, both of which were on the increase. Large summit crosses in the modern sense designed specifically for mountain tops by expert craftsmen were not really introduced until the end of the 19th century. One known exception is the Kleinglockner and Grossglockner, which were given large summit crosses in 1799 and 1800 as part of their first ascent.[2] These crosses, in addition to their religious function were also used, for example, as lightning conductors and fitted with meteorological instruments such as barometers.[5] During the 19th century there were several attempts to erect secular symbols such as pyramids, obelisks or flags instead of crosses, usually dedicated to secular rulers. One example was the construction of the so-called Emperor Obelisk on the Ortler in 1888.[6] The 20th century introduced modern materials and technology: A summit cross erected in 1977 on Carrauntoohil, the highest summit in Ireland, originally featured a windmill that powered light bulbs on the cross.[7]
That summit crosses express can be exemplified by the crosses erected and re-erected on the comparatively insignificant Butte de Warlencourt, a pre-Christian tumulus on the Somme, only some 20m above the surrounding terrain but a scene of intense fighting during World War I, when it was the objective of costly and fruitless British attacks during the battle of the Somme: "this pagan memorial was Christianized by bombardment and large numbers of dead," claimed by a British cross (1917), then a German one (1918), which was removed during the interwar period and replaced by soldiers of the Wehrmacht, in "a symbolic conflict of ownership fought with cruciform images."[8]
The erection of summit crosses experienced a boom in the early 20th century. Even after the Second World War, many new crosses were erected. Communities often organized this sometimes very expensive and logistically difficult task on very high mountain peaks in the memory of the fallen, and war veterans in particular were often involved in their installation.[2] A famous example from this period is the cross at the Zuckerhütl, whose construction was filmed in 1947, a year later.[9] Today summit crosses are often put up by the local tourist association or the branch of the Alpine Club.