Irminsul pendant - jewelry pendant with chain, stainless steel

The Irminsul (from irmin = mighty, divine, great and sul = pillar) or Irmin pillar was a major Old Saxon sanctuary. It is thought to have been a large oak tree or wooden pillar...

Its exact location is unknown, but it was likely situated near the Eresburg by Obermarsberg, as suggested by the phrasing in the Annales regni Francorum ("Frankish Royal Annals") for the year 772.

Other possible locations include the Externsteine and the Velmerstot. The Irminsul was destroyed by the Franks at the instigation of Charlemagne in 772 during the Saxon Wars.

The Irminsul was evidently intended to symbolize the connection between heaven and earth. The monk Rudolf of Fulda, to whom we owe the only detailed account of the Irminsul, writes in the Translatio s. Alexandri (Chap. 3): "Truncum quoque ligni non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo colebant, patria eum lingua Irminsul appellantes, quod Latine dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia." – "They (the Saxons) also venerated a wooden block (or: tree trunk) of no small size, which had been erected on high under the open sky, which they called 'Irminsul' in their native language, which means 'universal pillar' in Latin, as it supports the all, as it were."

A (remnant) version of a presumed "Irmin pillar" is located in Hildesheim Cathedral today. A connection to "the" Irminsul is unclear.

Incidentally, the villages of Irminseul / Irmenseul, Segeste, the Drachenberg, and the Wormstal are located nearby, which could even point to the Nibelungenlied.

Among other things, there is a memorial in Irmenseul in the district of Hildesheim (approx. 9 kilometers from Nordwelt Versand).