Obelisk for Queen Katharina Pawlowna

This obelisk commemorates the Württemberg Queen Katharina Pavlovna Romanowa. She lived from 1788 to 1819 and was the daughter of the Russian Tsar Paul. She came to Stuttgart as the wife of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, whom she married again in 1816. Due to the bad harvests and famines at that time, she founded the "Central Charity Association". The Katharinenstift and the Katharinenhospital in Stuttgart still bear her name.
The burial chapel on Mount Württemberg was built as a mausoleum by King Wilhelm I for Catherine.
The obelisk here in Hohenheim was made by Markus Wolf in 2008.

Catherine Pavlovna Romanova (1788-1819) was Queen of Württemberg for barely three years (1816-1819). In this short time, she demonstrated enormous social and political commitment, gained great popularity among the population, and provided important impetus for the development of a modern society.
Catherine was born as the sixth child of the Russian Tsar Paul I and his wife Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. Catherine's mother was already socially committed and raised her daughters to actively care for the poor. Catherine, who was married to the Duke of Oldenburg in her first marriage, traveled through Europe after his death in 1812, where she met important scholars of her time and gained knowledge of education, social affairs, trade, and agriculture. At the Congress of Vienna, she met the Crown Prince of Württemberg, later King William I of Württemberg. Their wedding took place in St. Petersburg in January 1816, and in April of the same year, the two ceremoniously entered Stuttgart.
During the famine of 1816/17, Catherine had grain brought from Russia, set fixed prices for food, and set up soup kitchens. She created a network of social institutions and founded the Central Charitable Association (now the Welfare Association for Baden-Württemberg) to consolidate and manage them. Unusually for the time, women and men were equally represented on its management. To ensure the long-term supply of food to the population, Catherine founded the "Central Office of the Agricultural Association," which later became the Agricultural Teaching, Research, and Model Institute, from which today's University of Hohenheim originates.The Catherine Hospital, inaugurated only after her death, the Catherine Foundation (initially a secondary school for girls, now a grammar school), and the founding of the Württemberg State Savings Bank are also attributable to her initiative.When the queen, already in poor health, contracted a cold and erysipelas in 1819, which ultimately led to her death, all of Württemberg mourned. King Wilhelm I was inconsolable and had a burial chapel built for his wife on the Rotenberg, which still attracts many visitors today. The inscription above the portal reads: "Love never ends."
Source: stadtlexikon-stuttgart.de/article/bf8ab921-62e0-4ed5-850e-46b58030503d/Katharina_Pawlowna_Romanowa,.html

In memory of Queen Katharina of Württemberg