Wedding tower
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Darmstadt's landmark is the 48.5 m high wedding tower that stands on Mathildenhöhe .
The architect Joseph Maria Olbrich designed the brick tower, completed in 1908, on behalf of the City of Darmstadt as a gift to commemorate the wedding of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig with Princess Eleonore zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich on February 2, 1905. The five concluding arches of the roof are striking, reminiscent of an outstretched hand, which is why it is also called the “five-finger tower”. The tower is assigned to Art Nouveau . As a building, it belongs to the complex of the then new water reservoir and the exhibition hall and communal studio of the artists' colony.
Entrance hall
In the entrance hall there are two mosaics by Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens , "The Kiss" and "The Loyalty". The ceiling is designed as a night sky. The elevator was installed later.
Facade structure
Base with entrance portal
Plastered three-tier design, height about 1.5 floors.
Tower body
The brick tower body made of dark red bricks (peat fire clinker) begins with a sandstone slab above the entrance (four figures above the two coats of arms; Heinrich Jobst * 1874 † 1943). The four figures are personifications of the four ruler's virtues: strength , wisdom , justice and mildness .
The relief was designed by Heinrich Jobst and bears an inscription. It is:
- IN MEMORY OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE GRAND DUKE ERNST LUDWIG AND THE GRAND DUCHESS ELEONORE ERECTED BY THE CITY OF DARMSTADT; ANNO 1907-1908
There is a book magazine on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
The sundial on the south side was made in 1914 to designs by Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens (1878-1956) by the United Workshops for Mosaic and Glass Painting Puhl & Wagner - Gottfried Heinersdorff in Berlin-Neukölln . It is framed by 12 signs of the zodiac and contains the first and last - somewhat modified - stanzas of a poem by Rudolf G. Binding :
The day passes over my face,
the night she gropes gently by
and day and night a balance
and night and day a monotony
and the shadow
writing circles forever you stand in the dark game
until the game's interpretation meets you,
the time is up - you are at your goal
On the 4th floor with eccentric ribbon windows (4 and 1) there is the Grand Duke's room, the so-called “Prince's Room”, today the registry office.
The Grand Duchess' room, the so-called "wedding room", is on the 5th floor with eccentric ribbon windows (4 and 1).
On the north side of the 6th floor there has also been a tower clock in gold leaf, designed by Albin Müller , with symbols of faith since 1914 .
Viewing platform and fifty-point finish
The finger-shaped battlements are rounded upwards in a barrel shape and arranged symmetrically in a steep wedge formation.
On the narrow sides of these fingers, purple bricks are walled up, with their narrow side as the visible side. They form five fine, inwardly recessed bands that give the structure lightness. These ribbons start on the 5th floor above a yellow square decorative relief. The roof surfaces are clad with copper sheet.
The viewing platform is 33.5 m high and extends over the entire 7th floor. It can either be reached by elevator or via a staircase with 195 steps that leads upwards in 13 turns. On the narrow sides of the tower there are three lattice windows, on the west side 5 doors with lattice windows are attached, which lead to small balconies in front. On the east side there is a lattice window to the right and left, in between 3 doors with balconies as on the west side. The windows and doors cannot be opened by visitors. Nevertheless, the viewing platform offers a wide panoramic view.
Interior
The two former rooms of the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess have been used as the marriage room of the registry office since 1993, a use appropriate to the original purpose.
literature
- City of Darmstadt. Cultural monuments in Hessen. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , ed. from the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse, Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsges., Braunschweig 1994, ISBN 3-528-06249-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to measurements carried out privately
Coordinates: 49 ° 52 ′ 37.7 " N , 8 ° 40 ′ 2" E