Old Mill (Fürstenberg)

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Old Mill, 2017

The old mill is a listed building in Fürstenberg / Weser in Lower Saxony , which was built as a windmill from 1744 and converted into a laboratory for the Fürstenberg porcelain manufacturer from 1747 . The building dates back to the early days of the manufacture, when people were still experimenting with the technology of porcelain production before production began in Fürstenberg Castle . The old mill is one of the oldest surviving porcelain manufactory facilities in Europe.

description

Draft sketch of the windmill building with inventory by Johann Bessler , 1743
Central chimney shaft in the building, presumably also for kilns

The old mill is located on a plot of land next to the old distillery, around 500 meters from Fürstenberg Castle. The originally two-story stone building with dimensions of 20 × 11 meters was built as a windmill by the inventor Johann Bessler from 1744 , as evidenced by the year 1744 in a lintel. The mill should with a horizontally rotating impeller often prevailing in Furstenberg updrafts use. The mill was built on behalf of the Brunswick court councilor Heinrich Bernhard Schrader von Schliestedt , as there was no mill in the Fürstenberg office due to a lack of water that could grind continuously throughout the year. After Bessler died in Fürstenberg in 1745, the building remained unfinished as a windmill. According to some sources, he is said to have died after falling from the new windmill. After the court hunter Johann Georg von Langen founded the porcelain factory Fürstenberg on January 11, 1747 on behalf of Duke Karl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , the building was converted. It was given a two-story half - timbered tower and a laboratory with drying and kilns for the porcelain manufacture was built inside. An account book with the following title has been handed over to the renovation work:

Construction bill for Das zu Fürstenberg, a stone building four storeys high and destined to Porcelain Fabric, built from the new windmill that was started, together with a kiln, and various kiln, glaze and other ovens, some of which were inventory.

It was used as a laboratory until around 1755. The technical director of porcelain production, Johann Christoph Glaser , a self-proclaimed arcanist , initially lived in the building . Until the 1980s, the old mill served as a workshop for the employees of the porcelain factory.

Decay

In 2006, the municipality of Fürstenberg acquired the old mill , on a leasehold land of the Braunschweig Cultural Heritage Foundation stands, and planned a tourist development. In 2014 it became known that the municipality was looking for a buyer for the building. The Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments is involved in the planning and construction work with experts from industrial heritage preservation and archeology for the property.

Overgrown window (2017) with the year 1744 as the construction date

In 2014, the Lower Saxony Heritage Association classified the old mill as endangered in its red folder and asked the Lower Saxony state government how the building could be preserved as an important technical monument . The state government replied in the white folder that the poor condition of the building with a considerable backlog of repairs was known. The regional historical significance as the origin of the Fürstenberg porcelain factory cannot therefore be conveyed. However, a renovation in accordance with the requirements of listed buildings is almost imperative in order to make the old mill accessible to visitors. Financial support can only be given if there is a concept for long-term use.

meaning

From a monument preservation point of view, the old mill is a technical and historical cultural monument of supraregional importance. Inside, parts of the laboratory and small test ovens have been preserved to this day. The building forms a monument ensemble with the neighboring Alten Brennhaus , the elements of which are closely related . In addition, together with the company apartments in the Lange Reihe, it is the first operating facilities of the Fürstenberg porcelain manufacturer. The abundant archival records of the early porcelain production facilities in Fürstenberg offer favorable conditions for further research into the old mill .

literature

  • Thomas Kellmann: "The smoking castle" on the Weser. Fürstenberg: Castle - Palace - Manufactory - Museum. A history of construction and use in four acts. in: Lower Saxony Monument Preservation 1993 - 2000, 2001, Volume 16, pp. 260–289.
  • Sonja König, Stefan Krabath : European porcelain is celebrating its 300th birthday. The best preserved historical porcelain kilns in Europe in Fürstenberg on the Weser are turning 23 years old. in: Archeology in Lower Saxony 13, 2010, pp. 135–138.
  • Christian Lippelt: The first production facilities of the Porcellain Fabrique Fürstenberg - A contribution to building research in: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte , Volume 95, 2014, pp. 69–91

Web links

Commons : Alte Mühle (Fürstenberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography Johann Ernst Elias Bessler
  2. Predecessor buildings of the porcelain factory in Fürstenberg / Weser in danger! in Red Map 2014 of the Lower Saxony Homeland Federation , pp. 30–31 (pdf)
  3. Predecessor buildings of the porcelain factory in Fürstenberg / Weser in danger! in White Folder 2014 of the Lower Saxony Homeland Federation, p. 17 (pdf)

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 49.9 "  N , 9 ° 24 ′ 15.8"  E