Old Mint (Berlin)

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Main building of the mint at Mühlendamm  3

The Alte Münze in Berlin is a building complex in the Mitte district . The local mint was the successor to the mint on Werderscher Markt .

The complex, located in the Karree Molkenmarkt / Mühlendamm , Rolandufer , Am Krögel and Stralauer Straße , is on the foundations of the medieval Krögel district of old Berlin .

history

For the house on Werderschen Markt , the extension of the Reichsbank , the mint located there had to be relocated. According to plans by the architects Fritz Keibel and Arthur Reck , the Mühlendamm 3 building was constructed from 1935, the facade of which is adorned with a copy of the 48-meter-long frieze by Friedrich Gilly and Johann Gottfried Schadow , which was located on the first building of the Berlin Mint on Werderschen Markt.

The former mint in the courtyard of the building complex

To the north, the baroque Palais Schwerin (Molkenmarkt 1) was incorporated into the building complex. While maintaining the front facade, it was largely gutted , reshaped and extended by two side buildings in the same architectural style (north: Molkenmarkt 2, south: Mühlendamm 1). The original sandstone parts of the palace were replaced by copies.

The new mint was already producing Reichsmark coins in the 1930s , but World War II prevented the completion of the renovation work.

At the end of 1947, the minting of 5 and 10 pfennig coins of the new GDR currency began there . After the Muldenhütten mint was shut down in 1953 , the VEB Münze Berlin was the only mint in the GDR . The building complex was placed under monument protection in the 1980s. The premises with the Molkenmarkt 3 entrance, the core of which is the former Schwerin Palace, were originally assigned to the administration of the mint; later they served the Ministry of Culture .

Shortly after monetary, economic and social union on July 1, 1990, the production of D-Mark coins began, and in 1999 that of euro coins .

At the turn of the year 2005/2006 the State Mint gave up its location in Berlin-Mitte and has been producing in Berlin-Reinickendorf ever since . From September 2009 to 2013, two Berlin event agencies used and marketed the Alte Münze. The Alten Münze building complex also includes the director's house (Am Krögel 2), which has housed an art and culture center with an attached gallery since 2011 . In December 2014, the exhibition “The most beautiful nativity scenes in the world” was opened in the exhibition rooms with an area of ​​around 400  square meters . An important exhibit is the currently largest nativity scene by the Italian nativity set maker Angela Tripi, measuring four by four meters (as of 2014). In 2013, the Spreewerkstätten, an interdisciplinary creative community, developed in the Alte Münze, which developed the area into a public house for culture and events without subsidies and which now occupies over 8,000 m² of the area.

Current situation

In 2013 the current operator, Projekt030 GmbH , moved into the Alte Münze. Under the name Spreewerkstätten , it has gradually opened up more and more areas of the historic area of ​​the Alte Münze over the past few years and activated it under its own power and made it permanently usable. A diverse, creative community of artists and cultural workers, actors from the creative industries and young companies are currently at home here. In addition to event areas, studios, recording studios and offices, there is a swing dance school, an alternative drawing school, a multimedia exhibition and the Migration Hub . Together with the local stakeholders, the Spreewerkstätten are working on opening up and developing the area of ​​the Alte Münze on the Spree.

At the end of 2016, the Spreewerkstätten initiated the art and project space 2 OG - Contemporary Opportunities . The 2nd floor sees itself as an experimental center of independent art and cultural production in the Alte Münze, which now extends over two floors of the former production building and provides a work and presentation space for over 30 artists, scientists and creatives, as well as the connected project areas public program developed for the site. The focus is on interdisciplinary ideas for a better, good-looking future, city and society.

The Münzgarten urban gardening project was launched in 2017, offering visitors to the Alte Münze and residents the opportunity to experience everyday gardening and a green oasis in the middle of the city. At the beginning of 2018, the project was expanded to include the community café The Greens - Coffee and Plants .

The Berlin House of Representatives decided in May 2018 to secure and develop the Alte Münze as a cultural and creative location. As Klaus Lederer announced at the beginning of 2020, there will be a center for jazz and improvised music there from the mid-2020s . The German Jazz Union , the IG Jazz Berlin and the musician Till Brönner have developed a concept for this . In addition to jazz, experimental pop music and transcultural music should also be heard in House 4 of the Alte Münze in the future.

Following the closure of Techno -Clubs Gries mill became known in 2020 that the club from its previous home in the sun Avenue will move into the old coin.

architecture

The two building components are clearly recognizable, but they are well coordinated. The historic palace is a three-storey plastered building with 19 axes and a centrally positioned recessed portal framed by square columns. The windows on the first floor of the second axis are highlighted by decorative brackets . The connected new building itself is divided into five axes and runs in a slightly arched manner in line with the street. The complex was given a shared gable roof . The Relief - Frieze for templates of Gilly and Schadow from 1800 shows antique- style scenes of metal and coin production. After the demolition of the first mint building on Werderschen Markt , the original of the frieze was first transferred to a new building for the mint on Niederwallstrasse. When this building was demolished for the new Reichsbank building ( house on Werderschen Markt ), the frieze was stored and a copy was made for the building described here. In the 1960s, the Senate of West Berlin received the original of the frieze.

In the inner courtyard area, the actual production facility was inserted in typical brick industrial architecture.

Web links

Commons : Münze am Molkenmarkt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-I . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 58 f .
  2. ↑ The euro coins will be coming from Reinickendorf soon. Retrieved February 13, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Waiting for the Christ Child . In: Berliner Morgenpost extra , 20./21. December 2014; P. 14.
  4. ↑ Alte Münze - historical location in the heart of Berlin. Retrieved on March 14, 2019 (German).
  5. ↑ SPREEWERKSTÄTTEN | The Spreewerkstätten in the Alte Münze in Berlin. Retrieved February 13, 2018 (American English).
  6. ↑ Alte Münze - historical location in the heart of Berlin. Retrieved on February 13, 2018 (German).
  7. ↑ 2 above is an experimental hub in Berlin that provides space for artists and scientists. Retrieved on February 13, 2018 (German).
  8. ↑ Münzgarten - Old Mint. Retrieved on February 13, 2018 (German).
  9. ↑ Lederer presents usage plans: Alte Münze is to become a center for jazz and improv music. January 21, 2020, accessed January 26, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Neukölln Techno-Club Griessmühle moves into the Alte Münze. In: Berliner Morgenpost , January 30, 2020

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 56 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 29 ″  E