Old distillery (Fürstenberg)
The Old Brennhaus is a listed building in Fürstenberg / Weser in Lower Saxony , the oldest part of which was built around 1750 for the burning of porcelain . It was one of the first operating facilities of the Fürstenberg porcelain factory before production was relocated to Fürstenberg Castle . The porcelain kilns in the oldest area of the kiln uncovered during excavations from 2009 onwards are the earliest proven of their kind in Central Europe.
Creation and operation
After the court hunter Johann Georg von Langen founded the Fürstenberg porcelain factory on January 11, 1747 on behalf of Duke Karl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , the old distillery was built around 500 meters from Fürstenberg Castle as one of the manufactory's first operating buildings . The old mill , which was built as a windmill from 1744 and was converted into a laboratory for the porcelain factory from 1747 , already existed on a neighboring property . The old Brennhaus has three construction phases. The first kiln house was set in an earlier quarry as a 16 × 8 meter building from 1749 , which made construction easier. As it soon became too small, a 19 × 17 meter building was added to the west in 1751. Another extension to the west was added later through a 10 × 17 meter section of the building. The entire structure is built into a slope so that it has two basement floors. The lowest storey in the basement shows a ground-level archway to the street, which is followed inside by a long corridor with a barrel vault . The adjacent cellar rooms also have barrel vaults. There are oven-like devices partially integrated into the walls. There are also pipe openings on the sides of the building that may have been used to ventilate the combustion chambers or as a smoke outlet.
The oldest part of the distillery (from 1749) was abandoned in 1889 and partly demolished. Since it was built deep into the slope, only the roof was removed in 1889 and the cavity filled. As a result, the combustion chamber with a ceiling height of 3.6 meters and the kilns in it were retained.
In the course of time, the production of porcelain was transferred to the Fürstenberg Castle. After renovations through an increase in storeys and the introduction of window openings in the massive stone walls, the old Brennhaus was from an undetermined point in time a factory apartment for the employees of the porcelain factory.
Kilns
Dredging work during the demolition of a stable building behind the old distillery in 2006 revealed the remains of a distillery, the existence of which was previously only known from the archives. Since the district archaeologist Christian Leiber rated the site as an archaeologically significant ground monument , plans to build a village shop at this point were abandoned. From 2009 the site was examined by Sonja König ( East Frisian Landscape ) and Stefan Krabath as archaeologists, members of the Holzminden local history and history association and experts on early modern ceramic and porcelain technology. The excavations carried out were under the supervision of the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the district of Holzminden . The community of Fürstenberg had a roof built to protect the site from the weather.
During the four-year excavations between 2009 and 2012, three kilns were uncovered in the two rooms of the kiln. The individual steps of porcelain production, such as incandescent firing, smooth firing and, most likely, decorative firing, could be traced on them. The exposed main furnace with the dimensions 3.3 × 8.6 meters is a "lying Viennese" as a German furnace type, as it was built up to the end of the 18th century for the porcelain fire. The examinations showed that the exposed ovens were the first kilns of the Fürstenberg porcelain factory (from around 1750). The ovens remained almost untouched up to a height of 1.4 meters. This is due to the fact that the porcelain manufactory had gradually moved to Fürstenberg Castle from 1755 for reasons of space and the ovens were no longer needed.
After the excavations were completed, the excavation site was filled with sand so that it can later be opened up for museums and tourism. Previously, a 3D measurement was carried out with a laser scanner for scientific documentation , which allows a subsequent virtual reconstruction. On the basis of the measurement data, a three-dimensional model of the kiln with the kilns was created using 3D printing for the museum presentation .
Decay
In 2006, the municipality of Fürstenberg acquired the old kiln house , which on a leasehold land of Braunschweigischer 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 historic building fabric is threatened by tap water damage. The Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation is involved in the planning and construction with experts from industrial monument preservation and archeology for the property.
In 2014, the Lower Saxony Heritage Association classified the old distillery in its red folder as endangered 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 line with listed buildings is absolutely necessary in order to make the old Brennhaus 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 kiln is a technical and historical cultural monument of supraregional importance. With the largely preserved kilns, especially the Viennese kiln , the earliest preserved porcelain production facilities in Central Europe can be found here. In other porcelain factories, the first ovens were destroyed by constant renovations and extensions. The old distillery and the neighboring old mill form a monument ensemble, 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 distillery .
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.
- Sonja König, Stefan Krabath, Thomas Krueger with the collaboration of Christian Leiber and Thomas Schmitt: The first porcelain factory in Northern Germany - from the excavation to the virtual model of the oldest surviving porcelain kilns in Europe in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony 2/2012, pp. 74-77 .
- 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
- Video of the old kiln with the porcelain firing process (9:14 minutes)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erich Achterberg: Braunschweigische Staatsbank. Braunschweig, 1965, p. 45.
- ↑ Freundeskreis supports historical research. Building research on the oldest production facilities of the Fürstenberg porcelain factory
- ↑ 3D scan of the oldest porcelain kilns
- ↑ 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)
- ↑ 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 ′ 49.1 ″ N , 9 ° 24 ′ 13.2 ″ E