Altmarkt (Cottbus)
The Altmarkt ( Lower Sorbian : Stare wiki ) in the center of the city of Cottbus was created in connection with the development in the 13th century as the intersection of three old trade routes.
history
The great city fires of 1600 and probably the largest of 1671, in which the Cottbus city archives burned out completely, destroyed all documents that could have documented the appearance and condition of the old market in the Middle Ages. The marketplace became the central traffic and trade hub. Based on dendrochronological studies of part of the old market, the oldest fortification of the market square in the form of a billet dam made of pine logs could be dated to the year 1264. Other excavations revealed evidence that the first half-timbered houses were built. Immediately at and around the market there were important Cottbuser Ausspannhöfe and trading houses for centuries, which is why it also became the lifeline and center of the city. Streets coming from the west, east and south ran into the square. For centuries the square was simply called the market place. It was not renamed Altmarkt until 1937 after the New Town Hall was built on Neumarkt. The oldest known city map from 1724 shows that the Altmarkt was actually divided into two parts at that time. It consisted of a very small eastern part, which was bounded by the town hall in a westerly direction, and the much larger western part with a residential area of seven parcels that adjoined the town hall. The traders often came from afar to sell their goods and took up quarters in one of the hotels and inns on the square.
Over the course of time, the Altmarkt frequently changed both its appearance and its space. It is said that in 1720 there were three wells, after 1766 street lights were put up on wooden stakes, in the late '18. In the 19th century, a reading pavement was laid and a candelabra has illuminated the square since 1861 . In 1893 the sewer and water pipes were laid and in 1903 the first tram rails were installed on the old market. Until the mid-1970s, the town houses on the Altmarkt were almost completely preserved in their original structure from the late 17th to early 19th centuries. The addresses of the houses on the Altmarkt changed more often. In the course of time, houses were demolished and rebuilt. Due to some traffic-related changes in the years 1935–38 and in later times, as well as the demolition of the town hall, which burned out in World War II, and other war losses of buildings, the view of the square changed several times.
Today's Altmarkt was essentially built in several major construction phases: The first major renovation took place after the city fire of 1600; After the devastating city fire of 1671, the reconstruction lasted until 1690; After the destruction by the Second World War, replacement new buildings were built for the buildings that were missing due to the war loss, with the burned-out old town hall being demolished in 1948 without replacement, and most recently the renovation measures carried out in the period 1980-2000.
Architecture and history of the listed buildings of the Altmarkt
Altmarkt 10
The house is on the north side of the old market. To the left and right of the building are much taller and younger houses. In 1767, on the foundations of a previous house, a town house was built by Mr. Reissmann built and completed. In 1979/80 a new replacement was built. The front has been reconstructed true to the historical model. At that time the entrance was on the left side, was moved to the right side and the shop windows were dismantled. Rectangular windows with sills and the simple framing of the windows with bezels are special features of the house. Above it comprises three almost square windows of volutes that delimit the tail gable . The upper part of the front is crowned by a suspected triangular gable end. Inside the gable is a three-dimensional representation of a stick of Mercury surrounded by leaves with two counter-rotating snakes. The preserved barrel-vaulted cellars and late Gothic fragments of the masonry are integrated into the cellar of the house . Today's appearance corresponds in its structural design, in terms of dimensions and gable design, to the historical model of the baroque predecessor house. The facade of the baroque predecessor building is of urban significance in the context of the Altmarkt development. Today the Café Altmarkt and the Melde Keller are on the ground floor.
Altmarkt 11
The three-axis-wide plastered building, which is now used as a residential and commercial building, was built around 1800 based on a design by the master builder AF Mund. From the outside it impresses with its high pitched roof with a large bat dormer. By dispensing with sharp edges and vertical surfaces, it fits elegantly into the roof and thus creates a harmonious impression. Further features are the cornice structure of the floors as well as triangular roofs over the decorative frieze of the windows on the upper floor. The meander frieze on the top floor, which leads to the eaves cornice, is also striking . The considerable vaulted cellar, the walls of which are made of field stones, was originally probably used as a sales room. It is supported by central pillars, which were designed as a plastered vaulted cap . The brick masonry as a basic support thus remains visible. Between 1978 and 1982 the house was extensively repaired and renovated. Only the load-bearing walls, the classical facade and the cellar were preserved. The interior structure typical of the construction period, such as the ceilings and barrel vaults, were completely removed. Today No. 11 shares a common staircase with Altmarkt 12. Despite the renovation work with a relatively high loss of the original structure, this house is an indispensable part of the Altmarkt development.
Altmarkt 12
The property was acquired by KW Röstel in 1793 and a residential house was built on in 1795. Since the cellar is only flatly vaulted, it can be assumed that the house was only used for these residential purposes. It is a three-storey, eaves-standing house with a gable roof and bat dormer. In terms of size, architectural style and layout, it is very similar to Altmarkt 11, with which it shares a common staircase. The design elements that were very popular at the time, such as ornamental friezes with antique motifs, cornice strips and cleaning flasks in the window area can also be found here. This property was also extensively renovated and repaired in 1980, except for the foundation walls and ceilings.
Altmarkt 13
The Cottbus merchant Hermann Liersch commissioned this residential and commercial building, which was built by the Broeßke construction company in 1891. The building is a striking example of bourgeois apartment building architecture at the turn of the century. The five-axis plastered building with the Berlin roof lives from a very elaborate facade design. The various neo-baroque decorative elements underline the horizontal and vertical structure of the building. The entire ground floor is filled by the large shop. The two main floors are particularly emphasized by the architectural design, the bay window and large rectangular windows . The attic adjoins the upper floor with the smaller arched windows and the balcony. Two large shop windows and a central entrance door fill the entire width of the ground floor. Above the entrance axis , on two large volute consoles, is the two-storey bay window, which divides the building vertically as a front central projection. The ground floor is separated from the two main floors by a wide plaster cornice. The two main floors have the most striking facade design. Lateral colossal pilasters frame the middle section, the three-part bay windows are closed off by three-quarter columns on the first main floor and by Hermen pilasters on the upper main floor . A wide plastered mirror with festoons and busts is installed between the two main floors , which is interrupted in the bay area by a leaf-framed cartridge with the date of construction.
Altmarkt 13a
This house is located on the northern side of the old market and faces the market side on the eaves. It is integrated into the ensemble of houses as a corner building facing Rathausgasse and has four building axes on three floors. The year of construction is 1822 and the builder is master baker Carl Friedrich Druschke , who has also owned the property since 1793. In 1976, all of the outbuildings, which had become ailing, were demolished without replacement. The ground floor only has an entrance door in the unadorned four-axle rear area. The row of windows in the front of the ground floor was replaced by four simple, unadorned, high-rectangular windows after the shop fittings were dismantled as part of the renovation of the old market around 1980. Rectangular windows were installed on all three storeys. A continuous, beautifully profiled cornice runs across the entire width of the house and optically separates the ground floor from the first floor. There is also a continuous cornice below the row of windows on the upper floor . The space in between was decorated with plaster mirrors with mythical creatures in the respective window width. Stucco decorations with depicted mythical creatures were also attached above the window roofing on consoles on the first floor. The windows on the second floor were decorated in a less elaborate way, but with their drilled and profiled window bezels and a keystone-like decoration, they are not unadorned. The eaves cornice was visually enhanced with a triple frieze. The gable side, accessible from Rathausgasse, has nine irregularly arranged building axes and an arched window in the top of the gable. The deep corner building facing Kirchgasse was provided with a gable roof. The completely preserved roof structure in the lower area dates from the time it was built. The three cellar vaults go back to different construction times and show at least two construction phases with barrel and stitch cap vaults. It is a basically preserved town house in the late classical style with largely preserved rich facade decoration and in its special corner location of urban significance.
The building was mentioned in the Cottbus address books as early as 1544. In 1720 Johann Friedrich Beuch inherited this house from his father, he later worked as a doctor in Cottbus. He also wrote a land register for the city of Cottbus. Today a street in the Schmellwitz district is named after him. Around 1860 the house was the residence of the von Hindenburg family, the immediate ancestors of the future General Field Marshal and later Reich President Paul von Hindenburg . At that time the father was captain of the 18th Prussian Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Cottbus at that time. Over the centuries, the house was not only used as a residential building, but also as a commercial establishment several times. Bakers, beer brewers, earthenware dealers, cosmetics and beauty salons, a laundromat and a weapons store had their own sales and business premises here, as can be seen from address books and commercial advertisements.
Altmarkt 14
This is a copy building in the northern side of the Altmarkt on what were formerly two small pieces of land. Until it was demolished in 1980, the small town house with the number Altmarkt 14 from 1693, as the inscription on the historical weather vane shows, as well as the equally small town house at the former Rathausgasse 8, built in the early 18th century, stood here. The two baroque gable buildings were demolished in 1980 due to the very dilapidated condition of the existing building. All outbuildings were also completely removed during this measure. In the period up to 1985 the new building was carried out by merging the two properties. In order to preserve the historically evolved cityscape, the look of the tail gable facing the Altmarkt was retained under the common house number 14. The building was erected as a two-storey plastered building with a rectangular floor plan. It is solidly built, smoothly plastered and each house has a gable roof. The length of both former merchants' houses is 23 m, while the width of almost 6 m each can be described as narrow. The former house Marktplatz 14 is facing the Altmarkt and has four axes on two floors. There is a shop fitting on the ground floor. The door on the right was framed with pilasters . The floors were divided by cornices and the windows were accentuated by lintel and parapet areas. The tail gable was crowned with a semicircular end, which was also decorated with ribbon and foliage and a cartouche. The weather vane has also been replanted in its traditional place. The left half of the house was designed according to the baroque model with three building axes, has two floors and a loft. The also curved gable ends in a gable triangle, which contains a cartridge as a decorative element. The gable windows were rectangular with a ribbon-like frame and keystone. Below there are three arched windows, which were also decorated with a keystone. A cornice runs between the ground floor and first floor, as well as between the first floor and the attic. The ground floor has a shop fitting with a door entrance in the left building axis. The barrel vaults under the house superstructures from the late Middle Ages have been preserved.
Today's house at Altmarkt 14 consists of two formerly independent buildings. A weather vane with historical images and the year 1693 indicates when No. 14 was built. The letters PF can also be seen, which stand for the Feige family, who owned this house for generations from 1720 to 1897. The last member of the family to reside here was Friederike Auguste Löber (née Feige), who after her death determined the entire private estate to set up a social foundation. This foundation became known as the Auguste Foundation . Since then, the municipality of Cottbus has managed this property for this foundation. There have been many traders in this house over the centuries. It is known from house and address books that beer brewers, second-hand dealers, white tanners, tobacco spinners and merchants went about their business here. Today's house at Altmarkt 14 is a copy of the formerly independent houses at Rathausgasse No. 8 and Altmarkt No. 14.
Altmarkt 15
This house was evidently built in several construction phases and was once built on two smaller, separate lots. It was integrated into the northern row of houses in the old market square. To the left and right, it is flanked by two-storey, gabled town houses. The building's floor plan is rectangular and encloses a small inner courtyard. It has been covered with a full hipped roof and is therefore one of the few houses on the Cottbus Altmarkt that has such a roof structure. In terms of building height, it extends over a total of three floors and is divided into five building axes. The center of the house is visually highlighted over the entire central axis with colossal pilasters and accentuated by a triangular gable top with a large oval window. The entrance portal, which is covered by entablature and framed with double pilasters, is also arranged in the central axis. The windows on the second floor were designed to be almost square and enhanced with profiled frames and decorative elements above the window sashes. On the first floor, the again larger, rectangular windows were optically highlighted axis by axis by means of arched window canopies and various shell, baluster and cartridge decorations. On the ground floor, plaster grooves were used as building decorations on the house edges. A chimney system was found in the middle part of the house, which makes the former location of the medieval black kitchen comprehensible. Especially the left part of the ground floor is of particular structural importance due to its groin vaults from the early 18th century. Underneath, a profiled beam ceiling was exposed during renovation work in 1998, which apparently was built around 1680. In the rear of the house, parts of a baroque staircase have been preserved. The very large basement, like the building itself, is made up of parts from different construction times and is partly of late medieval origin.
It was mentioned as early as 1488 as Kowhel's house and birthplace of the reformer Johannes Briesmann, who introduced the Reformation in Königsberg in 1522 after his expulsion from Cottbus. He taught here until he died on December 1, 1549 of the plague epidemic that spread throughout Europe, which reached its peak at that time. It was badly damaged in the great city fire in 1671, and parts of the late medieval masonry of the two smaller predecessor buildings were rebuilt in the front building for cost reasons. When the two properties were merged, the brewing justice also changed. The number of beers changed to the upper limit allowed for a single property. This building was also the birthplace of the Cottbus poet Immanuel Jacob Pyra (1715–1744), made famous by co-founding the Hallesches Dichterkreis and his most important work "Temple of True Poetry" in 1737. It is known that here in 1885 Dr. Carl Thiem , who later made medical history as a trauma surgery professor. He later founded the "United Urban and Thiemsche Heilanstalt" in Cottbus. This house is of great historical importance, as the building fabric here demonstrably dates back to several centuries and, with its facade structure, is architecturally valuable.
Altmarkt 16
It is a replacement new building based on the model of a town house from the 18th century. As part of the renovation of the old market in 1984, the house was demolished and rebuilt while maintaining the facade. Two late medieval cellar vaults, oriented across the Altmarkt, have also been preserved in their historical structure. They rest on rock pedestals and from there are put together with bricks in monastery format to form barrel vaults. In the eastern vault, a former doorway to the market for storage and trading purposes can still be seen today. The building has a total of four axes. In the second axis from the left a large arched portal with a pilaster frame was arranged. A plaster mirror was attached above the windows on both sides of the entrance portal for advertising purposes. A continuous eaves cornice runs directly above it. The four grooved and almost rectangular windows on the 1st floor were visually emphasized by a continuous cornice. Decorative cartouches framed by stylized foliage were placed over each of the windows that were just cut. On the second floor, two windows were arranged in the middle, which are similar in design to those on the first floor. The facade was subdivided by several pronounced cornices, with the edges of the building being particularly accentuated on both sides by accompanying pilaster strips and then merging into a volute cornice. This ends in a tail gable with a semicircular gable top, which also has a large cartridge with stylized foliage.
This house was mentioned as an inn in 1572 and was run by the owner George Müller. At that time he had the right to brew 8 beers. The time of construction is given around the year 1675. Immediately in the reconstruction phase after the great city fire in 1671, in which most of the houses in the city center and in the surrounding area burned down to the ground. In the 18th century the house underwent structural changes. In 1902 the building file documents the Pabel: Kämpf a. Markt 17-Ladenumbau Rep. The conversion of the shop and the implementation of shop windows as well as the installation of a new staircase between the ground floor and the first floor. In addition to other information on the floor plan, this construction file also contains static calculations for the building. Another building file from 1984 with the registration number BA 78.711 documents the construction of a copy building by the former GDR construction companies. Over the centuries, many trades and private individuals took turns in this building. Innkeepers, gold workers, soap makers, merchants, restaurateurs, watchmakers and the glove maker Ernst Haase jr. according to their trade. This information goes back to sources such as address books and press advertisements of that time.
Altmarkt 17
This building is part of the north-eastern row of houses in the Cottbus Altmarkt. It is a building complex that previously consisted of two individual houses. It consists of a three-storey, three-axis gabled house and a likewise three-storey building resting on six axes, which ends on the eaves side of the market. In the 1950s, the entire facade was smoothly plastered and in the following years, until around 1961, it was given a historicizing breakdown. During the same period, the expansion and conversion to the “House of Crafts” and the installation of a pitched roof on both buildings took place. In 1991 and 1992 both buildings were demolished due to their dilapidated condition. Only the outer facade was preserved for monument protection reasons and was restored in this context. Parts of the late medieval basement rooms were also preserved during this construction project. The high rectangular windows on the two upper floors in the left, three-axis part of the building front were embedded in recessed, flat-arched frames. Between the rows of windows on the two upper floors, smooth plaster mirrors were placed in the middle in a horizontal line. The edges of the building were highlighted with suggested pilaster strips. Strong cornices lift the two upper floors from the ground floor. In the eaves, six-axis part of the building on the right-hand side, the windows on the ground floor were inserted into arched wall incisions, while the tall rectangular windows on the upper floors were framed in right-angled, ribbon-like frames. The gable roof was accentuated by the inclusion of three bat dormers.
This address was mentioned in the Cottbus address book as early as 1544. At that time, Mr. Mathias Anschuch was registered as a resident and his brewing rights amounted to 20 beers in 1551, which was a considerable number for that time. Many houses on the old market were built on plots with two lots. So did this house, which originally consisted of two houses. Before that, on the left side of the property, there was a two-storey gabled house with three axes under a half-hip roof and to the right of it an eaves-standing, also two-storey house with six axes and a high gable. Both buildings were probably built during the 18th century. In 1865 Eduard Ansorge bought the house, added one floor to the six-axle building and clad it with a cardboard roof. In the following years he also held an unpaid position in the Cottbus city council. In 1871 he had the small gabled house on the left demolished and replaced it with a new three-story house. Furthermore, the facades of the two houses were combined and designed in a late classicist style. This is why this ensemble of buildings on Cottbus Altmarkt has only had house number 17 since 1892. In 1875 he founded the old Cottbus “Hotel Ansorge” in this group of buildings. The building is remarkable both from an urban planning point of view in connection with the preservation of historical building elements, and as a traditional location for hotels and restaurants in Cottbus. In addition, as the seat of the Cottbus Chamber of Crafts, a highly frequented place to practice traditional guild customs, among other things.
Altmarkt 18
The house fits into the gable end of the row of houses on the east side of the Altmarkt. It is bordered on the left by the corner house of the former " Tuchhaus Herfarth " and on his right comes up against a building in which, today, a. a. the studio of "Foto Goethe" is located. The house is a narrow, two-story house with a simple triangular gable in front of the converted attic. In the center of the top of the gable there are two small rectangular windows with a continuous sill. Immediately below there are two somewhat larger arched windows, which are flanked on both sides by two small blind windows. In their design they correspond to those in the top of the gable and indicate the windows that were formerly present here. A cornice runs directly under this arrangement, which visually separates the attic from the upper floor. Below this is the row of windows on the upper floor, which is made up of three tall rectangular, raised windows and, as the lower end, is separated from the ground floor by a simple cornice. The entrance door of the first floor is in the right axis of the three-axis building. To the left of this are two large grooved windows that are drawn down to the threshold level of the entrance door. All of the windows in the house now have simple, smooth bezels. A late medieval pointed barrel vault runs parallel to the roof ridge. The old cellar walls are made of brick and are interspersed with field stones. Barrel vaults or later cap vaults, which can be attributed to different construction periods, run above it.
The house on the Altmarkt has a long tradition as a gastronomic location in Cottbus. Caspar Gottlieb Wentzig was running a pub as early as 1737. At that time the house had the historical number 328. This house has been owned by the Erich family since 1804 . A bookbinder, a saddler and a dyer from the Erich family ran their trade here over the course of the following years. In 1880 the widow Bertha Erich was mentioned in a document as the innkeeper. The sisters Bertha and Agnes Erich founded an inn in 1881 and named it "Erich's Bier-Haus". Agnes Erich continued to run the family-owned restaurant until 1925. The Siegmund family acquired this property in the same year and continued to run the restaurant under the name "Erich's Bier-Haus". The Cottbuser Anzeiger No. 167 of July 21, 1937 honored with an article the two hundred year tradition of an inn in this house, which was mentioned as such for the first time in 1737. From this time on, the restaurant was operated by changing owners under the same name until 1990. In the end this restaurant was known to the Cottbus people under the name "Erich's Bierstuben". Since the east side of the old market was spared the renovation mania of the 1980s, the house is one of the few buildings on the old market where the historical basic substance from the baroque was largely preserved. When it was converted into a "bistro" in 1990, the ground floor was changed while preserving the building fabric as much as possible and a new staircase was installed. As one of the last traditional and historical restaurant locations in Cottbus, this house is of urban and architectural significance. Today the “Brau & Bistro” has opened its gates for its guests and allows them a view of the town houses of the Cottbuser Altmarkt on its summer terrace.
Altmarkt 19
The authenticated history of this house goes back to the year 1544. In 1652 this parcel originally consisted of two pieces of land. Like most houses in the city of Cottbus, it burned down to its late medieval foundation walls during the conflagration in 1671 and was rebuilt on the area of the two properties. The house is located on the east side of the Altmarkt and is in a closed row of houses. It is a three-storey, eaves-standing, late baroque building which the merchant Rudolph Tietze acquired on November 15, 1872 for the sum of 12,000 thalers. In the years after 1872, this merchant arranged for an additional storey to be added. At the same time, the front side was visually upgraded by adding decorative elements that can be assigned to late classicism. Four dormers with square windows were set into the steep gable roof on the Altmarkt side. On the second floor there is a row of tall rectangular windows with rather simple frames. A continuous sill cornice runs underneath, underlaid with a broad, three-dimensional laurel frieze. The windows on the first floor have straight cornice canopies, which in turn are supported by volute brackets. Underneath there are three-dimensionally exposed fruit hangings that cover the drilled, finely profiled window sashes. Here again, under the row of windows, a continuous cornice with a narrow block frieze running underneath. On the ground floor, the facade is emphasized by a simple plaster groove. In the middle of the house is a wooden, double-leaf coffered door. To the left and right of this entrance door there is a large two-part shop window, with a window next to it on the right. There are atypical plaster mirrors for advertising above the shop windows, the entrance door and the individual window on the right, which are obviously a tribute to modernity. However, the extensive cellar system has been preserved in its structural fabric to this day. A special feature is the fact that it has both barrel vaults and basket arch vaults in its structural design. The walls in the late medieval part of the cellar have a brick structure in the format of a monastery, interspersed with field stones and lawn iron stones and therefore of great architectural significance for the exploration of Cottbus old town.
In 1992/93, as part of the renovation of the old town, the building was extensively rebuilt, with the facade being preserved and raised on the top floor. In addition, the eaves termination was redesigned by giving it a wider and more rounded shape. The window frame on the second floor was simplified. This house is still known to the old Cottbus people as "Eisenwaren-Tietze". The owner of a fashion boutique currently runs his business in the right part of the house. For more than 40 years, up to the present day, the well-known Cottbus studio of "Foto-Goethe" has been housed in the shop on the left.
Altmarkt 20
The original building dates back to the late Middle Ages. During the city fire in 1671 it burned down to the foundation walls and was rebuilt around 1690 as a two-storey gabled house. The room arrangement inside the building largely corresponds to the architectural style of the town houses from the 19th century, as can often be found in the Altmarkt area with its gabled houses. The ground floor is provided with a plaster groove. It has large shop windows on both sides of the entrance. The second floor was not added until 1825. During this time, a new staircase was built into the house. The spiral staircase with traljen railing, which runs around an oval axis, is assigned an apartment on each floor. With the completion of these renovations, the house received its eaves-like character. The high gable roof resting on a profiled eaves cornice is structured by three staggered bat dormers. On the ground floor, the passage through the house was made narrower in 1887, the corridor stairs in the lower part were changed and a large double-leaf frame panel door was installed. The facade on the ground floor was also designed in a square look. The two rows of windows with cornice roofing were visually separated from each other by a tendril frieze between the two upper floors in 1926. The frieze shows stylized fruit baskets between acanthus tendrils and is framed by rosettes on both sides. The basement, consisting of three barrel-vaulted rooms, is arranged at a right angle to the market square and shows the floor plan of the existing sequence of rooms on the upper floors. In the period from 1982/83 the house was repaired with the loss of the original structure (vault on the ground floor). This happened as part of the "Reconstruction - Altmarkt" project at the time, as can be seen from the files in the building inspection office. In the course of the old market renovation in 1995, the house was renovated for the last time.
Since around 1544, the brewing and junk justice rests on this house. One of the best-known traders was the master confectioner Karl Toussaint , who ran a pastry shop with a restaurant here in 1840. It is also known that the widow Emilie Toussaint continued the business, known as "Restaurant Toussaint", until 1886. Otherwise use and owner changed many times over the years. It has been proven that shopkeepers, confectioners, beer brewers, saddlers and tailors went about their business here. Among the residents there were also personalities of their time such as the city judge, some senators and mayors of the city of Cottbus. Since 1909 the house has been owned by the City of Cottbus. Today there are fashion boutiques in the two shops.
Due to the historical building fabric from the late 17th and early 19th centuries, which is largely still preserved today, as well as the staircase and the traditional floor plan structure of the two upper floors, this town house has a not to be underestimated structural and social historical significance for researching the history of Cottbus.
Altmarkt 21
The origin of the building, which is known today as the town house, goes back to the time of the late Middle Ages. It probably already had this relatively large area at that time. It is a three-storey plastered building with eaves. Around the central courtyard, several buildings from different building periods are combined to form a complex. A bat dormer is integrated into the crouched hip roof on the Altmarkt side. The entire complex, consisting of the front building with a western side wing and the transverse building with the old theater as a connection with the east wing, has undergone numerous renovations and additions over time. However, these construction measures did not result in any significant changes in the building structure. There were several meat scrapers facing Scharrengasse. These were demonstrably preserved as such until March 1857, as can be seen from the building police files of that time. In 1861 this outer wall was renewed. No pawing has been mentioned since that time. During renovations in 1915, old burned wall and beam remains were found in these places (Acta des Magistrats zu Cottbus). This material was probably used to fill the ponds at the time. Comprehensive repair work was carried out in 1924 and 1985, and finally in 1995 a thorough renovation of the entire complex including the reconstruction of the baroque staircases. The two ceiling frames of the front building and those of the hall in the transverse building, which were rediscovered in the course of the repair work, were restored on this occasion. Likewise, the wooden beam ceiling on the ground floor of the west wing. In addition, the exterior facade of the front building in the area of the ground floor was redesigned. The two upper floors are visually separated from each other by a horizontal, wide tendril frieze. The windows are framed by profiled bezels, which are additionally decorated with pearl rod on the first floor. The large gate entrance with the staircase behind it stands out in the limelight. On the first floor there is a large hall and on the floor above there are two rooms with restored ceiling paintings and painted panels in classical style. The large barrel-vaulted cellar room from the late Middle Ages is worth mentioning.
Over the centuries, both the owners and the uses of this property changed many times. It is known that brewing and distilling justice and catering justice have rested on this house since ancient times. As early as 1580, a "rest and relaxation area" was mentioned here. Since 1588 there have been many mayors and councilors of the city of Cottbus among the owners and residents. After the devastating city fire of 1671, the house was probably rebuilt as a half-timbered building. Between 1730 and 1810 two floors were added. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, theatrical performances were given in the hotel "Goldener Ring". In 1854 a theater hall was installed on the upper floor of the transverse building. In 1891 the equipment of the demolished Berlin theater “Viktoria” was installed. In 1874, the transverse building used as the city theater was extensively renovated, in which the last curtain fell on April 12, 1908. On September 9, 1908, the town council of Cottbus bought the house, which at that time was known as the Hotel "Goldener Ring", for the considerable sum of 128,000 marks. On November 4, 1909, the city council met for the first time in the new meeting room. In 1915 the Cottbus police administration was relocated to this building. In 1921, 18 areas of the city administration were housed in the house at Altmarkt 21, which has been known as "Town House 1" since then. The Cottbus city councilors have met in this house since around 1960. Since 2013, the name "Altes Stadthaus" has stood above the entrance of the house. In the future, entrepreneurs and startups will move into the historic building.
Altmarkt 22
It is a two-storey, Baroque-style town house. The gable is structured several times by a clear cornice. The curved gable below the triangular roof is divided into two segments. In the triangular gable itself there is a cartouche with the inscription "WK 1934", the year of the repair. Originally the "CK" of the owner Christoph Kaempf could be read here. Below, in the first segment, another cartouche framed by pilasters in acanthus leaves with the inscription "1578", encircled with volutes on both sides. In the second segment there are two almost square windows between the square gable edges. On the upper floor of the gable, four windows with profiled frames can be seen, each of which has an acanthus leaf as a keystone in the upper part. This row of windows is decorated on both sides with square pilaster strips as the edge of the gable. On the ground floor facing the Altmarkt, a medieval meat puddle with a small arched entrance to the right has been preserved on the left. In the rather unadorned side of the building facing Scharrengasse, there are six basket-arched windows on the ground floor, which are intended to indicate the meat scraping that once existed here.
The history of the residential building Altmarkt No. 22 can be traced back to 1544. As early as the Middle Ages, butchers had installed the so-called meat scrapers in their houses, through which they sold their products. The house burned down to the basement in the great city fire on March 21, 1671. Before 1671 there were probably two late medieval half-timbered buildings at this point. Around 1700, a new town house was built directly on the foundation walls of the two fallows. This pragmatic procedure was quite common at that time for reasons of cost. In 1767 the baroque tail gable known to us was added. In 1779 the master bricklayer Christoph Kaempf bought the house for 2,000 thalers and had the initials "CK" affixed to the gable during a renovation. The house was owned by the Kaempf family until 1882. In the time that followed, various traders went about their business in this house. It is known that it housed a flower shop, a bread factory, a cigar factory and the Mundt family's coffee bar. In 1934 the gable was structurally renewed. From 1940 Max Kaempf ran an inn again, also known to the old Cottbusers as "Kaempf's Restaurant". From 1956 to 1976 various value-preserving construction measures took place. In the years 1977/78, the reconstruction by the then municipal construction company was completed. Originally the property consisted of a front u. Rear building and a stable building. In the course of the renovation of the old market, the building was largely removed. Then rebuilt based on the community center, which stood at this point around 1700. Only the gable and the barrel vault of the cellar have been preserved from the formerly historical building fabric. The cellar was partially filled in in 1974. The ground floor was then converted into a guest room. The house was subsequently used as a catering facility on various occasions. In March 2003, after a further interior renovation, the well-known Cottbus bar-restaurant-café "Mosquito" opened its doors with its exotic flair.
Altmarkt 23
Like many houses on the Cottbus Altmarkt, Altmarkt No. 23 can also look back on a very long commercial use of the lower premises. It is assumed that Altmarkt 22 and 23 formed one piece of land in earlier times. Presumably, around the turn of the century, a gabled house that was still there was extensively renovated. It is an eaves-standing residential and commercial building, provided with a steep gable roof. A characteristic feature here is the central inclusion of a so-called bat dormer in the roof, as well as the three tall rectangular windows arranged underneath and their frames decorated with pearl rod. Below the eaves cornice, directly above the three windows, there is a frieze, which has a meandering structure and also has pearl rod and egg rod as decorative elements. Incidentally, the front side of the house looks rather plain compared to the neighboring houses. When it was actually built is uncertain and the Cottbus house research is still busy to this day. The courtyard building in the area of the Cottbuser Altmarkt can be described as a rarity, as it is one of the last brick half-timbered buildings from historical times. As far as is known, it served commercial purposes. Due to its construction, largely square compartments, it is assumed that it was built around 1800. The residential building and the courtyard building arranged parallel to it are among the few buildings on the Altmarkt that still predominantly consist of their historical structure. The late medieval barrel vault of the cellar runs parallel to the roof ridge over the entire width of the house. The walls in the sales room were clad with Meissen tiles over the entire area around 1910. The base was accentuated by the use of dark green tiles decorated with ornaments. Above that, white rectangular tiles with different light green flower decors were used for the wall design. Today this tile work in the sales room is covered by plasterboard painted white.
Cottbus beer was already well known and sought after in the Middle Ages. It is known that in 1551 a considerable amount of 57,000 tons of beer was brewed. Large quantities of it were delivered to neighboring Saxony and also to Berlin. In this house, too, beer was brewed by Mr. Gregor Dörbiger as early as 1551 . He had the right to brew 10 beers. A commercial use of the lower rooms as a butcher's shop could be proven for the first time in 1632. Unfortunately, there are hardly any documents from this period left today, as the last available files about this were completely burned during the great city fire on the night of March 21, 1671 in the archive of the old Cottbus town hall. A comprehensive structural renovation took place around 1800. In 1905 the master butcher Wilhelm Metag bought the house at Altmarkt 23.
In 1983 a comprehensive reconstruction took place under the supervision of the monument protection authority. This is documented in a file at the Cottbus building supervision office. In the summer of 2001, large shop windows were installed on the ground floor in the shop area, and high rectangular windows were let into the first floor. Today Ms. Simone Winkler's fashion boutique is located here .
Altmarkt 24
In 1568 Johann von Küstrin , the Margrave of Brandenburg, gave the city doctor Dr. Petrus Cnemiander has the special right to run the only pharmacy in and around Cottbus. This secured him and his descendants the right to manufacture and dispense pharmaceuticals alone. In the Middle Ages, plague and cholera ruled and, due to the growing population, Cottbus and the surrounding area also needed medical care, among other things. Between 1568 and 1573, Dr. Petrus Cnemiander built a house on the market and opened today's “Löwenapotheke”. This building was built in the baroque style as a residential and commercial building. The stepped gable was replaced on this building in 1800 and no longer corresponds to the original. The usual floor plan was typical of the time. The sales rooms were on the ground floor, the Cnemiander family lived upstairs and the servants mostly lived in the attic. This division of floors is also clearly visible from the outside in the facade. The golden lion is visible from afar above the shop entrance. After the great city fire in 1671, the owners changed 18 times. The work, laboratory and cellar rooms of the front and rear buildings have been preserved from this building. At the end of the 1980s, this building was restored with great difficulty to ensure that it was listed.
In 1989 a museum opened in the pharmacy . The pharmacy equipment was partly brought together from Forst and Luckau and dates from around 1830. Herbs from A – Z, a restored laboratory with old distillation equipment and an oven for cooking plasters and for preparing ointments are worth seeing for visitors. In addition to the laboratory, there is also the herb chamber, a poison chamber and the work area to be visited.
Altmarkt 25
Altmarkt No. 25 was first mentioned in a document in 1551 in Kalwa's house books. It is a small, smoothly plastered, two-storey gabled house on the south side of the Altmarkt and integrated into the row of houses. The building borders on the left side of the “Löwenapotheke” and on the right side of a two-story, eaves-standing house. It is a merchant's house with groined vaults on the ground floor and a vaulted entrance hall. The two floors are visually separated from each other by horizontal cornices. In the left axis of the ground floor there is a flat-arched, double-leaf shop door from the late 19th century, glazed on both sides. To the right of this are two tall rectangular shop windows with simple framing, over which a wide, continuous cornice runs. On the upper floor there are three tall rectangular windows with profiled frames, over which a stepped cornice runs as the end of the upper floor. Above that, in the attached tail gable, there are two centrally arranged windows with drilled, profiled frames, keystones and stepped sills, which extend down to the cornice. This arrangement is framed by volutes on both sides. The tail gable culminates in a round arched end with a double cornice. The gable roof is covered with concrete roof tiles. In its present-day appearance, the house largely corresponds in terms of proportions and facade design to the previous historical building from the Baroque period.
The ground floor is still primarily used for commercial and commercial purposes. On the upper floor, four rooms, the kitchen and the alcove were grouped around the central corridor. In the great city fire in 1671, the building was destroyed to the ground and obviously rebuilt the following year. That is at least clear from the address books of the time, according to which the pharmacist Tielemann Backhusius was listed as the owner of the house. Originally a two-storey rear building belonged to this property, which was rebuilt in 1750 by the merchant Johann August Keyling . On July 25, 1793, the cloth manufacturer Carl Ludwig Gottlieb Vorwerk acquired this house for the sum of 3,900 thalers. In the period that followed, the house was used commercially in very different ways. A soap boiler, a flour dealer, a restaurateur, a few master bakers and merchants went about their business here. The best-known owner was probably the basket maker Klinke , who had been advertising and selling laundry and travel baskets, folding chairs, prams and a variety of other basket-making work in his shop since 1893. In 1982/83, this house was extensively reconstructed as part of the overall renovation of the Cottbus old market after an almost complete demolition. Wooden beam ceilings and partition walls including all staircases as well as the cross vault on the ground floor were renewed. Apart from the late medieval, barrel-vaulted cellar and parts of the gable, no original building fabric has been preserved. In this context, all outbuildings were demolished without replacement. This is documented by files in the archives of the Cottbus building supervision office. In 1986 a workshop building was built for the Fiedermann watch service, which is still offering its services to this day.
Altmarkt 26
The house, which dates from the 17th century, was probably built on two pieces of land which were later merged. The building is rectangular and integrated into the south-facing row of houses on the eaves. It has a total of five building axes on two floors, a short side wing and an attic with a bat dormer in a very high hipped roof. In the symmetrical structure of the front, the entrance door has been placed in the middle by a slightly larger distance to the window rows. In the years 1987 to 1988 the house was reconstructed and the shop window system, which had existed since the 19th century, was changed by the GDR construction companies, without any historical model. Furthermore, smooth plaster mirrors stepped on the edges were attached between the two floors. The interior walls were also partially structurally changed during this time and the outbuildings were demolished. The upper floor windows have cleaning flasks and narrow cornice roofs. A profiled eaves cornice runs under the roof edge directly above the narrow window roofs on the upper floor. The cellar system consists of four barrel vaults, which not only have different sizes, but also come from different construction phases. This is evident from the type of building material used in part of the basement rooms, in which brick in the form of a monastery from the late Middle Ages was used.
The first documented mention of this address as a residence was in 1544. Very different trades have operated their shops here over the centuries. From house and address books it is known that shopkeepers, shoemakers, butchers, merchants, a ladies hat manufacturer and a bed spring factory were located in this house, to name just a few. At all times it was of course not only used commercially but also by private individuals as a residential building. It is known that the well-known Cottbus cloth merchant Samuel Friedrich Lobedan acquired this stately town house for the sum of 3,000 thalers in 1743 and remained in the family until 1808. A street was also named after the Lobedan family. It is located a little south of the city center between Inselstrasse and Lotstrasse. The house is still known to older Cottbus residents as the Tufa industrial store. With this in mind, it was expanded in 1954 as an industrial store for yard goods in the style of the 1950s under the direction of the Cottbus architect Heinz Lenk, as can be seen from the building file with the file number BA / 772. Today there is a branch of the hearing acoustics company "Kind" here.
Altmarkt 27
This building is integrated into the closed row of houses on the south side of the Altmarkt. On the left it is bordered by a town house from the 18th century and on the right by a four-story new building. It is a smooth plastered, two-story, baroque town house with five building axes and a gable roof. The broad gable of this house has been kept rather simple. In the middle axis of the ground floor there is a shop entrance door and on the right outer axis a house entrance door, in between a vertical rectangular shop window with simple, smooth framing. The two shop windows to the left of the shop entrance are of the same design. A broad strip of plaster extends over the entire width of the house, optically separating the ground floor from the adjoining first floor. The windows on the upper floor are also rectangular, but here with a sprout and profiled frame. A continuous, stepped cornice runs directly above the lintels on the first floor. Above, on the second floor, three high rectangular arched windows with a simple frame are arranged in the middle, they are framed on both sides by square pilaster strips and quarter circles. In the center there is a small arched window with a sill on consoles. A structured circular segment closure with a weather vane (it fell from the roof in 1948) and the year 1618 completes the front side of the house. The basement consists of three rooms. A small Gothic cellar with boulder walls and pointed arches from the 19th century, which was probably once used as a smokehouse. This is followed by an early modern barrel vault parallel to the ridge on the market side. This is followed by a large baroque storage cellar in brick construction, the lancet vault of which is supported by two massive pillars.
The earliest mention of the building goes back to 1544 when a certain Christoph Gadegast was registered as a resident in the address books. In 1671, almost the entire city center burned down in a severe fire, and this house was also a victim of the conflagration. Then it was rebuilt on the massive masonry that was probably still preserved. In 1727 Joachim Schmidt gave the order for the new building of the house and is therefore considered the client. From 1881 to 1889 Robert Schwarz ran a drugstore here - which, by the way, was the first of its kind in Cottbus and was popularly known as the “herb vault”. In the years 1892/93, on behalf of the businessman Heinrich Schäfer, the facade was visually upgraded by adding turret-like gable attachments to the sides and a richly ornamented gable end. Furthermore, the window frames were designed more elaborately and a wooden central bay was added, which was removed again in 1956. At the same time, the side building was also rebuilt. Until the renovation and expansion of the shop area in 1929, the ground floor was still equipped with meter-thick, massive vaults. In the course of this renovation, the house entrance was moved to the right-hand side. The building was reconstructed between 1983 and 1986 using the oldest pictorial documents to restore the facade to the appearance of the building from 1872. The side wing of the house was also torn down. The use over the centuries was essentially limited to the commercial business in addition to the proven drugstore.
literature
- Irmgard Ackermann, Marcus Cante, Antje Mues: Monuments in Brandenburg, Volume 2.1, City of Cottbus Part 1: Old Town, Mühleninsel, Neustadt and Ostrow, inner Spremberger suburb, “ City Promenade ”, western expansion of the city, historic Brunschwig . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms am Rhein, 2001, ISBN 3-88462-176-9 .
- Steffen Krestin: Cottbuser sheets. Special issue 2001. The Cottbus market square. Regia Verlag, Cottbus, 2001.
- Karl Eicke: The bourgeois house in Cottbus . Uttech, Cottbus, 1917.
- Robert Kalwa: Citizen and House Book of the City of Cottbus 1544–1874. P5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ City Archives. VA I / 1.1247 Demolition project Altmarkt 10 from 1976 City Archives. VA I / 1.1247 Demolition project Altmarkt 10 from 1976
Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 38.5 " N , 14 ° 20 ′ 4.7" E