Old Town Hall (Braunschweig)
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The gothic old town hall in Braunschweig is one of the oldest preserved town halls in Germany, the oldest part of which dates from the middle of the 13th century. It was built as a city hall for the most powerful and wealthiest of the five precincts of Brunswick, the Old Town . Together with the Martini Church, it forms the impressive west side of the old town market .
History of construction and use
Even before 1253 there was a town hall in the old town as the seat of the city's self-government. This year, this previous building, southwest of the Martini church, was sold in order to build a larger and more representative new building at the current location. First the west wing was built, in which a wooden beam could be dendrochronologically assigned to the year 1288. In 1302 "dat Rathus" is mentioned for the first time. In the years 1393 to 1396 the north wing and the facade of the west wing were built. The north facade was built between 1447 and 1468, with the figures placed on the buttresses. These two major construction phases followed after the inner-city unrest (“ Braunschweigerichten ”), the bloody “Great Shift” between 1374 and 1386 and the unrest at the time of the “Great Letter” in 1445. The architectural ensemble of the Old Town Hall and Martini Church represented the self-confident bourgeoisie Counterpart to the ducal castle district from Dankwarderode Castle and Cathedral .
The homage order of 1345
During the Middle Ages, the Guelph city and sovereign rulers ceded more and more city lordship rights through pledging, sale or donation to the city, which increasingly acquired the character of an independent imperial city. The arrival of the new duke in power was followed by a ceremony described in the homage order of 1345, in which he confirmed the old privileges to the common council of the five soft images in the Großer Dornse. The council then swore the oath of homage. Then the Great Mayor of the old town spoke from the arcade to the citizens who had come together on the old town market the traditional homage formula, which was repeated by them.
The "Great Layer" 1374 to 1380
During the inner-city riots in 1374, several councilors and the mayor of the old town, Tile von Damm , were killed. The city was then excluded from the Hanseatic League and only resumed in 1380 subject to conditions. This also included the construction of a chapel as an atonement. The St. Author's Chapel, consecrated to the city saint, was built around 1380 next to the old town hall on Breiten Straße. The construction was canceled in 1680, whereupon the two-story author's yard was built for trade fair purposes. This was rebuilt after partial destruction during the Second World War in 1983 and 1984.
Use during the Middle Ages and early modern times
The basement and ground floor were used as an armory , i.e. as a storage room for weapons and powder, as well as a prison, torture chamber and for economic purposes. A wine cellar is mentioned in 1355, a stand for clothes and cloth merchants in 1378 and a combing shop in 1388. The council kitchen existed since 1354. The council meetings were held on the upper floor in the "Großer Dornse ", first mentioned in 1345 and redesigned in 1447 . In the upper north wing was the city tax administration, the "Schotteldornse".
Loss of urban independence in 1671
After the city was conquered by the Guelph sovereign in 1671, the old town hall also passed into ducal ownership. This was followed by misappropriation through the establishment of exhibition stands and the slow deterioration of the building. It was not until the Caspari Treaty that the old town hall became the property of the city again in 1858.
In 1786 the wine merchant Rönckendorff applied for the arcades to be demolished in order to build an apartment there. This prevented Wilhelm von Gebhardi († 1809), director of Duke's Building Department and predecessor Peter Joseph Krahe , through an intervention at Duke Charles William Ferdinand .
19. – 20. century
Between 1841 and 1852 the building was extensively restored by Friedrich Maria Krahe , whereby the north wing roof was raised. The building burned down completely as a result of the numerous bombing raids during the Second World War , but the façades remained virtually undamaged.
The old town hall is now used to represent the city, the ground floor is used as an exhibition area for the city museum . The city welcomes its guests in the mayor's room and in the large hall of the main building, the Dornse. Among other things, the old town hall houses the original parts of the old town market fountain on the old town market that were not destroyed in the war .
- Representations of the old town hall in the fine arts
Old Town Hall from the southeast .
Painting by Ludwig Tacke
oil on canvas around 1850
38.5 × 50.5 cm,
collection of the Städtisches Museum, Braunschweig
Old town market from the southeast .
Watercolor by Carl Josef Alois Bourdet around 1880
14 × 21.3 cm,
collection of the Städtisches Museum, Braunschweig
Building description
Exterior construction
The building consists of two wings that meet at right angles. The arcades built in the 15th century with their high Gothic tracery are particularly worth seeing .
On the east and south side there are 17 almost life-size statues created by Hans Hesse , Ottonian and Guelph emperors, kings and dukes, which were erected there around 1455. One of the special features of these statues is that the Ottonian and Guelph emperors, kings and dukes - with the exception of the emperor Lothar von Süpplingenburg standing alone on a corner pillar - were each depicted with their wives. The details are: King Heinrich I and Mathilde the Holy , Emperor Otto I and Adelheid of Burgundy , Emperor Otto II and Theophanu , Emperor Otto III. with his fiancée Zoe, Lothar von Süpplingenburg , Emperor Otto IV and Beatrix von Schwaben , Duke Heinrich the Lion and Mathilde of England , Wilhelm von Lüneburg and his wife Helena of Denmark , Duke Otto the Child and Mathilde of Brandenburg .
The iron Braunschweiger Elle is still located on the second pillar from the left .
inside rooms
On the upper floor were the mansion, in which the council meetings took place, the Schotteldornse as the seat of the tax administration, the Fastelabenddornse used as a festival room and the Große Dornse. This prestigious ballroom, renovated in 1960, is still used today for receptions. The room decorations are pictures of the princes of the Schmalkaldic League who held meetings in Braunschweig in 1532 and 1538, as well as a large mural carpet created by Karl Wollermann († 1993). Another representation room is the mayor's hall, which was renovated in 1977.
literature
- Elmar Arnhold: Old Town Hall. In: Medieval metropolis Braunschweig. Architecture and urban architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2018, ISBN 978-3-944939-36-0 , pp. 182-187.
- Günter Jahn: Altstadtrathaus , in: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon, published on behalf of the city of Braunschweig by Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann and Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf with special assistance from Norman-Mathias Pingel, Braunschweig 1992, pages 15-16, ISBN 3-926701- 14-5 .
- Georg Dehio , Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bremen / Lower Saxony , Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1977.
- Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Gerhard Schildt (ed.): The Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia . 2nd Edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9 .
- Richard Moderhack : Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte , Braunschweig 1997.
Web links
Altewiekrathaus | Old Town Hall | Braunschweig town hall | Hagenrathaus | New Town Hall | City Hall | Townhouse
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 47 ″ N , 10 ° 31 ′ 0 ″ E