Anatomical theater of the veterinary school

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The Anatomical Theater 2011, side view

The Anatomical Theater of the Veterinary School (official name: Tieranatomisches Theater der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ) is a listed building on the site of the former Royal Veterinary School and University of Applied Sciences east of Luisenstrasse in the historic Berlin district of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt . It is the oldest surviving academic teaching building in Berlin. After extensive renovation, it has been used as an exhibition space and for events by the Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology since 2012.

history

Interior view 1909
Anatomical theater of the veterinary school - around 1800

At the suggestion of Frederick the Great , his chief military doctor Christian Andreas Cothenius created the concept of a veterinary school in 1768 ("Thoughts and suggestions for a Vieh-Artzeney-Schule or Ecole veterinaire"), which could not be implemented for financial reasons.

In 1787, King Friedrich Wilhelm II ordered such an institution to be set up in Berlin because " the damage caused by the lack of good horse and cattle doctors was of the most sad consequences for the country and the cavalry ". The baroque "Reuss Garden" on the city limits at that time was acquired along with the pleasure garden and water features. The early classicist building for the newly established facility was built in 1789/90 by Carl Gotthard Langhans based on Palladio's Rotonda . For the dome, he used a plank truss construction published later by David Gilly for the first time . Sufficient daylight penetrated through the glass-covered opening of the dome. The painter Christian Bernhard Rode decorated the walls between the windows at the base of the dome with depictions of country folk and animals in grisaille paintings. The dissection table with the animal carcass could be transported up through a floor opening. Teaching began on July 1, 1790.

The veterinary school was expanded from 1839–1840 under its director Johann Christoph Albers with a three-storey building, also still preserved, as the teaching activity increased. The library and permanent collection moved to the new main building on Luisenstrasse. 55 um. In 1874 the anatomical theater received an extension (Gerlach building) for autopsies and pathological studies. In 1887 the veterinary school was elevated to the status of a veterinary college (TiHo). In 1920 food science moved into the vacant building, the corner rooms were converted into laboratories and a new display collection was created in the rotunda. In 1934 the TiHo and the Agricultural College were integrated into the Berlin University and in 1937 a separate veterinary faculty was founded. A slaughterhouse was built in those years. The Animal Anatomical Theater belonged to the Humboldt University from 1949, from 1969 to the Animal Production and Veterinary Medicine section and from 1990 back to its own Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - lectures and other events took place here during these years. Between 2005 and 2012 it was renovated and restored.

Redevelopment

In 2005, under the direction of Müller Reimann Architects, the restoration of the historical facades began at the Anatomical Theater with the support of the German Foundation for Monument Protection and the Hermann Reemtsma Foundation. The plank truss dome was nominated in 2007 for the award as a historical landmark of civil engineering in Germany . On October 15, 2012, the Animal Anatomical Theater was reopened after seven years of construction.

  • Exterior view, back side, 1909

  • Main entrance, partial view, 2010

  • Details of the facade, 2010

  • before and after the renovation in 2012

  • Cabinet decorations in the library

  • Original skull (left) and restored painting (right)

Todays use

As a laboratory for research-based exhibition practice , the Animal Anatomical Theater today offers space for exhibitions in the dialogue between science and design. The aim is the creation and practical testing of interfaces between university museology and science research, the museums and experimental exhibition practice. At the center of the profile are contemporary themed exhibitions, installation and performative projects that convey new knowledge about their objects and at the same time reflect exhibitions as arrangements of knowledge.

carrier

The Animal Anatomical Theater has been operated since 2012 by the Hermann von Helmholtz Center (HZK) , a central institute of the Humboldt University of Berlin (HU) , which has been located in the extension of the Animal Anatomical Theater since 2019. The managing director of the institute has been Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schäffner. At the HZK, the interactions between scientific or cultural upheavals and technical innovations are systematically researched. There, disciplinary knowledge of material objects is networked with interdisciplinary strategies for historical, current and future problems. The various areas and infrastructures of the HZK bundle research activities on material culture, collections and objects. This includes the collection coordination of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the coordination office for scientific university collections in Germany, the technical image, the sound archive and the art collection of the HU and the research exhibition practice in the animal anatomical theater (curatorial director Felix Sattler) and the Humboldt laboratory in the Humboldt Forum .

literature

  • Jens-Oliver Kempf: The Royal Veterinary School in Berlin by Carl Gotthard Langhans. A historical building monograph . Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-7861-2576-1 , ( The Buildings and Art Monuments of Berlin Supplement 23), (Also: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2005).
  • EP Riesenfeld: The old anatomy building of the Royal Veterinary University in Berlin . In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen , Volume 61 (1911), Sp. 537-550, Plate 63. Digital copy in the holdings of the Central and State Library Berlin .
  • Rudolf KH Wernicke: From zootomy to modern equine medicine - development of veterinary medicine in Berlin-Mitte. In: Pferdeheilkunde 21, 2005, Heft 4, 327-340

Web links

Campus around 1841
Commons : Anatomical theater of the veterinary school  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '30.3 "  N , 13 ° 22' 52.5"  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Fritz Brumme and Eberhard Üecker, Tiermedizin in Berlin: Ein historical Abriß, from: VetMed-Hefte, 1993, special print, p. 25ff.
  2. ^ Richard Schneider (ed.): Berlin around 1900 . Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 2004. ISBN 3-89479-164-0 , p. 168.
  3. ^ The skull of the dissecting spirit in FAZ of October 17, 2012, page N5
  4. ^ Rehabilitation measures at the anatomical theater of the veterinary school. Retrieved October 22, 2018 (German).