Böttcherstrasse (Bremen)
The Böttcherstraße is a 110 m long street in the old town of Bremen , which, due to its architecture, is one of the cultural monuments and tourist attractions in Bremen. Most of the buildings were built between 1922 and 1931 and are mainly due to Ludwig Roselius (1874–1943), a Bremen coffee merchant and patron. Roselius commissioned the architects Eduard Scotland (1885–1945), Alfred Runge and the sculptor Bernhard Hoetger (1874–1949) with the artistic design. The street and its buildings are a rare example of Expressionist architecture . Several of the houses can be assigned to the style of brick expressionism. Böttcherstraße is available as a complete system since 1973 under monument protection .
history
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The history of Böttcherstrasse goes back to the Middle Ages . The name Hellinchstrate is documented for the year 1317 . It represented an important connection between the market square and the Weser . Böttcher , Kimker , Fass - and Zubermacher were based in it. When the port was relocated in the middle of the 19th century, the Böttcherstraße began to lose importance.
- In 1902 (other sources 1906), at the insistence of the owner, Ludwig Roselius bought house no.6 in Böttcherstrasse (today the Ludwig Roselius Museum ) and built the administrative headquarters of his company there, from which the Kaffee HAG later emerged. Roselius gradually acquired additional properties on Böttcherstrasse.
- 1919: In the years after the First World War , some dilapidated buildings were demolished.
- In 1921, today's Roseliushaus was converted into a museum according to plans by Eeg & Runge.
Designed by architects Alfred Runge and Eduard Scotland that the "home protection movement" were close, emerged from 1923 to 1926, the coffee-HAG-house , the house of St. Peter , the home of the carillon and other office buildings. The houses were built with the typical materials of the time, brick and sandstone . - In 1926, Roselius had the Paula-Becker-Modersohn-Haus built for the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum based on plans by Bernhard Hoetger . This building stood in architectural contrast to the previous buildings. It has relief-like exterior walls and organically shaped interiors.
- In 1931 the house Atlantis was completed according to plans by Hoetger , which with its architecture and its materials ( glass , steel and concrete ) also represents a strong contrast to the other buildings. The Robinson Crusoe House was also built in 1931 .
- 1937: During the Nazi era, on May 7, 1937, Böttcherstraße was listed as an example of the decadent art of the Weimar era . This happened after the street came into conflict with the National Socialist regime due to its architectural style and the displayed content (e.g. the House of Atlantis). From 1935 the Nazi press increasingly targeted the street and even demanded the demolition of some parts. The light bringer installed in 1936 was interpreted as an analogy to Adolf Hitler in order to save the buildings.
- In 1944, large parts of Böttcherstrasse were destroyed. Most of the facades were restored to their original condition by Kaffee HAG by 1954. In a letter dated October 13, 1944 from Werner Naumann , commercial director of Focke-Wulf , to Barbara Goette, closest confidante of Ludwig Roselius, Naumann confirms that Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau's shareholders' meetings were held in Böttcherstraße.
- In 1979 Ludwig Roselius jun. the Kaffee HAG together with the Böttcherstrasse to General Foods.
- In 1981 he bought Böttcherstrasse back. The street is now in private hands.
- In 1989 considerable damage was found again. The Sparkasse Bremen bought the entire street, including its buildings, with the exception of the Atlantis house.
- In 1999 all restoration work was completed.
- In 2004 Böttcherstraße became part of the Bremer Sparer-Dank Foundation.
Todays use
Today the Böttcherstraße is one of the internationally known sights of Bremen. It houses the Böttcherstrasse museums , arts and crafts workshops , restaurants , retail stores and a hotel . Almost all land and buildings on the street are owned by the Bremer-Sparer-Dank Foundation, the Sparkasse foundation in Bremen . It is operated by Böttcherstraße GmbH, a subsidiary of Sparkassen-Finanzholding.
Despite its length of only 108 meters, Böttcherstraße is considered "the city's secret main street". It is part of the city's pedestrian zone and, unlike most other streets, due to its structural design, it is not allowed to be driven on by motor vehicle anyway. Pedestrians can use the nearby Martinistr. cross under and get to the Schlachte on the banks of the Weser.
The architecture and houses
Robinson Crusoe House : The building was built in 1931 as the last house on the street and designed by Karl Weihe and Ludwig Roselius. Roselius chose thecharacter Robinson Crusoe because it exemplifies the Hanseatic zest for action and pioneering spirit. Until the house was destroyed in 1944, the premises were used by the Bremen Club for its meetings. Today, in the stairwell, colored panels in the manner of woodcut printing plates, whichwere carvedby Theodor Schultz-Walbaum in the course of the reconstruction in 1954, recall episodes of the eponymous novel.
House St. Petrus : The building was built between 1923 and 1927 by Eduard Scotland and Alfred Runge and served as a restaurant until it was destroyed. The permanent representation restaurantand a wine office are still located in the building today. The Bremen Casino was also located there until 2010.
House of the Seven Lazy : The building was also constructed by Eduard Scotland and Alfred Runge between 1924 and 1927. The building initially housed the Kaffee HAG advertising space and the office of the Deutscher Werkbund. The naming after the legendaryfigures of the seven lazy people from Bremenonly took place after the reconstruction in 1954. Today they support the gable of the houseas large stone figures. There are also various shops in the building.
House Atlantis : The house built by Bernhard Hoetger between 1930 and 1931 is intended toembodythe utopia of the legendary continent Atlantis . The building is geometrically modern, made of glass, wood and reinforced concrete and wasfurnishedin an Art Deco style. The premises were mainly used as a lecture and reading room. When Böttcherstraße was sold in 1988, the house was separated from the street network and is now owned by the Swedish company Pandox AB . He carried out extensive renovation measures and integrated the building into a hotel built next door. The stairwell and the heavenly hall have been preserved almost true to the original and are therefore important witnesses of German architecture from the period between the world wars .
Haus des Glockenspiels : The building was built between 1922 and 1924 when two old warehouses were converted by Eduard Scotland and Alfred Runge. Today the archive and administration of Böttcherstraße GmbH as well as the famous carillon are located here. The first carillon was inaugurated in 1934 and consisted of thirty porcelain bells . The specialty of the carillon is its connection to ten carved wooden panels in the Ludwig-Roselius-Haus. These show well-known ocean conquerors and rotate to the sounds of the carillon. After the destruction in the war, the second carillon was built in 1954, which was replaced by the third carillon during renovation work in 1991.
The carillon rings from January 1st to March 31st at 12, 3 and 6 p.m. During the rest of the time it can be heard every full hour between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Roselius House : The Roselius House is the oldest of the buildings in the street and its foundation walls probably go back to the 14th century. It initially served Ludwig Roselius as the administrative headquarters and was expanded in 1928 to accommodate his extensive art collection. In the course of these renovations, it also received its distinctive stepped gable and its current name. The facade was almost completely destroyed in the war, but was completely rebuilt by 1954. The furnishings have also been faithfully restored and the house now serves as a museum.
Paula-Becker-Modersohn-Haus : The building was built by Bernhard Hoetger between 1926 and 1927 and initially served as an exhibition and sales room. Today the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum , workshops for handicrafts and several shops are located there . In the courtyard of the house is the Seven Lazy Fountain , which shows the Bremen legendary figures of the seven lazy people . In the course of its restoration in 1993, an additional floor was added to the building.
Sculptures, reliefs, fountains
- Eva on the swan , 1906 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Jugend , 1909 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Female torso , made of bronze by Bernhard Hoetger in 1909
- Der Tag , 1910 by Bernhard Hoetger, cast stone cast
- The evening , 1911 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Dusk , 1912 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Jug bearer , 1912 by Bernhard Hoetger from Gussstein
- Mother and Child , 1912 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Panther, carrying the night , 1912 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Silver lion, bearing the day , 1912 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Ludwig Roselius bust , 1922 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Girl's head , 1924 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Moor woman , 1924 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Bacchus , 1928 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Head of Paracelsus , 1936 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Looking boy , 1936 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Schreitende , 1936 by Bernhard Hoetger made of bronze
- Der Lichtbringer , 1936 by Bernhard Hoetger as a bronze relief
- Sieben-Lazy Fountain , 1930 by Bernhard Hoetger made of brick and bronze
literature
- Arn Strohmeyer: The built myth: the house Atlantis in the Bremer Böttcherstrasse - a German misunderstanding. Donat, Bremen 1993, ISBN 3-924444-67-6 .
- Arn Strohmeyer: Parsifal in Bremen: Richard Wagner, Ludwig Roselius and the Böttcherstraße. VDG, Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-89739-263-1 .
- Hans Tallasch (Ed.): Project Böttcherstraße. Aschenbeck & Holstein, Delmenhorst 2002, ISBN 3-932292-29-4 .
- Katharina Uhl: Januskopf Böttcherstraße. Cultural renewal, built utopia and national identity (= Ikonologie der Moderne. Vol. 2) LIT-Verlag, Münster (among others) 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-12706-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ History | Böttcherstrasse. Retrieved on March 23, 2019 (German).
- ^ Monument database of the LfD
- ^ Herbert Schwarzwälder : Bremen through the ages - The old town , Eilers & Schünemann, Bremen 1970, page 172
- ^ Elisabeth Schmidle: Schandmal or memorial. (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: The citizen in the state. 3/2006, p. 184.
- ↑ Frank Hethey: A tribute to Adolf Hitler saved Böttcherstrasse . In: WK Geschichte Bremen 1918–1939 . Bremen 2019.
- ↑ Ludwig Leidig: Bombshell. Strategic Book Publ., Houston / Texas 2013, ISBN 978-1-62516-346-2 , p. 218
- ↑ Böttcherstraße Bremen - the secret main street of the city. In: bremen.de. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .
- ↑ History | Böttcherstrasse. Retrieved March 23, 2019 .
- ↑ The glockenspiel on the side of Böttcherstraße ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
- Homepage of the Böttcherstrasse
- 360 ° panorama view of Böttcherstraße
- Deutschlandradio report on the "Secret Main Street of the Hanseatic City" ( Memento from March 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Radio Bremen: The acoustic Böttcherstraße. Radio production from 1932 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Homepage of the museums Böttcherstraße
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 30 ″ N , 8 ° 48 ′ 20 ″ E