Bismarck Fountain (Arnstadt)
The Bismarck Fountain in Arnstadt was built in 1909 by Georg Wrba . The city's largest fountain was particularly valuable from an artistic point of view, was dismantled as a precaution during the Second World War because of the air raids , extensively restored until 2006 and has been in a warehouse in Arnstadt ever since.
history
1901 to 1943
In 1901 a “citizen who wanted to remain anonymous” donated 5,000 marks for a “monumental fountain” to be built in honor of the former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , who in 1895 had also become an honorary citizen of Arnstadt. The town's citizens' association began collecting donations for this purpose in 1902. After a municipal council resolution, Lord Mayor Dr. Bielfeld and a fountain committee approached the sculptor Georg Wrba from the Dresden Art Academy in 1908 and asked him to design a representative Bismarck fountain. Wrba responded positively: "I'll make a fountain for the city as beautiful as I can make it". A little later he said: "Now I'm working them again a fountain from which there is not only nowhere, but a completely new idea is a Bismarck Fountain." The idea of a Bismarck fountain was therefore nothing new, so there was, for example, the famous Bismarck fountain in Flensburg . The Arnstädter Brunnen should differ in its shape from previous Bismarckbrunnen.
Wrba outlined his monument design as follows: “The work is based on the idea of an imperial tree. From a (water-filled) basin of Thuringian shell limestone, which is closed off from the (market) square by a front basin, a bronze shaft with 24 branches rises, each of which is arranged in 8 tapering rows. Each branch encloses the coat of arms of a German federal state (the 24 states at that time are listed). The top of the fountain is flanked by 4 larger coats of arms; in front German Reich, behind Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, left Alsace-Lorraine, right Arnstadt. Branches that branch off then clasp a relief with Bismarck's medallion that crowns the entire fountain. The combination of the four coats of arms with the medallion indicates the relationship between the Schwarzburg town of Arnstadt and the German Empire and Bismarck, who added the old German states of Alsace-Lorraine to the Empire. From each of the 16 upper branches, 6 fine jets of water spring into the main basin, while 4 from each of the branches in the lower row pour into the front basin. This and their coats of arms are carried by 8 life-size (unclothed) children ... of the youth of Germany. ”A total of 132 water jets poured out of the“ Reichsbaum ”. Based on an old legend of the “Singing Tree”, the water rising in the pipe system was supposed to produce a singing sound. The fountain was 4.80 m high and 4.35 m wide. It was installed in a few days after the foundation work was completed. The impressive bronze sculpture was made by a well-known art foundry in Dresden and exhibited there before it was transported to Arnstadt. The cost of 15,000 marks was raised entirely from donations.
On September 2, 1909, the fountain was unveiled and inaugurated in the presence of the artist Professor Wrba on the northeast corner of Arnstadt's market square.
Bismarck fountain in Arnstadt (height 4.80 m), in warehouse (2010)
Bismarck medallion at the top of the fountain sculpture
Fountain Detail: Prussia. One of the eight boys
Members of the Arnstadt Fountain Association with a fountain figure
.JPG)
Since 1943
The Bismarck fountain survived the non-ferrous metal demand in both world wars, but was dismantled in 1942 or 1943, probably because of the danger of aerial warfare, and stored in a barn. The fountain basin on the market square was then removed in the 1950s. The individual parts of the forgotten bronze memorial wandered from depot to depot, some of the children's figures were in museums. A scrap dealer noticed the bronze family tree with which he reported. As early as 1991, shortly after the fall of the Wall , the Arnstadt city council passed the resolution to rebuild the monument. Expertise from art historians was also obtained. Günter Kloss , Wrba’s biographer, said in 1998: “... an architecturally and artistically unique monument. Of the more than 15 Bismarck fountains created in Germany, this fountain was considered the most original. ”Professor Ruth Menzel (Erfurt) spoke of a remarkable artistic achievement, which“ has contributed significantly to the holistic urban atmosphere of the Arnstadt city center. Not least because of its (the well's) folklore and closeness to the citizen, its intimacy and sensual pleasure, its playful ease and entertaining ... "The culture and homeland association Arnstadt eV expressed itself as follows:" We are of the opinion that it is right, Bismarck -To re-erect the fountain, regardless of today's different views ... "It represents a" cultural and historical testimony ".
A city council resolution of 2001 (No. 2001/0687 of September 27, 2001) confirmed the reconstruction project and determined the western end of the market square as the new location. The earlier one would have been in the line of sight of the Bach Church and the Bach monument that has now been erected. In 2001 the Arnstädter Brunnenverein eV was founded, which took care of the restoration of the bronze sculpture on its own initiative and with donations. The master blacksmith and restorer Ulf Gerlach carried out the restoration work in his dragon forge in Luisenthal in collaboration with the metal restorer Bernhard Mai from Erfurt. In 2006, the lavishly restored fountain sculpture was shown to the public for the first time in a hall of the former Arnstadt power station on the occasion of the city festival and the Open Monument Day . The fountain was also included in the Thuringian list of monuments . To date, however, it has not yet been set up at its intended location.
The dispute over the re-erection of the fountain intensified after the creator of the Bach memorial, which was erected in 1984 on the Arnstadt market , Bernd Göbel , expressed artistic concerns about the installation of the fountain. In Göbel's opinion, the fountain would disrupt the spatial arrangement of the square. He also asserted his copyrights , since the creation of the Bach monument was also linked to a question of location.
literature
- L. Steinich, R. Helmboldt: The Arnstadt Bismarck fountain on the occasion of its planned reconstruction . AVAU 12 (2002), pp. 178-196
- Bismarck fountain in “Chronicle of Arnstadt. Timeline / Lexicon. Festschrift for the 1300th anniversary of the city of Arnstadt ”. Edited by A. Kirchschlager, U. Lappe, P. Unger. Verlag Kirchschlager Arnstadt, 2003. ISBN 3-934277-07-1 . ISSN 1611-9215
- Bismarck fountain in Arnstadt. Fountain monument by Georg Wrba . Leaflet of the Arnstädter Brunnenverein eV, 2004/2009
- The Arnstadt Bismarck Fountain can be seen on Monument Day . Official journal of the Ilm district. 4th volume, No. 10/06, August 22, 2006
Web links
- Arnstadt fountain association
- The Bismarck Fountain (PDF; 5.5 MB)