Boizenburg Town Hall
The Town Hall of Boizenburg was built 1712th It is located in the city center of Boizenburg / Elbe , directly on the market square in the immediate vicinity of the city church St. Marien .
history
On the night of October 15-16, 1709, the old town hall fell victim to the devastating city fire. The reconstruction of the city would take many years.
Engineer captain Jacob Reutz designed the floor plan of the city to be rebuilt before his death , of which the town hall was an important part. Finally, the town hall was rebuilt as a baroque half-timbered house in 1712 . However , the city lacked adequate funds for the reconstruction of the town hall in the amount of approx. 700 Reichstalers . The then councilor and city treasurer Runge therefore supported the reconstruction with private funds.
In the 18th century, the town hall housed the council chamber and the courtroom, both on the upper floor. The Ratskellerwirt lived with his family on the ground floor .
The court days were held twice a week in the courtroom of the town hall. The city also had its own criminal jurisdiction, which also held its court days in the town hall's courtroom. Only with the construction of the new local court did the courts get their own premises. Below the town hall oriel there was also the pillory , on which the convict was displayed by means of a collar and chain. The town hall thus became not only a place of conviction, but also a place where the imposed sentence was served.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the townspeople were offered a special ritual that was performed daily at the window of the town hall bay. There the town musician played a signal with his wind instrument in the morning and in the evening.
The town hall bell was again used to call the citizens to the meeting, for announcements such as mayoral elections and the like. While today it announces the hour in conjunction with the striking mechanism of the tower clock .
In the 18th century, the Boizenburg magistrate consisted of two mayors and the four councilors . The Boizenburg citizens were represented by two citizen speakers and ten citizens. The so-called treasurer monitored the city's income and expenditure. This council met twice a week, in the mornings. He met in the council chamber, on the upper floor of the town hall. Provisions were also made for the mayor's being unable to attend, so in this case the eldest councilor always took the position.
At the beginning of the 1840s, the composition of the Boizenburg magistrate changed. So now there was only one mayor. The council consisted of a city secretary and three councilors and the citizens' committee consisted of 12 members.
On August 9, 1938, the baroque town hall was ravaged by fire. The roof fire could be extinguished quickly thanks to the fire brigade's new turntable ladder . Damage was not absent, however, as the clockwork of the town hall clock from 1870 was damaged. However, the clockwork was repaired by the Boizenburg master watchmaker Otto Heise. The structural fire damage was also repaired promptly.
The danger of flooding was omnipresent. The town hall was repeatedly a victim of the Elbe floods .
In addition to the mayor's premises, the town hall also houses the city's registry office . In the past few years, the town hall has also been made available for cultural events and art exhibitions.
architecture
The free-standing town hall on the market square is one of the most important examples of baroque half-timbered architecture of its time. As it can often be found east of the Elbe and Oder, the town hall stands free on the market square, examples of which are the town halls of Demmin and Greifswald . The new town hall was partially built on the cellar vault of the previous building that was destroyed by the city fire.
The half-timbered town hall, painted in light gray, is provided with infills made of red brick. The two-storey half-timbered building has an arcade on the front side , which is supported by the beams of the arcades . The main portal is located under the central bay with triangular gable . Originally , the city's coat of arms, made of wood and held by two lion figures , was attached above this main portal . On the south side of the building, however, there is a sundial with the year 1768.
The hipped mansard roof is closed off by an open eight-sided lantern tower with a curved hood . In addition to the bell, there is also the striking mechanism of the town hall clock in the tower. The top of the tower is a gold-plated weather vane with a castle and a unicorn .
Even today, the town hall with a length of 18.5 meters and a total height of around 22 meters is the representative center of the Boizenburg old town.
Town hall bell
The richly decorated bell was cast in Boizenburg in 1711 by the traveling bell founder Caspar Henrich Castehl. Below the acanthus leaf decorations, the bronze bell bears the following inscription: "ME • FECIT • C • H • CASTELL • ANNO • 1711". This is the foundry's signature of the bell founder, who was also immortalized with his coat of arms on the bell.
In the same year Caspar Henrich Castehl cast another bell for the Boizenburg St. Mary's Church and a bell for the Lauenburg Maria Magdalenen Church.
restoration
Construction work in 1789
Over the years the town hall began to show the first structural damage and moisture damage. The deficiencies to be remedied were mainly due to the flood of 1771, which penetrated to the market. In 1789, extensive repair and beautification work was carried out on the town hall.
Restoration 1993–1996
From 1993 to 1996 the town hall was completely renovated as part of the general urban renewal and restored in its original form from 1712. The infill was given its red color again and the half-timbered its light gray paint, the color scheme of the 1930s was now a thing of the past.
The extensions added in the 19th century - at the rear of the building - were also demolished in the course of the construction work.
The inauguration of the restored building took place on January 26, 1996. In the presence of Mayor Uwe Wieben and numerous guests, the building document was walled in in the old cellar vault. This solemn act marked the end of the extensive restoration work.
The total costs of the restoration and construction measures amounted to a total of 3.5 million DM. The statistical information on work performance and the construction materials used are also impressive, as the following statistics illustrate.
| designation | Amount or number |
|---|---|
| Working hours | approx. 20,900 hours |
| Masonry bricks | 17 280 pcs. |
| used Oak wood | 22 m³ |
| used Pine wood | 43 m³ |
| Roof tiles | 5 460 pcs. |
| Window panes | 929 pcs. |
Others
At the beginning of the 1960s, the People's Police were also based in the town hall. Apparently out of an increased need for security, security grids should be installed in front of the windows of the basement. The then council of the city of Boizenburg then intervened at the Institute for Monument Protection of the GDR , in this case the last chance to prevent the interference. The institute viewed such an intervention as a "disgrace" of the town hall and rejected such changes to the building structure.
gallery
City Hall 1992
Town Hall 2008
Town Hall 2015
Portico and arcades
Lantern tower
Friedrich Wachenhusen : drawing of the town hall
Literature and Sources
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997.
- Hartmut Brun , Theodor Müller: Town halls in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Hinstorff-Verlag, Rostock 2001, ISBN 978-3-356-00912-5 .
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. Berlin 2000, ISBN 978-3-422-03081-7 , p. 75 f.
- Rudolf Wulff, Ingeborg Alisch, Otto Jahnke, Helmut Rackwitz, Erika Will: Boizenburg (Elbe) 1949–1989. Sutton Verlag, Boizenburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-89702-651-3 .
Printed sources
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ JE Fabri: Magazine for Geography, Political Science and History . Raspeschen Buchhandlung, Nuremberg 1797, p. 155.
- ^ JE Fabri: Magazine for Geography, Political Science and History. Raspeschen Buchhandlung, Nuremberg 1797, p. 150.
- ^ JE Fabri: Magazine for Geography, Political Science and History. Raspeschen Buchhandlung, Nuremberg 1797, p. 153.
- ^ Gustav Hempel : Geographical-statistical-historical handbook of the Mecklenburg country. Volume 2. Verlag der Hinstorffschen Hofbuchhandlung , Parchim and Ludwigslust 1843, p. 193.
- ↑ Boizenburg in old views. Volume 3. European Library, Zaltbommel 1997, p. 4.
- ^ Government gazette for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Official supplement no. 15, March 31, 1888. Published by Bärensprungschen Hofbuchdruckerei, Schwerin, p. 67.
- ↑ Dietmar Kreiß: Historic day at the port | svz.de. Retrieved September 30, 2016 .
- ^ Exhibition in the Boizenburg town hall about Michael Gartenschläger. Retrieved September 30, 2016 .
- ↑ New picture show: Moments of an amateur photographer | svz.de. Retrieved September 30, 2016 .
- ^ Boizenburg: Women and their office in honor | svz.de. Retrieved September 30, 2016 .
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997. P. 3 f.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997. p. 18.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997. p. 11.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997. p. 14.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Baier: Boizenburg town hall: Boizenburg town hall and restoration history. Self-published, Boizenburg 1997, p. 10 f.
Coordinates: 53 ° 22 '27.9 " N , 10 ° 43' 23.7" E