Brewing water art
The art of brewing water was an early Lübeck water supply system .
The situation before the establishment of the brewing water art
The medieval Lubeck possessed before the late 13th century, no water supply, significantly higher than groundwater-fed fountain and a very small number of Sourcewells went inside the city walls. In addition, the water of the Wakenitz , which bordered the city hill on the east side, was skimmed off and brought into the houses by porters in buckets.
This situation was particularly a hindrance for the brewers , as they had a great deal of water required to make beer. Every brewer needed up to 5000 liters of water a week; this demand could not be met from the groundwater wells that were located on almost every property. In addition, the composition of the well water made it less suitable for brewing. The procuring of the necessary Wakenitz water by porters was too expensive in the long run. Beer was a staple food consumed in large quantities by all strata of the population. It was also foreseeable that this method of water procurement would reach its capacity limits.
The original brewing water art
A solution to the problem was found after the city of Lübeck acquired the water rights for the Wakenitz and dammed the river in 1291. The damming made it possible to build a water art . The council gave the brewers' guild permission to build the system on the Hüxterdamm , which cut through the Wakenitz below the Hüxstrasse . The brewery water art was completed and in operation by 1294 at the latest , which is proven by a documentary mention.
Various written records make it possible to reconstruct that original Brauer water art in its basic features: A as a scoop trained waterwheel driven by the flow of the Wakenitz, took on river water in containers. At the apex of the wheel, the water poured into an elevated tank . From there it flowed through underground wooden pipes to the connected buildings in the southeast of the city. The water pressure generated by the high reservoir was sufficient to transport water to higher streets.
Possibly as early as 1463, but no later than 1493–1496, the brewing water art was rebuilt. From then on, the water wheel served to drive a pumping station , which pumped the water up into the elevated tank.
The later brewing water art
In 1540 the art of brewing water was comprehensively renewed. A three-storey water tower was erected, the area of which was 10 meters by 7.5 meters and in which there was a wooden water tank at a height of 14 meters. As a model for the brick- built tower in the Renaissance style , the neighboring water tower of Citizens Water Art, completed seven years earlier, served .
A pipe at the bottom of the Wakenitz, laid far out into the river, took up the water. Six pumps, driven by a water wheel, carried the water into the elevated tank, from where it was pressed into the pipes. In this form, the brewing water art remained technically largely unchanged over three centuries.
The pipeline network of the brewing water art
It is difficult to reconstruct the medieval pipeline network of the brewing water art, as no plans have survived and the written mentions offer few clues. Precise statements can therefore hardly be made for the period before the late 16th century. The oldest surviving sketch of the network dates from 1596. Detailed plans were drawn up in 1824 and 1839.
The pipeline network opened up the south-eastern part of today's Lübeck old town in several stages. The wooden pipes were laid underground in the middle of the street and branches led to the connected houses. Customers were members of the brewers' guild, who owned the water art without interruption until the end of operations, but private individuals were also involved. The homeowners paid fixed fees based on various factors. The amount of water removed did not matter.
In 1830 the network had a total length of 3,160 meters. A total of 73 sods , 117 pumps and 38 riser columns were connected to the houses , which supplied around 1,800 households with water.
The end of the art of brewing water
Like the neighboring Bürgerwasserkunst, the brewery water art continued its service well into the 19th century. However, the water supply gave rise to increasing complaints and grave concerns.
On the one hand, the amount of water delivered by the pumps was no longer sufficient to meet demand. The growing water shortage was also due to the wooden pipes, which had often become rotten and leaky. Because of the decreasing amount, the supply of water was rationed. The various areas of the network were only supplied with water at certain times. The poor condition of the lines also contributed to roads becoming muddy and basements flooding as the lines broke. There was also concern that the water pressure fell as the water volume fell, and that more than a quarter of the fire engines used were no longer provided for in the event of a fire .
On the other hand, the water quality became worrying. Above the Hüxterdamms rubbish and waste were dumped into the Wakenitz, from several roads led sluices waste into the river. The unfiltered water pumped into the pipes had an unpleasant rotten odor, which was also due to the sludge deposits on the bottom of the Wakenitz. In the first half of the 19th century Lübeck was hit by several cholera epidemics, which claimed a total of 2,500 lives. Investigations showed the connection between the spread of the disease and polluted drinking water, so that ways to improve Lübeck's water supply were sought.
Plans presented in 1861 provided for the construction of a new water art at the site of the water arts on Hüxterdamm. However, this project was not pursued any further. The Senate gave preference to plans for city water art powered by steam power , in which the water from the Wakenitz was no longer taken in the immediate vicinity of the city, but away from the pollution at a greater distance from the old town. This project was accepted by the Senate and the City Council in 1865 and implemented over the next two years.
With the commissioning of the new water art in 1867, the brewing water art as well as the citizen water art became superfluous. In 1874 both water towers were demolished and all systems were removed. There are no remains, apart from the wooden pipelines, which are still found during road works in Lübeck's old town and provide information about the exact course of the supply network.
literature
- Mieszyslaw Grabowski, Doris Mührenberg: "In Lübeck, water has been flowing in pipes ... for 700 years!" A study of cultural history . Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Lübeck 1994 ( exhibitions on archeology in Lübeck 1, ZDB -ID 2167832-7 ), (exhibition catalog, Lübeck, Museum Burgkloster, December 16, 1994– February 12 , 1995).
- Rainer Andresen: The old townscape - history, churches, fortifications. 2 volumes. Verlag Neue Rundschau, Lübeck 1980–1984.