Burgplatz (Essen)
| Burgplatz | |
|---|---|
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.jpg) Panorama of the northern Burgplatz, from left: St. Joann Baptist Church , Essen Cathedral , Bishop's House |
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| Basic data | |
| place | eat |
| District | City center |
| Newly designed | several times, most recently in 1982/1983 and 2009 |
| Confluent streets | Kettwiger Strasse , Ilse-Menz-Weg, Bernestrasse, |
| Buildings | St. Joann Baptist Church , Essen Cathedral , Bishop's House , Burggymnasium , Adult Education Center , Lichtburg , Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial , Baedekerhaus |
| use | |
| User groups | Foot traffic |
The Castle Square is a central place in Essen city center . This is where the nucleus of the city of Essen lies, which is why it is considered archaeologically valuable and registered as a ground monument.
history
Early history
In the area of today's Burgplatz, once also known as Die Immunität , there was a fortified courtyard in the early Middle Ages , of which the Essen Abbey was founded in the 9th century by the Saxon nobleman Altfrid († 874) and later Bishop of Hildesheim (851– 874) went out. It has not yet been proven. The court complex was called As [t] nidhi , from which the later name of the monastery and city of Essen is derived.
The Essen scientist Ernst Kahrs (1876–1948), director of the Ruhrland Museum from 1910 to 1948 , dug in the 1920s and again in the 1940s on, among other things, the often structurally altered Burgplatz. In 1928 he exposed extensive remains of the wall, including a mortar quarry stone wall running in a north-south direction with an adjoining pointed moat and palisade, which continues in the south in a westerly direction. Despite the lack of dating, these facilities belong to the time well before the construction of the Essen city wall in 1244. They probably formed a defense of the monastery district, from which the name of the castle is derived.
Before the end of the Second World War , Kahrs dug again on Burgplatz. In 1943 he discovered two-meter-thick remains of a wall of a burnt but presumably representative building on an area 18 by 21 meters in front of the Burggymnasium . However, Kahrs initially suspected that he would have found the remains of the founder's farm, Altfrid, which burned down in 946. Written sources show that the first monastery buildings burned down this year. However, the mighty foundations of the excavation suggest something bigger. According to today's interpretation, it was a stone tower that may have been built after the year 1000, or may not have been completed, and which is a mystery to urban archeology.
In the Middle Ages , a cemetery belonging to the Essen Minster was set up on the area of Burgplatz. It is documented that an ossuary chapel existed here from 1522 to 1817. City citizens were also buried here, because the burial rights remained with the cathedral church. In 1620 the Protestants were given a separate cemetery on I. Weberstrasse in the north-west of the city. By 1845 the Burgplatz was almost filled with the cemetery.
19th to 20th century
From 1830, the cemetery , which had already been abandoned in 1827, was moved to the cemetery at Kettwiger Tor , which was laid out south of the gate of the Essen city wall . From today's perspective, this new cemetery, which no longer exists today, was located to the south of the main train station . A green area with trees was created in 1834 from the area now vacated on Burgplatz, which was called the courtyard garden . This represented the first orderly design of the square as such.
The Jesuit residence, built around 1738 to 1742 on the south side of Burgplatz (today the location of the adult education center ), was one of the most magnificent buildings in the city in the 18th century. It was given the function of a school building, into which two denominational schools of scholars moved in on May 1, 1824, united in 1819. In the years 1880 to 1882 this school received an extension and became the Royal High School . Since the First World War it has been called the Gymnasium am Burgplatz and today it is the Burggymnasium .
To the west of the former Jesuit residence stood a former monastery building in the classicism style , which connected to Burgstrasse, today Kettwiger Strasse , and which was also named Der Rittberger Hof and Das Löwenhaus . From 1821 to 1862 it was the location of the Royal Mining Authority , with its director, Oberbergrat Heintzmann, living on the first floor. Then the main post office in Essen and the telegraph office moved here. In 1903, the post office moved into the new building on Märkische Strasse at the main train station , today Hachestrasse. After renovation in 1904, the municipal museum moved to the first floor of the former post office building on Burgplatz, until the building had to give way to the new Lichtburg cinema, which opened in 1928.
The first court house in Essen was built at the end of the 17th century where the current bishop's house is located. The wide building with two floors housed the Essen regional court from the beginning until 1802, then the city court, the regional court Essen and the regional court Steele - Rellinghausen until 1812 , and finally the peace court and a prison until 1815.
The abbess's residence, the so-called abbey building at the east choir of the cathedral church, served the regional and municipal court as a court building from 1815 and was demolished in 1883 because it was dilapidated. The original building burned down in 1265 and was rebuilt under Abbess Beatrix von Holte . The large hall in the abbey was built later under Abbess Elisabeth von Beeck († 1445). The abbey building had not served as a residence since the 14th century, but was used for representation purposes and festivities, such as for Charles IV in 1377. In 1787 the building was uninhabitable before it was given a new function as a court house in 1815.
With the unveiling of the Kaiser Wilhelm monument on October 23, 1898, Burgplatz received a new look. The bronze equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I comes from the sculptor Hermann Volz and was placed in the middle of the square on a large base with a surrounding terrace.
During the First World War, in autumn 1914, so-called booty cannons were presented to the population on Burgplatz. The troops, which were still euphoric at the beginning of the war, marched past cheering citizens on Burgstrasse to the west.
Around 1924, in the course of a comprehensive redesign of the inner city, an urban planning concept was sought in a first architecture competition in order to redesign the Burgplatz in a big city. The previously sloping terrain of the square was straightened and connected to Kettwiger Strasse (then Burgstrasse) with a wide staircase. The imperial monument was implemented in 1928. It got its current location on the southwest corner of the square, near the Lichtburg , which has bordered the square here since 1928. After that, Burgplatz was used annually for the Christmas market in the 1930s.
In 1933, at the beginning of the National Socialist era , Burgplatz was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz and Burgstrasse was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Strasse , in order, as in many cities, to promote the symbolic form of the seizure of power . Now the square, which had always served as a meeting place since the middle of the 18th century, was used for rallies by the National Socialists. After the Second World War, there were major events of the democratic parties on Burgplatz, which now got its old name back.
In the first decade after the war, after severe war damage, the Burgplatz was partially rebuilt. The Burggymnasium, which was completely destroyed by an air raid in 1943, was given today's new building between 1952 and 1956, designed by the architect Horst Loy . In 1955/1956 the architect Emil Jung had a rectory built directly opposite, on the northern side of Burgplatz, on the site of the former and now destroyed courthouse. For the foundation of the diocese of Essen , the new building was erected as a bishop's house by the architect Emil Jung between 1955 and 1956.
In the years 1982/1983, the Burgplatz was planted, restructured and paved with large round flower beds according to the award-winning design by landscape architect Helga Rose-Herzmann . Until then, Burgplatz was mostly used as a parking lot.
Today's character
from left: Burggymnasium , adult education center and part of the Lichtburg
In 2004, the renovation of the neighboring Lichtburg to the southeast was completed. The glazed building by the architect Hartmut Miksch for the adult education center in Essen was added to the east . She moved from a building contaminated with PCBs from 1975 on Hollestrasse to Burgplatz. The new building, which opened on September 16, 2004, stands on parts of the former Jesuit residence.
In 2009, Burgplatz was rebuilt with generous stair access to Kettwiger Strasse , part of Essen's pedestrian zone. To the north of the square is now as then, the ensemble of the Church of St. Johann Baptist , the Essen Cathedral and the Bishop's House , which was built after the war. On the opposite south side of the square are the Burggymnasium , the new adult education center, a restaurant and a café as well as the Lichtburg cinema.
On October 13, 2011, the monument to Franz Hengsbach , the first bishop of the Essen diocese founded in 1958 , was unveiled in the adjacent cathedral courtyard north of Burgplatz . The bronze figure, designed by the sculptor Silke Rehberg , was financed by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation and Evonik Industries .
literature
- Detlef Hopp (Ed.): Brought to light. Archeology in the city of Essen . Klartext Verlag , Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-804-5 .
- Detlef Hopp: Essen Castle. In: Detlef Hopp, Bianca Khil, Elke Schneider (eds.): Burgenland Essen. Castles, palaces and permanent houses in Essen . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8375-1739-2 , pp. 38–41.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Detlef Hopp, Newer Findings of Urban Archeology on the Middle Ages in the Essen city center since 1992, catalog of the exhibition "Aufruhr 1225", Herne 2010, p. 173ff, p. 177f.
- ↑ Monika Fehse: Food. History of a city . Ed .: Ulrich Borsdorf. Peter Pomp Verlag, Bottrop, Essen 2002, ISBN 3-89355-236-7 , p. 180 .
- ↑ Rheinisch-Westfälischer Anzeiger, edition of May 5, 1824
- ↑ Holger Krüssmann: Architecture in Essen 1900–1960 . Ed .: Berger Bergmann and Peter Brdenk. Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0246-6 .
- ^ Hugo Rieth: Essen in old views, Volume 1 . 3. Edition. Zaltbommel, Netherlands 1978.
- ↑ Citizens and Tourist Association Rüttenscheid e. V .: Rüttenscheider yearbook 1988, pages 64–66
- ↑ Tony Kellen: The industrial city of Essen in words and pictures. History and description of the city of Essen. At the same time a guide through food and the surrounding area. Fredebeul & Koenen, Essen 1902.
- ↑ Excerpt from the list of monuments of the city of Essen , accessed on January 5, 2017
- ↑ Architektur-Ruhr.de ; Retrieved April 23, 2014
- ↑ Derwesten.de of October 13, 2011: Memorial for the smiling Ruhr Bishop Hengsbach ; Retrieved April 23, 2014
Further sources:
- Ruhr Museum
- Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation of the City of Essen
- Essen Memorial Trail
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 19 ″ N , 7 ° 0 ′ 50 ″ E