Darßer door
As Darßer doors elaborately carved doors from the Darß in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern referred. For over two hundred years they have been decorating the houses there with their colorful painting and have become the trademark of the peninsula.
history
The Darßer doors are closely connected to the flourishing of Darßer sailing ships in the late 18th century. With beautiful houses and their representative doors, the incoming relative prosperity found its visible expression. In doing so, the door acquired a new meaning as a central visual and house element, if possible facing the street.
The upswing also attracted craftsmen from the big cities to the peninsula. They brought their skills and experience with them and combined the local traditions with influences from all over the world. In the 19th century, the coastal landscape developed its own culture.
The time falls into the style epoch of classicism (approx. 1790 to 1850). The doors show the typical ornamentation , often borrowed from antiquity , such as columns, meanders or flat gables. The diverse motifs are not only intended to be decorative. They often hide symbols that protect the house. An arrow motif pointing upwards provides protection from lightning and storms, a diamond-like surface relief may have been associated with the idea of banishing evil spirits, and hardly a door does without sun motifs. Sometimes you can still discover this motif in its pre-Christian form as a sun cross . The symbol of the tree of life can often be found on the Darßer doors in the form of tulip bouquets .
The color of the doors was completely different two hundred years ago than it is today. Most of the doors were painted a single color red-brown, green or gray. On the one hand, this was due to the limited range of colors available, but on the other hand, it was also due to the fashion of the time, in addition, the richly decorated doors would otherwise have looked overloaded. Old, originally brightly painted house entrances are not yet known.
present
At the latest with the end of sailing, the tradition of carved doors sank into a deep slumber. It was permanently awakened with the construction of the Prerow municipal office in 1931. For the first time in a long time, the local cabinetmaker Roloff built a door with the old Darßer motifs: sun, bouquet of tulips and flowers. This is also where the custom of colorful painting began, which is today inextricably linked to the doors. The colorful front doors are now closely linked to tourism on the peninsula. Many new colorful doors have now found their way to regions far away.
literature
- Frank Braun, René Roloff: Little book of the Darßer front doors . Thomas Helms Verlag, Schwerin 1999, ISBN 3-931185-43-5 (4th, expanded and updated edition 2017, ISBN 978-3-944033-13-6 ).
- Susanne Menning, Dorit Gätjen: Front door stories - between Wustrow and Zingst . Hinstorff 2001, ISBN 3-356-00919-2 .
