Defense barracks Erfurt

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The main facade of the defense barracks (2016)

The Erfurt Defense Barracks is a former military facility and by far the largest building on the Petersberg in Erfurt . It is a listed building and has been empty since around 2000.

Building history

After the Kingdom of Prussia came to power again over the city of Erfurt in 1814, the city was expanded as a fortress using the existing baroque fortifications and the Petersberg Citadel, previously used by the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul , was converted into a purely military complex. The Kingdom of Prussia became the new owner of the property.

Location of the building (No. 15) within the Petersberg Citadel

The barracks that still exist today were built between 1828 and 1831 on the site of the monastery that was destroyed in the War of Liberation . As an artillery position, it was intended to restrict the view of the upper plateau from the north and, together with the section wall, split the fortress into two independent sections. At the same time, according to the Prussian fortress building theory (increase in the ability to defend from the outside in), it should form a fortress within the fortress. The building, which is 167 m long and 18.80 m deep, has two storeys on the city side in the southwest and three storeys on the field side to the northeast. The northern walls were more than 2 meters thick, at the gables even more than 3.50 m thick, and in the basement alone were given a number of over 80 loopholes. A war bakery was built on the south-eastern narrow side . The crew quarters were designed for around 500 soldiers and faced the former parade ground to the southwest. The facade there, in the style of monumental Prussian classicism , was symmetrically structured by three large round arch portals , the middle one being framed by a central projection with four pilasters in a colossal order . The corners were also emphasized by broad wall templates made of sandstone blocks, which gave the building an extremely defensive character. The rectangular windows in between were surrounded by sandstone.

Basement floor plan, war bakery on the right

Inside, the building was divided into individual sections by over 1.40 m thick transverse walls, which could be separated from one another by deployable palisade walls in the event of an enemy storm . The floors were accessed through three spacious staircases behind the entrance portals. While the basement and the upper storey were vaulted, the ground and upper storeys were only separated by a wooden beam ceiling. At the top, the building was originally finished with a cornice and a flat roof, which was covered with earth to protect against projectiles.

Central elevation from 1831 with heightening from 1912 (2016)

After the founding of the empire and the development of new weapons technology, the building lost its military importance. After that it was mainly used as a warehouse and accommodation building for soldiers. Shortly before the First World War , it was extensively rebuilt in 1912–1913. Instead of the previous earthfill on the previous two-story low-rise building, it was significantly expanded by building a spacious mansard roof in neo-baroque style. The existing design elements were built on. A row of large dormer windows with cranked, profiled cladding and segmented arched roofing was erected on both sides for exposure . The building then offered a total of 750 soldiers. Since then, the increase in storeys has made it, together with the roof of the former St. Peter's Church and the roofs and towers of the cathedral and St. Severi, the crown of Erfurt, which can be seen from afar.

Further usage history

In 1918 the Free State of Prussia became the new property owner of the Petersberg. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the military facilities were gradually evacuated. The defense barracks was used as a residential building and as a quarters for the police force and, in the meantime, by the Thuringia Freikorps .

In the course of the armament of the Wehrmacht during the Nazi era, the Petersberg was again used for military purposes. Between 1936 and 1938, parts of the barracks served as quarters for the newly established Motorized Infantry Regiment No. 71 and between 1938 and 1943 as the headquarters of the Wehrmacht's administrative offices . A small tower (still available in 2016) for a light anti-aircraft gun was built into the attic . During the Second World War , a transit and registration camp for displaced persons was set up in the defensions barracks from 1944 , which was continued in the Soviet occupation zone by the SMAD .

The field side of the barracks with the former loopholes and the elevator towers added in GDR times

When the GDR was founded in 1949, it also took over the former Prussian-German properties, and the military returned to the site. The barracks have meanwhile been used as quarters for the barracked People's Police , a police school and the National People's Army . From 1963 the Petersberg came back into municipal ownership. The defense barracks was converted into storage rooms.

At the turn of 1989/1990 , the Petersberg came into the ownership of the Free State of Thuringia and was gradually reconstructed in the following years, removing disruptive buildings that were not worth preserving. In 1992 the city of Erfurt decided on a redevelopment statute for the area of ​​the historic city center including the Petersberg according to BauGB , whereby it legally secured a strong influence on the urban development and use of the area. In the defensions barracks, municipal administrative offices, such as the school administration office, were temporarily housed. While the Peterskirche was transferred to the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation in 1994 , the still unrenovated Defensionskaserne came into the possession of LEG Thuringia in 1999 with the task of selling it after the municipal administrative offices had moved out and thus giving it a new use.

Discussions about usage and demolition since 2000

Starting in 2000, the Michael Mann planning office developed an urban planning framework for the Petersberg , in which it was formulated: “The Petersberg will become a large public park in and above the city. It can be reached on foot from all the surrounding city quarters and serves tourists and the general public for recreation and leisure, for games, activities and culture ”. For the defense barracks, Mann u. a. use as a youth hostel or hotel . Although LEG found an investor for this, the city of Erfurt refused to use the barracks for residential purposes in the subsequent discussion in the final version of the 2002 master plan.

Due to the tight specifications of the master plan in Erfurt, it became difficult to create a usage concept and to find investors. On April 16, 2014, the city council finally decided in a close vote in favor of an office concept of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband and the Thuringian State Media Authority , which provides for the replacement of the listed mansard roof and the gable with a flat roof terrace in order to reduce the building mass non-existing public funding can be realized. According to the will of the city "with the largest roof terrace in Thuringia", an attraction point for the Federal Garden Show 2021 will be created on the resulting flat roof of the building . Against the removal of the roof, which is seen as part of the Erfurt city crown, there was resistance from the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology and in the population, in complaints to the state government, the state administration office and in numerous letters to the editor in newspapers and social networks was expressed. In addition, other investors came forward who want to convert the property into a center of the creative industry while preserving the roof. Among other things, the Thuringian Museum of Electrical Engineering in Erfurt confirmed its intention, formulated in 2014, to rent a floor for exhibition rooms and the need to preserve the roof. After Parität and Landesmedienanstalt had finally withdrawn their purchase applications due to a lack of financing, the Thuringian state government and the city of Erfurt surprised the public on June 21, 2016 with plans to convert the building for the Museum of Prehistory and Early History of Thuringia and the Museum of Thuringian Folklore Erfurt .

literature

  • Georg Dehio (founder), Stephanie Eißing (ed.), Franz Jäger: Handbook of German art monuments - Thuringia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-422-03050-6 , p. 364.
  • Sandra Siefus, Elke Bruckner: Citadel - Park - Cultural Place . Information board on the Petersberg of TIAW e. V. Stadtinitiative Petersberg, Erfurt December 2010.
  • Thimo Götz: A cultural quarter is to grow on the Erfurt roof garden , Thüringer Allgemeine Erfurt (TA) , April 24, 2013
  • Angelika Reiser-Fischer: Dispute over the defense barracks on the Petersberg , TA, July 10, 2013
  • Marc Mirtschke: Erfurt discussing the use of the Petersberg barracks , TA, July 31, 2013
  • Thüringer Allgemeine: Concepts for barracks on Petersberg , July 29, 2013
  • Wolfram Köhler: The external shape of the object must not change (letter to the editor), TA, August 16, 2013
  • Thimo Götz: State curator sees the tiled roof as part of the city crown, TA, October 2, 2013
  • Thimo Götz: The barracks roof shouldn't get in the way of investors , TA, October 11, 2013
  • Matthias Thüsing: The barracks on the Petersberg must continue to hope for redemption, TA, November 28, 2013
  • Matthias Thüsing: Nothing is moving in terms of defensive barracks , Thüringische Landeszeitung (TLZ) , January 14, 2014
  • Thuringian national newspaper: Defensionskaserne: Deadline until February 15 , TLZ, January 20, 2014
  • Hartmut Schwarz: 20 artists on hold, TLZ, February 8, 2014
  • Matthias Thüsing: Barracks on Petersberg are to be sold to parity, TA, March 6, 2014
  • Hartmut Schwarz: "Bankruptcy Incapable Offer" , TLZ, March 7, 2014
  • Thüringische Landeszeitung: Shared use only at eye level , March 10, 2014
  • Thuringian state newspaper Elektromuseum wants to go to Petersberg , March 12, 2014
  • Frank Karmeyer: The future of Petersberg remains a bone of contention , TLZ, March 13, 2014
  • Birgit Kummer: Petition promotes the Kulturquartier , TLZ, March 19, 2014
  • Hartmut Schwarz: We cannot accept any further delay , TA, March 26, 2014
  • Hartmut Schwarz: There's only room for everyone with the attic , TLZ, April 1, 2014
  • Frank Karmeyer: 2000 signatory for the "Kulturquartier Petersberg" , TLZ, April 2, 2014
  • Karsten Grobe: It should actually be increased , TLZ, April 12, 2014
  • Frank Karmeyer: Barracks become office buildings , TLZ April 16, 2014
  • Thüringer Allgemeine: Defense barracks only with surroundings, TA May 19, 2014
  • Hartmut Schwarz: A serious report for the defensions barracks is missing , TA, October 9, 2014
  • TLZ: Digital expert opinion for barracks roof, TLZ, November 7, 2014
  • Markus Thüsing: New report on the roof for Petersberg barracks , TA, December 11, 2014
  • Martin Moll: Creating new paths on and over the Petersberg , TA, March 21, 2015
  • Holger Wetzel: Potential builders are planning a parking deck at barracks , TLZ, March 31, 2015
  • Holger Wetzel: State curator tolerates parking deck and glass roof TA, May 1, 2015
  • Steffen Raßloff : Imposing fortress , TA, May 16, 2015
  • Markus Thüsing: Sale of the defensions barracks back on the test bench , TLZ, July 21, 2015
  • Hartmut Schwarz: New meeting for the defensions barracks , TA, July 2015
  • Markus Thüsing: The BUGA and the Petersberg: All questions open , TA, October 1st, 2015
  • Hartmut Schwarz: Official secrecy , TLZ, October 2, 2015
  • Markus Thüsing: The city ​​plans to use the defensions barracks itself if necessary , TA, October 22, 2015
  • Markus Thüsing: New investor tries to buy Defensionskaserne , TA, October 28, 2015
  • Markus Thüsing: Defensionskaserne: Sale is a long time coming , TA, January 7, 2016
  • Casjen Carl: Erfurter Petersbergfreunde sound the alarm , TA, February 13, 2016
  • Casjen Carl: The roof can go down - the city issues a preliminary building permit for defense barracks , March 5, 2016
  • Martin Moll: With the elevator to the Petersberg , TLZ, March 17th, 2016
  • Casjen Carl: An adventure world is to be created for the Buga in Petersberg , TA, March 17, 2016
  • Casjen Carl: Elektromuseum-Verein wants to continue saving the roof of the defensions barracks , TA, March 18, 2016
  • Heinrich Thieler: Where's the outcry? (Letter to the Editor), TA, March 22, 2016
  • Eva Maria Fels: Letter to the Editor , TA, April 7, 2016
  • Wolfram Köhler: Advertising poetry instead of arguments (letter to the editor), TA, April 7, 2016
  • Thuringian national newspaper: 86.2% of the callers advocate keeping the roof , TLZ, April 13, 2016
  • Eberhard Lippmann: Opinion of the people of Erfurt not asked (letter to the editor), TLZ, April 20, 2016
  • Casjen Carl: Concept for defensive barracks is in place - funding not yet available , TA and TLZ, May 18, 2016
  • Anja Derowski: BUGA 21: escalator, monastery garden and glass pyramid on the Petersberg , TA May 19, 2016
  • Stephan Hloucal: The Erfurt city crown is in great danger (letter to the editor), TLZ May 27, 2016
  • Heinrich Thieler: Sad sight (letter to the editor), TA, May 26, 2016
  • Holger Wetzel: Everything back to zero: the renovation of the defensive barracks failed , TA, June 16, 2016
  • Holger Wetzel: Plan B for the Petersberg: City wants to renovate defensions barracks itself , TA, June 17, 2016
  • Holger Wetzel: Defense barracks to become a state museum , TA, June 21, 2016
  • Holger Wetzel: Kathrin Weiß wants to turn Petersberg into a "Buga hammer" , TLZ, June 24, 2016,

Web links

Commons : Defensionskaserne (Citadel Petersberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ quoted from http://www.spderfurt.de/index.php?nr=16429&menu=0
  2. ↑ Hartmut Schwarz: Erfurt Defensionskaserne: Managing Director demands “no further delay!” Thuringian regional newspaper Erfurt , March 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ Holger Wetzel: Parity and TLM received a surcharge for defensive barracks. Thuringian General Erfurt , April 7, 2014.
  4. ^ Matthias Thüsing, July 21, 2015
  5. ^ Matthias Thüsing, January 7, 2016.
  6. ^ City of Erfurt: Vision Petersberg , Official Gazette of the State Capital Erfurt, March 18, 2016.
  7. ^ Heinrich Thieler, March 23, 2016.
  8. ^ Eva-Maria Fels, Wolfram Köhler, April 7, 2016.
  9. ^ Heinrich Thieler, May 26, 2016
  10. ↑ Hartmut Schwarz: Unique electric museum to be an attraction in the defensive barracks , Thuringian regional newspaper Erfurt, February 22, 2014.
  11. ↑ Casjen Carl, March 18, 2016th
  12. ↑ Stephan Hloucal, May 27, 2016
  13. ↑ Holger Wetzel, June 21, 2016

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 43.9 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 9.8 ″  E