Dresden bird meadow

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The Dresden Vogelwiese is the oldest folk festival in the city of Dresden .

history

About age

When it came to the exact dating of the origins of the Dresden Vogelwiese, historians referred to different sources. G. Adolph Schulze, chronicler of the Privileged Archery Society in Dresden , based his investigations from 1913 on the year 1577. It was also the beginning of bird shooting in the meadow in front of the brickwork . More recent historical evaluations describe the period between 1546 and 1660. According to these, the Vogelwiese found its origin in a gliding fusion of two archery shooting competitions, which are different in character. On the one hand, the city ​​council organized the Whitsun shooting annually as part of an army show in order to check the military ability of the Dresden residents; a brightly painted bird attached to a pole served as a target. On the other hand, there was the state shooting, in which the circle sheet was usually shot and a festive frame, sometimes with a folk festival character, was part of it.

In the Whitsun shooting of 1660, the distinctive features from the previous Whitsun and regional shooting of the last 250 years were finally combined. Whitsun shooting became bird shooting, and country shooting became merry-making into a new bird meadow festival. From here on, lavish feasts, competitions in ring stitching, pole climbing, tapping the cock , dancing, shop stalls and dice games were an integral part of the festival.

The beginnings

From 1577 to 1841, with a few exceptions, the Vogelwiesenfeste took place on the meadow in front of the Ziegelschlag, between the Elias cemetery and the Elbe . As a result of a protracted dispute with the butchers ' guild as the lessor, the council moved the festival site in 1841 to the former parade ground of the municipal guard between today's Gerok , Dürer and Güntzstrasse . Here the showmen began to build attractions and rides adapted to the rapid technical progress into the bird meadow image. In addition to the previously known amusements and culinary delights, visitors could use and marvel at steam-powered carousels in various designs, the latest air swings, mechanical theaters and much more. However, the focus was on the different crossbow shoots at the bird and the big fireworks in the evening. A particularly popular facility was the widow Magnus' theater . It was located in the so-called Wild Quarter. With her, the audience was allowed - provided they had paid an additional six (5-pfennig piece, half a new coin ) - to actively participate in the piece. The most played piece, “The battered robber baron”, was banned in 1867 to the chagrin of the Dresdeners because of the reform idea. The folk festival with its many offers for amusement received encouragement and recognition from all strata of the population. On the other hand, it was a source of income for the traders and showmen.

New fairground

Bird meadow 1909
Place in front of the shooting pavilion
Lift of the launcher

In 1873 the usage agreement for the bird meadow location on the former parade ground of the municipal guard finally expired. In the meantime, the council gave the archery society the right to run and market the Dresden bird meadow independently. For this purpose, she acquired a new fairground on the Elbe in the Johannstadt district of Dresden (at today's Waldschlößchenbrücke ) and developed the area according to the latest requirements. The first bird meadow on the new square was opened in 1874. Year after year, new rides and sights were added, drawing ever more visitors from near and far to the Dresden Volksfest. Even a major fire in 1909, in which almost a quarter of the exhibition space was destroyed, could not stop the flow of visitors.

The first Vogelwiesenfest after the end of the First World War did not take place again until 1920. To the current 172,000 square meters of exhibition space was 40 carousels, 100 Schank tents and about 600 exhibitions of and rides . Hundreds of small suppliers, mostly from the economically weaker milieu, were allowed to offer their goods and services on so-called Krakelplatz (from: Krakelen). The moral decline that has been observed in and around the folk festival since the end of the 19th century was reflected in the abnormalities on display as well as in the increase in prostitution and crime . The folk festival was also known as a "dissolute week".

Every year the Dresden bird meadow was opened with roaring gunfire that echoed in the Elbe valley . Hundreds of thousands of festival visitors flocked to Vogelwiese on foot, by tram , train or steamboat. There were ferry connections across the Elbe between the districts of Johannstadt and Radeberger Vorstadt . On the following day of the opening, shooting began with the crossbow at the shooting bird, which was attached at a height of 42 meters. A shooting range that was last rebuilt in 1893 on Königsplatz was used as a shelter for the shooters and guests of honor. In the course of the economic recovery of the 1930s, people's need for distraction and security increased again. The responsible NS- Stadtspitze reacted and, despite many reservations, left Vogelwiese in the city's festival calendar until 1939.

New beginning from 1945

During the air raids in February 1945 , not only the bird shooting equipment but also the entire festival area and its superstructures fell victim to the flames. This literally burned the basis for a later continuation of the bird meadow. The city took advantage of the former festival site for several meters high deposition of the metropolitan area worn debris .

The bird meadow on what is now Strasbourg Square
On the bird meadow

In 1947 a smaller group of showmen tried to resurrect the bird meadow against the backdrop of the bombed city on the opposite side of the Elbe. In 1949 the city moved the festival to the Great Garden , in the immediate vicinity of the zoo . The Vogelwiese then found its home from 1953 to 1991 on the former exhibition grounds at today's Straßburger Platz , where the world's first spherical house stood until 1938 . From 1954, bird shooting became part of the bird meadow again; however adapted to the social requirements and needs of the GDR . In order to shoot the bird at a height of 20 meters in the future, a special crossbow sports community should be founded within the Society for Sport and Technology , but this was quickly discarded. The shooting range was on Herkulesallee in the Great Garden. From around 1960 the folk festival fell in favor of visitors due to a lack of attractions and innovations; the bird meadow known before 1945 had set standards.

In 1992 people returned to the almost forgotten folk festival tradition of shooting birds. Initially encouraged by interested private individuals and the Dresden Showmen Association, the bird shooting was soon again under the direction of a committed Dresden rifle club . The Volksfest Dresdner Vogelwiese took place on the old square in Dresden-Johannstadt until the Dresden Waldschlößchenbrücke was built. In 2004 the showmen moved into the new festival area below the Marienbrücke . The folk festival takes place on this area three times a year under different names such as spring or autumn festival. The festival, which was originally shaped by bird shooting, has adapted to the present in its overall presentation.

Overview of locations

1577-1841 1 in front of the Ziegelschlag (between Eliasfriedhof and the banks of the Elbe)
1841-1873 2 former parade ground of the municipal guard (between today's Gerok-, Dürer- and Güntzstraße)
1874-1945 3 on the Elbwiese on the Johannstädter Ufer (in today's area of ​​the Waldschlößchenbrücke)
1947-1949 4th Neustadt side of the Elbe (between the Prießnitz estuary and the Neustadt ferry landing stage)
1949-1952 5 on Tiergartenstrasse in the immediate vicinity of the zoo
1953-1991 6th on the former exhibition grounds on Fučík Square (today Strasbourg Square)
1992-2003 7th on the Elbwiese on the Johannstädter Ufer (as in 1874–1945)
since 2004 8th on Pieschener Allee (on the banks of the Elbe between Marienbrücke and Ostragehege )

Map with the locations of the bird meadow in Dresden

literature

  • G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden. Self-published, Dresden, 1913.
  • Heidrun Wozel: The Dresden bird meadow . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 .
  • Dietmar Schreier: Real Dresden, stories and anecdotes. Herkules-Verlag, Kassel, 2009, ISBN 978-3-937924-85-4 .
  • History of the City of Dresden - Volume 3: From the Founding of the Empire to the Present (1871–2006). Edited by Holger Starke , Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1928-1 , p. 300.
  • Fritz Löffler : The old Dresden. History of his buildings. Seemann, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-363-00007-3 .

Web links

Commons : Dresdner Vogelwiese  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden . Self-published, Dresden, 1913, p. 135.
  2. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 14 f.
  3. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 22 f.
  4. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 18 ff.
  5. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 47 ff.
  6. ^ Corinna Kirschstein: Magnus, Amalie Auguste (called widow Magnus) . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
  7. ↑ Dietmar Schreier: Echt Dresden, stories and anecdotes . Herkules-Verlag, Kassel, 2009, ISBN 978-3-937924-85-4 , p. 19.
  8. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , pp. 51–54.
  9. ^ G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden . Self-published, Dresden, 1913, p. 275.
  10. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 62 f.
  11. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 56 f.
  12. ^ G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden . Self-published, Dresden, 1913, p. 316 ff.
  13. ^ The Vogelwiesenlinie of the tram ( memento of February 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), dresdner-nahverkehr.de
  14. ^ G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden . Self-published, Dresden, 1913, p. 316.
  15. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , p. 64.
  16. ^ G. Adolph Schulze: History of the privileged archery society in Dresden . Self-published, Dresden, 1913, p. 279.
  17. ↑ Holger Starke and Heidrun Wozel : leisure, everyday life and sports . In: History of the City of Dresden - Volume 3: From the founding of the empire to the present (1871-2006). Edited by Holger Starke, Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, p. 300, ISBN 3-8062-1928-1 .
  18. ^ Holger Starke: Everyday Life and Culture . In: History of the City of Dresden - Volume 3: From the founding of the empire to the present (1871-2006). Edited by Holger Starke, Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, p. 473, ISBN 3-8062-1928-1 .
  19. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: Dresdner Vogelwiese. Verlag der Kunst , Dresden, 1993, ISBN 3-364-00284-3 , pp. 65–71.
  20. ↑ Heidrun Wozel: The long history of bird shooting , letter to the editor. Elbhang-Kurier , Dresden, May 1, 2018.