Eisenach city palace
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The Eisenach City Palace is a castle on the north side of the market square of the city of Eisenach in Thuringia . It was the residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Eisenach and later a residence of the Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach . Today there are offices of the city administration (cultural office), the Eisenach city archive (in the north wing) and, since 1931, the Thuringian Museum .
history
Today's city palace owes its existence to tradition based on an unheard-of incident: When Anna Sophie Charlotte (1706–1751), a born Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt , the widow of the last Duke of Eisenach, Wilhelm Heinrich , was expelled from the country and further humiliating gestures by “ Heirs ”became known, she ordered without further ado that the residential palace she lived in was cleared out“ down to the last nail ”- at least, according to tradition, when she moved out, there wasn't much that was left in the building. Enraged by this embarrassment, Duke Ernst August is said to have ordered the immediate demolition of the residential palace, and this request was granted without hesitation.
On January 20, 1742, the order to build a new castle in Eisenach arrived. An area that still existed with six town houses at the time was designated for the construction site. The acquisition of the real estate turned out to be extremely expensive and the unification of the existing building fabric with the ducal demands initially failed. The Princely Building Commission, with state master builder Gottfried Heinrich Krohne as the leading architect, was responsible for the conception of the castle building called the "Fürstenhof" due to the given dimensions, the adoption of the foundations and partly the surrounding walls of the town houses as well as the mandatory requirement that only cheap building materials, half-timbering, workpieces should be used Old residence - very reluctant to use, and planning and implementation was therefore only gradual. Due to the existing building fabric, the retention of their false ceilings and load-bearing structures, it was only possible to create small rooms in the south wing that did not meet the high standards of a princely court. So in 1743 the plan arose to build an additional north wing for festival rooms. In order to be able to connect these two wings in a meaningful way, a western connection was commissioned. It primarily served to accommodate the new Marstall, which was planned on the ground floor . The opposite east wing, initially designed as a stables , was vaulted in 1743. However, the duke did not like the result, so he had this unfinished building completed as a service wing and servants' living area. This part of the castle was demolished in 1933.
In 1744, the work concentrated on changes to the roof structure, in 1746 an already raised storey was removed due to static problems and rottenness discovered in the supporting framework. In the meantime, the heating technology was already being worked on, and in 1745 a set of 30 iron stoves with glaze stone attachments was ordered from a stove builder. In 1746, large-format sandstone blocks from the Madelung quarry were ordered for the stairwells, paving and facade parts . In 1747, large-format cut crystal mirrors and two gold-plated chandeliers were installed in the ballroom. In the autumn of the same year, the stables were largely completed. The new upper floor of the south wing, three rooms with their alcoves and oven niches as well as the gallery in front were also designated as finished in 1747, although most of the rooms had neither doors nor windows. The necessary roof drainage did not begin until 1748, for this purpose channels had to be attached to the roof, twelve copper hoses had to be installed and an underground drainage system had to be installed around the castle. After the inner courtyard was initially unsurfaced and partially covered with ornamental beds, it was decided in 1756 to pave the courtyard.
The current appearance of the city palace was established with the completion of the market-side facade in 1748. The client passed away in the same year.
“ When this facade was finished around 1748, it presented itself with a central risalite crowned by a pavilion , the stone gable of which was decorated with three vases. The connection from the base to the first floor was formed by a balustrade , just as the roof was optically separated from the building by a blind balustrade. The further division of the facade with pilaster strips , capitals , window parapets and stucco ornaments was emphasized by a yellow and white color scheme in addition to the natural color of the stone. In 1756 the stucco was renewed and at the end of the 18th century it was chipped off due to damage and rosettes were put on in place of the pilaster capitals. "
After the deaths of Krohne and the Duke, August Friedrich Straßburger completed the complex in the 1750s.
The Eisenach City Palace remained the representative setting of the ducal court in Eisenach until 1918.
Structural matters
The city palace is a late baroque , originally four-winged complex, the south facade of which points directly to the Eisenach market square. The three-story building is crowned here by a small wooden dome. In the north wing there is a ballroom which has an area of 120 square meters and extends over two floors. The stucco work there comes from Krohne from the period between 1745 and 1747. With the Marstall, a room originally used as a horse stable, the Marstall, which is largely preserved in its original form except for the wooden fixtures and paving, the castle has another high-quality architectural detail.
literature
- Helmut Scherf: The Thuringian Museum in Eisenach - Its history and its collections. Eisenach 1979.
Web links
- Thuringian Museum on the website of the Thuringian Museum Association
- Color slide archive of the German Central Institute for Art History , photo documentation around 1944, see under "Former City Palace"
Individual evidence
- ^ Hugo Peter: The ducal residence in Eisenach - Contributions to the history of Eisenach. Part XX. Eisenach 1910.
- ↑ Isolde Lehmann: The Eisenach city palace - data on its building history. Eisenach Yearbook 1993. Marburg 1993, pp. 66–76.
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 30 ″ N , 10 ° 19 ′ 12 ″ E