Elberfeld Poor Care Memorial
The neoclassical Elberfeld Poor Care Memorial is the work of the Elberfeld sculptor Wilhelm Neumann-Torborg (1856–1917), which was erected on September 24, 1903 on the church square of the " Old Reformed Church Elberfeld ". The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the " Elberfeld System ".
description
Originally, a group of figures made of bronze adorned the simple, simply structured, two-meter-high granite base . On the back and the two side surfaces were mounted portrait medallions on which the likeness of the initiators of the Elberfeld welfare system Daniel von der Heydt (1802–1874), Gustav Schlieper (1837–1899) and David Peters (1808–1874) was shown. The following dedication was engraved on the front :
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THE FOUNDER OF THE REORGANIZATION |
A surrounding border connected all four sides. The 2.36 meter group of figures showed a standing young woman eating an old man seated in front of her. The woman carefully puts her left arm around the man and with her right arm holds a bowl to his mouth. This theme was an allegory of the New Testament “ First Work of Mercy ” .
Although Neumann-Torborg's “Helpful and good” design only took second place in the artist competition organized by the city of Elberfeld in 1901, the city council gave its concept its preference. However, changes were required compared to the draft. The portrait medallions were emphasized more in the execution.
The monument stands in the tradition of the Berlin School of Sculpture and is an example of the change in monument culture around 1900. Until the turn of the century, the person to be honored was in the foreground, after 1900 the person's performance was given greater weight. The Dörpfeld memorial created by the same artist shows the same concept.
A model of the monument was donated to the city of Wuppertal in 1903 and is now owned by the Historic Center in Unterbarmen .
history
destruction
After the Second World War , the memorial was lost. During the reconstruction work on the “Old Reformed Church in Elberfeld” in 1953, the base of the monument came to light again, but was buried again and was forgotten. It was not until excavations in 2003, in the year of the 150th anniversary of the “Elberfeld System” , that the granite base of the monument was recovered from a buried cellar. The statue and the bronze mountings formerly attached to the side were missing. Only the names of the honorees can still be read on the sides.
In September 2003, the monument base on Blankstrasse was re-erected in the park of the Reformed Community Pen.
reconstruction
In 2009, Hans-Joachim Camphausen started an initiative to collect donations from citizens and companies in order to have the sculpture re-cast and the memorial to be re-erected.
In the Düsseldorf art foundry Rolf Kayser , the statue was restored after reconstruction by the sculptor Schwan Kamal in the spring of 2011, after the "Knight Arnold" was also reconstructed at the Elberfeld town hall. The poor relief memorial was put up again on June 18, 2011 on the church square, its original location. The order for the reconstruction was worth 175,000 euros, the money was largely raised through 24 private individual donations. The new monument is more than four and a half meters high and weighs ten tons, with the granite base weighing eight tons.
Individual evidence
- ^ Poor care monument: A piece of Elberfeld history returns to the Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from June 8, 2011
- ↑ Elberfeld: Another monument returns Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from July 18, 2010
- ^ A new memorial for Elberfeld: Bronze woman feeds starving Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from May 29, 2011
- ↑ Poor care monument: The base is already waiting for Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from June 14, 2011
- ↑ The poor care monument stands - for the message of charity Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from June 19, 2011
literature
- Dirk Herdemerten: The archaeological excavations on the church square of the "Old Reformed Church" in Wuppertal Elberfeld 2003. An insight into the history of the City Church. In: Uwe Eckardt et al .: History in Wuppertal. 16th year , Wuppertal 2007, pp. 13–24.
- Ruth Meyer-Kahrweg : Monuments, fountains and sculptures in Wuppertal. In: Contributions to the preservation of monuments and the cityscape of the Wuppertal. Volume 11, Wuppertal 1991, pp. 137-139. ISBN 978-3-87093-057-8
- Cécile Zachlod: The poor care memorial of Elberfeld in the change of monument culture around 1900. In: Uwe Eckardt et al .: History in Wuppertal. 16th year, Wuppertal 2007, pp. 25–30.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 22.8 " N , 7 ° 8 ′ 50" E