Fürst-Anselm-Allee

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Fürst-Anselm-Allee south of St. Emmeram Castle
K. Anselm v. Thurn u. Taxis, porcelain portrait by Johann Peter Melchior
Detailed course of the avenue (south)

The Prince Anselm Avenue in Regensburg is a tree-lined avenue in the style of English landscape gardens . The construction of the avenue was initiated by Prince Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis , who also financed the construction of the avenue between 1779 and 1781. The two-row tree-lined avenue was created on the strip of land of the dilapidated outworks of the then still completely preserved land-side city ​​fortifications . The course of the avenue therefore shows the course of the city wall. In the course of the 19th century, the avenue was expanded and upgraded with the construction of some monuments. After the demolition of the city wall and the construction of the new train station , the avenue suffered initial losses after breaking through new streets towards the train station. In the following years, with the construction of garden villas and houses, citizens settled in the area around the avenue. In the 20th century the avenue had to cope with a loss of substance due to construction work and increasing traffic.

Today the approx. 3 km long avenue in the western part is called Prebrunnallee after the former suburb of Prebrunn , in the southern section at Thurn und Taxis Castle as Fürstenallee and in the eastern section simply as Ostenallee . Together, the three sections of Fürst-Anselm-Allee form the regional border of the world cultural heritage old town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof . This means that Fürst-Anselm-Allee is rightly part of the world cultural heritage, as it has had a decisive influence on the structural development of the city of Regensburg.

Plant the avenue

In 1779, Prince Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis decided to have a double-rowed tree-lined avenue from the Jacobstor in the west to the Ostentor laid out at his own expense for the benefit and pleasure of the residents of Regensburg, for the adornment of the city and for the health of the population . Even if the prince wanted a permanent memorial for himself, the decision in terms of the Enlightenment is also based on a conscious intention to beautify the city and a special kind of patronage, which is a caring health measure for all citizens would have. The avenue was initially built on the site of the smaller, already partially dilapidated and overgrown ten outer works in front of the fortifications. The two larger outbuildings at Prebrunntor and Peterstor were initially left out and were only later integrated into the avenue after 1803 or into the newly created parks such as the Herzogspark and Schlosspark . In order to create the avenue, the ramparts and the remains of the outer works had to be leveled or removed and existing ditches and ponds that had been created had to be leveled by earthworks. For this preparatory earthwork, 50 men and 4 carters were employed for two years. The total cost was over 12,000 guilders.

Schematic representation of the 2-row avenue of trees (above, south) 1789
Regensburg river landscape (below, north)

The new avenue should run in front of the city moat and in front of the kennel area and thus about 40–50 m in front of the then still completely preserved city wall. The number of trees planted at that time is 1500, including around 1000 linden trees and other different tree species such as rowan, larch, maple, poplar, willow, hornbeam, oak, acacia and also fruit trees such as nut, apple and cherry trees . The number of trees actually planted is estimated to be significantly higher. In 1781, at the end of the construction work, a narrow, two-row tree-lined avenue was created, but a contemporary observer still perceived it to be quite narrow. But already in the years after 1803 the avenue was extended and in the middle section between Jacobstor and Maximilianstraße , where the Thurn und Taxis Castle was also located, it was expanded so that it was mentioned and highly praised in city guides.

The City Council of Regensburg had the mint master mint a commemorative medal with a portrait of the prince, framed by the inscription "Carl Anselm, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire of Thurn and Taxis, the Imperial Majesty, the Imperial Principal Commissioner at the Reichstag". The reverse bore the Latin inscription: “On the occasion of the construction of a public avenue for the city, a new ornament, this coin was made in 1779 for the princely donor, who has so often rendered services to the fatherland.” A council decree decreed in the same year that the avenue should henceforth be named with the name of the prince and that careful care should be taken to maintain the avenue.

Obelisk, monument
to the founder of the avenue,
Prince Anselm von Thurn u. Taxis

The concern about the preservation of the new avenue was justified, because the citizens of the city had been used for decades to use the now inaccessible area of ​​the avenue for their own purposes. So far, people have been driving, riding, catching birds, collecting wood, leaves and fruits and, last but not least, drying and bleaching laundry on the site. They even raised cattle with sheep and goats, and pigs were driven to the wallow. Accordingly, in the first years of the avenue there was great damage from driving carts and horses on the paths, from eating damage to young trees and, again and again, damage from deforestation. The city council imposed drastic penalties, but the use of the avenue as pasture remained common until the council threatened to shoot the grazing animals.

Expansion and use of the avenue

Start of development and use

In 1803 the reign of the enlightened sovereign prince Karl Theodor von Dalberg began , who had planned from the outset to beautify his royal seat of Regensburg by expanding the avenue. As a friend and patron of the Botanical Society , which was founded in 1790 , he left the large garden area of the Emmeram Monastery adjacent to the avenue to the society in order to create a botanical garden there. Today this area is part of the Thurn und Taxis Castle Park. In 1804 Dalberg's court gardener from Aschaffenburg arrived in Regensburg and began planning to expand the avenue. In the area in front of the Peterstor and the Jacobstor, additional plots of land were purchased and Dalberg himself granted 2,000 guilders annually from his private treasury to maintain the avenue.

At this time, when the avenue was beginning to be valued, the first private initiatives were also taken by wealthy citizens and even by some envoys to the Perpetual Reichstag. On the southern edge of the avenue, on the site of today's Albert and Margaretenstrasse, plots of land were acquired, gardens were laid out and the construction of summer houses began. The location, which was completely vacant at that time before the construction of the train station and railway lines, the proximity to the city and the proximity of the avenue of trees, prompted Regensburg citizens to lay out gardens and build summer houses and small villas here. Several decades later, these summer houses were expanded into large villas.

Kaspar Maria von Sternberg , who had been appointed canon in Regensburg in 1800 and in 1802 was deputy to Prince Karl Alexander von Thurn und Taxis in the political administration of the Principality of Regensburg, was particularly active and committed . He used office and position to acquire the property of the large, dilapidated external works in front of Peterstor, which was to the east of the planned garden of the botanical society.

Sermon column, on Petersweg

In 1806 Sternberg had a garden palace built for Prince Karl Anselm, who died in 1805, within sight of the obelisk and with a view of the planned Kepler monument and the sermon column that was built in the Middle Ages as an additional attraction and as a meeting point for citizens interested in botanical and natural scientists had to the avenue. Passers-by should be able to read the inscription above the portico: The beautiful combined with the good . This garden palace became a meeting place for the members of the botanical society.

In April 1809, in the course of the Napoleonic wars, the botanical garden and also the garden palace and some other facilities on the avenue were badly damaged in April 1809. However, the Kepler memorial , inaugurated in December 1808, was spared the fighting, as was the sermon column.

In 1810 the Principality of Regensburg and with it the entire area of ​​the avenue including the garden palace with its facilities fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria . The garden palace and the associated gardens were bought by Karl Alexander von Thurn und Taxis for 6,000 guilders as early as 1813 and today form the palace gardens . The prince had the partially destroyed garden palace renovated and transformed into the retirement home of Theresens Ruh for his wife, the princess Therese von Thurn und Taxis . The area of ​​the avenue surrounding the city only came back into the ownership of the city of Regensburg during the tenure of Mayor Oskar von Stobäus at the end of the 19th century.

Monuments in and around the avenue

Kepler bust

Houses, villas and other structures around the avenue

Fürstenallee area

Emmeramer Tor, exterior view from the south
Sternberg garden villa
with obelisk (left)
and sermon column (right)

An important building for the Fürst-Anselm-Allee was and still is the Emmeramer Tor , which was not destroyed in the Napoleonic battles in 1809. Until the end of the 19th century, as long as the city wall still existed, the gate offered the people living in the eastern old town the only quick access to the avenue. Even after the city walls were torn down, the Emmeramer Gate was preserved, but it came into the private ownership of the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis. Access to the avenue was then via the Helenentor, which was newly built in 1907, and via the Helenenstraße, which was newly laid out at the expense of the Princely House and which became part of Allee with trees. In contrast to the Emmeramer Tor, the Peterstor was badly damaged in the Napoleonic battles, as was the classicist garden palace in the area of ​​the avenue, which Kaspar Maria von Sternberg had built. While the Peterstor was completely demolished after 1875, the garden palace came into the possession of the Thurn und Taxis house in 1813. It was renovated and converted into the Theresens Ruh garden villa for the prince's wife, Therese zu Mecklenburg . This architectural gem of the avenue only survived in the park of the Emmeram Castle until 1945, when it was damaged by a bomb hit and demolished.

Albertstrasse, Margaretenstrasse, Kumpfmühlerstrasse

Albertstrasse and, as an extension, Margaretenstrasse run along the southern edge of Fürst-Anselm-Allee and connect Ernst-Reuter-Platz with Kumpfmühlerstrasse. The three streets mentioned are only detectable in the city map from 1812. Some of the houses in their current development were the result of extensions and conversions of garden houses that were built early, others were built towards the end of the 19th century as new buildings. All of the houses named below are entered in the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Bahnhofsviertel .

  • From 1850/60, houses No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 in Margaretenstrasse, which are now difficult to see, were built from former garden houses. The houses No. 1, No. 5, No. 9 and No. 10 in Albertstraße, were built in their current form in 1870/80.
Formerly: Prinzengarten Albertstr. 1
  • Among the houses mentioned is the house Albertstr. No. 1, the former Prinzengarten restaurant , is worth mentioning as a special case. Shortly after the start of construction on the avenue in 1780, the associated plot of land was acquired by Johann von Reck , the son of the envoy of the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg to the perpetual Reichstag , in order to build a summer house there. The project was not realized and the property was bought by the Regensburg beer brewer Jacob Prinz, who was allowed by the city council to run an inn there with the name Zur Grünen Allee given by the council . Before the completion of the avenue, the restaurant was opened on May 10, 1780 with the first public festival in the city of Regensburg and quickly won the favor of the population, who preferred the name Prinzengarten as the name of the restaurant . Just one year after it opened, the inn was sold for 2,100 guilders and then remained in the hands of the new owner for almost 70 years, who expanded it with a bowling alley. After Regensburg was annexed to Bavaria, the restaurant became known nationwide. The restaurant was popular with visitors to the city and in 1894 an extension in the neo-renaissance style was built. The restaurant was not closed until 1910. The house came into the possession of the Princes of Thurn und Taxis in order to set up the princely lingerie there. The facade of the house was redesigned in 1911 by the architect Max Schultze in the Biedermeier style.
Kumpfmühler Strasse 2 Dörnberg-Palais
  • Probably the most important villa that was built in the associated Dörnbergpark in the western apron of the avenue is the Dörnbergpalais (Kumpfmühler Straße No. 2). The palace and park were built between 1804 and 1806 on the so-called Schereracker , west of Kumpfmühler Strasse , where the south-facing road to Augsburg began before the city wall was torn down . To the east and north of the palace, the city wall ran approx. 100 m away, accompanied by the new avenue of trees. The villas being built here were therefore close to the city, surrounded by trees and thus had an excellent location, which improved even further after the city wall was torn down (from 1860).
  • Appraised by the royal commission for the supervision of promenades and grounds, the Villa Kumpfmühler Straße No. 1 was built in 1830 on behalf of the Thurn and Taxic Court Councilor Friedrich Anton Mauerer. The villa was sold in 1833 to Gottlieb von Thon-Dittmer , who became mayor of Regensburg from 1863. In 1888 the house was sold again to Friedrich Pustet II, son of the Regensburg publisher Friedrich Pustet I. He had the house rebuilt to its current state.
  • A building that is still very representative today is the two-story villa at Kumpfmühler Strasse No. 3 with a balcony and a large garden. This villa was built in 1895/6 in the style of the late founding years by the publisher Friedrich Pustet II for his son Friedrich Pustet III. He lived in the villa until 1938 and then sold the building to the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis. After restoration, the building was occupied by the royal court marshal Otto Schirndinger von Schirnding .

Wittelsbacherstrasse

Wittelsbacherstrasse 2
Wittelsbacherstrasse 4
Parkhotel Maximilian

The Wittelbacher street bears her name only since 1885. Before that she was Allee before Jakobstor called. This shows that this street was used to connect the eastern city gate, following the course of the city wall and avenue, to the Kumpfmühler Strasse leading to the south . On this tree-lined street, too, there were plots of land for building villas. Ten villas were built here between 1860 and the beginning of the 20th century, and they were added to the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Westenviertel . The front of all villas was oriented towards the course of Fürst-Anselm-Allee and thus towards the green belt and the former course of the city wall and can therefore be counted among the listed ensembles in Regensburg .

  • Two of these villas (No. 2, No. 4) were built quite early around 1860 in the neo-Gothic style with echoes of the Maximilian style .
  • Already in 1850, near the Jacobstor, a restaurant was built on the site of today's school building in the avenue, which was named Guldengarten after the owner . The restaurant soon became so popular that the entire street was named in the address book in 1871 as Beim Guldengarten . Only one round tower has survived from this building.

Area Maximilianstrasse, D. Martin-Luther-Strasse

D.-Martin-Luther-Strasse
No. 15
D.-Martin-Luther-Strasse
No. 17

When Maximilianstrasse was rebuilt , the Kepler Monument, erected in Fürst-Anselm-Allee in 1808, acted as the southern fixed point of this dead-straight street, which is unusual for Regensburg. In 1859, after the construction of the train station, the monument had to be relocated to the west due to the necessary extension of Maximilianstrasse, but it remained an attraction surrounded by trees.

  • The proximity to the train station and the avenue equipped with monuments were the reason for the construction of a large hotel on the edge of the avenue in 1888 on the site of the former city fortifications. The name Parkhotel Maximilian alone speaks for the area surrounding the hotel at that time. Unfortunately, the construction of the hotel meant that the western parts of a late classicist gate system, which was built in 1820, were lost. This gate system should ensure an attractive access from the city to the avenue. The eastern parts of what was then Maxtore survived for another 150 years and were only lost in 1955 when new destructive new building measures were carried out.

After the demolition of the city ​​wall running south of the Dachauplatz in 1860, it became possible to extend Klarenangerstraße to the south. A new city exit was built in the direction of the train station and the new street, like Maximilianstrasse, not far to the west, had to cut through Fürst-Anselm-Allee. The new street, which was given the current name D. Martin Luther-Straße in 1934, offered attractive building sites for city villas on its west side in the area of ​​the avenue. There, surrounded by trees, one had a clear view of the further course of the avenue to the east (Ostenallee).

  • The first villa was built here in 1868/9 at the current location of the administration building of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (D. Martin-Luther-Straße No. 12), the villa of the privateer and former soap maker Johann Gschwendtner. The architect Heinrich von Hügel architecturally attractive, late classicist palace with echoes of Palladianism later came into the possession of the family of the Jewish wholesaler Salomon Schwarzhaupt, whose wife Betty ran the houses next to the Goliathhaus on the corner of Goliathstrasse / Watmarkt. After the death of her husband in 1935, the wife was forced by the local NSDAP leadership in Regensburg to sell the palace - which the population called the Schwarzhaupt Villa - to the NSDAP for 61,500 Reichsmarks at the lowest price. The NSDAP used the impressive building as a party headquarters ( Ostmarkhaus ) and planned to use the space in front of the villa as a parade ground for 50,000 men, but this turned out to be impossible. The Schwarzhaupt Villa, as it was still called by the population despite being used by the NSDAP, survived the war, but not the new building measures of the post-war period. In 1955 the Schwarzhaupt-Villa was demolished in favor of a new building for the administration building of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
  • The Aretin-Villa (D. Martin-Luther-Strasse No. 14), which is south of the Schwarzhaupt-Villa and owned by Karl Freiherr von Aretin, head of the Thurn und Taxis administration, survived the war, but in 1960 it had to be a so-called point house give way to one of the then modern high-rise buildings with an internal access core. Just 100 m to the west of the Aretin Villa, another similar high-rise was built in the area of ​​the avenue at the end of Maximilianstrasse. During this construction project, the remains of the Max Gate were lost.
Ostenallee

The post-war building measures described were serious interventions in the substance of Fürst-Anselm-Allee. The course of the wall and the lines of sight from the Fürstenalle to the Ostenalle were permanently and severely disturbed. The interventions were made even worse by the fact that the remains of the Roman wall and the medieval city wall, which had an identical course in this section, were also affected. It is thanks to the commitment of a Regensburg citizen - who is thanked on site today on a notice board - that the remains of the wall in the area between the two high-rise buildings that were built at the time were preserved. Today a signposted path begins here to discover the remaining remains of the Roman wall in the area of ​​the old town, including a large section of the Roman wall in the basement of the administration building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Von-der-Tann-Strasse
No. 7
  • Around and after 1870, further mansions and houses of the upper bourgeoisie were built on D. Martin-Luther-Straße in the style of the historicism of the Wilhelminian era. Only two of these houses have been preserved and were included in the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Bahnhofsviertel : Villa No. 15 in the neo-baroque style and Villa No. 17 with a corner tower and imitated half-timbered structure. The bomb-damaged villa No. 21 of the Regensburg court councilor Dr. Ludwig Eser, which was characterized by a pompous palace facade.
Von-der-Tann-Strasse
No. 22-24

Ostalle area, Von-der-Tann-Strasse

The Von-der-Tann-Strasse , named after the Bavarian infantry General Ludwig von der Tann , connecting the D.-Martin-Luther-Straße with Gabelsbergerstraße . It did not get its name until 1885, because it was only at this time that it became apparent that after the demolition of the city wall a road could be built here, where previously there was only a narrow field path behind the city wall, which you can use because of the many agricultural areas in the area Cultivation of cabbage called Krautererweg . After the demolition of the city wall, there were many large plots of land here that were well suited for development with large residential and commercial buildings, because the foundations of the city wall and the Zwingermauer could be used for the foundation of the new buildings. Gardens could be created on the site of the former city moat and the east avenue running parallel with its trees was a delightful sight for the residents. The construction with almost exclusively stately, multi-storey Art Nouveau apartment buildings with large apartments began after 1900. During this time, eleven large residential and commercial buildings were built, which were included in the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Ostnerwacht . As early as 1897, the construction of the Von-der-Tann School began here on Ostenallee according to plans by Adolf Schmetzer .

Prebrunn-Allee area

Roads in the Prebrunnallee, Fürstenallee (Wittelsbacherstr.), Ostenallee (Von-der-Tann-Str.) Area

The construction of the tree avenue in the western section in front of the old town between the Jakobstor and the Prebrunnbastei with the Prebrunnor on the banks of the Danube was delayed and was only pursued to a limited extent during the lifetime of Prince Karl-Anselm von Thurn und Taxis. The city fortifications in this section and the outer works were badly damaged in the course of the Thirty Years' War. The Lindenpark , which was built here in front of the Jakobstor around 1511 - a forerunner of the later city ​​park - was completely destroyed. The restoration of the two cemeteries and parks, which were also used by rifle associations and built with special facilities and houses for riflemen, meant that the avenue was only gradually laid out in this area. The layout of the avenue was also adversely affected by the fact that the course of the paths and streets in this area had to be changed frequently. The Prebrunnbastei at the end of the city wall on the Danube had not proven itself in the Thirty Years' War and was considerably enlarged after the war around 1656. After that the Prebrunn Gate was no longer passable for pedestrians and wagons. Therefore the course of the paths and streets with which the suburb of Prebrunn could be reached on foot and by carts had to be changed. For the craftsmen working in Prebrunn and also for the growing number of visitors from the end of the 18th century to the suburb of Prebrunn, which was increasingly popular as a seaside resort, a special access to the city - the so-called Prebrunn-Türl - had to be created, which provided a passage through the city wall made possible. The Jakobstor had to be easily accessible on a paved path for the wagons of the brickworks in Prebrunn.

Württembergisches Palais
Natural History Museum

In 1804, the Thurn und Taxische Hofrat Georg Friedrich Müller acquired the entire area of ​​the Prebrunnbastei and also several properties to the south-east, including kennel properties from the then sovereign, Prince-Bishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg , who actively and financially supported the further construction of the avenue existing city fortifications. Müller had the military facilities of the Prebrunnbastei razed and the area redesigned into a hilly garden from which the Herzogspark developed, which is now known as the end point of Fürst-Anselm-Allee in the west. To the southeast adjacent to the gardens, Müller had the noble Württemberg palace built from 1804–1806 , for which the XXXVII tower of the city wall had to be demolished. After Müller's death, Prince Maximilian Karl von Thurn und Taxis bought the building and gardens for his sister, who called herself the Duchess of Württemberg.

Prebrunn-Allee

In line with the delayed expansion of Prebrunn-Allee, the development of attractive residential houses in the area of ​​the tree-lined Prebrunnallee and in the area of ​​the somewhat more secluded and not surrounded by trees did not take place until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Unit No. 1 place
  • A first, early massive development (today: Platz der Einheit Nr. 1) took place between 1884 and 1889 immediately adjacent to the northern flank tower of the Jakobstor, outside the avenue area but with a view of the city park, which is a little to the west. On the unusually cramped site, a four-storey, stilted mansard hipped roof with central projections, corner cores and balconies in the neo-renaissance style was built in two construction phases. The large building was erected several years after the demolition of the city wall, which followed the course of today's Stahlzwingerweg. This means that the building stands on the former site of the city moat in front of the kennel wall that is still there today.
  • Between 1890 and 1904, five multi-storey residential buildings (No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7) were built in Prebrunnallee , which runs parallel to the west and south of Stahlzwingerweg , and are included in the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Westenviertel were included.
  • In Stahlzwingerweg there are two houses (No. 11, No. 23), which were built in 1894 and 1905 and were included in the list of architectural monuments in Regensburg-Westnerwacht .

Individual evidence

  1. Richard Strobel: The Fürst-Anselm-Allee . In: Imperial City and Perpetual Reichstag (1663–1806), Thurn and Taxis Studies. Vol. 20, Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 2001, ISBN 3-7847-1522-2 , pp. 155-163
  2. ^ A b c Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 547-550 .
  3. ^ A b c d e f g Karl Bauer: Regensburg art, culture and everyday history . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 552-563 .
  4. ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 341,591 .
  5. ^ A b c Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 589-601 .
  6. ^ A b Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 42 .
  7. a b Barbara Krohn, Gerd Burger: 11 stories from 175 years of Regensburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry . Ed .: IHK for Upper Palatinate / Kelheim. Self-published by IHK, Regensburg 2016, p. 67-73 .
  8. ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 432 ff. – 601 .