Felix Meritis
Felix Meritis (Eng. "Happy through merit") is a building in Amsterdam that the Dutch architect Jacob Otten Husly (1738–1796) built in the Louis- Seize style. The building is located on the Keizersgracht and counts today as a Rijksmonument as “23 Window “of the Canon van Amsterdam (→ History of Amsterdam ).
history
In 1777, in the spirit of the Enlightenment , a philanthropic society of the same name was founded in Amsterdam . On October 31, 1788, the house, like the society of the same name, opened its doors to the public for the first time. House and company quickly found their place in Dutch society. In the 19th century, the Felix Meritis concert hall was the most important concert hall in the city. Clara and Robert Schumann and Camille Saint-Saëns made guest appearances here; as were Johannes Brahms , Julius Röntgen u. a. heard here. The music hall was also used for scientific experiments. Lectures on literary studies were held in a lecture hall and an astronomical observatory was set up on the roof. In this way, Felix Meritis developed into a center of culture, science and technology in the 19th century.
In 1888 the Felix Meritis company was dissolved in its original form and the building was taken over by Holdert & Co ( De Telegraaf , De Courant et al.). When large parts of the building fell victim to a fire in 1932, only makeshift repairs were made. Only after the end of the Second World War was the building completely renovated and in 1947 the headquarters of the Communist Partij van Nederland (CPN) was established there.
Between 1947 and 1981 the editorial office of the party newspaper De Waarheid was also housed with Felix Meritis . The CPN advertised the house (and of course the name too), so that in the post-war Netherlands the term Felix Meritis almost became a synonym for communism .
The Felix Meritis Foundation (FMF) was founded in Amsterdam in 1988 and is dedicated exclusively to cultural and artistic engagement. Their motto was “Connecting Cultures”. The FMF was able to take over the building from the CPN and resided here until 2014. After the foundation filed for bankruptcy in February 2014, the municipality of Amsterdam bought the building at Keizersgracht 324.
literature
- Loes Gompes, Merel Ligtelijn: Spiegel van de Amsterdam. Geschiedenis van "Felix Meritis" Stichting Felix Meritis, Amsterdam 2008, ISBN 978-90-5170-979-7 .
- Geert Mak : Amsterdam. Biography of a city. 2nd Edition. Siedler, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-442-73515-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Mak: Amsterdam. 2007, p. 189.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 12 ″ N , 4 ° 53 ′ 3 ″ E