Open staircase (Kempten)

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Outside staircase in downtown Kempten

The outside staircase in Kempten is a connection created in 1903 between Rathausstrasse and the higher-lying Fischerstrasse in the former imperial city in Kempten (Allgäu) . It was created on the basis of the urban planning concept of Mayor Adolf Horchler , whose main goal was to turn the old town and the monastery or new town of Kempten into a single town. The staircase created a line of sight from the Rathausplatz to the Schlössle , a patrician estate from the Renaissance period. The staircase is one of the city's sights and is subject to the ensemble protection under monument preservation , under which the entire old town of Kempten stands.

history

Theodor Fischer's design for the outside staircase
View from the outside staircase to the Rathausplatz.

The outside staircase was one of the most important structural changes in Kempten at the beginning of the 20th century. It has become a symbol of the union of the two formerly warring districts of the Abbey and Imperial City. The merger was a lengthy process that began with the demolition of the monastery gate in 1810, followed by the compulsory unification of the two districts by the Bavarian municipal edict of 1818.

Originally, the location between the Kloster- and Fischersteige was chosen as a traffic-reducing solution. At this location, a house has already been demolished, which was an obstacle to the increasing traffic and caused unacceptable accidents. The purchase of the house cost 46,021 marks. The road works amounted to 802 marks. However, the area that became free was too small to cope with the masses of traffic. Due to this structural difficulty, the first plans arose to create an opening to the Fischerstraße. In particular, the town hall square was not yet open at that time, which means that the former blacksmith's guild house was still in its original form and there was no passage like today. The city councilors were, however, against this renewed construction measure for reasons of cost. The purchase of the Pfeiferhaus cost 2,032 marks at the time, the citizens brought 18,000 marks of their own accord, and the city wanted to take out a further 22,000 marks as a construction loan . Citizens criticized the waste of money in the regional daily newspaper:

“We had to submit and petition applications for more than a decade until we could finally spend 5000 marks to bring the Kirchberg in the Neustadt into an […] acceptable condition; But if you want to create superfluous breakthroughs in the old town, tear down apartment blocks, or build expensive stairs, there is never a lack of the necessary resources! ”( “ Neustädter ”citizens :“ Alte ”Allgäuer Zeitung, July 29, 1902).

Ultimately, the construction of the open staircase was approved by a municipal resolution on December 28, 1901 with 20 votes to 14. The Royal Bavarian Government approved the necessary borrowing. The city commissioned Theodor Fischer , the then well-known architect and professor at the Technical University of Stuttgart , with a draft for the design of the facility, which, however, did not meet with the approval of the committees. The execution draft from another hand, however, had some elements of Fischer's concept. Back then, Fischer described Kempten as an ugly town.

A master builder from Kempten was allowed to demolish the two houses and keep all the building materials. In 1903 the flight of steps was opened under Mayor Adolf Horchler, but remained a construction site until 1905. The owners of the adjoining houses were slow to comply with the obligation to convert the firewall into a facade.

The construction of the staircase made it possible for the first time to see the 17th century palace from Rathausstrasse . In order to draw attention to the building, the first electrical street lights were installed on the outside staircase . These cost the city treasury 1,348 marks. During the term of office of Mayor August Fischer , the original concrete parapet was replaced by iron grating - the planned final position with continuous steps in the lower section was not implemented. The fountain would also have been lost. In 1983 the outside staircase was completely renewed under Mayor Josef Höß . The renovation plans were provided by Hans Wachter . The Zorn House is located at the foot of the outside staircase on the south side .

description

The staircase has 49 steps , and begins at the bottom in two flights of stairs , the one having a granite relief of the city arms decorated staircase wells with marble pool surround. A first paragraph, which is adorned with the coats of arms of the two rural communities of Sankt Mang and St. Lorenz, which were incorporated into Kempten in 1972 , leads to a single flight of stairs in the middle, which in turn leads to the next paragraph. A memorial plaque was attached to the wall, commemorating the victims and returnees of the Second World War . From this landing the staircase divides again into two flights of stairs that lead to the top.

Individual evidence

  1. Volker Himmelein, Hans Ulrich Rudolf: Old monasteries. New Mr. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, p. 836.
  2. tourbee.de: Kempten - first mentioned German city (accessed on November 3, 2012)
  3. sonntagsblatt-bayern.de: The Wall of Kempten  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (December 28, 2010)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sonntagsblatt-bayern.de  
  4. Volker Himmelein, Hans Ulrich Rudolf: Old monasteries. New gentlemen Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, pp. 834–836.
  5. a b c Peter Hutter: Back then in Oberallgäu: history (s) from the southernmost region of Germany . Edition Limosa, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86037-401-6 , pp. 32 f .
  6. ^ Winfried Nerdinger: Theodor Fischer. Architect and town planner. Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1988, p. 191.
  7. ^ Franz-Rasso Böck , Ralf Lienert , Joachim Weigel (eds.): Century views of Kempten 1900–2000 . Verlag Tobias Dannheimer - Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten (Allgäu) 1999, ISBN 3-88881-035-3 , p. 80 .
  8. kempten.de: Fischerstraße / Klostersteige (December 28, 2010)
  9. ^ City of Kempten (ed.): Kempten im Allgäu. (3rd documentation), Kösel, Kempten 1972, p. 46.
  10. Memorial plaque on the outside staircase, December 26, 2010
  11. Heltmuth Hüttl: Wells in Kempten and in the Allgäu: Water is life - without water there is no life .

literature

Web links

Commons : Free staircase Kempten  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 47 ° 43 ′ 34.6 "  N , 10 ° 18 ′ 55.2"  E