Golden carriage (Sondershausen)
The Golden Carriage of Sondershausen , also originally called the Blue state coach called, is a coach of the type Grand carrosse from the Baroque . As a total work of art, it is an example of this era to which it belongs as the oldest and only of its kind in Germany . It was built in Paris around 1710 and is a valuable testimony to lavish, baroque court culture. As a representative vehicle, it served several Schwarzburg special houses princes as a state car.
To the carriage type
The grand carosse is a type of car that developed in France in the second half of the 17th century. The only comparable cars are the Stockholm Burmannia (approx. 1700–1710) in the Livrust Chamber, the Lisbon Coche da Cora (around 1715) in the Museu Nacional dos Coches and a body from 1720 and 1722, which is in the Ermitage in St. Petersburg is on display.
These three cars have been preserved in traditional European capitals. It is all the more astonishing that such a body can be found in a provincial town like Sondershausen . In the 1730s at the latest, the golden carriage was acquired by the princes of the rather smaller principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen , who come from the oldest noble family in Thuringia.
Acquisition
The purchase of the body can basically be attributed to three princes, since a certificate or similar of the acquisition has not been received. The first prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Christian Wilhelm and his two sons and successors Günther I and Heinrich I come into question.
With the elevation of Christian Wilhelm (1647–1721) to the imperial prince status in 1697, the dynastic claims of the Counts of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, which had been pursued over generations with persistence and great expenditure of legal, financial and representative means, were fulfilled. With his fifty-year reign (1670–1720), the count and later Prince Christian Wilhelm represented an entire epoch in the history of the Schwarzburg special houses. His own splendor at that time was also in bloom at his court and expressed itself in lavish magnificent buildings and festivals. So it doesn't seem absurd to claim that he also acquired the Golden Coach .
His successor and eldest son Günther I (1678–1740) also went down in history as the prototype of the father of the country and enthusiastic art collector. So you can assume the buyer here too.
The controversial Prince Heinrich I (1689–1758), the Prince of Diamonds , was seen as very lavish and ostentatious. He was a passionate collector of splendid carriages, at times he is said to have owned 37 of them, so that he is most likely to be considered. Many chroniclers of special houses attribute the purchase and even the initiation of the construction to him.
use
As a representative car, it had the status of a traveling throne. The people of that time could tell from some symbols that the owner was a prince. These include eight gold-plated roof vases, significant decorative fittings and the privilege of harnessing six horses to the body.
Despite the extraordinarily elaborate shape of the car, it soon went out of fashion and, as a state car, was replaced by more modern ones such as the Berline . Nevertheless, the golden coach was still in use until 1895. When, for example, a Prussian envoy came to Sondershausen, he was still driven by coach from the main station to the castle. After that, the blue state car as such was quickly forgotten.
Time after the Prince's abdication
In the turmoil during and after the November Revolution of 1918 and the abdication of the last Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Günther Victor , the thought of the Golden Coach was almost completely lost.
It was not rediscovered as a visitor magnet until 1921 and was initially exhibited in the Riesensaal, a ballroom in Sondershausen Castle .
After the Second World War and during the GDR era, she moved to the so-called billiard room, where she stood until 1999.
In 1999 people finally became aware of the damage and traces of the past centuries on the carriage and restored it with a great deal of financial and technical effort so that it will be preserved for future generations.
The golden carriage today
At the moment, the precious car is lovingly staged in the former Remisen of the Sondershäuser Castle . This can be viewed during a visit to the city and castle museum housed there.
literature
- Friedrich Apfelstedt : Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. First booklet: The subordination. Bertram, Sondershausen 1886, ( digitized version ).
- Bettina Bärnighausen, Hendrik Bärnighausen: The Golden Coach from Sondershausen Castle. Published by the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich et al. 2001, ISBN 3-422-06350-1 .
- Wolfgang Diez, Helmut Röttig: Sondershausen. Pictures and stories. Declaration of love to a city. Image archive Röttig, Sondershausen 2000.