Golden Hall

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Golden Hall

The Golden Hall is a state hall in the Augsburg City Hall . It is one of the most important cultural monuments of the late Renaissance in Germany and one of the most important sights in the city ​​of Augsburg . The historic furnishings, which were destroyed in 1944, were reconstructed on the occasion of the city's 2000th anniversary from 1980 to 1990.

Worth knowing in brief

Located on the second floor of the Augsburg town hall, the Golden Hall covers an area of ​​552 m² with a ceiling height of 14 meters. With its impressive portals , lush wall paintings and, last but not least, the magnificent coffered ceiling , it was already considered the highlight of artistic interior design at the time of its creation. The hall takes its name from the rich gold jewelry that adorns its furnishings.

Adjacent to the hall are four so-called princely rooms, which originally served as a retreat for high-ranking guests of the city ​​council . The rooms that were lost in the Second World War have been reconstructed.

history

Golden Hall in its original state, 1912

Emergence

The Golden Hall forms the centerpiece of the Augsburg town hall, which was built by Elias Holl between 1615 and 1620 . The gilded coffered ceiling, cut from walnut, was made by the master carpenter Wolfgang Ebner from 1619 to 1622. Johann Matthias Kager created the picture program based on the ideas of the Jesuit Matthäus Rader and based on drawings by the Munich court painter Peter Candid . It was essentially completed in 1624, the completion of the Golden Hall was delayed until 1643.

destruction

In the devastating bomb attack by the British Royal Air Force on the night of February 25th to 26th, 1944 , the Augsburg City Hall was badly hit and burned down to the outer walls. The Golden Hall and the Princely Rooms - the pride of the Augsburgers for centuries and an expression of their bourgeois self-confidence - were also destroyed by the flames. Only a few remains of the fresco could be secured.

reconstruction

After the end of the war, the Augsburg town hall was rebuilt. The historical model was only based externally, however, the interior fittings were - in keeping with contemporary tastes - rather sparse. The former Golden Hall also remained a desolate temporary solution: instead of the splendid renaissance furnishings , the room was given an unadorned wooden ceiling, simple doors, the walls were plastered white (except for the remains of the murals) and the floor was given a simple screed . In this condition, the hall was used as an exhibition space until the 1980s.

In the early 1980s, Augsburg city council decided to rebuild the Golden Hall on the occasion of the upcoming 2000th anniversary of the city in 1985. With the help of historical drawings and photographs, the first construction phase was the basic reconstruction of the coffered ceiling including ceiling paintings, the floor and the portals, and on January 9, 1985, the Golden Hall was reopened in its almost old glory.

Supported by countless monetary donations and the keen interest of the Augsburgers, the wall paintings and the rich gold jewelry, which once gave the Golden Hall its name, were restored in the following years. For the gilding work in the Golden Hall, a total of 2.6 kg of gold leaf was used , which was supplied by the gold leaf factory Kühny , which was still located in Augsburg at the time . The work was finally completed in 1996 and the hall was reopened - for the second time and now in its original condition.

Only one of the four princely rooms adjoining the hall has so far been completely reconstructed. The restorers and craftsmen have been working on the restoration of a second princely room since 2005.

and display information about the image
360 ° view

Ceiling and wall paintings

Murals

The splendor of the Golden Hall is due not least to its numerous ceiling paintings and wall paintings, which the responsible interior designer Johann Matthias Kager had laboriously produced and applied in various sizes and shapes. The main painting on the coffered ceiling, carved from walnut , is the oval image of Sapientia (wisdom), which is flanked by two large round images. These are in turn surrounded by four ovals each. There are also 24 emblemata attached to the outer edge of the ceiling .

The 24 m² large oval main painting of Sapientia is adorned with a Latin banner, the German translation of which is “The rulers rule through me”.

The western of the two circular paintings deals with the construction of the Augsburg town hall. The builder Elias Holl can be seen there together with a picture of the town hall. The Latin slogan of this painting reads in the German translation "Cities are founded". The picture is framed by four female figures depicting allegories of knowledge, fertility, diligence and piety. Each of the pictures is adorned with a corresponding banner.

The eastern circular painting is about the defensiveness of the imperial city of Augsburg. The banner reads in Latin words: "Enemies are repelled". This picture is also framed by four women who symbolize healing, honesty, justice and prosperity.

Until it was destroyed in World War II, the coffered ceiling was suspended on 27 chains from the roof beams of the town hall.

Ceiling painting

The walls of the Golden Hall are also adorned with magnificent paintings. There are depictions of Roman-German emperors and all the builders involved in the construction of the town hall. Particularly noteworthy is a work by the Augsburg artist Hans Rottenhammer , which is installed above one of the portals and depicts the city goddess Augusta together with the imperial eagle and the four Augsburg rivers Lech , Wertach , Singold and Brunnenbach .

Significant events in the Golden Hall

The Golden Hall was originally built as a meeting place for the Reichstag . However, the Thirty Years' War and the establishment of Regensburg as the location of the Perpetual Reichstag meant that the Reichstag only met in Augsburg in 1713 and 1714 after the plague broke out in Regensburg. Since its completion, the Golden Hall has therefore mainly been used as the city's reception and assembly hall. Time and again, the room was also the scene of important national events, such as the election of Ferdinand IV as Roman-German king in 1653 and the coronation banquet for Joseph I in 1690.

Emperor Franz II visited the Golden Hall in 1792 together with his wife Maria Theresa of Bourbon-Naples . In 1891 Otto von Bismarck was a guest of the Augsburg magistrate, where he was awarded honorary citizenship of the city in the Golden Hall . In 1914 the last Bavarian King Ludwig III. held a banquet in the Golden Hall.

literature

  • Herman Kießling: The golden hall and the princely rooms in the Augsburg town hall. A documentation of the recovery . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-422-06198-3 .
  • Ulrich Lohrmann (ed.): The golden hall and the princely rooms in the Augsburg town hall . Verlag-Gemeinschaft Augsbuch, Augsburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-938332-23-8 .

Web links

Commons : Golden Hall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Renate von Walter: The Augsburg town hall: Architecture u. Image content . Mühlberger, 1972 ( google.de [accessed April 24, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Historical Association for Swabia: Journal of the Historical Association for Swabia . Verlag Bücher Seitz., 2006 ( google.de [accessed April 24, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Herman Kießling: The golden hall and the princely rooms in the Augsburg town hall. A documentation of the recovery . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-422-06198-3 , pp. 215-219 .
  4. ↑ sehepunkte - Review Journal for the Historical Sciences - 6 (2006), No. 9

Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 7.3 "  N , 10 ° 53 ′ 55.3"  E