Gutenberg Monument (Mainz)
There are monuments reminiscent of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz , Strasbourg and Frankfurt am Main, among others .
Of particular importance is the Mainz Gutenberg monument from 1837, which is considered the first civic monument in the full sense of the word, as it raised a bourgeoisie on the monument base and was inspired and carried by the bourgeoisie. The genesis of the Mainz Gutenberg Monument, from the first proposal to commemorate the city's most famous son in the form of a monument, to its execution, spans almost half a century.
Gutenberg reception during the Mainz Republic (1792/93)
Georg Christian Wedekind made the first proposal to erect a memorial to Johannes Gutenberg in his native Mainz in the revolutionary magazine “Der Patriot”. He thus followed on from a speech by the Jacobin Anacharsis Cloots , who in 1792 had called for the transfer of Gutenberg's remains to the Panthéon in Paris before the French National Assembly . Cloots saw Gutenberg as one of the ancestors of the French Revolution , because his invention of the art of printing made it possible in the first place. This view of Gutenberg as a revolutionary was followed up in the same year in Mainz, where a small-scale revolution had taken place under the protection of the French military. However, the monument was never executed because the coalition troops of the Republic of Mainz, advancing across the Rhine , put an end to it.
Monument plans in Mainz, France (1798–1814)
In 1798 Mainz became part of France and remained so for the next 16 years. The memorial plans were revived under French rule. By decree of Napoléon I by his departmental building director JF Eustache de St. Far , the outer frame was initially planned from 1804. Once again, however, it did not come to fruition because the resources were tied up elsewhere due to the ongoing wars. However, the Gutenbergplatz (Place Guttemberg) was created near the Mainz Cathedral as part of a parade street called Grande Rue Napoléon , which bears this name to this day and on which a memorial was already planned.
The Gutenberg monument by Joseph Scholl (1827)
In 1816 Mainz became part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . The demands for a Gutenberg memorial now came from the citizens. Finally, the Mainz Casino Society and the Kunstverein merged and commissioned the local artist Joseph Scholl to create a man-high sandstone figure of Gutenberg. This memorial was financed by donations. It was initially located in the inner courtyard of the casino company, so that it was not a public, urban monument but a private one. Today it is located in the entrance area of the “Hof zum Roman Kaiser”, which houses the Gutenberg Museum .
Bertel Thorvaldsen's Gutenberg Memorial (1837)
The Mainz bourgeoisie did not want to be satisfied with the Scholl monument; it was viewed as a temporary measure from the start. Shortly after it was erected, preparations began to build a public monument of European standing. For this purpose, a European subscription was launched and donation lists in German, French and English were sent to all parts of Europe. The Mainz team managed to win the well-known Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen as an artist. The monument was cast in Paris in the workshop of Charles Crozatier . In 1837 the memorial was erected on Gutenberg-Platz and was inaugurated with a festive ceremony.
In May 2008 the monument was brought to a special workshop for metal restoration in Regensburg because of considerable damage to the Lahn marble , but above all because of cracks and corrosion on the bronze and even in the stabilizing core. Since then the base has been orphaned; only one plaque indicated the whereabouts of the statue of Johannes Gutenberg. For the carnival campaign 2009, the paper maché figure of Johannes Gutenberg - who usually rides on the motif wagon of the Rhineland-Palatinate Day parade - was redesigned and lifted onto the base. At the beginning of December of the same year, a kind of Advent wreath was installed on the base to avoid further ascent by unauthorized persons.
The renovation was originally supposed to last until spring 2010. However, the memorial returned to its place on February 4, 2010.
Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 55.7 " N , 8 ° 16 ′ 17.9" E
literature
- Tobias Becker: The Gutenberg Monument in Mainz: Political symbolism, the public sphere and the formation of myths. Unpublished master's thesis. Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich 2006.
- Luzie Bratner: The Gutenberg Monument in Mainz. From St. Far to Thorvaldsen. On the origin and history of Gutenbergplatz and the Gutenberg Monument. Verlag der Rheinhessische Druck-Werkstätte, Alzey 2000, ISBN 3-87854-152-X .
- Commemorative book for the festive days of the inauguration of the Gutenberg monument in Mainz on August 13, 14, 15 and 16, 1837: together with the acts relating to the creation of the same and a brief biography of Gutenberg. Mainz 1837.
- Hans-Jürgen Imiela : The Gutenberg monument by Bertel Thorvaldsen in Mainz. In: Gerhard Bott (ed.): Bertel Thorvaldsen, investigations into his work, and the art of his time. Cologne 1977, pp. 367-397.
- Thomas Nipperdey: National Idea and National Monument in Germany in the 19th Century. (1968) In: Thomas Nipperdey: Society, Culture, Theory: Collected Essays on Modern History. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-525-35969-1 , pp. 133-173.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Monument restoration. Thorvaldsen's bronze statue completely overhauled. ( Memento from April 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Information from the City of Mainz on the restoration from 2008 to 2010
- ↑ Endoscopy on the Iron John. ( Memento from April 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from July 24, 2008 by the City of Mainz.
- ↑ Greeting rhymes of Guttenberg. ( Memento from September 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Allgemeine Zeitung. December 5, 2009.
- ↑ Mainz Gutenberg memorial: renovation will take until Shrovetide. In: Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz. November 11, 2009.
- ↑ "Welcome back to Mainz, dear Johannes": Gutenberg figure in its place. ( Memento from February 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz. February 4, 2010.
