High Tower (Chemnitz)
The high tower or Jakobikirchturm in Chemnitz is the bell tower of the city and market church St. Jakobi . At the same time, it houses city administration facilities on its lower floors. Until 1946 it was one of the oldest surviving architectural monuments in the city. After its collapse due to the war , it was rebuilt until 1986 with an appearance that approximated the original.
location
The Hohe Turm is located in the historic center of Chemnitz, at the confluence of the Innere Klosterstrasse with the market. It is structurally connected to the Old Town Hall , which is immediately to the south , while the Jakobikirche to the north is separated from it by a narrow passage. Together with the old town hall tower and the roof turret of the Jakobikirche, it formed the "city crown" of the old town of Chemnitz until the 19th century. The tower group on the market, supplemented by the New Town Hall , is a landmark of the city of Chemnitz to this day.
History of construction and use
Fixed courtyard with residential tower
The beginnings of the tower have not been adequately clarified to this day. Presumably it was created in connection with the construction of the city of Chemnitz in the second half of the 12th century as an observation and residential tower . It may have been part of a small, inner-city fortification with walls and simple utility buildings. The structure of the tower substructure, which was destroyed in 1946, had clear features of a keep , as is typical of contemporary castle construction . This complex, also known as the "Fester Hof", was probably occupied by a royal ministerial . It served the developing royal market traffic in the Chemnitzaue as a protective and defensive system at a time when there was no city wall . Only a few hundred meters east of the High Tower answered the Red Tower , from which a similar development can be assumed. While this building was included in the system of city fortifications developed since the second half of the 13th century, the high tower standing in the middle of the developing city center lost its actual function: the walling of the city made it superfluous.
Bell tower of the St. Jakobi market church
A few meters north of the “Festes Hof”, with its south side facing the market, was the market church. In the last quarter of the 12th century it was built as a Romanesque hall church with a west tower, nave, choir square and apse . Excavations carried out between 1953 and 1959 in the area of today's Jakobikirche provided information about this. According to this, the west tower of this complex presented itself as a mighty crossbar more than 16 m wide and about 6.50 m deep. This tower and the associated nave were demolished around the middle of the 14th century, around the present three-aisled nave of the Jakobikirche to be able to perform. Its west facade was pushed beyond the previous building line of the old tower in order to gain an expanded floor plan. However, due to the route of the important north-south connection (today's Inner Klosterstrasse) there was no longer any space for a new west tower front. The problem was solved by making the former fortification tower, located directly next to the south side of the new nave, the bell tower. For this purpose he experienced an increase, which has been handed down for the years 1335-1338. Until then, its upper end probably consisted of a low pyramid roof surrounded by a crenellated crown . After the elevation, a Gothic pointed helmet can be expected as a crown.
Addition of the town hall and shared use for urban purposes
The property southeast of the tower is taken up by the building of the town hall (today's old town hall ). Originally a half-timbered building , after several fires it was only built in stone in the years 1496–1498. As early as 1486, however, the so-called Seigerturm was built on the south side as the actual town hall tower. The building was later expanded in sections to the west: The warped floor plan of the former councilor's room, built between 1556 and 1557, follows the position of the high tower, which swings slightly to the southeast. When the so-called “Akziseflügel” was finally added on Klosterstrasse in the 17th century, the town hall had completely cordoned off the tower on its south side from the market. It now appeared as part of the city administration and representation building. At the same time, several rooms in the tower basement were used for municipal purposes, e.g. B. the "upper tower vault" as a fire-proof archive room . In addition to its ecclesiastical function, the tower also fulfilled other needs of the city: The tower keeper or househusband, who was responsible for the fire watch in addition to operating the bells , had his seat on it . The earliest reference to a Chemnitz tower keeper is a document from 1498.
Structural damage, fires and rebuilding in the 17th and 18th centuries
The tower and the buildings surrounding it have been the victim of devastating fire disasters several times over the centuries. The worst happened in 1617 and 1746. The former fell victim to the tower spire, which is probably still medieval and whose shape is unknown. During the subsequent reconstruction by 1619, an octagonal storey was added above the bell chamber, which was provided with a hood , lantern and long tip. This is the shape of the tower on the oldest known view from 1621. It lasted until the next fire accident, which was triggered by a lightning strike in May 1746. The tower top was then given its distinctive baroque shape with a curved dome, lantern and onion-shaped crown. It goes back to designs by Freiberg council carpenter Johann Gottlieb Ohndorff . The reconstruction could be completed by 1749.
In addition to the fire hazard, the tower suffered from complicated static problems, especially in the 18th century. This was primarily a result of the multiple elevations in the 14th and 17th centuries. The masonry of the Romanesque substructure was not able to withstand this excessive strain in the long term. In addition, there were the movements resulting from the inadequate positioning of the bells , which were entered into the structure. There is talk of severe damage as early as 1707, but it was not until 1738 that comprehensive securing was carried out by stretching a huge buttress arch at the north-east corner against the southern nave wall of the Jakobikirche to prevent the tower from swerving. A certain stiffening of the structure may also have meant the addition of a massive intermediate building between the church and the tower in 1756, which served as a staircase. In 1882, the west side of the tower substructure had to be carefully repaired. Two years later, the project to replace the baroque hood with a neo-Gothic tower spire failed due to the difficult structural conditions . The plans for this were already in place; they had been made by Conrad Wilhelm Hase (Hanover). In this way, the tower and the nave, which had recently been redesigned in a neo-Gothic style, were to be more closely aligned.
Destruction in 1945/46 and reconstruction
During the bombing on March 5, 1945 , the high tower burned down together with the Jakobikirche and the old town hall. The tower dome, all the ceilings and the belfry inside were lost. The critical static condition of the unprotected structure, forced by the weather, finally led to a catastrophe: In the night of February 3rd to 4th, 1946 the southern half collapsed from about the eaves level of the Old Town Hall. The falling masses of rubble smashed the adjoining part of the town hall ruins with the late Gothic councilor's room. The Romanesque substructure as well as the northern half of the Gothic bell chamber and the baroque octagonal storey up to the cornice were preserved . For safety reasons, the ruin was blown up a few days after the collapse as part of the destruction of the city center.
The heavily decimated Jakobi parish as the owner was unable to restore the completely destroyed bell tower on its own due to the severe destruction of their church. However, the city was very interested on the one hand in completing the original silhouette and on the other in the creation of administrative rooms in the tower. In addition, the reconstruction of the old town hall would have been impossible without the tower. Thus, the rubble was cleared and the tower was rebuilt up to the cornice of the bell chamber at the city's expense. A flat cover with a surrounding railing formed the temporary closure. This work could be carried out until 1950.
The reconstruction of the octagonal storey as well as the hood and lantern was delayed by more than thirty years despite repeated attempts by the preservation authorities. It was not until 1986 that the final completion could be started. The tower hood, designed as a steel construction and covered with slate or copper, was pre-assembled on the market square in the summer of 1986. Finally, on September 26th, a mobile slewing crane lifted the more than 20-tonne and 23-meter-high structure onto the tower. The reconstruction of the high tower is part of a series of tower restorations in the former GDR , to which the red tower in Halle (Saale) (1976), the Nikolaikirche in Berlin (1982) and the upper church St. Nikolai in Cottbus (1988).
Today's use by the city and parish
The use of the high tower by the parish of St. Jakobi-Johannis and the city administration has been regulated by a contract since 1950 , which was revised in 1990. The church loan is therefore entitled to ownership of the land, since both belong to the parcel of the Jakobikirche. The building load, on the other hand, is borne by the city, which also enjoys a corresponding right of use: In the basement of the tower connected to the old town hall, in addition to various building services systems, the legal office is housed. The bell chamber is still used to accommodate the bell of the Jakobikirche. However, currently only the largest bell of the former existence hangs there, while the rest of the bells are mounted in the roof turret of the church. According to tradition, sacred wind music is played from the tower ambulatory every Saturday, performed by trombone choirs from various parishes in Chemnitz.
The high tower is also of great tourist importance: in 1990 the tower tradition, which had been interrupted since 1913, was revived. Since then, guided tours by the Chemnitz tower keeper through the two town halls up to the tour of the tower have been part of the city's fixed sightseeing program and are very popular.
description
The basement floors of the tower are integrated into the structure of the old town hall on the south and east sides, while the north side is largely covered by the neighboring Jakobikirche. This means that the structure can only develop freely on all sides above the roof zone of both buildings. During the reconstruction, in contrast to the previous situation, the lower section was provided with a large number of large windows, which cut up the west side in a disadvantageous way. Originally, in keeping with the character of a fortification tower, it was largely windowless. The inner structure, which until 1946 showed a hollow shaft with a staircase - cf. St. Anne's Church in Annaberg-Buchholz - has also been completely changed. On the other hand, the pilaster-like walls on the corners of the tower that were probably attached in the 17th century were reconstructed.
The upper section of the tower from the bell chamber is available as an architectural copy: this again received its large Gothic sound openings with central posts. Above it, a short, slate-covered bevel to the octagonal tower top, which once contained the tower house. The window structure - an arched window with an ox-eye arranged above it - reveals the two-storey structure of the earlier interior. The surrounding gallery rests on sturdy consoles . The tower dome consists of a beautifully shaped dome with hatchings in the four cardinal directions. It is crowned by a lantern, also open on four sides, with a cap and an onion. A tower knob with a weather vane completes the structure at a height of 64 m.
The original design language of Ohndorff was used as the basis for the reconstruction, but the execution deviated from it in some details and was overall less soft and flowing. In addition, the tower was given a coloration in white corresponding to the old town hall, while the architectural structures ( cornices , window frames, etc.) are set off in red. This color standardization makes it optically part of the town hall complex, although its floor plan and dimensions clearly reveal itself as an independent building.
Peal
For the bells of the high tower cf. the article on the city church of St. Jakobi (Chemnitz) .
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Saxony II. Administrative districts Leipzig and Chemnitz. Edited by Barbara Bechter, Wiebke Fastenrath, Heinrich Magirius et al. Munich, Berlin 1998.
- Monuments in Saxony. Its maintenance and care in the districts of Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Leipzig and Cottbus. Weimar 1978.
- Hans Ebert: The Red Tower. About its history, destruction and restoration. Karl-Marx-Stadt 1962 (3rd picture booklet of the Schlossberg-Museum Karl-Marx-Stadt).
- Götz Eckardt (Hrsg.): Fates of German monuments in the Second World War. A documentation of the damage and total losses in the new federal states. Bd. II. Berlin no year
- Alfred Gottfried: Johann Christian Simon and Johann Gottlieb Ohndorff. Two Freiberg baroque master builders . Bonn 1989.
- Karl Marx City. Results of the local history inventory in the area of Karl-Marx-Stadt. From a collective of authors, arr. v. Ernst Barth. Berlin 1977 (values of our homeland, vol. 33).
- Georg Laudeley: The market church St. Jacobi in Chemnitz. A contribution to their building history. Chemnitz 1934.
- Horst Richter: Excavations in old Chemnitz churches. In: Announcements of the Chemnitzer Geschichtsverein, 65th year book, new series (1995), pp. 137–144.
- Tilo Richter: The city church of St. Jakobi in Chemnitz. Shape and building history from the 12th century to the present. Leipzig 2000.
- Joachim Seyffarth: Pictures and notes on the history of Karl-Marx-Stadt. Edited by Karl-Marx-Stadt-Information. Annaberg-Buchholz o. J.
- Stefan Thiele: The Jakobikirche and its reconstruction between 1945 and 1990. In: Chemnitzer Roland, H. 1/2010, pp. 3–6.
- Ursula Ullrich: Chemnitz - city and city fortifications. Edited by the Chemnitz City Archives. Chemnitz 1995 (On the trail of the past - Chemnitz history).
- Stefan Weber: Chemnitz. A city center seeks its face. Limbach-Oberfrohna n.d. (1993).
- Stefan Weber, Jörn Richter: The towers of the city of Chemnitz . Chemnitz 2007.
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 58.7 ″ N , 12 ° 55 ′ 9 ″ E