Centennial Hall (Bochum)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Centennial Hall (2012)

The Jahrhunderthalle is an event hall in the Stahlhausen district of Bochum . The hall was built in 1902 by the Bochumer Verein for the Düsseldorf industrial and commercial exhibition and then reused as a blower machine hall for the blast furnaces of the Bochumer Verein. It was expanded several times, the name Jahrhunderthalle is used today for the entire structure, which covers an area of ​​8,900 m².

history

Exhibition hall of the Bochumer Verein at the trade exhibition in Düsseldorf (1902)

The steel construction of the building section from 1902 is particularly noteworthy because it was not primarily designed from an aesthetic point of view, but rather according to engineering considerations and thus represents one of the first examples of a purely purpose-built architecture: Since during the construction it was already certain that the Halle will not stay in Düsseldorf , it was built so that it can be completely dismantled. On some of the steel girders in the hall you can even read the lettering that was affixed there for the Düsseldorf exhibition. The main nave of the original hall is 66 meters long, 20 meters wide and 21 meters high, the side aisles are 6.5 meters wide and 6 meters high. The facade was designed in the form of a Gothic church in memory of Jacob Mayer's first successful attempts at casting steel in 1851 , since the first successfully cast products were bells. The 70-meter-high bell tower with a ringing of three bells was not rebuilt in Bochum later. The facade in Bochum has not been restored in this form either.

It is noteworthy also as the foundation of the hall took place. Since the grounds of the Bochumer Verein were actually completely built up in 1903 and therefore no contiguous area was available, the hall was built over the existing buildings required for production and the ground level was raised. In the accessible basement, the foundations of the hall girders are still visible today, namely brick pyramids rising from the "basement floor" (the former ground level). On the floor below the hall there is even one of the buildings from that time; the window openings with parapets, façades, etc. can still be seen, although the house was later completely lined with firebrick and served as a stove.

present

Explanation board for the Centennial Hall building complex

The hall was "revitalized" in 2003 by Karl-Heinz Petzinka and Thomas Pink and given a modern porch. Since its renovation, it has been used for a wide variety of events, for example for the Ruhrtriennale ( for example, in October 2006 for an elaborate and spectacular new production of the opera The Soldiers by Bernd Alois Zimmermann , in 2015 for a new production of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold and in 2016 by Christoph Willibald Glucks Alceste ) as well as for trade fairs or rock, pop and classical concerts.

The Jahrhunderthalle is the center of the new West Park in Bochum , which opens up this former industrial area close to the city center for living, culture, recreation and commerce. It is also one of the anchor points of the Route of Industrial Culture and was one of the main venues for the Ruhr.2010 Capital of Culture .

From 2005 to 2012 the Steiger Award was presented annually in Bochum's Jahrhunderthalle , and since 2006 the 1Live Krone .

On December 12, 2009, the award ceremony of the European Film Prize took place in the Jahrhunderthalle with international interest . The television gala was broadcast in 44 countries.

gallery

Web links

Commons : Jahrhunderthalle Bochum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Report on the exhibition hall of the Bochumer Verein at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Industrieausstellung Düsseldorf, "Stahl und Eisen", August 15, 1902, p. 886ff.
  2. guided tour of the hall 2009
  3. pinkarchitektur.de: overview. Retrieved January 18, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 '53 "  N , 7 ° 11' 55"  E