Aarau barracks

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Left the trumpet house, right the old armory

The Aarau barracks is a barracks of the Swiss Army . It is located in the city center of Aarau on Laurenzenvorstadt and has existed since the middle of the 19th century.

Construction and use

Trumpeter House (former officers' house)

When Aarau was the capital of the Helvetic Republic for a short time in 1798 , the Alsatian architect Johann Daniel Osterrieth planned the construction of a representative government district on behalf of the city council. His plan d'Agrandissement de la commune d'Aarau also provided for the construction of barracks on the Laurenzenvorstadt, but the project could not be realized. The troops of the newly founded canton of Aargau used the granary built in 1775 on behalf of Bern .

Since the tight space in the barracks became increasingly unreasonable, the Grand Council decided in 1845 to acquire the site between Laurenzenvorstadt and what would later become Bahnhofstrasse . From 1847 to 1849, the new main building of the barracks was built under the direction of cantonal master builder Carl Rothpletz and according to plans by Joseph Caspar Jeuch . The officers' house designed by Hugo Albertini was added in 1904/05. Further functional buildings were built in the rear area of ​​the area. The former granary served as an armory from 1818 to 1933 and then as a canteen . In 1876, the Aarau barracks became the headquarters of the fifth infantry division.

In 1912 and 1950 there were considerations to close the barracks used by infantry and cavalry , to build a new building outside of the city and to use the vacated area again. After the cavalry was abolished in 1972, the Federal Military Department planned to close it in 1974. Aargau politicians resisted this plan, and in 1979 the Grand Council approved a loan to renovate the barracks. By 1996, the federal government and the canton had invested 61 million francs together. After the inventory had already been significantly reduced with the Army 95 concept , the implementation of Army XXI threatened to finally close. But the Aarau location became the center of military music . This moved into the Trumpeter House, which should originally have been demolished. The infantry continued to stay in Aarau in the form of the full -service recruit school .

architecture

The old armory was built in 1775 as a granary. At its corners, the rectangular, three-storey building is framed by pilasters with joint spacing. The high gable roof has broken surfaces and guilds. The main entrance, redesigned in 1914 according to a design by Karl Moser , is a neo-baroque portal that dominates the entire central axis. There is a relief in the form of a rider above the gate . It was created by the sculptor Hermann Haller and depicts General Hans Herzog from Aarau .

The main building of the barracks, built in the arched style , is an elongated, symmetrically designed wing with four floors. It has a gently sloping hipped roof and is flanked by two narrow, slightly raised exterior projections . Numerous motifs such as borders, portal frames and consoles enliven the facade. The main staircase is located in the central entrance hall in the middle of the building, two more staircases can be found at the two ends of the corridor.

The Trumpeter House is a three-storey building in the neo-baroque style with isolated elements of Art Nouveau . The staircase risalit has a round gable and is drawn over the eaves height.

Protecting Monument

Protecting Monument

The protective monument stands in front of the west facade of the Trumpeter House. It depicts the handshake of two riflemen with carbines and rifles over the Swiss coat of arms, symbolizing the unity of the nation and the readiness of the people and the army.

In 1921, the Swiss Rifle Club announced a competition for its centenary three years later, whereupon 80 designs were sent in. The sculptor Julius Schwyzer was awarded the contract. The inauguration took place in 1924 on the occasion of the Federal Shooting Festival .

Initially, the monument stood on the station square on a high base in the middle of a fountain. Due to the lack of space as a result of the redesign of the station square in 1972, the plinth and fountain were omitted. When another redesign was due in 2009, there was no space for the monument either. The city of Aarau, which had committed itself to the permanent preservation of the monument in 1924, had it erected at its current location.

Web links

Commons : Kaserne Aarau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Othmar Birkner: Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . tape 1 : Aarau, Altdorf, Appenzell, Baden. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01509-X , p. 145-147 .
  2. Aarau arsenal. (PDF, 855 KB) Pro Militia, January 2006, accessed on August 11, 2011 .
  3. Michael Stettler: The art monuments of the canton of Aargau . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . Volume I, districts of Aarau, Kulm, Zofingen. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1948, p. 80-82 .
  4. Michael Stettler: The art monuments in the canton of Aargau. Pp. 82-83.
  5. a b A protective monument as a political issue. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 4, 2008, accessed on August 11, 2011 .
  6. Othmar Birkner: Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture. P. 130.

Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '37.3 "  N , 8 ° 2' 55.7"  E ; CH1903:  646,067  /  249387