Crystal Palace (Leipzig)

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In the grounds of the Crystal Palace around 1900

The Krystallpalast was an amusement site in Leipzig consisting of numerous individual offers for about 60 years . It was considered the largest of its kind in Germany and was unique in Europe in terms of the variety of events and spatial complexity. The name-giving centerpiece was a building made only of glass and iron with a hall that was primarily used for variety events, which is why it was often referred to as the Krystallpalast variety. A central dome, the Alberthalle, had over 3,000 seats.

The entire Krystallpalast complex, which in its heyday held 15,000 people in its various halls, restaurants, bars, cafes, salons and beer gardens, fell victim to the air raid on December 4, 1943 .

history

  • Site of the former Krystallpalast 1832 to 1914 (map excerpts northward)

  • 1832

  • 1847

  • 1881

  • 1914

prehistory

In 1809, the Saxon-Weimar court gardener Christian August Breiter acquired a plot of land on the northeastern city limits next to the Georgen- Vorwerk and laid out a garden with greenhouses and winter gardens with botanical rarities, which can be viewed from around 1815 under the name Breiterscher Botanical Garden with a visit to a gastronomic one Facility could be connected. To the east of the facility, the Leipziger Schützengesellschaft had a rifle house built in the classicist style in 1833/34 based on a design by the architect Albert Geutebrück , which was followed by a shooting range and rifle house, which was built in 1832 . The gardens were also taken over. The street laid south over the winter garden property to the Schützenhaus was named Wintergartenstrasse in 1855 .

Carl Hoffmann (1823–1873)

A large room at the front of the shooter's house was from the beginning gastronomic leased, it was used mainly for official purposes of protecting society or celebrations of local Communalgarde . In 1847 Carl Hoffmann - until then head waiter at the Hôtel de Saxe - became the landlord. In the same year he bought the front building on the street side from the Schützengesellschaft and established a lively entertainment business in it. The Schützenhaus housed a total of three halls, and Hoffmann had the large Blue Hall lavishly redesigned into a splendidly furnished ballroom in the Renaissance style. The adjoining garden of the building was in the 1860s by hydraulically powered water fountains and gas lamps caused illuminations upgraded.

The house was a popular venue for entertainment and events during celebrations and trade fairs. For example, during the 3rd General German Gymnastics Festival in 1863, around 11,000 visitors were counted on one day. The house was also an important meeting point in Leipzig. Robert Blum spoke in the Schützenhaus as early as 1848 , and numerous events by the Leipzig Fatherland Association during the revolution of 1848/49 took place in the building. On April 25, 1863, around 80 participants founded the Saxon Progress Association and thus laid the foundation for a liberal party in Saxony. In October 1865 a women's conference was held in the premises, in the course of which the General German Women's Association was brought into being, in 1866 the German Book Printers Association (since 1891 Association of German Book Printers ) was founded in the Schützenhaus as part of the First German Book Printers Day.

After the Leipziger Schützengesellschaft moved into its newly built domicile on the Frankfurter Wiesen in 1868 , Hoffmann also acquired the shooting range and the garden property, which had been shut down for a long time. He commissioned the architect and building officer Oskar Mothes to redesign the newly acquired site. The former rifle hall was redesigned and reopened in 1870 as a pleasure house with a ballroom and restoration under the name Trianon , on the area behind the rest of the shooting range and on parts of the former Breitersche Garden , the so-called Trianon garden was inaugurated a year later . Behind the water features and illuminations that had already been in operation, an open-air stage was created, stylized and reconstructed, including the castle ruins of Burg Storchennest , the accessible Drachenfels grotto with viewing platform , statues , columns and other attractions based on historical models. In 1872 the Saxon King Johann and in 1876 Kaiser Wilhelm were guests at the Schützenhaus. As part of a Christmas exhibition in 1877, King Albert of Saxony visited the house, on the same occasion Johann Strauss performed there with his orchestra .

Under the management of Robert Kühnrich from 1878, morning pint concerts and Bavarian beer festivals were introduced, and he also had a well-known large aquarium built in the Schützenhaus. During a fireworks display at Whitsun in 1881, the Trianon building burned down , in the same year Kühnrich went bankrupt and the shooting range was closed.

  • Breiterscher Garten, around 1820

  • The rifle house shortly after it was built

  • The trianon garden with various fixtures

  • The great ballroom (Blue Hall), around 1870

  • The beer and coffee garden with fountain and concert hall

The Crystal Palace

Eduard Berthold

In the late summer of 1881, the Leipzig businessman Eduard Berthold acquired the area with financial support from the Leipzig discount company. In the same year he commissioned the architect Carl Planer to build an iron and glass construction similar to the one that was first presented as the Crystal Palace at the London World Exhibition in 1851 and was also used for the design of national pavilions at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 . From this time on, these multifunctional so-called winter garden or crystal palaces were to be found more and more frequently in Germany .

The old Geutebrück building on Wintergartenstrasse was retained, but was fundamentally renewed. Directly behind it was a large new building complex made of glass and iron. The center was a two-story theater hall with a glass roof and an area of ​​around 800 square meters, as well as a restoration that was roughly the same size. In multi-story additions in terraces - and porch form emerged smaller rooms for parties, concerts, exhibitions and other events, which in some cases revised Grounds were from newly constructed colonnades that also z. B. used for concerts, flanked. For this purpose, a large hall was built on the eastern side for exhibition purposes and roller skating .

The buildings were completed in April 1882 and then officially presented as the Krystall-Palast at the Leipzig Easter Fair . Other new buildings, such as B. a separate exhibition hall and a new winter garden were realized in 1882/83. In 1884, the Crystal Palace Company Limited was founded in London (after the end of the First World War as Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft based in Leipzig), and Berthold became Chairman of the Board and Managing Director.

Shortly after the company was founded, Berthold planned a fundamental expansion of the Krystallpalast with a monumental new building, originally intended for a permanent circus . For this purpose, older garden structures were given up, and a piece of land behind the site was acquired. 1886/87 the architect was based on designs Arwed Rossbach an imposing domed building , which after the then Saxon king named Albert Hall . The circular hall, visible from afar and quickly established as an urban landmark , had a diameter of about 36 meters, about the same height and offered space for over 3,000 visitors, which could be expanded to up to 4,000 visitors by using the interior of the arena . In the hall one was the organ of Walcker installed. Below the glass dome in a rotunda , Berthold presented a panorama called a diorama , initially consisting of several monumental paintings and later a circular picture.

The Renz circus first appeared in the Alberthalle , later the Herzog , Schumann , Busch and Corty-Althoff circus companies were added. The Alberthalle was later used for all kinds of events, such as musical performances by Georg Göhler , Gustav Wohlgemuth , Benjamino Gigli , Jack Hylton , Hans Bund and the Don Kosaken . Robert Steidl , Otto Reutter and Saharet performed in the house's variety theater . Guests at the Krystallpalast also included Grock , the Three Rivels , Enrico Rastelli , Claire Waldoff , Martha Hübner and Josephine Baker . The Krystallpalast singers also performed there.

In 1890 the Leipzig music publisher Ernst Eulenburg founded the Academic Concerts together with Hermann Kretzschmar , which took place in the Aberthalle under the direction of Kretzschmar . From 1896 onwards, Hans Winderstein established the Philharmonic Concerts at the same location , and the Leipzig events of his nationally known Winderstein Orchestra took place in the Alberthalle . Further concerts were organized, for example, by the German Workers' Singing Association , the Academic Singing Association Arion or the St. Pauli University Singing Association . On December 31, 1918 conducted by Arthur Nikisch to workers, the 9th Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and founded the tradition of New Year's concerts. On February 25, 1898, the premiere of Frank Wedekind's drama Erdgeist took place in the theater , Wedekind himself played the male lead.

Announcement by Josephine Baker, 1929

In October 1906 Krystallpalast AG opened one of the first Leipzig cinemas next to the main building . The facility called The White Wall was expanded from 154 to 362 seats by 1913. In 1918 the Alberthallen-Lichtspiele were opened in the Alberthalle , the largest cinema in the city with over 2,300 seats. Universum Film AG leased the hall from 1925 to 1931 and had it extensively rebuilt. This reduced the total number of seats for film screenings to 1,366, while the Alberthalle now had a maximum of 2,000 seats for other types of events.

In the theater, on the ground floor and variety hall, as well as in the Alberthalle, numerous trade exhibitions and presentations by the Leipziger Messe took place. From a sporting point of view, the Krystallpalast Tennis tournaments , wrestling events or cycling races take place. In addition, the Alberthalle of the Krystallpalast was the venue for the three-city gymnastics Berlin-Hamburg-Leipzig several times .

For November 11, 1933, the National Socialist Teachers' Association ( NSLB ) Saxony, headed by NSDAP politician Arthur Göpfert, organized a rally in the Alberthalle in support of the manipulated referendum, which was based on a unity list ("One people, one leader, one 'Yes'") the following day, retrospectively, was supposed to justify Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations in October . On this occasion, Göpfert initiated the German professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler . The rally took place in the presence of several thousand listeners, to whom nine professors spoke and justified that confession.

In 1936, in and around the main building, in addition to the three halls ( theater , blue and golden hall ), there was a beer restaurant , a café , a wine restaurant, a wine cellar with a bar , a cinema and eight bowling alleys . There were also numerous smaller rooms for club festivities and similar events. Most of the vaudeville events, which are now held all year round, took place in the so-called vaudeville theater , the former ground floor hall of the Krystallpalast , which was converted in 1935 .

In one of the heaviest bombing raids on Leipzig on December 4, 1943 , the buildings of the Krystallpalast were completely destroyed.

  • Garden of the Crystal Palace, around 1880

  • Garden with a glass palace, around 1883

  • Street front of the Krystallpalast in the form built by Geutebrück, around 1900

  • Alberthalle, around 1900

  • Interior of the Alberthalle, around 1905

Successor institutions

Conservatory high-rise , to the left of the rotunda House of the cheerful muse (1977)

After the original plans to rebuild parts of the destroyed Krystallpalast and the Alberthalle were discarded after the end of the war in 1945, the Eros Circus leased part of the destroyed area in order to build a permanent venue on the site. The director Cliff Eros constructed a solid wood-based circus building with his brother , which could be completed in the autumn of the same year after a three-month construction period using existing ruins and preserved technical systems. The dome building with a capacity of around 1,600 guests was opened on December 7, 1945 and enjoyed a large number of visitors in the years to come.

After the death of Cliff Eros in 1952, the circus was transferred to a trust administration due to alleged tax debts before it was nationalized on January 1, 1953 and declared the property of the city of Leipzig as VE [people's own] Circus Eros . In 1956, the facility was demolished due to fire protection and safety concerns and replaced by a purchased steel dome, which was originally constructed in 1946 by the Esslingen machine factory and was used, among other things, by the Franz Althoff circus in Stuttgart . The maximum number of spectators in the 40 meter wide and 15 meter high building increased to around 1,800.

After the Eros circus was incorporated into the VEB Zentral-Zirkus (later the GDR State Circus ), the establishment was renamed VE Varieté Eros - House of the Cheerful Muse from 1963, shortened to the House of the Cheerful Muse a year later . From now on, constantly changing events of all kinds took place in the ownership of the city of Leipzig. From around 1968 to 1991 the house was also used as a much-visited studio. E.g. the television of the GDR the show There is music in it or the radio of the GDR produced the hit revue. In addition, there were records like Aha or If already, because already . In this context, several conversions and extensions of the building, which was still used as a temporary facility, were carried out.

From the end of 1990 the buildings stood empty, on October 8, 1992 they were completely destroyed by fire. After that, the area of ​​the former Crystal Palace lay fallow for more than two decades. A Luxembourg investor has been planning to redesign the site under the name Quartier Krystallpalast since the end of 2018 .

Krystallpalast Varieté Leipzig

  • Krystallpalast Varieté in the Magazingasse

  • Interior view 2012

Based on and as a continuation of the historical Krystallplast, there has been another venue called Krystallpalast Varieté Leipzig at another location in Leipzig since November 17, 1997 . The Varieté located in the Magazingasse offers approx. 200 seats in the stalls and in two tiers and approx. 100 seats in the adjoining restaurant. An international variety program from our own production changes every two to three months.

The so-called newcomer show ( The International Variety Festival ), which has existed since 2000, z. B. gathers the directors and artistic directors of the German-speaking variety shows every year at the beginning of July in order to find the best newcomers to the genre. Another venue for the variety show is the Vineta Seekirche .

GANS VERY DIFFERENT on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz

The extravagant dinner show GANS GANZ ANDERS has been presented by the Krystallpalast Varieté Leipzig every year since 2002 during the Christmas season in a specially rented Spiegelpalast . In the dinner show , drama, artistry and show dance are shown and a 4-course menu is served. Until 2014 the location was on Burgplatz Leipzig , since 2015 on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz . Since 2016 the largest mirror palace 'Queen Of Flanders' has been used with around 500 seats.

Web links

Commons : Krystallpalast  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast, formerly the Schützenhaus-Etablissement in Leipzig. Frankenstein & Wagner, Leipzig 1887, SWB online catalog 357220307 .
  • Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. On the occasion of the seventy-five year existence of the former Schützenhaus establishment, founded in 1834, and the twenty-five year existence of the Krystall-Palast-Aktiengesellschaft, founded in 1884. JJ Weber, Leipzig 1909, DNB 572658079 .
  • Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. 100 years of existence of the former rifle house. A souvenir to the anniversary festival program from March 16 to 31, 1936. Kluge & Hanckens, Leipzig 1936, DNB 575457449 .
  • Hans-Joachim Böttcher: The Krystall Palace in Leipzig. In: Sächsisches Tageblatt. 3rd / 4th December 1988, p. 8; 10/11 December 1988, p. 8; 17./18. December 1988, p. 8 and 24./25. December 1988, p. 8.
  • Sylvia Jarmuzewski: Unforgotten? The crystal palace. In: Leipziger Osten 2. Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-930433-00-1 , pp. 2-7.
  • Anja Busse: Somersaults, stars and sparkling wine on brands. Krystallpalast Variety Stories. Stoneart Verlag, Leipzig 1998, DNB 956885535 .
  • Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 , p. 323 f and 541.
  • Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. Lehmstedt, Leipzig 2018, ISBN 978-3-95797-079-4 .
  • Mathias Orbeck: The entertainment place of yore. Book by Bettina Baier tells the story of the legendary Krystallpalast. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. 125 (2018), No. 265 of November 14, 2018, p. 19.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 63.
  2. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. … 1909, p. XXXVI.
  3. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 13 f.
  4. ^ Gina Klank, Gernot Griebsch: Lexicon of Leipzig street names. Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum Leipzig, Leipzig 1995, ISBN 3-930433-09-5 , p. 225.
  5. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast… 1887, p. 11 f.
  6. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. ... 1909, p. XI.
  7. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast ... 1887, p. 15.
  8. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 53.
  9. ↑ Thomas Widra: The history of Saxon liberalism and the Free Democratic Party. 150 years of liberal parties in Saxony. Wilhelm Külz Foundation, Dresden 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-052423-3 , p. 38 ff.
  10. ↑ Gerlinde Kämmerer: Louise Otto Peters (1819–1895). In: Gerlinde Kämmerer, Annett Pilz (Ed.): Leipziger Frauengeschichten. A historical city tour. Art and Culture Center for Women, Leipzig 1995, DNB 943969743 , pp. 112-114.
  11. ^ First German Book Printers' Day in Leipzig v. May 19-22. [Program]. Leipzig 1866.
  12. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 15.
  13. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast… 1887, pp. 24–30.
  14. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast ... 1887, p. 31.
  15. ↑ Otto Moser: Development history of the Krystall-Palast… 1887, p. 32 f.
  16. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast ... 1887, p. 19.
  17. ↑ Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast ... 1887, p. 34.
  18. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 44.
  19. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 10.
  20. ^ E. Dentu, Pierre Petit (ed.): L'Exposition universelle de 1867 illustrée. Publication Internationale autorisée par la Commission Impériale. [Exhibition newspaper]. Paris 1867. (Digitized on Archive.org: Part 1 , Part 2 , accessed November 21, 2018)
  21. ↑ a b Otto Moser: History of the development of the Krystall-Palast ... 1887, p. 36.
  22. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. ... 1909, p. XXII f.
  23. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. ... 1909, p. XXVII.
  24. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 45.
  25. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 47.
  26. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. … 1909, S. LIX.
  27. ^ Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. … 1909, pp. XXXI – XXXV.
  28. ^ Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. ... 1936, p. 5.
  29. ^ Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. ... 1936, p. 7.
  30. ^ Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. ... 1936, p. 16.
  31. ^ Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. ... 1936, p. 17.
  32. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 57.
  33. ^ A b Paul Daehne: Festschrift of the Leipzig Krystall-Palast Aktiengesellschaft. … 1909, S. LXI.
  34. ^ Jörg Clemen, Steffen Lieberwirth: The Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Its predecessor orchestra: the "Hans Winderstein" orchestra. In: Radio Treasures. Dresden and Leipzig great moments from opera and concert. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 56.
  36. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 61.
  37. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 62.
  38. ^ Konrad Krause: Alma mater Lipsiensis. History of the University of Leipzig from 1409 to the present. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2003, ISBN 978-3-936522-65-5 , p. 277 ( books.google.de );
    Wolfgang U. Eckart: Ferdinand Sauerbruch - master surgeon in a political storm. Springer, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-658-12546-2 , p. 22 ( books.google.de ).
  39. ^ Kurt Nowak: Protestant University Theology and "National Revolution". In: Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz, Carsten Nicolaisen (ed.): Theological faculties in National Socialism (= work on contemporary church history. Series B, representations 18). Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 978-3-525-55718-1 , p. 111, note 60 ( books.google.de ).
  40. ^ Eugen W. Schmidt: 50 years of the Krystall-Palast. … 1936, pp. 10–15.
  41. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 114 f.
  42. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 118.
  43. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 121.
  44. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 123.
  45. ↑ Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, p. 125.
  46. ↑ a b Bettina Baier: The Leipzig Crystal Palace. Building and cultural history of the Krystallpalast area. 2018, pp. 153–158.
  47. ↑ Jens Rometsch: New foresight on the future "Quartier Krystallpalast". Luxembourg investor provides illustrations, but remains cautious about the details of the major project. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. November 20, 2018, No. 270, p. 15.
  48. ↑ history. In: krystallpalast.de. Krystallpalast Varieté Leipzig GmbH, accessed on November 14, 2018 .
  49. ↑ Edgar Lopez: Newcomers show up in the Krystallpalast. The 18th edition of the Variety Festival begins tomorrow. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. July 4, 2018, p. 10.
  50. ↑ GOOSE DIFFERENT

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 37.5 ″  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 9.9 ″  E