Kurhaus (Bernburg)
The Kurhaus in Bernburg is one of the most important and largest buildings in the district town of Bernburg . It served as a cultural center in the GDR and was often referred to as the Anhaltiner Saal after the fall of the Wall . It is located in the valley town not far from the Saale on the property at Solbadstrasse 2 and is a listed building.
prehistory
In 1617, after several floods, the city council of Bernburg, which was heavily indebted, was forced to sell the Krumbholz to Christian I (Anhalt-Bernburg) . Up until the end of the 19th century it was only the Bernburgs and from 1863 the Dessau Ascanians used the large area for hunting and forestry. In 1883, soda production began in Bernburg . In gratitude to the city council of Bernburg for the approval granted to settle, the Solvay-Werke bought the Krumbholz back from the Anhalt tax authorities in 1893 and gave it to the city. The city of Bernburg appointed a forest warden and built a forest warden's house for him, which was completed in 1897 and which now adorns the entrance to the Bernburg zoo . The forest caretaker's house also included a stable, a public toilet facility and a larger yard with a tree nursery. Mayor Felix Leinveber was elected to his office on November 2, 1897 . Shortly after its introduction, he is said to have suggested turning Bernburg into a spa and medicinal bath in order to set a counterpoint to chemical industrialization. The Solvay-Werke agreed to provide the brine from their mining operations free of charge; by German standards it had an unusually high salt content.
construction
In 1898, the local council decided to build a spa and approved the funds for this on July 20, 1899. The Berlin architects Carl Börnstein and Emil Kopp were commissioned to carry out the construction . In the late summer of 1900, the foundation work began for the two-part building complex with a tower-crowned connection building in Art Nouveau style . The representative interior in typical taste paid homage to the German imperial family and the Ascanians. In return, the Dessau Duke Friedrich I showed his favor with the Bernburgers by visiting the new Kurhaus. The spa operation began on July 1, 1902, slightly delayed compared to the plans, but for technical reasons the spa was only officially opened on November 8, 1902 with a ceremony. Several musically framed celebratory speeches followed a celebratory dinner for 230 people, including high-ranking representatives of the Duchy of Anhalt and the social elite of the city of Bernburg. Even the imperial family was represented by a Hohenzollern prince. The ensemble was completed with the light fountain erected in the spring of 1903 and donated by the entrepreneur Otto Lange (co-owner of Hopfer's paper mill ). Colored headlights illuminated the water.
After the First World War
The Kurhaus, which did not generate any profit even in peacetime, was partially converted into a reserve hospital during the First World War and fell into the red with significantly reduced spa operations. At the end of the war, the city sold the Kurhaus to a private Kurhaus stock corporation initiated by the last tenant Wilhelm Schirmer. This company even invested in a further expansion with a modern spa hotel. But the German inflation from 1914 to 1923 prevented success. The Reichsbahn-Arbeiter-Pensionskasse took over the majority of the shares in 1927 and added a new building to the children's home. The city leased the catering business in the Kurhaus, which could be designed economically.
After the Second World War
After a new use as a hospital in World War II, the Soviet occupying power awarded the health resort and the children's home to the social insurance institution for the province of Saxony-Anhalt as a sanatorium, from which it came to the FDGB in 1957 . During this time, the Kurhaus was rarely open to the public for special events. Not least because of increasing air and water pollution, the FDGB gave up the sanatorium at the end of 1961, the facility became the children's clinic of the Bernburg District Hospital for Neurology and Psychiatry. The Kurhaus has now become a district culture house with an HO restaurant.
Todays use
After the fall of the Berlin Wall , the Kurhaus was finally awarded to the district of Bernburg in 1996. Since August 1, 1997, the Kurhaus has belonged to the Bernburger Theater- und Veranstaltungs GmbH , which now operates the Kurhaus, Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Theater and Metropol together. An average of 360 conferences, seminars, receptions, balls and exhibitions take place there every year.
Web links
- History of the Kurhaus on the official website of Bernburger Theater- und Veranstaltungs GmbH, accessed on March 11, 2016
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the zoo on the official website of the zoo in Bernburg, accessed on March 11, 2016
- ^ Offer of the Kurhaus on the official website of Bernburger Theater- und Veranstaltungs GmbH, accessed on March 11, 2016
Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 55.3 " N , 11 ° 43 ′ 55.7" E