Water Tower (Mannheim)
The water tower is a well-known landmark of Mannheim . The water tower was built from 1886 to 1889 on today's Friedrichsplatz according to plans by Gustav Halmhuber . The tower is 60 meters high and 19 meters in diameter. It was Mannheim's first urban water tower and initially had to fulfill all functions of the drinking water supply , including maintaining constant water pressure. After the construction of the higher Luzenberg water tower in 1909, it served as a reserve high- rise tank until 2000 .
history
prehistory
Since Mannheim lies in the Rhine plain, the groundwater is not very deep under the earth's surface and is therefore often of poor quality. For this reason, during the reign of Elector Carl Ludwig (1680), the merchant Helferich Geil suggested that “ Bergwasser von Rohrbach ” (now a district of Heidelberg ) be sent to Mannheim. Up until the 19th century, the electoral court's water requirements were met by the Upper and Lower Prince Fountains at Heidelberg Castle . The building director of the Electoral Palatinate, Johann Andreas von Traitteur, wrote about these water transports in 1798:
- “ Because of the lack of healthy, good well water, as long as the court was in Mannheim, the necessary water was brought in daily from the mountains. As is well known, the court chamber had to hold a special water truck which was set up for this purpose and which drove to Heidelberg every day and fetched the water from the prince's fountain in the castle courtyard. "
(indicated course after the "special card" of JA v. Traitteur, around 1790)
In 1739, the 'Minister of Hildesheim' had eight fountains built on Paradeplatz; the missing water was supposed to be provided by the architect Bibiena von Rohrbach. However, he could no longer carry out this work. For over 60 years these fountains were without water and the people of Mannheim were mocked by visitors for it .
In 1758 the scientifically trained Jesuit Christian Mayer was sent to France to inspect all the water pipes there. After his return, Father Mayer wrote a lot about hydraulics , but no water pipe was built.
In 1770, the Mannheim master cooper Mannsperger proposed that water from Rohrbach should be conveyed to Mannheim in a wineskin (originally called a pine hose). His proposal was declared insane and rejected by a commission of the city council because it could not be done with 200,000 guilders.
In 1771, 'Meister Bisinger' wanted to use a "barrel machine" ( bucket wheel ) to scoop the Rhine water into the fortress ditches. The boatmen's guild protests against this plan. In the meantime, four new fountains had been installed on the market square, but the water required for this was still missing.
Experts from Bavaria were appointed to Mannheim and the Electoral Palatinate chief engineer Steimich was asked for advice. He made a cost calculation of 210,000 guilders to direct the flowing Rhine water through the fortress moats. Again the same amount for the construction of a drinking water pipeline from Rohrbach to Mannheim. These and other projects were denied by Minister Graf von Oberndorff .
At that time (1790 ff.) Over 24,000 Mannheim residents mainly obtained their drinking water from pump wells . In the hot summer months, when a lot of water was withdrawn, the drinking water was a foul-smelling broth. The suspended matter in the well water did not have time to settle due to the rapid removal. The fortress moat also spread a terrible stench through drying out and the resulting exposure or evaporation of the mud. There was not yet a closed sewer system and the lack of rinsing water for the waste, faeces etc. due to the drought caused them to rot on the street. This was in addition to the stain and putrid fever that killed the main cause of many diseases that many Mannheimer at that time in the summer months.
The American physicist Benjamin Thompson from Massachusetts asked the Electoral Palatinate major and administrative councilor Johann Andreas von Traitteur to deal with the water supply issue. With the intervention of the Traitteur, the turning point in the endless discussion was reached. He examined the watercourses above Rohrbach and waterways on the other side of the Neckar. On June 20, 1790, Traitteur finally submitted his memorandum. In it he stated that within two years he would bring enough water from the mountains near Rohrbach to Mannheim for drinking and domestic use in sufficient quantities to supply twelve fountains, various public pipe fountains, the Mannheim Castle and many private buildings. (A total of 54 taps / wells were planned). In addition, v. The caterer is obliged to build the water pipe - in advance - at his own expense. Since Traitteur had demanded privileges, a commission met to deal with these provisions and imposed conditions on him (now there had to be 130 wells), which forced the Traitteur to change his plans. In the second contract signed on March 1, 1791, the engineer undertook to complete the water pipeline by the end of 1792, because then the golden jubilee of Karl Theodor's reign was to be celebrated.
In the end, Traitteur was forced to stop the work due to a lack of money (the outstanding "bargaining" - agreed advance / payment on account - of 30,000 guilders was not paid.) And was unable to comply with the terms of a third contract, although he had new workers set up a quarry and built two brick factories. The siege of Mannheim in 1795 put an end to all efforts. The French used the wooden pegs as firewood, the Austrians filled the duct for military reasons. In 1797 the court chamber stated that it was impossible to continue work on the water pipe. So a compromise was on March 22, 1798 between Traitteur and the chamber about, lifted so that all previous agreements and Traitteur compensation in government bonds has been set. They were not paid to him even after long trials.
The population of Mannheim grew rapidly towards the end of the 19th century, which meant that the supply from the Käfertaler waterworks was soon no longer sufficient. The city therefore needed its own water tower. The selected location was ideal, as from here only short lines to the households in the city center, to Schwetzingerstadt, to Lindenhof and to the then emerging Oststadt.
Choice of location
In 1882 the Austrian engineer Oskar Smreker was hired to build the Mannheim water supply. In 1884 he submitted a report to the Mannheim city council in which he stated that the groundwater flow in the Käfertal forest could provide sufficient drinking and service water. He set the daily water consumption at 100 liters per person. An elevated tank should be set up in front of the Heidelberger Tor and serve to compensate for pressure fluctuations, because there are no natural hills in the vicinity of Mannheim. He estimated the cost of the facility at two million marks, including 244,000 marks for the high reservoir. It was no coincidence that the location in front of the Heidelberger Tor was chosen, as plans for an expansion of the city had been in progress there since 1872.
An expert commission examined Smreker's report and came to the following conclusion:
- “ The planned and investigated test field guarantees the permanent reference security of the water volume envisaged for the supply of the city of Mannheim and deserves, in particular because of the nature of its water, the preference over all other reference locations possibly still into practical consideration. "
On November 26, 1884, an agreement was reached with the then still independent municipality of Käfertal, in which the city of Mannheim bought a site of 1.8 hectares in the Käfertal municipal forest and paid 64,000 gold marks for it. Käfertal was promised the installation of three hydrants and both sides undertook to never build a factory or any other system that would damage the waterworks themselves or to sell or lease the land there to third parties for the same purpose.
Architectural competition
In October 1885, a competition to build a water tower in Mannheim was advertised nationwide. In the tender stated:
- “ The exterior of the building should have an architecturally simple but dignified design that is appropriate to its purpose. In this direction it should be noted that the construction site envisaged is in one of the best locations in the city and is framed by modern houses, some of which are rich in architecture. "
What was required was a water tower that was not only intended to serve as a functional building, but also to blend in architecturally with the surroundings. The jury had to judge the designs of 74 architects. Most of the senders contented themselves with decorated iron constructions that differed greatly from the winning design.
The first prize was endowed with a thousand marks and was awarded to the design that was submitted under the Latin motto “ ars longa, vita brevis ” (German: “ The art is long (lively), life is short. ”) And by the 23-year-old Stuttgart architect and painter Gustav Halmhuber, a student of Christian Friedrich Leins . Halmhuber's design showed a monumental round tower, the facade of which was to be clad with yellow sandstone, thus drawing on historical models from Roman antiquity. This tower is divided into four floors, has two flight of stairs, a corridor and two entrances. The base itself stands on a seven-meter-deep concrete foundation. The second prize of 600 marks went to the Hanoverian architects Hecht and Siepmann for their design with the Latin motto " medium tenuere beati " (German: " The lucky ones have (always) held the middle ").
The final building decision was made on February 25, 1886: Gustav Halmhuber was informed by telegram that he had been entrusted with the construction of the tower and that he could start working on detailed plans.
Even before the groundbreaking ceremony, the architect Halmhuber was recalled to Berlin, where he was involved in the construction of the Reichstag building . The construction management was therefore entrusted to the engineer Oskar Smreker, who often had to mediate between Halmhuber and the city. Since Halmhuber only specified the shape and facade of the tower, but not the structural properties of the water tank and many other technical things, Smreker contributed a great deal to the interior design of the tower through his technical planning. Smreker constructed a mezzanine container that was roughly level with the segment floors and reached roughly to the main cornice.
construction
On July 1, 1886, the groundbreaking ceremony for the waterworks took place. A loan of 1.975 million marks was approved for the project. However, the costs rose to 2,374,288 marks in the course of the three-year construction phase. The biggest item was the increase in the cost of building the water tower. The construction company Joseph Hoffmann u. Sons in Ludwigshafen a. Rh., Which also had a branch in Mannheim. She had to leave a deposit of 20,000 marks for this . However, the construction company apparently overlooked extending their bail, so they were immediately warned. The company was also behind schedule with the schedule. On May 8, 1889, the construction management asked the company “ Joseph Hoffmann u. Sons ”to complete all remaining work by May 10th. Since the company did not comply with this request, it now had to face the consequences. Because now the construction management “hired a corresponding number of sculptors for a daily allowance of M 5.50 at your expense ”.
The trouble with the construction company came that the architect Halmhuber could no longer be moved from Berlin to Mannheim and he seemed no longer interested in the Mannheim water tower. He sent an urgently requested plaster model for the putti frieze in poor packaging, so that it arrived in Mannheim broken. He himself did not comply with several requests from the city to personally promote the construction. After he had sent further detailed plans for terraces and side towers that deviated from his plans, he finally arrived in person in May 1888. The complete handover of all plans was delayed until October 1888. In the meantime, the expansion of the city following Friedrichsplatz had already taken shape and a first water fountain had also been built on Friedrichsplatz itself.
On March 14, 1889, the tower was so far completed that the scaffolding could soon be removed. Once again the city of Mannheim invited the architect to take a tour. It is not known, however, whether Halmhuber returned to Mannheim.
The citizens of the city of Mannheim could voluntarily register for the connection to the water supply from 1887. By the time the water tower was completed, there were 2,263 connections, with around 75,000 residents in the city. Even by 1900, only 5,170 connections were installed, although the population had risen to over 120,000 by then.
Destruction and rebuilding
The tower was badly hit during the bombing of Mannheim in World War II , with the roof in particular being destroyed, while the water tank was comparatively easy to repair.
The Mannheim dialect poet Erna Rück wrote in her poem entitled " Mei liewes Mannem " (" My dear Mannheim "):
The water tower, the plank,
everything is devastated,
the heaviest hoarse sank
like dirt into the earth.
Until the 1950s, it only carried a makeshift roof. Since the water consumption rose sharply due to the rebuilding of the destroyed Mannheim city center, it was necessary to increase the water pressure. The city therefore planned to increase the volume of the water tower from 2,000 to 3,000 cubic meters, for which the tower would have had to be increased, which, given the roof that was destroyed in the war, would not have required any destruction of the existing building fabric. In 1955, the city announced an ideas competition to raise the tower, which was won by the architect Rolf Vollhard . His design envisaged a modern extension for the tower, as a separating element between the old base and the new extension, an all-round glazed balcony would have been attached. The winning design sparked indignation among the population, so that the plans were discarded and the Mannheim city council decided in 1962 to reconstruct the tower true to the original, which was carried out in 1963. The reconstruction took place under the direction of Ferdinand Mündel . The amphitrite on top of the tower by Johannes Hoffart was recreated by Hayno Focken .
The tower was restored in 1986/87 and has been a listed building since 1987 . Various minor renovations have taken place since then.
reception
Since at the time of construction the technical system of the water tank was already considered obsolete, critical voices spoke up demanding that one should do without the " round burial chapel " and build a modern water tower instead of a monument.
Other citizens of the city, however, were very impressed by the building. In a Mannheim newspaper of April 20, 1888, an unknown dialect poet expressed his joy and admiration for the new water tower in the dialect of the Palatinate :
"Your husbands, you liewe leaders,
what is it before e
big time Mer dut thinks what
I experience every day, it was never like ewe -
Remember, in the Käfferdeler forest it
bangs so fresh and cold there,
then thrown in the meadow, Ecker,
Un mitte unne dorch de Necker
In a huge big deer, do
n't mention that it would be possible.
So the Heedelberger Dor
Drum comes to the big dorm. "
The Mannheim dialect poet Ludwig Levy published his " Humorous Poems in Palatinate Dialect " in 1898, explaining the word Dorn:
- " Weescht what e thorn eat? E thorn eat in man e tower, where many thorn eat in aag. Unn so e thorn iss d'r Mannemer Wasserthurm, a worthy monument for all present and future watertighters ”.
The Mannheim dialect poet Hanns Glückstein also speaks of a “ water thorn ” in his poem entitled “ Die Weltstadt Mannem ”:
"Aach against our water thorn, no, no
, des sinn keen bosses,
Thu can be lost in Vienna de Stephansthurm the
same way."
The Mannheimer Morgen allowed himself once an April Fool's joke , when he reported:
- “ Bulgarian packaging artist Christo Javacheff wants to wrap the water tower in a super curtain ”.
It was also said that the world-famous wrapping artist Christo wanted to wrap, wrap and tie up “ this senseless dummy without function ”. Today he wants to take his measurements first. He discovered the water tower by chance on a trip to Heidelberg, where it covered the America House . Quite a few people came to the water tower at 2 p.m. An older man wanted to "give this Christ's opinion " and a gallery owner wanted to take photos of the action.
Architectural style
With the construction, the up-and-coming city wanted to set an example in terms of technology and urban planning. The design should therefore be extraordinary, imposing and timelessly beautiful. Roman monumental style and neo-baroque elements formed the basis of the architecture and are now part of the largest coherent complex of German Art Nouveau. The sculptor Ernst Westphal created the sandstone figures on the tower. On the cone-shaped copper roof, which is divided into sections, there is a statue of Amphitrite, the wife of the sea god Poseidon from Greek mythology, about 3.50 m high, designed by Johannes Hoffart and made of copper sheet . The small water basin is decorated with several bronze figures of mermaids and tritons . Stone centaurs adorn the large pool of water. When it is dark, the system offers an extremely atmospheric picture thanks to the lighting of the tower and the water features (also colorfully illuminated on weekends and holidays).
location
Friedrichsplatz, on which the tower stands, is surrounded by the rose garden , the art gallery and some semicircular arcade buildings . The facility is a popular meeting place in the summer. A Christmas market takes place here every year in winter .
The complex around the water tower was designed as a semicircular park between 1899 and 1903 according to plans by the Berlin architect Bruno Schmitz . A roundabout street with four arcade houses leads around the square. The park itself is around 2.50 meters lower than the street and has four entrances:
- a flight of stairs at the water tower
- a flight of stairs at the exit to the Augustaanlage
- a flight of stairs towards the rose garden
- a flight of stairs towards the art gallery
Between the outside stairs and the water tower there is a cascade from which water runs into a large water basin. A pergola runs in a semicircle from the water into the park.
technology
In earlier times it was necessary to build water towers with elevated tanks on the Rhine plain . These served as reservoirs for drinking water and ensured constant water pressure in the supply network. A simple physical principle (law of communicating pipes ) made it possible to let the water in the house pipes rise to the same height as that of the storage tank in the tower. The capacity of the loft container was 2000 cubic meters. The MVV (Mannheimer Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft) takes care of maintenance and repairs . Since the construction of the Luzenberg water tower in 1909, which from then on ensured constant water pressure, the water tower at Friedrichsplatz was only a storage facility. In the end, the tower was only integrated into the operation of the city's water supply as an emergency reserve, whereby the water was regularly circulated to avoid long dwell times and about half of the reservoir's contents were pressed into the network at the morning rush hours between 6 and 8 a.m. The facility was last extensively renovated in the 1980s. The tower has not been part of the general water supply since 2000.
See also
literature
- "History of the aqueduct v. Gebürg bei Rohrbach to Mannheim " (GoogleBooks)
- Johann Andreas von Traitteur: The water pipes from Mannheim - Mannheim, 1798, Heidelberg historical holdings - digital, Heidelberg University Library.
- Gieseler / Ryll: Water towers in Mannheim , Small series of the Mannheim City Archives No. 9, Mannheim 1997
- Theodor Alt: The Mannheim water tower. An aesthetic-economic study . Mannheim 1892
- Hans Weckesser: Beloved water tower . Mannheim 1991, ISBN 3-87804-206-X .
- Jens U. Schmidt, Günther Bosch, Albert Baur: Water towers in Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86929-002-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Andreas von Traitteur: The water pipes of Mannheim, Mannheim, 1798. In: Heidelberg historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 22 , accessed on March 23, 2016 (§ 7 and footnote).
- ^ Johann Andreas von Traitteur: The water pipes of Mannheim, Mannheim, 1798. In: Heidelberg historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 33 , accessed on March 23, 2016 (footnote to § 16).
- ^ Johann Andreas von Traitteur: The water pipes of Mannheim, Mannheim, 1798. In: Heidelberg historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 22 , accessed on March 23, 2016 (footnote to § 8).
- ↑ Traitteur wanted to be able to reclaim the remaining construction costs that were not covered by selling the excess well water to private individuals.
- ↑ see also: Johann Andreas von Traitteur # Construction of the water pipeline from Rohrbach to Mannheim
- ↑ a b c Quoted from Weckesser: " Geliebter Wasserturm "
- ↑ MARCHIVUM : Chronicle star . November 6, 1963. Retrieved September 28, 2018 .
Web links
- Search for in the German Digital Library
- Project index Wasserturm Mannheim , Architecture Museum Technical University Berlin
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 2.6 ″ N , 8 ° 28 ′ 31.8 ″ E