Moltkedenkmal (Bremen)

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Moltke memorial

The Moltke monument in Bremen is on the wall of the north tower of the Liebfrauenkirche . In the form of an equestrian statue , it is reminiscent of the Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke . The memorial was created based on a model by the Munich sculptor Hermann Hahn with the assistance of the Berlin architect Heinrich Jennen and has been a listed building since 1973 .

History of origin

The Bremen banker Bernhard Loose , who died in 1902, left his hometown 75,000 marks for a memorial to “the man to whom Germany, next to Bismarck, owes its size and unity” . Due to the question of location - it was dependent on the choice of location for the Bismarck memorial , which was also planned and had priority at the time, execution was initially delayed. Finally, the advice of the sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand and the town planner Fritz Schumacher were followed to upgrade the Liebfrauenkirchhof. The fact that the Liebfrauenkirche was the location church of the Bremen garrison may have played a role.

The sculptor Hermann Hahn won a limited competition. At the request of the jury, he renounced the originally planned sarcophagus-like base, which was all too reminiscent of Northern Italian Renaissance models, but refused to meet the demands of the conservative jury group for greater closeness to nature and realism based on uniform studies. The monument was inaugurated on November 4, 1909.

Hahn also suggested giving the viewer coming from Sögestrasse a different eye-catcher through a fountain in the middle of the square, as those coming from the left would have an unfortunate perspective of the monument, which only came from the middle of the Liebfrauenkirchhof come into play from a perspective. This is how the Marcusbrunnen was built , which was also designed by Hahn and Jennen.

The monument as a work of art

High in front of the smooth wall of the north tower of the church is the monument made of shell limestone on a flat base supported by consoles . The equestrian statue shows the general in a calm posture and bareheaded sitting on the standing horse, his gaze resolutely turned towards the square, but holding the reins loosely. Large, flat shapes and motifs such as the smooth and wide-falling coat give the group a monumental effect. The impassioned pathos, an otherwise indispensable quality of monuments for war heroes, was dispensed with here.

Inscriptions

On the base:
Helmuth v. Moltke built in honor of a citizen of Bremen MDCCCCIX
On the wall surface above the figure four lines of Rudolf Alexander Schröder in capital letters :
The you armed and fought back, considering that you approach him:
It supports peace be on `sword grows in silence the fact.

literature

  • Ernst Neuling: Art in Bremen, XXIX. In: Lower Saxony , 12th year 1906/1907, pp. 16-18. (Exhibition of the models for a Moltke monument in the Kunsthalle)
  • HW: The Moltke memorial on the tower of the Liebfrauenkirche and the fountain on the Liebfrauenkirchhof in Bremen. In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 30, 1910, pp. 70 f.
  • The Moltke monument and the Markus fountain in Bremen. In: Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 44, 1910, No. 38 (from May 11, 1910), p. 289. (with further illustrations on p. 293)
  • Gustav Pauli : The monuments of Bismarck and Moltke in Bremen. In: Yearbook of the Bremen Collections , 4th year 1911, pp. 20–34. also digital here
  • Beate Mielsch: Monuments, open sculptures, fountains in Bremen 1800–1945. Bremen 1980, p. 26 f. (full)

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Monument database of the LfD
  2. ↑ However, the author Beate Mielsch (cf. literature ) points out on p. 30 that this fact is not mentioned in any source.
  3. ↑ On this see Mielsch, p. 30 and the article Bremer Künstlerstreit .
  4. ↑ Mielsch, p. 30
  5. ↑ probably based on the model of the Bamberg rider

Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 36 "  N , 8 ° 48 ′ 26.5"  E