Museum of the City of Weinheim

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Museum of the City of Weinheim
The former entrance portal

The Museum of the City of Weinheim is located in the Teutonic Order House, which was built in 1710 (now also the Amtshaus ) in the listed old town of Weinheim . The permanent exhibition on the history of Weinheim and the region is spread over four floors and around 1000 square meters. The oldest of the numerous exhibits is a mammoth skull found in 1967 , whose old age of up to 42,000 years was not recognized until 2020. In addition, the museum regularly shows special exhibitions on specific topics.

The museum goes back to the Weinheimer Altertumsverein , which existed from 1906 to 1938 and systematically collected historical goods from the region. The collection was exhibited in three different buildings in Weinheim before it was finally moved to the Teutonic Order House in 1939. Here the museum was first opened as a local history museum in 1948 and renamed the Museum of the City of Weinheim in 1986 .

history

The client, Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg

Teutonic Order House

German Order in Weinheim

The settlement of the Teutonic Order in Weinheim took place at a time when the city was divided into two separate settlements. The old town of Weinheim was under the rule of the Archbishops of Mainz . Around 1250 the Count Palatine built the new town on a previously uninhabited terrace over the Weschnitz as a competition from the Wittelsbach House, which had ruled since 1214 - the initiator was either Otto II the Illustrious or his son Ludwig II the Strict , who ruled from his death in 1253 . The separation was laid down in the Hemsbach arbitration award of 1264: The Neustadt, which was confirmed as a city here for the first time, and Windeck Castle were awarded to the Count Palatine, the old town remained under the rule of the Archbishop of Mainz. The Neustadt itself forms the core of today's historic old town of Weinheim.

The first appearance of the order in Weinheim is not documented, but is estimated to be around 1260, when the order also settled in Heidelberg . In 1273 Ludwig granted the order a branch in Gewann Kapellenäcker, including the right to keep herdsmen for his flocks instead of having to use the community shepherds. A house commander named Sigelo is mentioned for the first time in 1277 .

In November 1308, in a comparison, the old town also came under the control of the Palatinate, which means that Weinheim was part of the Electoral Palatinate (until it was dissolved in 1803). The old town remained an independent administrative unit for the time being (until 1454). Immediately afterwards, awarded jointly ruling as Palatine brothers - Rudolf I and later Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria - the German Order of Men citizenship of Neustadt against Bede two pounds Heller annually. The order received the property between the Amts- and Schlossergasse, and in 1310 a court was added to it, which Count Palatine Rudolf gave to the order as a fief . There the monks built a closed courtyard with a commander's house , chapel and farm building . Around 1585–1587, major renovations took place, which are documented by coats of arms and dates on the house and in the cellar.

Construction of the current house

Today's Teutonic Order House had high master and German master Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg built in May 1710 as a new baroque building for the Kommendenhaus. Johann Adam Breunig is considered to be the architect and master builder , in collaboration with master carpenter Peter Elias Berthold from Neckarsulm , who is known as master builder on traditional invoices and who primarily built the roof structure and the room floors. Later, Berthold also oversaw many other construction projects of the Teutonic Lords in southern Germany, such as the Teutonic Minster Heilbronn , the Teutonic Order Castle Neckarsulm and the Teutonic Order Castle Kirchhausen .

The building cost of the house was 10,000 guilders, a smaller part of which was brought in through the sale of building materials from the demolition of the old house and surpluses for the new one. The topping-out ceremony was held in November 1710.

coat of arms

Franz Ludwig's coat of arms above the portal

As one of the later building measures, Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg's still-existing coat of arms was attached to the (now former) entrance portal in September 1711. It is implemented as a relief made of sandstone , made by the sculptor Georg Martin Bitterich from Mannheim . The text field on the right edge of the coat of arms, which the Palatinate lion holds in his paws, lists the dignities of Franz Ludwig - in particular the hereditary titles claimed by his Palatinate-Neuburg dynasty:

"BY GOD'S GRACE FRANZ LUDWIG * PALATINE COUNT BEY RHEIN * TO BAIERN, GÜLCH, CLEV AND PERG HERZOG * THE ZEYT HIGH AND TEUTSCHMEISTER * NEY BUILT 1710"

Near the bay window on the corner of Amtsgasse and Hauptstrasse is a much older coat of arms of Walther von Cronberg , who was Commander in Frankfurt from 1508 and Grand Master of the order from 1527, at a height of around two meters . The coat of arms was taken over from the old house - badly damaged, but still easily recognizable.

Walther von Cronberg's coat of arms

After the end of the order's residence

The end of the order residence Weinheim came as a result of the Napoleonic Wars with the secularization of many religious institutions in the states allied with Napoleon. With the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, which ended the Second Coalition War , Weinheim came to the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1803 . The properties directly subordinate to the Grand Master were initially excluded from secularization, but in 1805 the Coming came under Baden administration; and in 1809 the entire Teutonic Order in the states of the Rhine Confederation was abolished, its residences dissolved. The property of the Kommende Weinheim became the property of Baden. The chapel and the outbuildings were demolished in the following years. Several pieces of the chapel furnishings came to the Hohensachsen Church , while some of the broken chapel stones were used by the Protestant community of Lützelsachsen to build their church. The baroque Kommendenhaus was used by the district office from 1810, henceforth called the Amtshaus and named after the later so-called Amtsgasse and Amtshausplatz . In 1904 the house became the seat of the customs and tax office. The city of Weinheim acquired the house in 1934.

museum

The Weinheim Antiquities Association

The Museum of the City of Weinheim is based on the collection of the Weinheimer Altertumsverein , which was created in 1906 and was founded by Karl Zinkgräf (1873–1939) and others interested in regional history. In March 1906, the association advertised a call for a collection of local history:

"[...] The prospective publication of a scientifically processed " History of Weinheim " has brought warm thanks in all strata of the population, and the wish has been expressed, as in other cities in our closer home country, here too, one devoted to home history Collection to found a cultural and historical site of old wine home life. This task is not an easy one, because much has been neglected. [...] But in spite of all this, some of the storerooms here, some closets and boxes, should still contain objects from the father's time, which, collected and appropriately set up, could fulfill the ideal task of transporting the grandson back to the sad past, but also in times of restless activity, the diligent work of the fathers and the slow blossoming of the city and thus to promote and maintain the love for home. [...] "

Initially, the association did not see it as a realistic goal to set up a “museum in the style of urban collections”. The call, however, was very successful and allowed the number of pieces to grow rapidly in the years to come. The most important component was and remained Zinkgräf's collection of pewter dishes from several centuries, which is one of the cornerstones of the museum's exhibits to this day. The exhibits were initially exhibited in the Diesterweg elementary school, today's city library.

The association's request experienced an unexpected stroke of luck in 1910. When the old St. Peter's Church was demolished, several frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries were uncovered, which were recovered and added to the historical collection - thus creating additional space requirements. In 1911 the exhibition location changed to what was then the trade school in Bahnhofsstraße (which later became the Uhland elementary school); A turret was built in the direction of Schulstrasse especially for the frescoes.

In 1931, another of the current highlights of the museum's collection was discovered in the area, the next-bach bronze find from the late urn field culture . In 1938 the collection moved to the Dessauervilla on Friedrichstrasse, Weinheim's most beautiful Art Nouveau building built by Heinrich Metzendorf (burned down in 1983). In the same year - after the association was dissolved - the collection was taken over by the city of Weinheim.

The museum in the Deutschordenshaus

In the following year, 1939, the city transferred the exhibits to the Teutonic Order House, as the Dessauervilla was acquired as a domicile by the aristocratic Berckheim family , who already owned the Weinheim Castle and partly built it in its current form. Plans to open a real museum were initially put on hold due to the Second World War , instead the administration set up an air raid shelter in the basement of the house. The war also resulted in the loss of several frescoes that had been brought to Karlsruhe .

The local history museum was opened in 1948 . Since 1986 it has been called the Museum of the City of Weinheim . In a major exterior renovation from 1992–1993, the original coloring of the order house was restored; the sandstone relief of the coat of arms was extensively restored. In the years 1996–1998 the museum was extensively renovated and rebuilt. Here it received its current spatial division of the four floors with 1000 m². The building now also has a new glass entrance front directly from the Amtshausplatz instead of the old entrance in the Amtsgasse.

The sponsorship group

Prepared since 1982, friends of the museum from the Rotary and Lions clubs founded the museum's non-profit support group on December 8, 1989 , which sees itself in the tradition of the antiquity association founded in 1906. His self-imposed tasks include maintaining the museum, maintaining and increasing its holdings, and increasing interest in the museum.

  • More views of the museum
  • Weinheim, Amtsgasse 2 20170601 006.jpg
  • Weinheim, Amtsgasse 2 20170601 002.jpg
  • Weinheim, Amtsgasse 2 20170601 003.jpg
  • Weinheim, Amtsgasse 2 20170601 005.jpg

Content

Head of Christ, fresco of St. Peter's Church from the 13th / 14th centuries century
The engraving by Johann Jakob Rieger , 1787
The painting by Albert Emil Kirchner , 1857

The museum shows archaeological exhibits from prehistoric times to the Merovingian era , the medieval settlement and modern social history of Weinheim. The highlights among the exhibits include:

  • a mammoth skull, which was found in 1967 during the construction of the federal motorway 5 in the groundwater lake Waidsee created by the construction work . The skull was initially estimated to be 10,000–12,000 years old before a detailed radiocarbon analysis in 2020 revealed that the skull is approximately 42,000 years old.
  • the next bronze find from 76 everyday objects from the late urn field culture (approx. 800 BC), found in 1931 in the hamlet Nästenbach . The find includes pieces of jewelry, weapons and tools for agriculture, thus almost the entire inventory of metal objects of that time.
  • the frescoes of the 13th and 14th century in Weinheim's Peterskirche, first built in 861 , which were found and recovered when the old church was demolished in 1910. The paintings on lime plaster show scenes from the Old and New Testaments , namely Adam and Eve (creation of Adam, fall ) as well as the Annunciation of the Lord , the offering of Christ in the temple and the crucifixion of Christ . The pastor at the time Ernst Issel (1853–1918) made a watercolor of the frescoes in their original arrangement, which has been reconstructed since 1956 by placing the frescoes on a common wall.
  • Additions from 50 graves, for example a Franconian tumbler made of glass around AD 600, found in the Gewann Kapellenäcker.

A core piece of the museum is Karl Zinkgräf's collection of partly ornately decorated pewter dishes from several centuries. Because of its good compatibility with food, tin was used from the Middle Ages to the Biedermeier period to make jugs, jugs and plates, and sometimes also to imitate silver dishes. To avoid embrittlement, it was alloyed with other metals, for which lead was best suited to the material . Because of its toxicity, a control system to limit the lead content was introduced as early as the 14th century, which was further developed in the Baroque to make it mandatory to issue three quality seals. In the 19th century, pewter dishes were finally replaced by earthenware .

In the inner courtyard is a 1949 replica of an engraving of the town of Weinheim by Matthäus Merian from 1618, in the museum itself another engraving by Johann Jakob Rieger from 1787 and a landscape painting by the painter Albert Emil Kirchner from 1857; this painting shows a topographically accurate picture of Weinheim from the early days of industrialization. The three works of art show Weinheim seen from the same location.

Furniture from the Biedermeier and Historicism epochs is exhibited from the earlier furniture of the Weinheim Castle . Other exhibits include agricultural tools such as a wind sweep , a stuffed two-headed calf (born in Laudenbach in 1911 ) and the history of the Weinheim steel bath - the use of an iron spring as a therapeutic bath in the years 1812–1921.

The museum regularly hosts special exhibitions, up-to-date (interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic ) on the origins of German idioms such as “That doesn't go on cow skin!” Or “The stove is out!”. The exhibitions often show contemporary works by regional artists.

With thematic projects on the Stone Age and the Middle Ages, as well as specially designed information boards, the museum takes special care of its child-like visitors. In the digital city history project , visitors can read the history of the city on a table monitor in 63 pages. Another project, Jewish Traces in Weinheim , led to the creation of a website and a dedicated station in the museum.

Publications

The Förderkreis des Museum Weinheim eV has published the annual series Our Museum since 1989 .

Since 1913, the Weinheim history sheets have been published irregularly as supplements to the 1911 History of the City of Weinheim by John Gustav Weiss . So far 38 volumes have been published, the last in 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Weinheim - Altgemeinde ~ part of town. leo-bw.de, accessed on June 9, 2021 .
  2. ↑ a b c City history. weinheim.de, accessed on June 6, 2021 .
  3. ↑ a b c d The German Order. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  4. ^ A b c Wolfgang Kaps: Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg (1664-1732). High and German Masters of the Teutonic Order. His construction activity in the Teutonic Order. (PDF) franzludwig.de, December 2013, pp. 23–24 , accessed on June 5, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Adolf Koch; Eduard Winkelmann (Editor): Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508, Volume 1: 1214–1400. Innsbruck, 1894. p. 52 ( online at uni-heidelberg.de )
  6. ↑ Adolf Koch; Eduard Winkelmann (Editor): Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508, Volume 1: 1214–1400. Innsbruck, 1894. p. 94 ( online at uni-heidelberg.de )
  7. ↑ Adolf Koch; Eduard Winkelmann (Editor): Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508, Volume 1: 1214–1400. Innsbruck, 1894. p. 95 ( online at uni-heidelberg.de )
  8. ^ Adolf Koch; Eduard Winkelmann (Editor): Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508, Volume 1: 1214–1400. Innsbruck, 1894. p. 97 ( online at uni-heidelberg.de )
  9. ^ A b Claudia Buggle: History of the Museum. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed June 7, 2021 .
  10. ↑ a b c d Museum of the City of Weinheim. schwarzwald-tourismus.info, accessed on June 4, 2021 .
  11. ↑ a b c Bernhard Peter: Photos of beautiful old coats of arms - Deutschordenskommende Weinheim. welt-der-wappen.de/, 2018, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  12. ↑ a b History of the Museum - The Collection. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  13. ↑ a b The tin collection. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 6, 2021 .
  14. ↑ a b c Suddenly the past is near. Weinheimer Nachrichten , October 14, 2019, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  15. ^ Truman's visit to Weinheim: State of emergency around Friedrichstrasse. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed June 8, 2021 .
  16. ↑ The Förderkreis des Museums Weinheim eV Museum der Stadt Weinheim, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  17. ↑ Peter W. Ragge: Mammut is a Methuselah. Mannheimer Morgen , January 5, 2021, accessed on May 13, 2021 .
  18. ↑ Our Peterskirche in Weinheim. January 18, 2015, accessed June 9, 2021 .
  19. ↑ Collections / Finds: The frescoes of the former St. Peter's Church. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 8, 2021 .
  20. ^ Children in the museum. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 5, 2021 .
  21. ^ Jewish traces in Weinheim. Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed on June 6, 2021 .
  22. ↑ Weinheim history sheets . Museum of the City of Weinheim, accessed June 8, 2021 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 32 ′ 48.9 ″  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 21.9 ″  E