Offenbachplatz
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The Cologne Offenbachplatz is located on the 1956 designed the "General Transport Plan" north-south ride in the center of Cologne city center . The square is divided into the “large Offenbachplatz” with the opera house (“large” house) and a “small Offenbachplatz”, which opened in 1957 and was built according to plans by Wilhelm Riphahn (1889 to 1963) and his colleague Hans Menne . The pavilion of the theater restaurant “ Opernterrassen ” is in front of this area. Here, southwest of the opera, a few years later (1960 to 1962) the Kölner Schauspielhaus (“small” house) was built as the third element of the Riphan ensemble.
Naming
The naming of the square not only honors the French composer Jacques Offenbach , who was born in Cologne in 1819 , but also reminds of the Glockengasse Synagogue in Cologne, which was destroyed in the pogrom night of 1938 and where Offenbach's father was cantor. A bronze plaque (designed by Jürgen Hans Grümmer ) on the north side of the Cologne Opera House indicates the exact former location of the destroyed synagogue .
Space design
The design of the square in front of the opera , which was used as a car park until the 1960s, and the design of a fountain system were commissioned by the city of Cologne in the early 1960s . The painter and sculptor Jürgen Hans Grümmer , born in Cologne in 1935 , was awarded the contract after he had already worked in Cologne a. a. with the town hall mosaic "Europe on the bull" and with floor mosaics, squares and facade designs in the area of the new university buildings in Cologne (in collaboration with architect Rolf Gutbrod ). The Riphahn ensemble of theater buildings was given the appropriate artistic perfection in 1967, and the opera, ten years after its opening, with the design of Offenbachplatz, an appropriate entree.
When designing the square and opera fountain, Grümmer made clear reference to the opera house and restaurant pavilion, which border the “large” Offenbachplatz in the west and south. The color of the material chosen for the design of the pavement picks up on the colors of the Riphahn buildings: different shades of gray, white and red. The strong blue and gold of the mosaic fragments and the blue tones of the ceramic surfaces then set additional accents, their effect through the mirror reflections of the bubbling water was effectively supported both day and night. The opera fountain was inaugurated on December 21, 1966.
The Offenbachplatz square is still of great importance for Cologne in terms of urban planning and architecture. The sculptural fountain forms the center of the square, the floor design of which is structured by rectangular fields with differently colored geometric compositions. The artist Grümmer developed a round structure made of reinforced concrete, enlivened by ceramic and glass mosaics that were accentuated by underwater spotlights. A lush fountain, adapted in height to the proportions of the opera fountain, forms the center of the fountain system from further nozzles, the water is sprayed in a wreath. In addition to his own mosaic elements, the artist has quoted and a. Mosaics (ceramics) from the swimming pool of the yacht "Tina" of the shipowner Aristoteles Onassis used. In addition, mosaic parts (apostle heads) from the destroyed Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church are integrated.
The bronze sculpture “Sappho” by Émile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929) was placed on the “small” Offenbachplatz in front of the theater with a simple grid pattern made of exposed aggregate concrete slabs. Contemporary voices in the press show that the fountain and square were enthusiastically welcomed by the Cologne population as well as by tourists and that they were eagerly used in the summer months. Grümmer expressly welcomed the "splashing around" in his fountain basin. The “Opera Terraces” on Offenbachplatz were also well received at the time, but today, after various renovations, their original concept can hardly be guessed at.
Looking at the history of urban planning in the 1950s and 1960s, it must be taken into account that back then there were only a few car-free and pedestrian-friendly plazas with outdoor catering, not only in Cologne, but more generally in northern Europe. Another tunneling under the north-south route was suggested by Grümmer, but was rejected by the city planners.
Current condition of the place
Due to heavy calcification, the previously bright colors of the listed opera fountain have not been recognizable for years. The water nozzles are also very dirty, bent or missing completely. The lighting was dismantled years ago, the water fountains stopped shortened; the fountain - just like the overall ensemble of square and building ensemble - makes an overall impression of being neglected. While the fountain and pavement have been preserved to this day, the benches also designed by Grümmer, the lamps he selected and a large part of the cube-shaped bollards made of concrete, formed by textile formwork, have disappeared over the years. A few copies of the latter have survived on the eastern edge of the square facing the street. There are also some concrete seating blocks, a step system made of exposed aggregate concrete slabs up to the sidewalk of Tunisstrasse, and the plant troughs in the north. The groups of trees in the north and south of the square have also been preserved.
Renovation and restoration
The restoration of the listed opera fountain as well as the renovation of the overall design of Offenbachplatz are still pending due to the difficult cash situation of the city of Cologne. Since February 2011, the daughter of the late well artist Grümmer has been taking care of the first donations for the benefit of well water and renovation measures on her own initiative. In February and March 2011, before and during the opera events in the foyer of the opera house, she offered artists' chocolates for civic-minded snacking and donations in favor of monument protection under the motto chocolate for monument protection. The Cologne Chocolate Museum has been involved in the campaign since April 2011. "Our chocolate fountain in the museum bubbles 365 days a year. Now we want to help ensure that the Cologne Opera Fountain can also bubble colorfully and professionally restored in the future," emphasized the director of the Chocolate Museum, Maria Mrachacz, during the opening of the special exhibition "Chocolate Fountain meets opera fountain ". The Cologne city curator Dr. Renate Kaymer in May 2011: "The" Schokobrunnen meets Opernbrunnen "campaign is, from my point of view, an extremely positive example of committed and goal-oriented civic engagement, which helps us to bring indispensable identification points in our cityscape back into the positive focus of everyone Director of the Cologne Opera, Uwe Eric Laufenberg , emphasizes: "The fountain is of central importance for the design of Offenbachplatz. Offenbachplatz only has a chance of being a lively center of Cologne when the fountain is intact and bubbles." As part of the renovation of the Opera Quarter, the open spaces around the listed building complex by the architect Wilhelm Riphahn will also be redesigned. The commissioned landscape architects will present the first plans in summer 2011. The aim of their design is "to redevelop the entire urban space, to make it perceptible and tangible again, to emphasize the special identity of the quarter and to offer the stages an environment appropriate to their importance within society."
location
Offenbachplatz is surrounded by the main thoroughfare north-south drive , the historic Glockengasse as well as Brüderstraße and Krebsgasse and is located in the Altstadt-Nord district , not far from Schildergasse . It can be reached via the Appellhofplatz underground station .
literature
- Helmut Fußbroich / Dierk Holthausen (photos): Cologne. Sculptures in public space after 1900. Cologne 2000, p. 100.
- Ulrich Krings , Offenbachplatz in Cologne. The Riphahn ensemble consisting of the opera house, opera terraces and theater . In: Preservation of monuments in the Rhineland, 27.2010, issue 2, pp. 49–53. ISSN 0177-2619 . Ed .: LVR Office for Monument Preservation, Udo Mainzer.
- Jürgen Hans Grümmer. Painter and Sculptor [on the occasion of the first posthumous exhibition at the Kunsthaus Rhenania in Cologne from October 2, 2010 to October 17, 2010] ed. by Judith Grümmer. With contributions by Jürgen Becker , Conny Czymoch , Diter Frowein-Lyasso, Thomas Hackenberg , Christopher Schroer and Jo Schulte-Frohlinde. THE NEW OBJECTIVE , Lindlar 2010. ISBN 978-3-942139-09-0 .
Individual evidence
- ^ In: Ulrich Krings, "The Offenbachplatz in Cologne. The Riphahn Ensemble of Opera House, Opera Terraces and Playhouse"
- ^ Action for well water and renovation costs , accessed on February 14, 2011.
- ↑ Opern / blog \ Cologne ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 15, 2011.
- ↑ Chocolate fountain meets Opernbrunnen ( memento of the original from February 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 15, 2011.
- ↑ Kölner Lokalzeit, WDR reports on the fundraising campaign for the benefit of the Opera Fountain , accessed on February 27, 2011.
- ↑ The drafts of WES & Partner for the redevelopment of Offenbachplatz ( memento of the original of October 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 20, 2011.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 16.5 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 8.9 ″ E