Orangery (Erlangen)
The Orangerie Erlangen is located in the palace gardens and served the Margrave couple Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and Elisabeth Sophie originally the hothouse with living rooms and ballroom.
In 1703 Christian Ernst gave Erlangen Palace, which had been completed shortly before, to his wife in 1703 . The orangery was built a little later, from 1704 to 1706, on behalf of the margravine as part of the Erlangen palace complex. Due to the “teatro” shape, which is expressed in the oval floor plan, its arrangement in the entire castle ensemble and its dual function as a greenhouse and “maison de plaisir”, it is an important architectural and historical monument.
In 1818, after the death of the Margravine widow Sophie Caroline, the orangery became the property of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität and became the seat of various faculties, offices and offices. Since 1914, the art history seminar has been located next to the Institute for Church Music in its rooms.
Building description
The Erlangen orangery is built on a semi-oval floor plan. The ends form pavilions that bend parallel to the garden axis. The middle section, in which the stucco-filled water room is located, does not continue the curves, but has a rectangular floor plan that is visible from the outside like a risalit . The three-gate portal is the main focus on the south facade. The swinging wings culminate in the triumphal arch architecture that forms the entrance to the water room. The central, round-arched gate stands out from the side, also round-arched gates, in that it is framed by two free-standing pairs of columns and spanned by an openwork segment gable. The entrances on the left and right are only framed by a solid column. The bases of the columns are decorated with vegetable (vegetable) motifs. Only the gable of the central portal breaks through the regularity of the parapet. Rich, figurative and ornamental jewelry represents the princely power and pays homage to fertility. Figures of the four seasons rise on the protruding plinths of the cranked parapet . Although the outer wall of the water room is not curved compared to the wings, but straight, the architectural decorations give the impression of a convex swinging out of the wall.
As a counterpart to the south wall, the three gates on the north facade are only structured by Doric pilasters cranked in the cornice and have no other decoration.
The north and south facades of the quarter-circle wings are characterized by regular window openings, with the openings in the south being significantly more numerous. Here seven "drilled" French windows adorn the curved sash. Glare mirrors above the straight lintel form the transition to the architrave , which consists of two fascia, a frieze zone and a cornice. The attic zone above is structured by plinths that are formed in the vertical axis between the French windows and carry pairs of vases. The vases are decorated with acanthus leaves and filled with plants and fruits. The attic extends around the entire building; instead of the pairs of vases, heraldic eagles adorn the corners of the pavilion. The vases tower above the lower part of the mansard roof that completes the single-storey building. The four chimneys on the roofs of the pavilions are also concealed by inconspicuous vases filled with fruit and vegetables.
The corner pavilions point to the orangery ground floor with a five-axis, identically designed window front. In the attic zone, the corners are decorated with heraldic eagles instead of the vases.
Rooms of the orangery
The floor plan of the single-storey building has changed several times over the years. The only unchanged and most important room is the water room, which is of central importance due to the architecture. Adjacent to the ballroom are wing rooms that have always served the actual function of the orangery and kept plants. From the beginning there were apartments in the wing tips, in which the margravine widow pursued certain activities.
The water hall was intended as a ballroom, which can be seen from the fact that installed water features and fountain basins were set into the ground, which, apart from traditional writings and images, came to light again in the foundations during the restoration in 2009–2012 could. The stucco decoration matching the function of the hall and the entire iconographic program of the palace complex was also restored or partially reconstructed.
The main portal to the water room
The iconography of the portal refers to both the botanical use of the building and the homage to the ruler. The cranked segmented gable is adorned with the crowned alliance coat of arms of the princely couple, which shows the eagles of Brandenburg and Prussia. The motif of the eagle is repeated on the edges of the corner pavilions, which are lined with heraldic eagles spreading wings.
On both sides of the arch there are reclining figures, facing the coat of arms, with cornucopia and wreaths of flowers. These garlands are festively connected to the coat of arms.
On the attic of the portal rise the personifications of the four seasons : Flora, Ceres, Bacchus and Vulkan. They protrude in height above the segmental arch and the pairs of baluster vases marking the axes on the parapet.
The broader pedestals of the presented double columns have lavishly filled flower vases; the lateral, narrower individual pedestals are decorated with floral decorations.
Although the acanthus tendrils on the Corinthian capital also represent a botanical motif, one can also read the function of the building as a representative building from them. Apart from its use as a greenhouse, the building was above all a place for the princely ceremony, which is evident not least from the design of the water room with its fountain basin and hydraulic installations.
The orangery in the palace complex
The bird's-eye view by Homann (1719/21) shows the orientation of the orangery built in 1706 - not as the end of the line, but along the central garden axis. Opposite it is the counterpart of the Concordienkirche, which was started later, but never realized, and which was also supposed to contain citrus fruits in its wings. The large fountain, the Huguenot fountain, was erected in the middle of the two concave, swinging buildings that frame the raised garden ground floor. The large basin takes up the curves of the orangeries. About 280 meters wide and 550 meters long, the garden extends east of the castle and ends with a hedge theater that has not been preserved on the central axis. The union of architecture, sculpture and horticulture, symmetry, proportion and order corresponds to the baroque total work of art and makes Erlangen's palace complex one of the earliest of its kind in Franconia.
The smaller drawings to the left and right of the plan show details of the facilities in the palace gardens. Among other things, the herb garden behind the orangery can be seen in the second picture from the bottom left. The piece of the northern rear wall of the orangery has no windows and raises the question of whether the window openings in the northern curved wall were added at a later time. Although the correctness of these drawings must be viewed critically, there was a rule according to which orangeries on the north walls should not have windows to protect the inner climate from cold north winds. Against this argument, however, speaks that the orangery wings of the castle church to the north were already protected by the building counterpart in the north.
The iconography of the sculptural decoration of the individual buildings and monuments can also be seen in the context of the entire palace complex. The cosmological program is reflected in motifs of fertility, the four seasons and transience, Greek deities, the four elements and the continents known at the time. 60 sculptures were originally distributed in the palace garden. Each decoration also features an homage to the ruler Christian Erlang and his wife Elisabeth Sophie. The praise of the ruler, as Karl Möseneder in his work The Orangery and the Orangery Parterre as the ruler's places. (2012), culminates in the Huguenot fountain, which is located on the central garden axis, framed by the palace buildings, on the freely accessible garden ground floor.
The Huguenot Fountain
The Huguenot Fountain has four sides, the main side of which faces west towards the castle. At the top of the fountain sculpture stands Christian Erlang in a corpulent figure and steady stance. His eyes on the castle are crowned with laurel by the Fama and his rulership is proclaimed glorious with a trumpet. The fountain can be seen from the vestibule of the castle or from the castle square. In the fountain itself there is a gap that reveals the equestrian statue (Elias Räntz, 1712) further east. It is already clear that the fountain not only represents a geographical center, but - as the description will further reveal - that of the extensive iconographic program for the praise of the margrave.
The fountain is constructed as a pyramidal rock mountain. Under the statue of Christian Ernst there are river gods with horns of plenty from which water flows. Again underneath, putti, eagles (allusion to the Brandenburg tradition) and four inscription cartouches adorn the fountain. One level below, powerful male figures hold large shell basins that catch the water coming from above and distribute it downwards. Below or in front of it there are groups and individual figures in different arrangements that represent the people.
An inscription at the feet of the ruler and the four cartouches - all illegible today, but reconstructable from the speech from 1708 by David Meyer, a Bayreuth high school professor - address the ruler's virtues that are related to Christian Erlang. The inscription at the feet of the statue as well as the south-facing cartouche refer to military feats, bravery and mildness (Clementia) and the prince's patriotic sentiments.
The other three inscriptions refer to an absolutist understanding of rulers (east), to the Protestant refugees who came to Erlangen and accepted them, as well as to the invitation to the citizens to help themselves to the water that goes from the scepter in the hand of the statue down to the basin flows. The sovereign care is symbolized by water and at the same time real, since the well was freely accessible. The care and dependence of the citizens on their ruler represents both the virtue and the absolutist claim of the margrave. This is underlined by the pyramidal structure of the fountain, in which Christian Erlang is entitled to the central, topmost place.
The fountain was created in Elias Räntz's workshop between 1703 and 1706. The name Huguenot Fountain is owed to the fact that Christian Ernst took in the many French Protestant religious refugees, pursued an exemplary policy of rulers and set them (and himself) this commemorative monument.
literature
- Helmut-Eberhard Paulus : Temple and Garden of Flora - The Orangery Erlangen . In: Die Gartenkunst 21 (2/2009), pp. 198–212.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Doris Ostertag: renovation and conversion of the orangery. In: FAU Erlangen Nürnberg (ed.): The Erlangen Orangery. Restoration of a baroque gem. Erlangen 2012, p. 104ff.
- ↑ cf. Karl Möseneder: The orangery and the orangery parterre as places of praise for the ruler. In: FAU Erlangen Nürnberg (ed.): The Erlangen Orangery. Restoration of a baroque gem. Erlangen 2012, p. 59.
- ↑ cf. Article Konkordienkirche. In: Erlanger Stadtlexikon. Ed .: Christoph Friedrich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob. Nuremberg 2002.
- ↑ cf. Karl Möseneder: On the type and shape of the Erlangen orangery. In: Jan Thorleiv Bunsen (ed.): 300 years of Erlangen orangery: a margravial Hesperidengarten. Erlangen u. a. 2006, p. 12f .; see. Art. Castle garden. In: Erlanger Stadtlexikon. Ed .: Christoph Friedrich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob. Nuremberg 2002.
- ↑ The rule indicated, which Joseph Dettenthaler adds in his dissertation on the orangery (1956), refers to Paul Decker's "Princely Builder" 1st part. Augsburg, 1711, p. 50.
- ↑ cf. Moseneder, Karl: The orangery and the orangery parterre as places of praise for the ruler. In: FAU Erlangen Nürnberg (ed.): The Erlangen Orangery. Restoration of a baroque gem. Erlangen 2012, especially pp. 67–77.
Coordinates: 49 ° 35 ′ 55.3 ″ N , 11 ° 0 ′ 18.2 ″ E