Otto Linne Monument
The Otto Linne Memorial was erected in honor of Otto Linne (1869–1937), the second garden and cemetery director of the City of Hamburg, in 2007 on the occasion of the 70th year of his death and was presented to the public on September 16, 2007.
location
The memorial is located in Hamburg's main cemetery in Ohlsdorf . It is positioned at the transition from the Z canal to the T pond and is thus opposite the grave of the Linne family.
Emergence
The memorial was realized in 2007 on the initiative of the Friends of Ohlsdorfer Friedhof eV. To this end, a two-phase design competition was held in 2006, which resulted in two first prizes. These were the suggestions of the artist Andreas Oldborough and the Hamburg designers Jan Hoffmann, Sebastian Post and Johannes Weisser , who took part in the competition under the name of their office tv-p.design. At the beginning of 2007 tv-p.design was commissioned by the friends' association to realize their design. The main reason was the lower costs.
layout
The monument to Otto Linne is an attributeless sculpture. There are no symbols, signs or allegories on it that could possibly portray a transfigured symbol of Linne's work. Instead, there are four sandstone steles at the southern end of the Z-Canal . In their tectonic appearance and in their spatial context, they should refer to the influence of Otto Linne on the Ohlsdorf cemetery as a considerate element of memory. At the opposite end of the canal, the sculpture interacts with the Linnes family grave. It increases the importance of the axis designed by Linne, at one end of which his grave and at the other end his monument is positioned. In this sense, the monument should generate less a place than a space of remembrance.
Within the entire site, this memorial room takes on a similar function as the rose garden with its memorial for the cemetery director Wilhelm Cordes . In the cord part of the system you can clearly see the formal preferences of the planner. Curved paths and accentuated views show the cemetery as a landscape park. A large number of these planning aspects can be found in the rose garden. Vegetable-looking paths along circular and elliptical rose beds culminate in a small elevation with the monument to Wilhelm Cordes designed by Fritz Schumacher . A triumphal arch motif with its bust in the middle emphasizes the park behind like a stage design. In its cohesion, the arrangement of the rose garden shows a representative section of Cordes' cemetery planning. With the monument, a commemorative place of equal value has been created for Otto Linne. The planning aspects found in the rose garden, such as the representative section or the character of the stage set, serve as a model for creating a type of monument typology for the Ohlsdorf cemetery.
This typology is intended, on the one hand, to emphasize the different work of the cemetery planners, but on the other hand, it is also intended to point out the equal importance of Cordes and Linne. The subject of the triumphal arch motif is of particular importance, as its location reveals the respective premises of the planners. In the case of the monument to Otto Linne, the four sandstone steles are reminiscent of the triumphal arch for Cordes. Here, however, they have an abstract form and are subordinate to Otto Linne's design aspects. The middle space between the steles opens up a view of Linne's grave. On the one hand, this perspective resembles the arrangement of the bust in Fritz Schuhmacher's building, but is primarily a reference to the axis of the canal laid out by Linne. It was not without reason that Otto Linne chose this place as the final resting place for himself and his family. This choice of location underlines his understanding of the room layout that he practiced in the Ohlsdorf cemetery. The monument only underlines this planning approach, but at the same time keeps a respectful distance from his grave. A direct amalgamation of memorial and grave would not be in the interest of Linne, who has advocated standardization of the tombs. The reduced form of the four sandstone steles is on the one hand a quote from the orthogonal structure coined by Linne. On the other hand, they are in contrast to the surroundings, which are dominated by trees and bushes, which emphasizes the special character. A fifth stele is on the other side of the path and serves as a seat. It is a quote from the triumphal arch, which has been removed from the steles and is now used as park furniture. From here, visitors to the cemetery can sit and look at this perspective.
The monument is made of solid sandstone from Obernkirchen .
photos
Otto Linne Monument
View of the Linnegrab
Detailed view, inscription
Grave site close-up
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 37 '23 " N , 10 ° 3' 45.8" E