Palatium (Cologne)

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Palatium is the name of a commercial building in the north of Cologne's old town , which is located on Schildergasse near Hohe Straße .

Palatium with beer fountain

Medieval predecessor buildings

In the Middle Ages there were two houses on Schildergasse that were named "palatium" ( Latin for "palace"). On the one hand, it was a palatial medieval property that was located at the beginning of Schildergasse 4 / corner of Neumarkt . The house was called "ad palatium" or "zum Sale" and belonged to Johann von Thurre (van dem Thorne) since 1274, in 1345 it came into the possession of his son, the sign maker Heinrich von Thurre (or von Thorr; "with the crutch") ; he died after 1346. On September 10, 1491 Heinrich vom Sande transferred two thirds of the house "tzom Sale" to master Lambert van Luytge.

The Cologne patrician Nicasius Hackeney (or Hackenay) acquired the “Heydenrich” farm from Mayor Johann von Berchem on March 7, 1507 , and the neighboring property “Schor (e) nstein” in December 1508, and combined the two into a single site (today: Neumarkt 8 -10). On behalf of Charles V , he had a tower-adorned property built here with a bay window, magnificent halls and house chapel, which later became the "Hackeney'scher Hof", "Nicasiushof", "Imperial Court", "Caesaris palatium" ("Caesar's Palace") or - in reference to the function as imperial accommodation - Palatium was called. The builder Nicasius Hackeney did not experience the lengthy completion phase himself, because he died in 1518. Rather, the inauguration of the extensive property is not to be expected until the beginning of 1520. The palace-like property fulfilled its original function, as Emperor Charles V stayed here on October 29, 1520 and January 5, 1531. This second “palatium” was the predecessor of today's Richmodis House .

Today's palatium

Schildergasse 1–9 - Palatium

In 1903, the City Council of Cologne decided to extend Schildergasse to Heumarkt , which was implemented by city planner Carl Rehorst in 1910 with a road break from Gürzenichstrasse to Schildergasse. The dominance of Schildergasse was increased with this breakthrough. This breakthrough made it possible to build the “Palatium” office building in 1911, which is bordered by streets on three sides (Gürzenichstrasse 1-5 / Schildergasse 1-5 / Hohe Strasse 55-61) and opened in 1912. This required an irregularly cut, triangular floor plan, which had to be based on the shape of the island property. The “Palatium” was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis , who also built the Tietz department store opposite .

  • Palatium, detail of the upper floor

  • Palatium, sculpture on the south side

The sandstone-clad office and commercial building has four storeys and an attic; the building is structured vertically through colossal orders . The corner points , designed as point de vue in the form of semicircular, flat domed round towers on the west and east sides, are striking . The pillar architecture, largely dissolved into glass surfaces, has six axes to Schildergasse and Gürzenichstraße and two corner axes that emphasize the dominance of urban development. Due to its triangular design, it can fulfill its task of dividing traffic flow. The Hohe Strasse / Schildergasse wing was rebuilt in a modern way after being destroyed in the Second World War . The “Palatium” is important for Cologne's building history and has been a listed building since January 13, 1986 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludwig Röhrscheid: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine. 1884, p. 70.
  2. ↑ Hans Vogts: The art monuments of the city of Cologne. The profane monuments. (= Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz , Volume 7, Part IV.) 1930, pp. 517–522. (reprinted by: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann, Düsseldorf 1980, ISBN 3-590-32102-4 )
  3. ^ Architects and engineers association for Lower Rhine and Westphalia (ed.): Cologne and its buildings. 1984, p. 140.
  4. ^ Johann Jakob Merlo: The Hackeney family in Cologne. 1863, p. 61.
  5. ↑ Gerhard Fehl, Juan Rodriguez-Lores: Urban redevelopment. Birkhäuser, Basel 1995, p. 157.

Web links

Commons : Palatium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 11.5 "  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 22.1"  E