Préfecture administrative de la region Grand Est et du Bas-Rhin

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Partial view of the prefecture
overall view

The Préfecture administrative de la région Grand Est et du Bas-Rhin (German: Prefecture for the Grand Est and Bas-Rhin region ) was built from 1907 to 1911 and is the youngest of five buildings of German monumental architecture on the Place de la République in Strasbourg . The building was designed by Ludwig Levy as the second ministerial building of the administration of the Reichslande Alsace-Lorraine on the former Kaiserplatz of the Alsatian metropolis.

location

The monumental ministerial building occupies the northeast side of the spacious Place de la République ("Kaiserplatz") , on the northwest side of the avenue de la Paix rises a comparable, somewhat older building, which was also planned by Levy. The square, laid out at the end of the 19th century, forms the entrance to Strasbourg's Neustadt district , which was laid out during the imperial era .

history

Eleven years after the takeover of the realm of Alsace-Lorraine , a temporary building for the members of the regional committee was erected in 1882 at the present location of the prefecture. With its half-timbered architecture, it resembled a “rural train station”, and it did not fulfill its intended purpose adequately. After the western boundary of the square had been fixed with the construction of the Imperial Palace in 1884, the planners called for a competition in May 1886 for the development of the north side with two representative buildings for the Reich Office for Alsace-Lorraine . The winner was building officer Ludwig Levy, professor at the Grand Ducal Badische Baugewerkeschule in Karlsruhe.

From 1899 to 1902, the western building, which today serves the regional financial administration, was built first. Construction began on the eastern sister building five years later, but Levy died in the same year on November 30, 1907. The building was completed in 1911 by building inspector Schütz, who was also credited with some changes. The Strasbourg architects Elbert, Hitzel and Burckhardt were involved in the planning and management of the work. The sculptor Alfred Marzolff (1867–1936) was responsible for the sculptures and decorations.

Since the relapse of the Reichslande to France, the building has been used as the interior ministry and prefecture for the Bas-Rhin department . It survived the bombing of Strasbourg in World War II unscathed. In the years 1967 to 1972 various construction works were carried out in the area of ​​the inner courtyard. Renovations to the roofs and the main entrance took place in 2005 and 2009. With the Maison de la Région Strasbourg , Alsace, today the Grand Est region , received a modern administrative building in the European Quarter.

On September 5, 1996, the prefecture was inscribed on the list of monuments. Since 2017 the building with the ensemble of the new town of Strasbourg has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Monumental architecture on the Place de la République

literature

  • Klaus Nohlen : Building policy in the realm of Alsace-Lorraine: 1871-1918. The representative state buildings around the former Kaiserplatz in Strasbourg. Mann, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-7861-1318-1 .
  • Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the Border Area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland. Vol. 38). Saarbrücken 2000.

Web links

Commons : Préfecture de Strasbourg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 35 ′ 18 ″  N , 7 ° 45 ′ 18 ″  E