Prinzenpalais (Gotha)
The Prinzenpalais is an early Classicist villa at Mozartstrasse 1 in Gotha . It was built in 1776 and is one of the earliest classicist buildings in Germany, along with Wörlitz Castle near Dessau (1769–1773) and the Friedericianum in Kassel (1769–1785). After many years of vacancy, the ensemble, consisting of the Prinzenpalais and the Kavaliershaus , was bought by AWO AJS gGmbH. While the Prinzenpalais was being rebuilt and extensively restored, the Kavaliershaus and the gallery were demolished under protest.
history
Prince August von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (1747–1806), the brother of the ruling Duke Ernst II , had the palace built in 1776 by the government councilor Hans Wilhelm von Thümmel (1744–1824) as a villa according to the rules of Andrea Palladio . The prince had previously been in Dutch service as a general and then withdrew to Gotha. He was in close friendship with Goethe and corresponded with the other Weimar contemporaries , above all with Herder . Prince August, who saw himself more as a citizen than a prince, sympathized very much with the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution , which he discussed in an aesthetic group in his palace. He later had the palace expanded by the Gotha engineer officer Carl Christoph Besser (1724–1800) with a gentleman's house on Schönen Allee.
Prince August died in 1806 and bequeathed the entire property to his nephew, Prince Friedrich von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg, who took office as Duke Friedrich IV in 1822. Prince Friedrich himself resided in the Prinzenpalais and in 1824 had the park-like garden behind the palace equipped with a monument, the two worlds column , decorated with figures . The sculptor was the Gotha scholar Johann Balthasar Rathgeber (1770–1845).
In 1826, after Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha took office , the palace was used by the dukes as a ducal guest house and accordingly named "Ducal Palace". In 1838 there was a fire in the palace that destroyed the upper floor. During the reconstruction, the central staircase was renewed in the classical style and provided with a lantern. In 1848 there were demonstrations in front of the house during the March Revolution . The crowd ultimately implemented a new constitutional law, which came into force four years later as one of the most progressive in Germany. In the second half of the 19th century, a glass winter garden was added to the south side of the house. The driveway was provided with a glass canopy.
After the end of the First World War and the associated abdication of the Gotha Duke, the property came into the possession of the State of Thuringia . As a result of the legal challenge to the compensation for the prince, Carl Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha became the owner of the Kavaliershaus and the palace again in 1926 and in 1933 made the buildings available to the SS for free use. The building complex was used by the district hunter as the office of SS Standard 14 and for residential purposes.
In 1950, after the ducal house was expropriated again, the palace was converted into a youth club and the Kavaliershaus into a youth hostel with up to 150 beds. The clubhouse was used by the FDJ for leisure activities, for rehearsals and performances by amateur bands, for dance events and for the mass of the masters of tomorrow . The local association of the motor sports club ADMV also had its seat here. The park was transformed into an allotment garden and an air raid shelter was built there.
After the fall of the Wall in 1990, the youth hostel and youth club ceased operations. Since then, the city owned property has been vacant and was offered for sale in 2013. In 2017, the renovation and restoration of the Prinzenpalais began by AWO AJS gGmbH . A day care unit for senior citizens and three senior-friendly apartments were built in the building itself . The ballroom can be used again for public events. In addition, two wings were added to house senior living communities, senior-friendly apartments and a practice for speech therapy and occupational therapy .
building
The palace was built on two floors with high windows in the classical style. The front is structured by a wide central risalit with a triangular gable in the roof zone and three portal-like doors, to which an outside staircase leads. Inside there are lounges with a vestibule, a hall on the south side and an exhibition room on the park side that was originally only illuminated from above. The living rooms on the upper floor are accessed by a round spiral staircase, which is located in a staircase that is also round and illuminated from above by a lantern. This possibly dates from the time of the reconstruction after the fire in 1838 and resembles other staircases of Gotha villas of the time ( Villa Madelung , Villa Kunreuther , Hofreiterhaus, etc.).
literature
- Georg Dehio , Stephanie Eißing: Handbook of German art monuments. Thuringia. 2nd edition, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-422-03050-3 .
- Heiko Stasjulevics: Ruins in the Gothaer Land: The Prinzenpalais cultural monument is for sale. Thuringian General , March 3, 2012.
Web links
- AWO Prinzenpalais Gotha. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
- Open letter on the urgent preservation of the cavalier house. Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rathaus-Kurier No. 2/2013, Gotha, February 28, 2013, page 5
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 39.9 ″ N , 10 ° 42 ′ 42.9 ″ E