Town halls in Koenigsberg

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There were three historic town halls in Königsberg after the formerly independent cities of Altstadt , Löbenicht and Kneiphof became the royal capital and residence of Königsberg i in 1724 by Friedrich Wilhelm I. Pr. Had been united.

Old Town Hall

Old Town Hall

The old town hall stood on the old town market. After 1724 it served as a city court and city archive. The Gothic building from 1528 had to give way to a new building in 1757. It was considerably expanded in 1832 with an extension in Schmiedestrasse. From 1907 commercial college courses ran here and finally a commercial college was established in 1915 . This was soon outsourced and so the house became the main building of the Städtische Sparkasse in the 1920s. The air raids on Königsberg in August 1944 destroyed it.

The old town hall was decorated with a so-called Japper . The first Japper was attached in 1455: In the 15th century the three cities joined the Prussian Confederation. With the beginning of the city war in 1454, the mayor of the old town, Andreas Brunau , stood against opponents of the order. On March 24, 1455, a revolt broke out among friends of the order, especially craftsmen, against the enemies of the order, who used the Kneiphof as a bastion. The enemies of the order were defeated in prolonged fratricidal fights, Mayor Brunau fled. The Japper was attached to the old town hall at the end of the civil war between the old town and Kneiphof in 1455. It was a tongue-tinging mocking mask that looked mockingly at the inferior Kneiphöfe. When it was rebuilt in 1528, it turned into a bearded head that stuck out its tongue on time when a mechanical clock struck. The clockwork of this jumper, which was installed in 1774, was destroyed by a flying sparrow. Thereupon the Kneiphöfer mocked the old townspeople as "sparrow-swallowers". In 1832, the third Japper was finally attached to the town hall as a gold-plated lion head with an hour strike. It was very popular with children and was destroyed with the town hall in August 1944.

Kneiphöf's town hall

Kneiphöfsches Rathaus ( aquatint by Heinrich Wolff )

The Kneiphöf town hall was in Brodbänkengasse on the Kneiphof island. The building was erected in 1387. From 1695 to 1697 a new baroque building was built with pilasters and bell towers, roof figures and a gilded baroque staircase with two bears holding shields. After 1724 it remained the town hall of the common city. The council chamber was characterized by a beautiful stucco ceiling. To the right of the town hall was the Junkerhof, in whose Junker Hall the city councilors met. From 1927 the rooms were only used for representative purposes. In 1928 a city ​​history museum was set up there.

Löbenichtsches Rathaus

Old Löbenicht town hall, on the right the Kantersche bookstore

The Löbenicht town hall stood in Löbenichtschen Langgasse. After the merger, it became a finance house. During the great fire in Löbenicht in 1764, the Gothic town hall also sank into ruins. After the reconstruction, it was the meeting place for the Löbenicht brewers' guild and the city guard. The bookseller Philipp Christoph Kanter bought the house. Immanuel Kant lived and taught in one of the attics in 1769. Burned down again in 1876, it became the editorial building of the Hartungsche Zeitung and then the Königsberger Tageblatt . In 1788 the printer Gottlieb Leberecht Hartung bought the house.

Handelshof

Handelshof

In 1923, Hanns Hopp built the Handelshof on Hansaplatz . In 1927, the city council decided to build the new town hall there. The heavily damaged building was given a new facade after the Second World War and is once again serving its old purpose.

See also

literature

  • Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. City and surroundings . Flechsig, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 .
  • Richard Armstedt: history of the royal. Capital and residence city of Königsberg in Prussia. Hobbing & Büchle, Stuttgart 1899 ( German land and life in single descriptions . 2, city stories), (reprint: Melchior-Verlag, Wolfenbüttel 2006, ISBN 3-939102-70-9 ( historical library )).
  • Fritz Gause : The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia , 3 volumes. 2nd / 3rd supplemented edition. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1996, ISBN 3-412-08896-X .
  • Baldur Köster: Königsberg. Architecture from the German era . Husum Druck, Husum 2000, ISBN 3-88042-923-5 .
  • Jürgen Manthey : Königsberg - history of a world citizenship republic . Hanser , Munich 2005, ISBN 3-446-20619-1 .
  • Gunnar Strunz: Discover Königsberg. Between Memel and fresh lagoon . Trescher, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89794-071-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon . Wurzburg 2002