Town Hall (Erfurt)
The Erfurt town hall stands at the fish market in Erfurt . The main building was built in the 1870s in a neo-Gothic style.
history
The origins of the house go back to the 11th century. The town hall, first mentioned in 1275, was the political heart of the communal self-government of the medieval metropolis from the 13th to 17th centuries. By 1706 the building complex had reached the size of the main building today.
In 1830 work began on demolishing the old Gothic town hall, the reason for which was only minor damage to the roof. In 1833, during a visit to Erfurt , the Prussian superstructure director Karl Friedrich Schinkel was appalled by the demolition of the medieval town hall. In 1834 he designed a new town hall, including the existing, striking tower from 1330. The city's treasures, money and documents were stored in this for centuries. The Schinkel draft was not taken into account. After the financial resources had been made available, the construction of the new town hall in its current form in the neo-Gothic style began in 1869 under the architect Theodor Sommer . There was resistance from the population against the removal of the old tower associated with the new building. In 1875 the first offices moved in; the official inauguration took place on June 2, 1882.
The town hall has a ballroom, which was designed by the history painter Johann Peter Theodor Janssen and shows pictures of Erfurt's history and Martin Luther's . In the ballroom (until 1920) the city's golden book and a cup of honor were on display. The Golden Book was created in 1900 by the Berlin court goldsmiths Sy and Wagner on the occasion of a visit to Erfurt by Kaiser Wilhelm II . It was brought to Moscow as a trophy by the Red Army in 1945 and never returned to Erfurt. The earlier golden book was replaced by "guest books" (in red cover).
The richly painted stairwells are freely accessible to the public and show works by Eduard Kaempffer from 1889/96. In addition to scenes from the Faust and the Tannhauser saga , stories of the Count von Gleichen are also depicted.
Since November 1876 statues of Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa / Rotbart) and Emperor Wilhelm I (Barbablanca / Weißbart) have been located on the front of the ballroom of the town hall, on both sides of the town hall balcony, symbolizing the "rebuilding of the German Empire" . They were made from Kelheim limestone by Professor Georg Kugel . The two 2.80 meter high statues under ornate canopies are said to have been thrown from their pedestals and shattered on July 4, 1945, shortly after the Red Army marched into Erfurt. In the Erfurt City Archives, however, there are the minutes of a meeting of the Erfurt City Council on June 6, 1950, in which it says: "The figures above the town hall entrance at the ballroom are to be removed". A representative of the Lord Mayor Georg Boock also signed . The former locations of the imperial statues remained empty for decades. As a donation from the Rotary Club Erfurt, bronze figures of Bonifatius and Martin Luther were placed in their place in June and November 2017 .
Three candlesticks by Georg Kugel, which have disappeared, adorned the staircase of the town hall. He also made two zinc gargoyles, a male figure under the balcony and the Erfurt city coat of arms in the decorative gable.
In 1904/05 the main town hall building was supplemented by the rear building (with roof turret).
From 1933, further extensive additions were made to the town hall according to designs by Johannes Klass , together with the construction of a new savings bank on the Fischmarkt in the New Objectivity style .
Around 10./11. April 1945, the town hall was destroyed by American artillery fire . The tower and the roof with its ornate superstructures were renewed in a simpler form. The north facade was also made simpler in the roof area. During the GDR era, the arcades on the north side were built up "for security reasons". After it opened in autumn 1991, the younger Erfurt residents experienced their architectural impact for the first time.
photos
Ballroom
Stairwell
Former locations of the statues of Barbarossas and Wilhelm I (until 1945); Christmas trees in their place
Aerial view
Stairwell
Entrance to the ballroom
See also
literature
- Clemens Peterseim: Historicism and bourgeois identity. The new Erfurt town hall and its connection to the history of the city. In: Messages of the association for the history and antiquity of Erfurt . Volume 73, 2012, pp. 208-222.
- Jürgen W. Schmidt: A gun theft in the Erfurt town hall in June 1933. In: Year book for Erfurt history. Volume 3, 2008, pp. 239-246.
- Steffen Raßloff : 100 monuments in Erfurt. History and stories. With photographs by Sascha Fromm. Essen 2013, p. 140 f.
- Fritz Wiegand: The town hall and the fish market of Erfurt . Gutenberg printing works, Erfurt 1961.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Small windows into the past. Remains of the old town hall tower exposed . Thuringian newspaper, August 6, 2013
- ↑ Anja Derowski: The royal couple will be immortalized tomorrow in the city's golden book . Thuringian newspaper, February 7, 2017
- ↑ Steffen Raßloff : Barbarossa and Barbablanca , Thüringer Allgemeine from April 27, 2013
- ^ Erfurt City Archives: Minutes of Council Resolution No. 575 of June 6, 1950
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 40 ″ N , 11 ° 1 ′ 45 ″ E