Town Hall (Rheinfelden)

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Main facade of the town hall

The town hall is the seat of the city administration of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau . It is located in the northern part of the old town, between Marktgasse and the banks of the Rhine . The building complex consists of four wings that go back to the 14th century and are grouped around an inner courtyard. Large parts were destroyed in a fire in 1531 and in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was rebuilt in the 18th century, so that today the baroque style predominates. The dominant eye-catcher is a seven-story tower on Marktgasse. The large council chamber in the Rhine wing is decorated, among other things, with a 15-part glass painting cycle, which is particularly valuable from an art-historical point of view. The town hall is classified as a cultural asset of regional importance .

history

The previous building, first mentioned in a document in 1316, was presumably identical to the later "Haus zum Stadtfähnrich", the middle part of the Marktgasse wing. Building archaeological and dendrochronological studies show that building activity was brisk towards the end of the 14th century. The Rhine wing was built in 1389/90, the town hall tower in 1392/93, and the east wing in 1395. In 1530 the city acquired the "Haus zur Glocke" along with the west wing behind it and the west annex. This enabled the town hall to be expanded into a four-wing complex. A fire on the night of February 11, 1531 destroyed large parts of the town hall. The Rhine wing burned down to the surrounding walls, the east wing to the facade masonry. The reconstruction was under the direction of the city builders Peter Bock and Melchior Erhart.

From 1608 to 1612 the large council chamber was renovated and the small council chamber was rebuilt in 1613/14. In 1612 a flight of stairs was built on the east wing to replace the previous stair tower . In the late 17th century, the vaulted hall of the town ensign's house served as a stand for cloth merchants. The houses for the bell and the town ensign housed the town clerk's office and apartments for town servants from the early 18th century. Both houses were renovated in 1767, reduced by one floor and merged with a continuous facade and a new roof structure to form today's Marktgasse wing. In 1803, additional space had to be created in the town hall complex for the district administration. For this purpose, a courtroom, a law firm and an archive were set up in the West Annex. In 1855 the office moved to the western part of the Rhine tract, and in 1889 four prison cells were set up in the eastern part .

Due to the poor structural condition, the town hall was extensively renovated from 1908 to 1911 according to plans by the architects Robert Curjel and Karl Moser . The work was under the direction of Heinrich Liebetrau and included adding one storey to the Rhine wing, reconstructing the arched gates on the courtyard side, completely rebuilding the west annex, a new staircase in the east wing, rebuilding the tower from the second floor and renewing the roof of the Marktgasse wing. Because of the necessary massive interventions, the architects chose a conservative line with neo-Gothic adaptations. In 1930 the city acquired the "Haus zum Wilden Mann" (built in 1959/60) to the west. Between 1995 and 2008 the town hall was renovated in stages.

Building

Marktgasse wing

The three-storey wing of the building was created by merging and unifying the houses "zum Stadtfähnrich" and "zur Glocke". The baroque main front with four axes has a powerful structure. With a clear nod, a fifth axis establishes the connection to the set back "Haus zum Wilden Mann". The sandstone elements of the house and painted rococo crowns of the window and door openings stand out from the light plaster , each with a pale red color. The facade is framed by rusticated corner pilasters . These cranked are the Sohlbankgesimse of the upper floors and the cornice - Cornice . The inner segment arched gate has a keystone with the city coat of arms, the outer one with the year 1767. Pairs of windows with keystones and bulging ledges are raised with rocailles . More rocailles entwine a gilt dial in triangular pediment and six cartridges with Coat of Arms (watch the Austrian shield , including the arms of the county Hauenstein , the cities of Laufenburg , Rheinfelden and Säckingen and the Stewards of Rheinfelden, the latter replaced the coat of arms of 1911 Waldshut ).

Town hall tower

Town hall tower

The seven-story town hall tower rises to the east of the Marktgasse wing. The embossed ground floor with arched gate and arched window is closed off by a profiled cornice flange. The floors above are plastered and have irregularly distributed window openings. Another cornice separates the fourth from the fifth floor. A crenellated wreath forms the end , which is accompanied by dragon-headed gargoyles. At the top is a gold-plated helmet button with a city banner. A bell gable occupies the middle of the front row of battlements, in which a bell from the 15th century is hung. The room on the ground floor has a four-part cross vault resting on a plastered central pillar . The clockwork installed in the tower room in 1911 drives four clocks in the council chamber, in the council chamber, in the inner courtyard and in the facade of the Markgasse.

Rhine tract

The Rhine tract closes the building complex against the Rhine . The rectangular, three-storey building has a gable roof . Three three-part post - Gothic staggered windows from 1531/32 are lined up above the round arch openings from 1911 on the ground floor . A wall painting by Paul Altherr (1911) depicts Saint George fighting a dragon; the rectangular painting encloses the court clock with a gold-plated hour circle . The Gothic windows on the façade facing the Rhine are adapted to the historical structure, otherwise only the ribbon windows in the two council chambers date from the time of the reconstruction in 1531/32.

In the vestibule of the first floor, the plastered roof beams are decorated with hall fittings on an ocher-colored background. Panel paintings from the city's property hang on the walls . The large council chamber can be reached through a double-winged late baroque panel door in the west wall. The door on the east wall leads into the parish council room; the lintel is decorated with late Gothic flat carvings (coats of arms of Austria and Rheinfeld). The parish council room has a barrel vault lengthways, paneling on the walls and ceiling and an expansive wrought-iron chandelier . In the middle opening of the five-part staggered window, a glass Rheinfeld coat of arms is mounted, and a wall clock from 1765 hangs on the south wall.

A late Gothic strip ceiling spans the almost square council chamber. A richly decorated antler chandelier hangs from the central rib of the ceiling; a griffin holds in its claws a shield and a banner with the city's coat of arms. The powerful window pillars of the staggered windows in the north and south walls are placed between the plinth and the transom and are painted in stone. A wall clock case from 1727 with baroque, partially gilded carvings hangs on the eastern wall of the hall. The baroque table has a slate inlay, the frame of which is inlaid with geometric and floral patterns . Paintings of Austrian rulers hang on the west wall.

A particularly valuable part of the furnishings in the council chamber are 15 cabinet disks that were donated by the Austrian rulers, friendly forest towns and local nobles after the town hall fire (1531). The entire series, completed in 1533, is attributed to the Freiburg glass painter Hans Gitschmann von Robstein . Motifs on the north side are: coat of arms of the county of Hauenstein, city disc of Laufenburg, city disc of Säckingen, coat of arms of Hans Jakob Truchsess of Rheinfelden, alliance coat of arms of Hans Rudolf von Schönau and Magdalena Blarer of Girsberg, coat of arms of Caspar von Schönau. The following motifs can be seen on the south side: coat of arms of Hans Werner Truchsess von Rheinfelden, alliance coat of arms of Itteleck von Reischach and Ursula von Pforr, coat of arms of Adelberg III. von Bärenfels, town disc of Waldshut, alliance coat of arms of Count Rudolf V von Sulz and Margarete von Sonnenberg, coat of arms of Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, coat of arms of Emperor Karl V , coat of arms of King Ferdinand I.

East wing

A flight of stairs goes up in front of the east wing . The late-Gothic tracery parapet in the form of lined-up circles is made of red sandstone. On the first post there is a statue of Wisdom, the work of the sculptor Karl Killer . At the top of the stairs there are two lavishly designed late Renaissance splendid portals from 1613; the left one leads into the vestibule of the Rhine wing, the right one into the stairwell of the east wing. Richly orchestrated rectangular frames with cranked beams encircle their arched openings. The east wing building has an expansive pent roof . The two upper floors are covered by another wall painting by Paul Altherr, a monumental depiction of the Battle of Sempach from 1911 .

West wing

The west wing, completely rebuilt by Curjel & Moser, has a mansard roof . Mighty red sandstone pillars in the form of burly atlases (also works of Karl Killer) flanking the central entrance. The door posts, carved in 1945 by the sculptor Otto Frey-Thilo, personify six figures of the city administration (welfare worker, judge, clerk, sack master, site manager and forester). The west annex, which has also been largely renewed, has arched windows and neo-Gothic twin windows towards the courtyard, and gothic staggered and row windows towards the Rhine.

patio

In the inner courtyard there has been an oval bowl fountain made of Mägenwil shell limestone since 1841 , and in 1911 Karl Killer created a crown in the form of a centaur child for the fountain stick . The Zähringer table commemorates the 850th anniversary of Rheinfeld in 1980. The coat of arms of the Zähringers and all the cities they founded are depicted on it.

literature

Web links

Commons : City Hall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 141-142.
  2. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 145.
  3. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 145-146.
  4. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 147, 149.
  5. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 149-150.
  6. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 150-151.
  7. ↑ a b Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 153.
  8. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 156.
  9. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 153-154.
  10. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 154-155.
  11. ↑ Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. Pp. 151-152.
  12. ↑ a b Hunziker, Hoegger: The monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume IX. P. 152.

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '19.4 "  N , 7 ° 47' 35.4"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and twenty-six thousand six hundred eighty-seven  /  two hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred and forty-five