Residence ensemble Schwerin

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Residence ensemble Schwerin - cultural landscape of romantic historicism describes a cultural landscape that has been on the German tentative list for future proposals by the Federal Republic of Germany for inclusion in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites since 2014 . Efforts to be included in the World Heritage List have been ongoing since 2000. In 2007, a state parliament resolution was passed.

Description of the ensemble

The Schwerin residence ensemble ideally represents a princely seat of the 19th century in the style of romantic historicism . It was built between 1825 and 1883 under the Grand Dukes Friedrich Franz I , Paul Friedrich and Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. With the buildings for the court and state administration such as the college building , the theater and the museum for the princely art collections in the Old Garden , the residential ensemble has been expanded into the urban space. The ensemble also includes the cathedral and shelf church with their ducal burial places, the Paulskirche , the barracks complex to protect the residence, the New Town Palace and functional buildings such as the stables or the court laundry.

Schwerin Castle around 1900

The center of the ensemble is the Schwerin Palace , which was rebuilt between 1843 and 1857 under Friedrich Franz II . It represents the last major residential building in Central Europe. In it, the previously common forms of classicism for a residential palace were consistently replaced by those of the neo-renaissance . For this style epoch, the Schwerin Palace embodies a high point of European architecture, on which Georg Adolph Demmler , Hermann Willebrand , Gottfried Semper , Friedrich August Stüler and Ernst Friedrich Zwirner contributed to the planning. Schwerin was the seat of government, fortress and residence of the ducal house of the Obotrites , the only ruling dynasty of Slavic origin in Germany until 1918.

Chambord Castle in France

The cradle of Mecklenburg history lies on the castle island. The Slavic castle Zuarin has been located here since the 10th century, after the city was founded by Heinrich the Lion in 1160, the county of Schwerin and since 1358 the residence of the dukes of Mecklenburg, who were themselves descendants of the Obotrites. The style of historicism with various references to the Obotrites and their last ruler Niklot deliberately emphasizes this ruling tradition in order to legitimize their claim to rule. The Schwerin Palace reflects in a characteristic way its time, which was shaped by the crisis of the monarchy against the liberal forces of the Vormärz .

Throne room of the Schwerin Castle

This image program is also manifested in the interior of the palace, such as the throne room or the ancestral gallery, which are part of the last completely preserved complex of a throne apartment in Europe. Older components from the 16th and 17th centuries were therefore integrated into the new building from the 19th century. With their neo-renaissance forms, the newly created castle areas refer to the French royal castle of Chambord in order to emphasize the claim to the royal position of the Mecklenburg Grand Duke among the sovereigns of Europe.

Aerial view of Schwerin Castle

The castle church built in the 16th century under Johann Albrecht I was also preserved. It was one of the first Reformed churches and was supplemented by a neo-Gothic choir extension in the 19th century. In addition, the builder of the palace, Friedrich Franz II, had the ducal tombs of the shelf church and the cathedral renovated and the St. Paul's Church built in memory of his father.

criteria

With the international »Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage« passed in 1972, UNESCO has taken on the task of protecting and preserving cultural and natural assets of »exceptional universal value«. With the status of world cultural heritage, responsibility for the cultural property included in the world heritage list no longer rests solely with the individual state, but with all of humanity. For this purpose, the World Heritage Convention has developed ten criteria for the inclusion of sites in the world cultural heritage.

The Schwerin Residence Ensemble meets these acceptance criteria in three respects:

Criterion II - Significant intersection of human values ​​The architecture and landscape design of the Schwerin residence ensemble are an outstanding document of the art and cultural landscape of historicism in Europe.

Criterion III - evidence of a culture The Schwerin residence ensemble shows the specific characteristics of the late phase of court culture in Europe in the 19th century. It is the site of an unbroken tradition of rule that has lasted for more than 1000 years, from Slavic to the present day, and documents the development from the historical princely state to modern democracy.

Criterion IV - Heritage of particular importance to the history of mankind The Schwerin residence ensemble is the first historic residence complex in Europe and one of the earliest creations of the Neo-Renaissance. The Schwerin residence ensemble in the middle of a park and natural landscape is characterized by its unique state of preservation and its cohesion. It not only communicates the court culture and aristocratic life of the 19th century in a particularly authentic way, but also the evolved character of the residence and its continuity as the political and cultural center of the country. It illustrates the development of a German federal state from the historic princely state. Part of this continuity are also the cultural institutions with the ducal archives and art collections that are still located within the residence ensemble.

Cultural landscape

In the spirit of romantic historicism, the palace became part of a picturesque garden , designed by Theodor Klett and Peter Joseph Lenné . The integration of the ensemble into the Ice Age lake landscape corresponds to the romantic conception of the landscape. The island of Rabbitwerder was also included in this park landscape, as was the lakeshore facing the city with the Old Garden , the Marstall, villas and the promenades reaching to Zippendorf . This largely intact garden landscape, which has hardly changed since the 19th century, including the island of Rabbitwerder, is still used today as a recreational area and is part of the EU bird sanctuary »Schwerin Lakes«. The crowning glory is the castle, which focuses all visual relationships on itself. Due to its island location, it mediates in a unique urban situation between the city and the surrounding garden and natural space. Human work and nature are harmoniously combined.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Residence Ensemble Schwerin - Cultural Landscape of Romantic Historicism. Entry in the tentative list. UNESCO World Heritage Center, January 15, 2015, accessed December 13, 2017 .
  2. ^ Recommendation for a resolution and report on the motion of the parliamentary group of the Left Party. PDS - World Heritage Castle Ensemble Schwerin. (pdf) State Parliament Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, October 4, 2007, accessed on December 13, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Schwerin World Heritage Application. (pdf) January 14, 2013, accessed December 13, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Schwerin World Heritage Application. (pdf) January 14, 2013, accessed December 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ On the way to the world cultural heritage - flyer of the state capital Schwerin and the ministry for education, science and culture. Retrieved January 3, 2018 .

Web links

literature

  • Residence ensemble Schwerin - cultural landscape of romantic historicism: scientific report on the explanation of the extraordinary universal value (OUV) for the inclusion of the residence ensemble Schwerin in the German tentative list on the UNESCO World Heritage List / created on behalf of the state capital Schwerin by Christian Ottersbach. Esslingen, 2012.
  • Residence ensemble Schwerin, a unique cultural landscape of romantic historicism - then and now / Hans-Heinz Schütt. Schwerin: Tinus, 2017. ISBN 978-3-9818946-0-8
  • Tour through the residence ensemble Schwerin: on the way to the world cultural heritage / state parliament Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Acquired by Katharina Wiegränke. Schwerin, 2014.
  • Residence ensemble Schwerin - cultural landscape of romantic historicism: Schwerin chateau talk of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament on April 18, 2012 / Ed .: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament, Ref. Public Relations. Schwerin, 2012
  • First Schwerin World Heritage Conference, proceedings. 22-23 October 2015. Published by: State Capital Schwerin, Building and Monument Preservation Service in cooperation with the State Parliament MV and the Ministry for Education, Science and Culture MV. Edited by B. Kasten, G. Reinkober, S. Rogin, C. Schönfeld. Schwerin 2016. ISBN 978-3-9813709-2-8
  • Second Schwerin World Heritage Conference, proceedings. 13-14 October 2016. Published by: State Capital Schwerin, Building and Monument Preservation Service in cooperation with the State Parliament MV and the Ministry for Education, Science and Culture MV. Edited by C. Schönfeld, B. Kasten, S. Rogin, G. Reinkober. Schwerin 2016. ISBN 978-3-9813709-3-5