Dessau residential palace

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Coordinates: 51 ° 49 ′ 56.4 "  N , 12 ° 14 ′ 53.5"  E

The castle around 1900
Drawing of the four-winged castle from the 17th century
The castle from the Mulde (around 1900)
Johannbau today
The Johannbau seen from the Mulde, behind it the Marienkirche and the town hall tower

The Dessau Residential Palace , also known as Dessau City Palace, is a partially preserved palace building in the area of ​​the former old town of Dessau , which served as the residence of the princes and dukes of Anhalt-Dessau . Today only the so-called Johannbau , the former west wing and oldest part of the castle, remains of the multi-winged palace complex . It was one of the first Renaissance buildings in central Germany .

history

The Dessauer Royal Palace was originally in 1341 from the stones of the trough - flood ruined castle Waldesian even castle Waldersee built. The castle burned down in 1405 and 1467. A new building was carried out by the Dessau prince brothers Johann IV (1504–1551), Georg III. (1507–1553) and Joachim (1509–1561). When exactly the so-called Johannbau was built cannot currently be determined. Doubts arose about the previously assumed construction time of "around 1530" to 1533 when letters from the prince brothers were found, which prove that building materials were ordered in Saxony as early as 1528 and 1529 and were brought to the Elbe by raft in 1529 . This means that construction of the Johannbau can be expected to start as early as 1529. A construction period from 1531 to 1533 is assured for the stair tower that was built at the same time. The building was named after Johann IV von Anhalt as the lead client. The builder of the Johannbau is not known. By signatures on and in the stair tower , however, is the collaboration of Ludwig Binder (around 1500-1556) secured which in Anhalt as since 1531 Steinmetz worked and builders.

Stylistically is Johannbau the early renaissance assigned because of the architectural decoration to the arched gables , windows, portals and the arbor and the overlying ascending spiral stone characteristic features such as balls and lilies tracery friese having. The formal language corresponds to the transition period from the late Gothic to the Renaissance , as can also be found in other early buildings of the Saxon Renaissance .

The Johannbau was expanded for the first time between 1571 and 1580 . The north wing, which is mentioned for the first time in 1571, was demolished in 1708 by Prince Leopold , making the castle a three-wing complex. Between 1748 and 1753 the building was redesigned and expanded according to designs by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (1699–1753). Contrary to what was planned in the draft, the west wing was retained. For a long time the old Johannbau only had elongated halls on all floors, in which the cavalry and the mounted entourage of stately guests of the court were accommodated. A division into smaller rooms took place later. The east wing with a view of the Mulde and the Tiergarten, an alluvial forest across the river, housed the apartments of the princely family. The magnificent ballroom was located in the south wing above the court kitchen.

  • Details

  • Inscription from 1549

  • Detail of the portal

In 1777 Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff set up a wooden theater in the palace complex. The painter Heinrich Beck created a copy of the Sistine Madonna for the ducal palace . From 1812 to 1813 the west wing was increased by expanding the attic. The side gables were removed from him. After 1830, the palace theater was incorporated into the newly designed living area of ​​the von Anhalt ducal family . In 1874 another stair tower in the neo-renaissance style was built by Rudolf von Normann (1806–1882) and Gustav Richter (1825–1879). In 1875 Gottfried Polysius delivered wrought iron gates for the castle.

On March 7, 1945, during the 19th and heaviest of the air raids on Dessau during the Second World War , the palace was badly damaged by high explosive and incendiary bombs, and the east and south wings were almost completely destroyed. The badly damaged wings were later blown up. The Johannbau was preserved as a badly damaged ruin and was listed as a historical monument during the GDR era . However, it was not given a makeshift roof until 1957. For many years, the State Theater Dessau used parts of the ruins as storage for sets .

From 1990 to 1997 and 2001 to 2005, the Johannbau was renovated with funds from the city of Dessau, the federal government , the state of Saxony-Anhalt and Lotto-Toto GmbH Saxony-Anhalt and restored to its original shape with the arched gables. In 1993, remnants of plaster with an illusion painting from 1549 were removed from the south wall and preserved. The interior of the Johannbau was completely lost during the war. Therefore new ceilings and walls were put in and room structures were created. The interior of the stair tower was largely preserved in its substance, despite the severe traces of fire, and could be reconstructed. The hood of the stair tower has been restored to its original shape. Only the arbor has not yet been completely reconstructed.

In 2000, Dessau was the location for correspondence at Expo 2000 in Hanover . The EXPO 2000 path with 25 stations connected objects from different epochs that were important in terms of urban planning. Between 1998 and 2001, the Johannbau housed EXPO GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt, the local organization office.

In August 2005 the reconstructed Johannbau was opened to the public. Since then, it has been used as a city ​​history museum.

One carried out in September 2019 referendum , stood up for a reconstructed building in line with the historical development of the adjacent Dessau Schlossplatz failed short of quorum . There were 432 votes missing for the vote. The energy company Getec intends to acquire the property in a central inner city location very cheaply and to build it with a low budget hotel in a strongly reduced architectural language. At the same time, Getec said even before the referendum, if the Dessau population clearly rejected this building project, even if the referendum should not exceed the quorum.

literature

  • Barbara Czerannowski: The Dessau Castle. A history of construction . In: Hans Wilderotter (Hrsg.): "Schauplatz vernüßiger Menschen" culture and history in Anhalt-Dessau, Berlin: L-und-H-Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-938608-00-5 , pp. 17–42.

Web links

Commons : Residenzschloss Dessau  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 475 years of Johannbau ( memento from May 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), information from the city of Dessau-Roßlau
  2. ↑ a b Entry on the Dessau residential palace in the private database “Alle Burgen”. Accessed on January 24, 2012.
  3. ^ Heinrich Lindner: History and description of the state of Anhalt . Ackermann, 1833 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  4. ↑ Information from the Waldersee publishing house  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ctopp.de
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Information ( memento of April 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) of the Museum of City History Dessau
  6. ^ Ludwig Würdig, Bernhard Heese: Das Residenzschloß. In: The Dessau Chronicle , Walter Schwalbe (Ed. H. de Roth), Dessau 1926/29, 446–461
  7. ↑ Residenzschloß Dessau ( Memento from January 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on Frauenorte.net
  8. ^ Wilhelm Hosäus:  Beck, Johann Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 216 f.
  9. ^ Johannbau on structurae.de
  10. ↑ Polysius 1859-1959, Neubeckum 1959
  11. ↑ a b EXPO 2000 Path Dessau ( Memento from October 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Citizens' decision in Dessau-Roßlau for historical facades fails , Stadtbild Deutschland eV, September 10, 2019