Dusseltal rescue facility for orphans

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General view of Düsselthal Monastery around 1836

The Düsselthal rescue center for orphans and street children was established in 1822 by Count Adelberdt von der Recke-Volmerstein as one of the first German institutions of this type. It was built on the floor of a Cistercian monastery . The monastery was a gift from Jan Wellem to the Cistercians, the Spekkerhöfe used to found the monastery , named after the billet dams made of bacon , later gave their name to the “bacon monks”. The street on which the monastery was located was named after Count Adelberdt von der Recke-Volmerstein, the founder of the rescue facility.

The most famous farms in today's Düsseltal, the two Spekker farms, were given by Jan Wellem in 1707 to the Cistercian monks who had fled Mönchenwerth from the floods of the Rhine. The "Speckermönche" (whose trademarks were "Speckermönchsdosen" filled with snuff) felt so comfortable in Flingern that they put the inscription over the entrance gate of their later Düsselthal monastery: "We live without worry". The monastery was on today's Graf-Recke-Straße. Its namesake, Count Adelberdt von der Recke-Volmerstein, set up the Düsseltal rescue facility for orphans here in 1822. It was co-financed through the sale of “real Eau de Cologne” brewed on the Düssel. Rose buds and the slogan “For God and the orphans” adorned the labels of the scented water bottles from Düsseltal. In 1835, a year earlier than Theodor Fliedner, according to an old chronicle, the Count founded the world's first deaconess institute in Düsseltal. The “Hunger Tower” and the “Himmelsgarten”, Düsseldorf's oldest and smallest cemetery, are evidence of the former Düsselthal abbey and asylum.

history

monastery

The former Trappist monastery of Cistercian - monks was 1701 by Elector Jan Wellem founded. After 1710 the monastery was rebuilt in Düsselthal. In 1714, the monastery was elevated to the status of an abbey. In 1802 the building was secularized. The gate building on the road to the city was built in 1716. The gable of the central building was decorated with the electoral coat of arms, which was held by two lions, and crowned with a Madonna. The curve of the entrance gate was adorned with a wood carving: three hills protruding from the water, depicting a star above. The same coat of arms can be found on the Villa Albani in Rome. It suggests that Pope Clement XI, who was in office at the time the Düsseldorf Monastery was founded. was a scion of the Albani family.

The gate building was demolished in 1901 when Graf-Recke-Strasse was built right through the institution in 1901. The entire monastery also disappeared except for the southern side wing, which was preserved as the last remnant of the former monastery.

The listed “Hunger Tower” on Max-Planck-Straße is the last remnant of the former Düsselthal Abbey. The construction date of the tower is unknown, but the tower already existed around 1710 and originally belonged to the wall surrounding the Trappist monastery. The building is muddy and has windows in the upper part, in their place today reliefs are attached. A slate spire rests on top of the tower. The building was called the “starvation tower” because children of the rescue facility could no longer open the door of the tower that suddenly slammed from the inside and eventually starved to death in the tower.

  • Düsselthal Monastery with the gate built in 1716 and the side fortifications

  • Düsselthal Monastery, the gatehouse in detail

  • The listed "Hunger Tower" is the last remnant of the former Düsselthal Abbey.

Rescue facility

history

The monastery was acquired in 1822 by Count Adelberdt von der Recke-Volmerstein for 45,000 thalers. Count Adalbert von der Recke-Volmerstein has been looking after children in need since 1816 . In 1819 he founded the rescue house for street children. The former Trappist monastery in Düsselthal, east of Düsseldorf, has housed the rescue house since 1822 . The “Düsselthal Rescue Center” for orphans was financed by “ real Cologne” water , which, however, was produced in Düsseldorf. From 1827 the count's wife, Countess Mathilde von der Recke-Volmerstein , was increasingly responsible for the rescue house. In 1847 the pedagogue Christian Friedrich Georgi (1801–1862) took over the management. From 1902 the site was needed for road construction and therefore the activity gradually moved to Düsseldorf-Wittlaer , where the Graf Recke Foundation still exists today as the legal successor.

description

"The headmaster's house (Fig. 105) [in Graf-Recke-Strasse] with the open vestibule that is lovely in the garden". ( Josef Kleesattel )

The main building (old boys' house) was built by the institution's founder in 1825. The adjoining structures were built after the fire of 1851 that destroyed the old prelature. The economic building and the mill were built in 1894. The institution church was rebuilt in 1854, the new boys 'house in 1809, and the officials' house on Mathildenstrasse in 1900. Josef Kleesattel pays particular attention to the headmaster's house in Graf-Recke-Straße, "which is lovely in the garden with the open vestibule".

“If we hike in the immediate vicinity of Düsseldorf, we will still find part of the Düsselthal educational institution, once the monastery of the Cistercian monks. Another small house of the headmaster (Fig. 105) [in Graf-Recke-Straße] with its open vestibule is of particular value. "

literature

  • Theo Lücker: The old town of Düsseldorf. As nobody knows. From the Ratinger Tor to short street. I. Volume. Verlag der Goethe-Buchhandlung, Düsseldorf 1984, No. 30. The Hunger Tower. Surrounded by horror stories (pp. 134–136)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Ulrich Brzosa: The history of the Catholic Church in Düsseldorf. From the beginnings to secularization . Böhlau, Cologne 2001. ISBN 3-412-11900-8 . P. 355f
  2. ↑ Quoted from a page that no longer exists on www.duesseldorf.de
  3. ^ A b Architects and Engineers Association in Düsseldorf (ed.): Düsseldorf and its buildings. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1904, pp. 244–245.
  4. ↑ Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation
  5. ^ Jörg Heimeshoff : Listed houses in Düsseldorf. Nobel, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-922785-68-9 , p. 294.
  6. ↑ A walk through the history of the Graf Recke Foundation on the website of the Evangelical Church Community of Kaiserswerth, accessed on November 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b Josef Kleesattel: Alt-Düsseldorf im Bild , Düsseldorf 1909, p. 12, illustration 105.

Web links