Rostock city fire of 1677

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rostock city fire or the great city fire of 1677 was a fire disaster, through which around a third of the medieval building fabric was destroyed, especially in the east and north of the historical city center of the Hanseatic city of Rostock . Along with the British air raids at the end of April 1942, this city fire was one of the two catastrophes in Rostock's city history that forever changed the original cityscape of Rostock as a late medieval merchant city.

course

Copper engraving by Amadeus von Fridleben, Nuremberg 1678 (in the original a mirror-image of the city)

City fires occurred frequently in the founding phase of the city in the 13th century, i.e. the development of the three sub-towns of old , central and new town , which initially ran sequentially and independently of one another , as the first houses were thatched wooden buildings. When many successor buildings were made of stone, the risk of fire decreased. Nevertheless, there was always a great risk of fire in medieval and early modern Rostock. The reasons for this were the narrow buildings and the narrow streets, as the city wall had set limits for settlement. There were also large quantities of combustible goods, such as grain and wood, in the town's warehouses and stores. In addition, numerous trades such as blacksmiths or bakeries had to work with fire. Therefore, the fire regulations as part of the Rostock police regulations of April 1576, along with members of other trades, especially the bakers, had to carefully watch out for fire and light in the morning and evening.

On Saturday, August 11, 1677 , a fire broke out at Joachim Schulze's baker in Altschmiedestrasse , at the corner of Große Goldstrasse , which quickly spread to neighboring buildings. Supported by a hot, dry south-easterly wind, the fire spread in a north-westerly direction, so that almost the entire urban area between St. Peter's and St. Nicholas' Church was in flames. The two churches were spared from the inferno, but the monastery church of the former Katharinenkloster was destroyed.

Since the old town , the area between the pit , today's Grubenstrasse and the eastern city wall, was surrounded on all sides by water, it was hoped that the fire would be limited to this urban area. However, it spread over the bridges that spanned the pit to the northern central town . There, the urban area north of the Vogelsangs and east of the town hall were heavily devastated.

The fire could not be brought under control until the following day, August 12th, thus averting the danger to Marienkirche and the town hall. The onset of rain helped to extinguish the last nests of fire. By then the fire had spread to the Wokrentertor .

The word about the brand spread across Europe.

Damage

Of the 2000 registered houses, around 700 were lost due to the fire, most of them in the old and northern middle town. There was also a large number of cellars that served as shelter for the poorer city dwellers, especially in the less affluent old town. In the streets of the northern central town leading to the city harbor, valuable gothic gabled houses, which mostly served as breweries, were destroyed. As a result, the brewing industry, which was a backbone of Rostock's economy, was hit hard.

Classification in the city's history

The great city fire marks the final end of Rostock as a self-confident merchant city within the Hanseatic League , whose last Hanseatic Day took place in Lübeck in 1669 . The city fire was the obvious sign of the city's decline, which occurred through the loss of importance as a trading center and the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War . In addition, the city came more and more under the control of the Mecklenburg sovereignty and the Kingdom of Sweden . The population fell from 15,000 in 1600 to just 5,000. Due to the general economic decline, the fallow land was only rebuilt with houses after a very long period, sometimes up to 100 years, now in the Baroque style . Because of this city fire and the even more devastating bombing raids in the Second World War , only relatively little medieval building material has survived in Rostock compared to Lübeck, Wismar or Stralsund .

literature

  • Hans Bernitt: On the history of the city of Rostock , Hinstorff Verlag Rostock 1956, reprint 2001 ISBN 3-935171-40-4
  • Karsten Schröder (Ed.): In your walls there is harmony and general well-being , Ingo Koch Verlag, Rostock 2003 ISBN 3-929544-68-7