Red Palace (Kassel)

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Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 51.1 ″  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 48.5 ″  E

Architectural drawing of the facade of the Red Palace

The Red Palace , built between 1821 and 1826, was one of the two main buildings of the so-called Residenzpalais in Kassel , northern Hesse . It contained the most important representation rooms of the electoral residence and was one of the most important castles from the period of classicism and empire in Germany until it was destroyed in World War II .

The construction

After Elector Wilhelm II took office after the death of his father Wilhelm I in February 1821, he left his previous residence, the former palace of the Hessian estates on Friedrichsplatz , for representation purposes in the years 1821–1826 by building the Red Palace expand considerably. The architect was Johann Conrad Bromeis , who from 1816 to 1821 had already extended and expanded the former house of the estates for him and whom he had appointed court architect in 1821 . The old Palais der Landstands was painted white-greenish-gray and has since been called the “White Palace” . The new building, with a floor area of ​​around 55 × 40 m and a large inner courtyard (12 × 24 m), containing considerably larger and, above all, large ceremonial rooms (reception rooms, throne room, dining room, ballroom ) directly adjoined the White Palace and was connected to it . A second large inner courtyard was created in the rectangle between the two wings of the White Palace.

The Red Palace is Bromeis' main work. The two-storey building was made of cut red sandstone blocks and with a colorful interior in Empire style. Individual architectural parts were made of yellowish sandstone and thus stood out from the red, 13-axis facade : the almost 20-meter-wide portico with its six columns in front of the central part, girdle and sill cornices , pilasters on the five-window central part, architrave and cornice, Fensterverdachungen, archivolts at the central portion, pillars of the Venetian window on both sides of Altans upstairs, and Pilaster capitals of the side windows. The building was covered by a flat hipped roof. Along the eastern section of the main facade, where Friedrichsplatz sloped slightly, an approximately 5 m wide ramp led up to the portico for carriages .

Interior

The elaborate interior was characterized by particularly effective color combinations. As a building inspector at the Kassel court of King Jérôme von Westphalen (1807–1813), Bromeis had got to know the French Empire style first hand, and this experience has now benefited him. His cooperation with the client was congenial. Wilhelm II always had several drafts presented to him to choose from and brought in further ideas and wishes himself, and the interior design in particular was therefore largely shaped by his ideas down to the last detail. With the exception of a few parts such as chandeliers and silk wallpaper , all the furnishings were the work of Hessian artists and craftsmen.

The throne room was decorated in the Hessian colors of white and red: white stucco marble with gold-plated ornaments and red velvet covering. The floor was made of maple, cherry, pearwood and mahogany, the ceiling was white with a dark blue frame, salmon-colored and light-blue fields and bronze-colored ornaments. The paintings showed the Roman deities Jupiter (above the throne ), Mars (opposite), Minerva and Ceres (on the two side walls). The doors were made of mahogany with gilt ornaments.

At 26.60 m long, 11.80 m wide and 8 m high, the dance hall was the largest hall in the Residenzpalais and, in terms of the quality of its furnishings, perhaps the most important hall of the Empire style in Germany. It was determined by the color contrast yellow / gold and blue: the wall surfaces consisted of yellowish stucco marble, the column shafts and friezes of blue, lapis lazuli- like stucco marble with gilded bases, capitals and ornaments. Furniture upholstery and curtains were the same deep blue, with gold stars. The ceiling was primed light blue, with white-gray and bronze-colored paintings on a blue and yellow background. The base zone was made of brown stucco marble and led over to the inlaid floor made of cherry, maple and mahogany. The doors and furniture were made of mahogany with gilt fittings. The large chandelier in the middle was nearly three meters in diameter and weighed an enormous 38 hundred pounds ; In total, the hall could be lit by more than 700 candles.

Friedrichsplatz design

With the construction of the Red Palace, the previously existing gap between the White Palace and the Fridericianum Museum, built between 1769 and 1779, was closed. Starting from the White and Red Palais, the entire north side of Friedrichsplatz was color-balanced: the St. Elisabeth Church at the eastern end, built in 1777, was given the same white-greenish-gray paint as a counterpart to the White Palais as the new court administration building erected shortly after the Red Palais as a counterpart to the Red Palace, on the other hand, a red paint with yellow architectural parts. The Fridericianum in the middle of the front stood out in its light gray.

Later use

When Kurhessen was annexed by Prussia in October 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War , the entire complex of the Residenzpalais became the Prussian state property. The incorporation of the Electorate of Hesse into the Prussian monarchy was announced on October 8, 1866 from the balcony of the Red Palace.

After the First World War and the end of the German monarchies , they looked for a suitable new use for the Red and White Palais. On June 30, 1923, the German Wallpaper Museum was opened in the Red Palace. In 1934 the White Palace was also included, as the wallpaper collection had grown considerably in the meantime.

Destruction and demolition

The preserved portico of the Red Palace
The "The Strangers" on the roof of the portico

During a British bombing raid during the Second World War on the night of September 8th to 9th, 1941, the Red Palace and the Palais Reichenbach adjoining the White Palace on Obere Koenigsstrasse caught fire and the upper floor ceilings in the Red Palace collapsed. The damaged wall designs were protected by an emergency roof, which was largely in place at the end of the war. The only partially rescued furniture of the Red Palace was completely relocated together with the furniture of the White Palace. Some of these high-quality examples of Hessian craftsmanship are exhibited today in the Weißenstein wing of Wilhelmshöhe Castle . The rescued holdings of the wallpaper museum were relocated to Einbeck and from 1948 onwards were also presented in a reduced collection in the Weißenstein wing of Wilhelmshöhe Palace until they were moved to the Hessian State Museum in Kassel in 1976 .

After the end of the war, security work was initially carried out on the Red Palace until 1953. However, since neither the Hessian state government nor the Kassel city ​​administration were interested in maintaining the building, demolition work began in 1954. The property and the remains were sold in 1958 to the Hertie Group , which had had a finished design for a department store at this point since 1956. From 1961 the Bilka department store was built. The only remaining remnant of the Red Palace was the newly renovated portico that was added to the south side of the department store. On this is now a group of figures with the title “ The Strangers ”, a work of art created by Thomas Schütte in 1992 for documenta IX . Today there is a branch of the SinnLeffers fashion department store in the former Bilka department store.

literature

  • Rolf Bidlingmaier: The Residenz Palace in Kassel. The architect J. Conrad Bromeis and the spatial art of classicism and empire in Kurhessen under Elector Wilhelm II. Schnell & Steiner, Munich / Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-7954-1340-0 .
  • Paul Heidelbach : Kassel. A millennium of Hessian urban culture. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel / Basel 1957, DNB 451899806 .
  • Alois Holtmeyer : The architectural and art monuments in the administrative district of Cassel. Volume VI: District of Cassel-Stadt. Friedrich Bleibaum, Marburg 1923. (Reprint: Verlag für Kunstreproduktion, Neustadt an der Aisch 2003, DNB 968591973 )
  • Hans Huth: The Residenz Palace in Kassel. (Official Guide, Ed. Administration of State Palaces and Gardens). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1930, DNB 57405846X .

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ A b Hessisches Landesmuseum: German Wallpaper Museum.
  2. ^ The White Palace burned two years later in the devastating bomb attack on 22/23. October 1943 completely. The ruin was blown up in November 1948 and then gradually demolished until 1950.
  3. ↑ Most of it is in depots, other items are on loan to the Federal President and the New Palace in Potsdam .