Schönleinsplatz (Bamberg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Schönleinsplatz
Coat of arms Bamberg.svg
Place in Bamberg
Photo-request.svg
Image wanted BW

Basic data
place Bamberg
District Old town
Created after 1864
Newly designed 1890
Hist. Names Schießhausplatz
Confluent streets Lange Strasse, Willy-Lessing-Strasse, Friedrichstrasse, Schützenstrasse, Hainstrasse,
use
User groups Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , car traffic , public transport
Space design Bust for Johann Lukas Schönlein ( Caspar von Zumbusch , 1874), equestrian statue for Prince Regent Luitpold

The Schönleinsplatz , formerly Schießhaus space / garden area , in Bamberg is one of the most elaborate Gründerzeit city squares of the late 19th century in Germany. Its key design with a fountain, monument and extensive flower planting made it a splendid entrance to the city on the eastern edge of the island city , where Willy-Lessing-Strasse meets Promenadestrasse from the direction of the train station. The square serves to develop an expansion of the city that was built in the 1880s after the Regnitz canalization. In the direction of Wilhelmsplatz, Friedrichstrasse leads east. Schützenstrasse and Hainstrasse lead to the south. Its current name after the doctor Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793–1864) was not given to the square until 1874 after the bust made by the Viennese sculptor Caspar von Zumbusch was unveiled .

history

prehistory

The square is outside the old city fortifications at the beginning of the Lange Gasse, which leads into the old town in the direction of the old town hall . The so-called Langgaß barracks formerly stood on the western part of the square and was built by Leonhard Dientzenhofer under Prince-Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn in 1700–07 . At the site of the vacant lot on Friedrichstrasse (today the parking lot) there was previously the so-called salt lick.

Since Schönleinsplatz was part of the flood plain until the second half of the 19th century, there were only simple buildings, huts and businesses there. Such a location in front of the city walls was quite common for rifle houses from the late Middle Ages. Later on, numerous hop kilns and breweries settled in the area around Schönleinsplatz and the Hain, which shaped the cityscape with their chimneys into the 20th century. The layout of the wide avenue on Sophienstrasse became a starting point for the redesign of the square.

The Schönleins Monument and its unveiling ceremony (1864–73)

After the death of the royal Prussian medical councilor Dr. Johann Lucas von Schönleins in 1864 spontaneously formed a committee to erect a monument. The limited financial resources meant that the erection of an elaborate ore statue was abandoned. Finally, it was decided to erect a monumental bust out of Carrara marble , which Caspar von Zumbusch sent to Bamberg. Since the bust could easily be overlooked in the spacious square, it was erected on a small hill. The board of directors of the Schützengesellschaft Griesbeck wrote to the municipal building officers Pastor and Herd: The magistrate of k. The city of Bamberg very humbly asks the Schützengesellschaft to consider whether the hill of the municipal facilities around the Schöneins Monument should not be demolished and believe that it can motivate this request by making the new building of the Schützengesellschaft stand out better from the ground and thus it would also beautify the most beautiful square in town.

On November 30, 1873, Schönlein's centenary, the local dignitaries, association representatives and guests from outside gathered for a “commemorative ceremony” in front of Schönlein's humble birthplace on Obere Königstrasse (Theuerstadt) and moved towards Schönleinsplatz, where the unveiling of the monument bust of the local choral societies and speeches by the mayor and other notables. Afterwards, the distinguished guests met for a festive dinner in the Hotel Bamberger Hof. In the evening, the opera Die Huguenots by Giacomo Meyerbeer was given at a festival performance by the Nuremberg Opera Society in the Theater am Schillerplatz .

The Wilhelminian transformation up to the First World War

In 1877, City Councilor Herd commissioned art gardener Daniel Mayer to redesign the area in front of the Schützenhaus. Ten years later he put through a fountain to increase tourism and to the delight of the people of Bamberg. According to the first master plan from 1890, a fountain was set up on Schönleinsplatz on the axis Hainstrasse / Sophienstrasse. From 1914 onwards, this was also illuminated in bright colors and supplied with electricity from the recently established power station.

From 1905 on, Schönleinsplatz was also an important distributor for tram traffic. Of the numerous garden art projects, that of the art gardener Peter Cromm from 1894 should be mentioned in particular. Shortly after the completion of the Hotel Bellevue (1897/98) there were complaints about considerable soot and smoke pollution from the hotel. In the spring of 1916 there were complaints about the orderliness at Schönleinsplatz: In today's magistrate's meeting, lively complaints were made that Schönleinslplatz is being used as a children's playground, that children there occupy the benches all day so that adults cannot use the benches that, furthermore, the children not only stir up the sand and soil there, but also damage the basin of the fountain and the electric lights attached there. It was suggested to have tablets with the inscription "Only for adults" put up on the benches.

Projects and redesigns since the 1920s

Even before the First World War, the Schützenhaus had risen to become a glamorous festival and café house, where not only crowned heads but also artists such as the conductor Arturo Toscanini frequented. Schützenhaus-Casino and Bamberger Hof made Schönleinsplatz the first address in the city. The elaborate design with flower bosquets and diagonal paths was gradually simplified. As early as 1914, the master builder Herman Sörgel , who later worked as an architecture theorist at the Bauhaus, presented a project for a new museum building in the area of ​​the Salt Lick with a bridge over Friedrichstrasse. In the 1920s, the city master builder Theodor Fischer from Munich and Paul Schultze-Naumburg made further suggestions.

Various municipal bodies continuously took care of the external appearance of the square; The garden and cemetery administration wrote to the magistrate on March 21, 1929: The green areas of Schönleinsplatz are in a state that is absolutely no longer in keeping with the times and is damaging the reputation of the city. The hedges are overgrown and should be renewed. The whole planting of the square must make an embarrassing and embarrassing impression on everyone who comes to another city. In 1931 the surface of the square was therefore greatly simplified and large lawns were created, which in broad terms already corresponded to the current state. In 1933, a curved glass pavilion was built as a bus shelters between the confluences of Promenadestrasse (formerly Strasse am Zwinger) and Willy-Lessing-Strasse (then still Sophienstrasse). On January 3, the Fränkischer Kurier read: At last it has undergone quite a radical change, the much-discussed and controversial Schönleinsplatz, which some people consider the most beautiful place, but others - with far greater justification - for a very unhappy birth in the cityscape of the Explain "beautiful Bamberg".

Todays situation

Today's Schönleinsplatz shows almost nothing of the design with elaborate flower arrangements. The square with its busy intersection functions primarily as a traffic distributor. Since the Schützenhaus - once the city's most splendid Wilhelminian building - was demolished in the mid-1950s and replaced by a much more massive savings bank building, the square has lost its balanced proportions and no longer serves as a place for the promenade. The temporary installation of flags and billboards also affects the perception of the space situation today.

Development on the edge of the square

  • The new rifle house built by Gustav Haeberle in 1892/93 was a splendid historicist building with a raised central section and lavishly equipped event rooms, which were used for military balls and conferences, among other things. In 1955, the Haeberle building was demolished and replaced by a simple savings bank building, which was rebuilt and extended just a few decades later.
  • Hotel Bellevue or Bamberger Hof at Schönleinsplatz 4 by Jakob Maier (1896)
  • Bayerische Staatsbank or branch bank of Conradin Walther (1894/95)
  • New Baroque apartment building at Schönleinsplatz 2 by Gustav Haeberle (1896)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Numerous brewery owners settled in the large houses on Sophienstrasse (between Regnitz and Schönleinsplatz).
  2. ↑ The project found support in particular in the circles of academic medical professionals who joined the project at the universities in Zurich, Würzburg, Munich and Berlin. The Bambergers were able to sign up for supporters in shops.
  3. ↑ He apologized by letter for being too busy to travel to Bamberg himself.
  4. ↑ SRB VI B, 773, 41. Letter dated March 23, 1893. This file from the Bamberg Municipal Registry (SRB) contains all the main plans for redesigning the square from the 1870s to the present day. In addition, the building files for the Hotel Bamberger Hof (SRB VI. P., 4) and the State Bank can be found in the central registry. The file on the rifle house was handed over to the building authority in the 1960s. Probably for reasons of cost, the demolition of the hill was postponed until after the completion of the development on the west side (hotel and bank). It probably did not take place until around 1898.
  5. ↑ A memorial plaque was attached to the house where Schönlein was born, which is similar in style to the plaque on Maxplatz, which reminds of the monastery of Klein St. Martin, which was demolished in 1804. These panels were probably put up by the historical association, to which Schönlein also belonged. Schönlein appeared as a donor - he owned an extensive library - in numerous contexts.
  6. ↑ Only after the Second World War was the dilapidated concrete basin demolished and the fountain in front of the Schönleins monument relocated to the east side of the square.
  7. ↑ The traffic ran over the Lange Gasse and over the Rathausbrücke in the western parts of the city.
  8. ↑ SRB VI B, 773, 41. Filing on January 25, 1894 with two enclosed alternative sketches. Cromm explained his project in a detailed letter. He also pleaded for a simpler planting and for the relocation of the monument to the west side.
  9. ↑ SRB VI P, 4. In addition to the construction plans, the act also contains numerous sketches for various conversions. Due to the complaints, plans had to be drawn up for a hotel chimney. After all, it was enough that the hotel owner used better coals. Other questions (building a pigsty, running a garden restaurant, drainage and car garages) repeatedly caused difficulties. Initially, the hotel owner even had to defend himself against the attacks of the local hoteliers, who considered a new luxury hotel to be superfluous. With reference to the freedom of trade, he finally reached the new construction of the spacious building.
  10. ↑ These and other projects were exhibited in the Neue Residenz in 1924. Another exhibition on Schönleinsplatz was shown by the city archives in 1982. Fischer struck on 11/12. In April 1922, during an expert visit to Bamberg, the prince regent equestrian statue was relocated from Domplatz to the west side of Schönleinsplatz, but this did not take place until 1972. Cf. SRB VI B, 773, 41. In the protocol of the site inspection it says about his proposal: He is for a development of the triangular part in such a way that the part between Hainstrasse, Strasse am Zwinger, Friedrichstasse and Bamberger Hof then becomes a closed square Place. SRB VI B, 773, 41. Protocol of April 13, 1922.
  11. ↑ In the 1990s it was accidentally added to the list of monuments as a post office.
  12. ↑ During the First World War, the premises were used as a hospital. Up until the Second World War there was a classy café, also known as the Schützenhaus-Casino. After the war, the building served as a casino for the US Army, which held parades on Schönleinsplatz. The previous building stood directly at the confluence with Hainstrasse and can be seen on old views from 1892/93 next to the shell of the new rifle house. Shortly afterwards, the simple old building was torn down. In this way a temporary solution could be avoided.

literature

  • Robert Zink, Winfried Theuerer (ed.): Urban development in Bamberg around 1900. Hans Erlwein (1872-1914). Accompanying volume to the exhibition of the city archive, Bamberg 1997.

Web links

Commons : Schönleinsplatz (Bamberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See StadtA BS342.
  2. ↑ Salt lick in the Wiktionary
  3. ↑ See StadtA C2 / 18292.
  4. ↑ See StadtA BS 342. Bamberger Tagblatt , May 21, 1931. The file also contains a collection of newspaper clippings on this subject.
  5. ↑ SRB VI B, 773, 41. The letter can be regarded as vivid testimony to the concerns of the upper middle class about their representative space.
  6. ↑ SRB VI B, 773, 41. Apparently, efforts were constantly being made to present a good external image to business travelers and tourists.
  7. ↑ SRB VI B, 773, 41. The file also contains a collection of newspaper clippings on this subject. And in the Bamberger Tagblatt on May 21, 1931, it was read that the redesign of Schönleinsplatz had been completed after several months of work and that the fountain would be put back into operation from Whit Sunday. See StadtA BS342.

Coordinates: 49 ° 53 ′ 29.7 "  N , 10 ° 53 ′ 32.4"  E