Schiller House (Leipzig)

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Schillerhaus seen from Menckestrasse

The Schillerhaus is a small former farmhouse in the Gohlis district of Leipzig (Menckestraße 42). Friedrich Schiller lived on the upper floor of the house in the summer of 1785. He worked here on the 2nd act of Don Carlos , edited Fiesco and wrote the first version of the poem An die Freude , which he later carried out in Dresden .

The building is the oldest surviving farmhouse in the Leipzig city area and a memorial that is a branch of the Leipzig City History Museum .

History of the building

The first years of the house

The building was built in 1717 as a single-storey main house ( residential stable house ) of a small-scale three-sided farm in the former village of Gohlis, made of clay using corrugated construction. It consisted of a living area, a hall ( black kitchen ) and a stable. In the second half of the 18th century, the building was redesigned to create additional quarters for summer guests. The stable was rebuilt and the building increased.

Schiller's time in the Schillerhaus

The then 25-year-old Schiller lived from May 7th to September 11th, 1785 in the upper floor of the house. The visit was based on an invitation from the Freundeskreis around the lawyer Christian Gottfried Körner . At the same time, the publisher Georg Joachim Göschen , who had given Schiller the accommodation, lived in the building's former stable section. During his time in Leipzig, Schiller worked on the second act of Don Carlos , edited Fiesco and wrote the first version of the poem An die Freude .

Rediscovery and impact of the Schiller Club

Schillerhaus in 1843
Schillerhaus on a steel engraving by Albert Henry Payne , around 1850, part of a collection of 20 engravings with motifs from Leipzig

In 1841, on the initiative of Robert Blum , Leipzig theater secretary and one of the pioneers of the German Revolution of 1848/49 , the Schillerhaus was rediscovered as Schiller's place of work, after which a memorial was set up. It was inaugurated on November 11, 1841 with the solemn unveiling of the newly built honor gate with the memorial plaque "This is where Schiller lived and wrote the song to joy in 1785". On October 24, 1842, the Leipzig Schiller Club was founded by Robert Blum. In 1848 the Schillerstube was opened to the public. In 1856 the house was threatened with demolition and auction, whereupon the Schiller Club acquired the building for 2150 thalers through donations and the financial commitment of a member of the board . This board member was the historian Heinrich Wuttke . In the next three years, the building and its outdoor facilities underwent decisive structural changes. In 1864 the entry in the land register was made on the Schiller Club. According to the statutes, when the association was dissolved, the house became the property of the city if the city undertook to use the building as a memorial. In the years 1896/97, 1911 and 1929–34, further structural repair and redesign work was carried out. In 1911 the architect Max Langheinrich rebuilt the gate of honor according to the old view. On December 4, 1943, during the bombardment of the city, a stick bomb broke through the roof and got stuck in Schiller's former bedroom. This bomb could be removed. As a result, valuable exhibits were relocated to the Wurzen Cathedral , some of which are considered a war loss.

The Schiller House during the GDR era

In 1949, the state government of Saxony dissolved the Schiller Association and made the Schiller House subordinate to the Kulturbund. The city of Leipzig now owned the building. In 1961 the Schillerhaus became a branch of the Leipzig City History Museum. In the years 1966–69 and 1985–89, further repairs to the castellan's house (ancillary building), the main house and a redesign of the courtyard and garden took place, which considerably impaired the historical appearance and irretrievably removed the historical plaster structure and coloristic design.

The Schiller House after the German-German reunification

Schillerhaus seen from the Schillerweg

In 1995 the Schillerhaus had to be closed due to the risk of collapse. In the years 1997/98, extensive building archaeological and restoration investigations followed with public and private funds, with subsequent conservation and restoration. On October 28, 1998, the Schillerhaus was able to reopen. In 2002 the garden was redesigned as a farm garden based on the historical model .

literature

  • Volker Rodekamp (Ed.): The Schiller House in Leipzig-Gohlis. Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig 1998, ISBN 3-7950-3905-3 .
  • The Schiller Festival in Leipzig . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 24 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig December 9, 1843, p. 377-378 ( books.google.de ).
  • Sabine Hocquel-Schneider: Repair and restoration of the Schiller House in Leipzig. In: State Office for Monument Preservation Saxony (Ed.): Preservation of monuments in Saxony. Communications from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments 1999.fly head, Halle (Saale) 1999, pp. 102-110.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ziegert, Christof: Lehmwellerbau: construction, damage and renovation . Fraunhofer-IRB-Verl, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8167-6314-6 , p. 99 .
  2. ↑ Ulrike Winterstein: The Leipzig Schiller Club from 1840-1859, ungedr. Mag.-work, Leipzig 1996.
  3. ^ [1] Holdings in the Leipzig City Archives
  4. ↑ https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/Q3OWVTLEGFN45CLRJJADA7EURCBNDISM
  5. ↑ http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/08547/sgml_eu_php_obj_gr014688.html

Web links

Commons : Schillerhaus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 31.8 ″  N , 12 ° 21 ′ 46 ″  E