Schweidnitz cellar

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The entrance on the south side of the town hall (2010)
The entrance to the Schweidnitzer Keller 1859 (without the figures next to the barred window, which were first added in 1892)

The Schweidnitzer Keller (Polish: Piwnica Świdnicka ) is a historic restaurant in the basement of the Wroclaw Old Town Hall . It has been open almost continuously since shortly after 1273 and is the oldest restaurant in present-day Poland . The cellar was closed at the end of 2017, but is set to reopen.

Rooms of the restaurant

In addition to the entrance hall and the taproom (with bar), the Schweidnitz basement now consists of eight guest rooms. The historical German names have been retained under their Polish translation.

history

On September 28, 1273, the city of Breslau received from Duke Heinrich IV of Silesia, among other things, the right to the sole serving of wine and local beer . In order to be able to exercise this right, the city set up a bar in the basement of the Wroclaw City Hall , which was built around 1275 . From this point on, only the poor quality Wroclaw beer was allowed to be served in all other restaurants in the city. Since the beginning of the 14th century, beer brewed in Schweidnitz was the most popular in Wroclaw, which is why the restaurant was given the name Schweidnitzer Keller , which is still used today .

From 1884 to 1891 the Schweidnitzer cellar was restored in sections under the direction of Carl Johann Lüdecke . As a conclusion, figures created by Christian Behrens were placed on the consoles to the right and left of the lattice window above the south entrance in 1892 . They are popularly called the drunken reveler and the nagging woman . The next renovation took place after nine months of closure in 1904. In 1919 the previously inaccessible smoke hole under the town hall tower was integrated into the Schweidnitz basement through a wall opening, which thus offered space for up to 700 people. The cellar was restored again from 1936 to 1938; some Art Nouveau elements that were attached in 1904 were removed.

From spring 1945 to spring 1946 the cellar was used as a hospital. After that, the rooms were not used for 10 years until the Club of Working Youth (Klub Młodzieży Pracującej) opened there in 1960 with a bar , cinema (in the farmer's cellar) and billiards room (in the citizen's cellar). After the club closed due to economic difficulties, exhibitions of live animals took place in the rooms in the early 1990s . Restored from 1996 to 2002, it has been used as a restaurant again since then. The closure took place in 2017 because the tenant was in arrears. A first tender for a new operator ended with considerable controversy, the reopening is to take place after the legal disputes have been resolved.

Wroclaw originals

The Ellen Malchen

Numerous Wroclaw originals frequented the Schweidnitzer Keller . These were:

  • Brother alex . This was a mendicant monk from the Oswitz district of Breslau, who was a daily guest in the cellar in the years after 1700. His original appearance always resulted in an invitation to free beer .
  • Post Wilhelm . He was a former postal worker who had lost his fortune. In the 1860s he regularly drank the leftovers from the beer mugs.
  • Ellen-Malchen , whose real name was Amalie Renner. Between 1824 and 1884 she went from table to table with a handle basket every evening, selling rulers and other drawing tools, dolls and other small toys.
  • Spoon man , who sat there around 1860 and sold carved spoons in a vendor's tray .
  • Fetzenpopel was a woman who walked through Breslau wrapped in rags at the beginning of the 18th century.
  • Dr. Nagel , a doctor who - very unusual for an academic at the beginning of the 19th century - did not employ servants, but did his daily shopping himself. This included buying a mug of beer every evening in the Schweidnitzer cellar and transporting it home.
  • Neumann, called the Bohemian Loan , because he pumped everyone who spoke to him for a Bohemian (= silver groschen).
  • Säge-Wilhelm , a carpenter, who was never seen without a frame saw slung over his shoulder and who also went to the cellar with it.

Citizens and students

Many of the Wroclaw student associations had their daily regulars' table in the Schweidnitzer Keller . The most popular place was the most beautiful room, the bay. The Raczek fraternity was the first to find a regular place there. It was followed by the Arminia fraternity in 1848, the Leopoldina fraternity in 1852 and the Germania fraternity in 1859 and the Vandalia fraternity, and later the Cheruskia fraternity. Due to lack of space in the bay, the Saxo-Silesia gymnastics association had their regulars in the Bürgererkeller and the Fridericiana singers in the Bauernkeller, the Academic Gymnastics Club in the Hansekeller and the two reform fraternities Saxonia and Askania in the Ratsherrenstübel. The Catholic associations Marchia, Winfridia , Salia and Rheno-Palatia had tables in the bin since 1906. The corps had no fixed tables, but were also regular guests in the basement. Because of the regulars' tables distributed throughout the entire restaurant, albeit concentrated in the bay, there was daily lively contact between citizens and students, which differentiated Wroclaw from almost all other university locations.

Known guests

Memorial plaque in the entrance to the basement

There was a saying in Wroclaw : If you haven't been to the Schweidnitzer Keller, you haven't been to Wroclaw! ; It was also formulated more sharply: Anyone who has seen the Fürstensaal but not the Schweidnitzer Keller is in any case a barbarian, no matter how much he has traveled . The restaurant was therefore regularly visited by travelers. Among the guests were:

See also

literature

  • Karl Fr. Kretschmer: Memories of the Kretschmer guild and the Schweidnitzer cellar in Breslau. In: GGB Yearbook 1979: Berlin 1978 pp. 123-134
  • B. Emil König: The book from the Schweidnitzer cellar . Otto Gutsmann Publishing House, Breslau 1886
  • H. Markgraf: Breslaus Schweidnitzer Keller from the 14th to the 20th century . Breslau: Graß, Barth u. Comp. 1904
  • Thomas Maruck: The Schweidnitzer cellar in the Wroclaw town hall . Bergstadtverlag, Würzburg 2009
  • Rudolf Stein: The Schweidnitzer cellar in the town hall of Breslau. A venerable mirror of old Wroclaw history and cheerful art, of comfortable enjoyment and comfortable life . Verlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn, Breslau 1941 ( digitized version ), reprinted Würzburg, 1982.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The drinker holds a beer mug in his right hand (for transporting beer), and in his left hand a mug called a Breslau hedgehog (to drink from)
  2. ↑ The woman is holding a slipper threateningly in her right hand .
  3. ↑ See Ernst Hornig: Breslau 1945. Experiences in the enclosed city , Bergstadtverlag, Würzburg 1975, p. 76.
  4. ↑ https://www.schlesien-heute.de/news-schlesien/item/369-investor-fuer-schweidnitzer-keller-gesucht
  5. ↑ Quote e.g. in: Der Oberschlesier , year 21 (1939), p. 15
  6. ^ Albert Emil Brachvogel: Benoni - Ein Roman , Vol. 1, Verlag Hermann Costenoble: Leipzig 1860, p. 199.
  7. ↑ Unless otherwise stated in the following, information according to the memorial plaque in the entrance area to the basement (on the stairs, right).
  8. ↑ Muzeum Miejskie Wrocławia: Piwo we Wrocławiu , 2002, p. 82
  9. ↑ See Ossip Demetrius Potthoff, Georg Kossenhaschen: Kulturgeschichte der Deutsche Gaststätte , Olms, 1996, p. 71.
  10. ↑ Rudolf Stein was a monument conservator in Breslau. Under his direction, the Schweidnitzer cellar was restored in medieval style from 1936 to 1938.

Web links

Commons : Schweidnitzer Keller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 34.6 ″  N , 17 ° 1 ′ 54.5 ″  E