Siemenshaus (Goslar)
The Siemenshaus is a half-timbered house in Goslar , on the corner of Schreiberstrasse and Bergstrasse. It was built in 1692/93 by the businessman and city governor Hans Siemens. At the front door, in ornamental wood carving, is the motto of the builder: ora et labora - pray and work .
The Siemens family, first mentioned in 1384, had risen from farmers and respected master craftsmen who held leading positions in Goslar guilds to merchants, land tenants and educated citizens at the beginning of the 17th century and provided the Free Imperial City with four mayors. One branch founded the global company Siemens in 1847 .
Entrance hall and courtyard
First you enter the "Däle" (= hall), a paved entrance hall that once formed the entrance to the courtyard that was converted on three sides. The goods were lifted with a cable through a hatch into the four attics, which are protected by a slate roof. In the courtyard on the left is the brewery with a large boiler oven and the props that were used to brew the “ Gose beer ”. A drilled out tree trunk, part of the water supply from the Gose, is reminiscent of the medieval water supply in the old town area of Goslar. The small grocer's shop, which ran until 1916, dates back to the 19th century and was once housed in the Däle and is now located in the adjoining room of the brewery.
House
The archive rooms, a large meeting room and a corner room with a view of the market and the imperial palace are located on the upper floor . There is a graphic overview showing the most important namesake of the family in their genealogical context, and a bust of Werner von Siemens , which was modeled by Adolf von Hildebrand . The window frames along the Bergstrasse are decorated inside with carved baroque columns. During the restoration in 1954, the large hall was again given windows with slug panes - as in the time it was built . The doors and ceiling beams in dark brown color also correspond to the baroque style .
history
The Siemens family of the imperial city of Goslar, which is still widespread today, was first mentioned in a document on January 2, 1384 with the agricultural citizen Henning Symons. The safe trunk line begins with Ananias Siemens (1538–1591). He was a citizen , brewer , oil miller and member of the shoemaker's guild in Goslar. A coat of arms seal of the family has been proven since 1670.
The family has a large number of descendants who worked in handicrafts and administration, in economy and culture, as traders and merchants, in mining and metallurgy, in law and other learned professions, but also in agriculture and in the 19th century. were active as inventors, technicians and entrepreneurs as well as in the banking sector in leading positions. Other Siemens clans based in northern Germany from Holland to East Prussia , including on the island of Helgoland , have no visible connection to the Goslar family, however, here it is only likely that names are identical due to the first name Simon , from which the family name is derived. The first Siemens in Goslar were arable citizens and in the following years properly organized shoemakers . In the imperial city of Goslar, which had become prosperous through ore mining, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries they achieved increasing economic and social success. The progenitor Ananias ran a brewery and an oil mill and owned extensive houses in Goslar. After admission to the word guild, he was deputed to the city council in 1579, member of the Wietamt , an authority for civil legal matters, and in 1585 confirmed as a guard in the Tafelamtsbuch.
Ananias' grandson Hans (1628–94) built the Siemenshaus, one of the most important town houses of the late Baroque. Hans had been a member of the Kramer and Word Guilds since 1654, their spokesman in the city council since 1686 and also held the office of city governor and eight man. His son Hans Henning (1667–1725) was also successful in trade and commerce; In 1715 he took over the Ohlhof near Goslar on lease, which remained in the family until 1825. His brother Georg Heinrich (1659–1740) was a merchant, mayor and long-time provisional officer of the spiritual foundations. His special merit as mayor lies in the reconstruction of Goslar and in particular the St. Stephen's Church after the town fire of 1728. In addition to numerous guild leaders and councilors, the Siemens family provided four mayors, including Johann Georg (1748–1807), a grandson of Hans Henning last was in imperial city times. During his tenure, the doctor of law and attorney implemented extensive reforms in the city administration as well as a reorganization of tax and financial policy.
The most important bearer of the name, however, is Werner Siemens (1816–1892), born in Lenthe near Hanover , one of the pioneers of electrical engineering who, with the establishment of his telegraph construction company Siemens & Halske in Berlin in 1847 , created the nucleus of today's global company Siemens . In 1866, with the discovery of the dynamo-electric principle and the construction of the first dynamo machine, he founded the economic high- voltage technology. In 1888 Emperor Friedrich III raised him . in the hereditary nobility.
The Siemenshaus was not owned by the family from 1778 to 1916, but was then repurchased by Werner von Siemens 'children on the occasion of Werner von Siemens' 100th birthday to be used as a family home for conferences and gatherings and as a collection point for a family archive with documents and pictures and books to serve. It is still owned by a family foundation today. Intensive family history research was carried out for the first time by Leo Siemens (1847–1925) who founded the Siemens family association in Goslar in 1873, to which the bearers of all branches of the Goslar family belong. Hermann Siemens (1891–1969), who held a professorship for dermatology at the University of Leiden and made pioneering scientific work in medicine , continued these investigations .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Document in the Goslar City Archives
Coordinates: 51 ° 54 ′ 16.1 ″ N , 10 ° 25 ′ 25.2 ″ E