City Planetarium (Dresden)

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Book title on the Dresden City Planetarium

The Dresden City Planetarium was built by the architect and city ​​planning officer Paul Wolf in the New Objectivity style , built on Stübelallee and destroyed by bombing during the Second World War . The technical access ramp to the Transparent Factory is now at its former location .

The planetarium on Stübelallee, a reinforced concrete building with a dome, was said to be " expressive, star-shaped".

building

The planetarium was built in 1925 and 1926 in the area of ​​the Dresden exhibition grounds on the site of a demolished official apartment building from the time the City Exhibition Palace was built. In terms of its basic shape, the building was a 16-sided domed structure with a short, approximately 15-meter-long wing extension for its main entrance. The dome was 25 meters in diameter.

The planetarium was built as a reinforced concrete structure by the Dresden branch of the construction company Dyckerhoff & Widmann . The company was able to fall back on relevant experience because it had already created comparable structures for the cities of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Jena, Leipzig and Nuremberg.

The planetarium had a main entrance on Stübelallee . Its western side entrance served as a connection with the municipal exhibition grounds. This made multifunctional use possible.

Administrative and operational expenses

As a municipal facility, the planetarium had been subordinate to the Municipal Exhibition Office from the time it was built and its financial budget was run by this administrative office. As early as 1927, only 60 percent of the expenses due for the building could be repaid from the income. Despite some promotional activities, the number of visitors could not be increased any further. In the winter months in particular, the popularity fell considerably. In 1930 the number of visitors had dropped so much that the previously usual daily demonstration events were reduced to three per week.

In contrast to its opening year 1926 with 60,300 people, the number of visitors dropped considerably from 1928 (31,500) and reached a momentous low in 1931 with 8010 and 1932 with 9185 tickets. Since 1933 the planetarium has remained closed for its actual purpose.

After the planetarium screenings ended, it was used as an exhibition cinema in the 1930s and operated by the Boehner-Film company. In the context of various exhibition events, this company sometimes did not charge an entrance fee, as the demonstrations served the purpose of the respective event. The company took over the cinema operation in the planetarium after showing films at the II. International Hygiene Exhibition of 1930/1931 in the cinema, about 150 meters south of the planetarium. This light play house existed since 1927 as a lightweight construction on the eastern edge of the Dresden exhibition grounds, right next to the Botanical Garden .

Scientific work and technical equipment

The operation of the planetarium began in 1926 under the direction of the recognized amateur astronomer Kurd Kisshauer , who was in charge of it as director and scientific director. Kisshauer strove for popular science education, which initially seemed easy due to the brisk activity of the neighboring exhibition center. His departure from Dresden in 1930 represented an important aspect for the continued operation in question.

With the construction, a projector was installed in the building based on the invention of Walther Bauersfeld , which came from the Carl Zeiss optical works in Jena.

The projector had 16 individual projectors for the northern and southern hemispheres, a total of 32 sub- projectors . This represented 5400 fixed stars of the first to sixth magnitude . The names of constellations and important fixed stars, important planetary nebulae as well as the band of the Milky Way were shown by additional projector parts. Two small spheres on the main parts of the projector showed the celestial equator , the ecliptic plane and 24 meridians in the curved projection sky .

Most of the seating in the building came from the A. Lickroth & Cie. School equipment factory. in Dresden- Niedersedlitz .

The technical equipment of the planetarium was outsourced before 1945 and therefore survived the destruction. Parts of it have been in the Radebeul public observatory since 1979 .

various

The city of Dresden, as the operator, has always advertised the exhibition site on Stübelplatz intensively. Poster art played an important role in this. The Dresden artist Friedrich Kurt Fiedler worked for the integrated urban planetarium .

For the planetarium, the Dresden company Dr. Meinel made a commercial in the 1920s. During this period it also supplied a cinema facility for the planetarium, but this was only a subordinate form of use.

literature

  • Kurd Kisshauer : The planetarium of the city of Dresden . undated Dresden (contemporary description).
  • Marta Fraenkel ; Georg Seiring (Ed.): 10 years of exhibition work in Dresden . Verlag der Internationale Hygiene-Ausstellung Dresden 1930/31, Dresden 1931.
  • Sixth Annual Show of German Labor Dresden 1927 - The paper. Official leader . Dresden (publisher of the annual show of German work) 1927.
  • International Hygiene Exhibition Dresden 1930. Official Guide . Dresden (published by the International Hygiene Exhibition) 1930.
  • Statistical Office of the City of Dresden (Ed.): Dresden in Figures 1925 to 28th Statistical Yearbook of the City of Dresden . 27th year Dresden 1929.
  • Statistical Office of the City of Dresden (Hrsg.): Dresden in numbers 1936. Statistical yearbook of the city of Dresden . 35th year Dresden 1937.
  • Statistical Office of the City of Dresden (Ed.): The Administration of the City of Dresden 1927 . Dresden ( Dr. Güntzsche Foundation ) 1929.
  • Statistical Office of the City of Dresden (Ed.): The Administration of the City of Dresden 1930 . Dresden (Dr. Güntzsche Foundation) 1931.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gilber Lupfer: sketch of a history of modern architecture in Dresden from the turn of the century until the thirties . In: Gilbert Lupfer, Konstanze Rudert, Paul Sigel (eds.): Bau + Kunst (commemorative publication for the 65th birthday of Professor Jürgen Paul). Hellerau-Verlag, Dresden 2000, ISBN 3-910184-75-8 , p. 177
  2. ^ The administration of the city of Dresden 1927, p. 31.
  3. ^ The administration of the city of Dresden 1930, p. 31
  4. ↑ Dresden in Numbers 1936, p. 31, item 8. Visiting the public museums and collections.
  5. ↑ Kurt Fiedler in scribd.com

Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 40.2 ″  N , 13 ° 45 ′ 28.9 ″  E