Observatory Halle
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 20 " N , 11 ° 57 ′ 33" E
The Halle observatory was built in 1788 and has the shape of an octagonal tower ( octagon ). It is located on the grounds of the Botanical Garden of the City of Halle (Saale) . Today, the observatory is considered to be the oldest building erected by the University of Halle and, next to the main university building ( lion building ), it is the most important testimony to classical architecture in Halle. In 1923 the observatory was closed, today there are social and work rooms in the building.
history
Only in the late 18th century was the university able to erect its own buildings for scientific research. The Chancellor of the University of Halle, Carl Christoph von Hoffmann , chose the Botanical Garden, which had belonged to the university since 1698, as the location for the observatory, as money was not available for suitable land purchases. He wanted it to be viewed not just as a botanical, but also as an “economic” garden. However, this led to tensions between the institutes, as they had neither space nor legal restrictions on each other.
Through the mediation of Baron Karl Abraham von Zedlitz , Carl Gotthard Langhans , the creator of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin , was won as an architect . Zedlitz was the Prussian minister for academic affairs and friend of Hoffmann's studies at the University of Halle.
description
The observatory is in the western part of the Botanical Garden. The octagonal tower is three storeys high and has four balconies on the top floor that are strictly aligned with the cardinal points . The vestibule for the attached meridian hall is on the ground floor . A larger library was housed on the first floor , which was transferred to the University and State Library in Halle in 1923 . There it is still managed as a special collection today. The refractory hall was on the top floor . The interior was renovated in 1826; the exterior Doric portal architecture designed by Langhans has been preserved. The observatory was reconstructed and is now a listed building .
annotation
In addition to the observatory in the Botanical Garden, the city of Halle also has other observatories and planetariums . From 1978 to 2018 the space flight planetarium "Sigmund Jähn" with observatory existed on the Peißnitzinsel , the successor of which is to be opened in 2021 in a gasometer at Holzplatz. An astronomical station in Halle-Kanena is even older .
Web links
literature
- Fritz Kümmel (Ed.): 300 years of the Botanical Garden of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg . fly head, Halle 1998. ISBN 3930195364 .
- Holger Brülls / Thomas Dietsch: Architectural Guide Halle on the Saale. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 2000. ISBN 3496012021 .