Thon-Dittmer-Palais

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Thon-Dittmer-Palais in Regensburg

The Thon-Dittmer-Palais is located in the center of the old town of the Upper Palatinate capital Regensburg in Bavaria and is part of the northern perimeter of Haidplatz (Haidplatz No. 8). The city palace with its classicist facade was built in two phases (1781–1785 and 1808–1809) with the combination of two Gothic house castles. The four wings of the palace, two of which are equipped with arcades , enclose an inner courtyard in which there are also building elements of the Gothic Sigismund Chapel, a Gothic courtyard bay with a relief of a pair of lovers and the figure of a Baroque Vanitas , as well as a Renaissance arbor Find previous buildings.

In 1856 the city of Regensburg bought the palace from the Thon-Dittmer heirs, originally with the intention of setting up an educational and cultural center for the city. The intention was partially realized, however, there were also external uses. Until the 1960s, the building was used so intensively and for a variety of purposes that it was briefly threatened with demolition in 1956. After renovation measures, the building was increasingly used culturally from 1957, initially by the German-American Institute and the Regensburger Volksbücherei . After extensive renovations from 1977 to 1981, which were associated with the demolition and rebuilding of the north wing, today both the Binnenhof and the rooms of the palace are mainly used for cultural purposes.

history

The Thon-Dittmer-Palais was built between 1781 and 1809 through the structural union of two medieval patrician houses. The client was Georg Friedrich von Dittmer , who rose to become a successful businessman in Regensburg after 1750 . Under the direction of the master builder Emanuel d'Herigoyen , the two medieval houses - the western, so-called Erlbeck house and the eastern, so-called Alcoferic house - were combined behind a classicist facade, with the structural fabric of the eastern house being lost . At that time, the city palace was built in its current form with an inner courtyard, the three-story Renaissance arcades of which come from the Erlbeck House on the west side, while there are no arcades on the east side.

The previous building

The western of the two previous buildings was on the corner of Weingasse and once belonged to the powerful Regensburg bourgeois family of the Auer , then the Granern, then the Schwäbls and finally the Erlbecks . In 1781 Georg Friedrich von Dittmer acquired the medieval building on Weingasse from the Erlbeck heirs and had it converted into a classicist city palace by 1785 in accordance with his needs. This palace was inhabited for a good 20 years and then, in 1808/1809, in a short period of two years, parts of the neighboring medieval Alkofer's house were added. a. the doctor Georg Andreas Agricola had lived.

In 1808 Georg Friedrich von Dittmer acquired the eastern Alkofersche house on Baumhackergasse and planned to combine the two houses behind a common classical facade. For this purpose, the Alkofersche Haus was partially demolished so that the rest of the building could be attached to the palace, which has been inhabited for 20 years. The builder Emanuel d'Herigoyen solved this difficult task brilliantly. The new city palace with its current appearance was created by Herigoyen relocating the five-axis central projection on the existing palace, including the triangular gable, by three axes to the east. To round off the look, a representative arbor was added on four Tuscan columns on the upper floor . The positions of the two courtyard entrances have been adapted to the new conditions and the previous frames have been copied for the frames of the new windows. In the new Binnenhof, the Gothic elements above the courtyard entrance and the baroque statue, as well as the Gothic Sigismund Chapel - and the Renaissance arcades have been preserved.

Involved members of the family

Of the ten children of Georg Friedrich Dittmer, only the two daughters Sibylla, Elisabeth (* 1762 † 1798) and Friederika Amelie (* 1772 † 1806) survived. The older daughter Sybilla Elisabeth married the banker Friedrich Mantey (* 1760 † 1831), a cousin of her father who, like her father, came from Pomerania in 1789 . The younger daughter Friederika married the businessman Carl Christian Thon (* 1764 † 1831) in 1795. In 1800, Georg Friedrich Dittmer and his two sons-in-law were given the status of imperial baron by Emperor Franz II . Thereafter, the sons-in-law of Mantey-Dittmer and von Thon-Dittmer called themselves.

During the time when both houses were structurally combined to form today's Thon-Dittmer-Palais after 1800, the later mayor of Regensburg Gottlieb von Thon-Dittmer (* 1802 † 1853) spent his youth in the buildings. As the son of Carl Christian von Thon-Dittmer, born at the end of 1802, he was one of several grandchildren of grandfather Georg Friedrich von Dittmer. Another granddaughter was the daughter Juliane (* 1799 † 1871) of Karl Christian von Thon-Dittmer. She was married to Adolf von Zerzog and became the owner of Gut Etterzhausen in 1831 after the death of her father .

The end of the family and the palace

In 1814 the son-in-law of Georg Friedrich von Dittmer, Friedrich von Mantey-Dittmer, transferred his share in the Dittmer company to his brother-in-law Carl Christian von Thon-Dittmer. Since then the building has been known as the Thon-Dittmer-Palais . The last but one owner of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais was the granddaughter Johanna (* 1800 † 1833) of grandfather Georg Friedrich von Dittmer, an older sister of Gottlieb von Thon-Dittmer. She was married to Ludwig Ernst von Schulteß (* 1799 † 1858). The palace remained the property of the granddaughter's husband until 1856, when it became the property of the city.

The palace is owned by the city of Regensburg

Under Mayor Friedrich Schubarth it was decided to establish the palace as a municipal cultural center. In the many rooms of the palace, different types of schools and all the scientific associations with their libraries and collections were to be housed. The concept did not work because the large space requirements for schools gradually displaced the clubs. As early as 1860, Mayor Oskar von Stobäus began to wall up the open arbors of the Renaissance arcades in the west wing in order to gain space. When the volunteer fire brigade had to be housed after 1860 and the professional fire brigade under Mayor Otto Hipp after 1927, the rooms in the north and east wings of the palace were needed in addition to the entire inner courtyard. In addition, the risk of fire increased because a large refueling system was set up in the Binnenhof.

The new construction of a main fire station outside the old town in Greflingerstraße , which was already planned at that time, was delayed by several decades. It was only 20 years after the end of World War II that the professional fire brigade was able to move to the new fire station in 1965. Ten years earlier, in 1956, an application had been made to the city council to demolish the Thon-Dittmer-Palais because of the totally ailing roof structure and to use the property to build a modern department store. Only with the help of a supplementary budget - organized by Mayor Hans Herrmann - and with the help of financial subsidies - obtained from the museum director at the time, Walter Boll - could the demolition plan, which is unbelievable from today's perspective, be prevented. The catastrophic conditions only changed when the fire brigade was able to move into new buildings after 1965.

Building description

The palace is a four-wing structure that surrounds an inner courtyard. The entrance facade facing Haidplatz has 15 window axes and a central risalit . The coat of arms of the Barons von Dittmer can be seen in its triangular gable. A presented arbor is supported by four sandstone pillars.

Entrance portal to the Sigismund Chapel
Woman figure (around 1650) below the watch bay

A pointed arched gate leads into the three-storey inner courtyard with renaissance arcades . The arcades on the west side (columns with changing capitals ) were built around 1580, the arcades on the north side are a new building from 1979/80. A clock bay from 1380/90 is on a richly profiled console . A pair of lovers can be seen at the foot of the bay window (a bearded man kneels in front of a busty girl, whom he holds by the hand and strokes her hair). Under the clock bay is a life-size, carved wooden female figure from around 1650. The inscription on the base cartouche is: "The clock now / has run out / remember that time / is to die."

The Sigismund Chapel with an original pointed arch gate (around 1380) is located on the ground floor of the south wing. The chapel could originally have stood on the ground floor of the medieval tower of the previous building. The vault ribs rest on six consoles decorated with foliage and figures. The keystone of the eastern yoke shows an enthroned figure with flowing hair in a long robe and is interpreted as holy Sigismund. However, the figure lacks a halo and the right arm that carried the attribute, so that there are doubts about the purpose of the room as a chapel. The chapel is now used as an exhibition space.

A three-aisled, groin-vaulted, three-aisled hall with eight columns is located to the northeast in the rear building and was probably formerly used as a stable. It was restored in 1977 and today serves as the foyer of the theater venue. The hall is also used as an exhibition space.

Uses

Associations and societies

After the acquisition of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais by the city of Regensburg in 1856, the city building authority was advised by the civil engineer Franz Josef von Denzinger on the planned use of the building as a cultural center. Denzinger found 75 usable rooms, of which 36 rooms are suitable for school purposes, 13 rooms are suitable for the trade association and art association , 7 rooms for the historical association , 6 rooms for the botanical society , and 6 rooms for the natural science association Regensburg , as well as 2 rooms for the agricultural association.

schools

In the rooms that can be used for schools, the following were accommodated and visited by King Maximilian II in 1858:

  • The trade and trade school from the start,
  • The so-called royal high school from 1864 to 1894, which was called the new high school from 1880. Due to the rapidly growing number of pupils, the grammar school was relocated to a new building on Minoritenweg in 1894, where it became the forerunner of today's Albrecht Altdorfer grammar school .
  • At times a district secondary school and a building trade school.
  • From 1903 two municipal vocational training schools for boys and girls with almost 1000 people, with a professional structure and mandatory attendance based on the model of the Munich city school council Georg Kerschensteiner . The girls branch remained in the building until 1953, the boys branch until 1956 with a total of 4,000 people.

In the period that followed, the school space requirement grew so much due to the growing number of schoolchildren that from 1881 all clubs and societies were pushed out of the Thon Dittmer-Palais. This meant that the original concept of an urban cultural center could no longer be realized. Soon after 1860, the renaissance arcades in the inner courtyard of the palace were walled up in order to gain space.

fire Department

In May 1860, a permanent fire station was set up in two large rooms in the north wing of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais for the volunteer fire department founded two years earlier . Many fire extinguishers remained in the old town hall until 1922 . The first fire engine was purchased in 1914. In 1922 there were already three vehicles for which garages were built on the Binnenhof in front of the north wing and a petrol station with a 300 l. Storage tank have been set up. When the newly founded professional fire brigade took over the facilities as a fire station in 1927 , the petrol tank increased to 2,000 liters. enlarged, an underground hose cleaning system and a 21 m high tower for drying hoses built, which existed until 1966. In 1958, three new garages were built in the west wing of the building, using the openings in the Renaissance arcades carefully and uncovering the walled arcades on the 1st floor to compensate.

Culture house in the post-war period

Arcade courtyard of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais

After the Second World War and after the fire brigade moved out, the original concept of an urban cultural center in the Thon-Dittmer-Palais was remembered. The driving force behind the implementation of the concept was Walter Boll , who, after his denazification process, drove the development forward as museum director, head of the city archive and head of the cultural department from 1949.

After the vocational schools for girls and boys moved out in 1953 and 1956, a phase of renovation began in 1953 in order to be able to accommodate the German-American Institute (DAI) , which had also been represented in Regensburg since 1946. The upper floors of the south wing were renovated with financial support from the Americans amounting to 50,000 DM. In 1957 the DAI moved into the rooms, organized events and lectures, showed films and built up a comprehensive English-language library. In 1999, the DAI ceased operations and transferred its media holdings to the city ​​library , which then also moved to the building.


Today the building houses the cultural office, the adult education center and the city ​​library of the city of Regensburg. The Regensburg Theater is also represented there with the Theater am Haidplatz venue . The contact group for disabled and non-disabled people also uses rooms in the building. An auditorium with 198 seats and two smaller conference rooms are available for events. Numerous open-air theater and music events are held in the inner courtyard every summer. The Sigismundkapelle exhibition project, which shows contemporary art, is located in the Sigismund Chapel.

literature

  • Karl Bauer : Regensburg, Art, Culture and Everyday History, 6th edition, pp. 307-310, H. Gietl Verlag, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN = 978-3-86646-300-4.
  • Werner Chrobak: Das Thon Dittmer-Palais , City of Regensburg, Kulturreferat (Ed.), Culture Guide, Volume 25, ISBN = 978-3-943222-55-5.

Web links

Commons : Thon-Dittmer-Palais  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 309 f .
  2. ↑ Werner Chrobak: The Thon Dittmer-Palais . In: City of Regensburg, Kulturreferat (Hrsg.): Kulturführer . tape 25 . City of Regensburg, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-943222-55-5 , p. 27-35 .
  3. ↑ Joseph Kible: Etterzhausen. Past and present. Interest group of the locality Etterzhausen, Etterzhausen 1996, p. 60.
  4. ↑ a b c Werner Chrobak: The Thon Dittmer-Palais . In: City of Regensburg, Kulturreferat (Hrsg.): Kulturführer . tape 25 . City of Regensburg, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-943222-55-5 , p. 64-69 .
  5. ↑ Werner Chrobak: The Thon Dittmer-Palais . In: City of Regensburg, Kulturreferat (Hrsg.): Kulturführer . tape 25 . City of Regensburg, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-943222-55-5 , p. 69 ff., 77 f .
  6. ↑ Werner Chrobak: The Thon Dittmer-Palais . In: City of Regensburg, Kulturreferat (Hrsg.): Kulturführer . tape 25 . City of Regensburg, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-943222-55-5 , p. 34 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Arcades are also said to have been present in one element on the north wing. The current arcades on the north wing were only added later in 1977 for reasons of alignment, which was very controversial at the time
  2. ↑ At that time, Boll had already planned the use of the upper floors in the west wing by the German American Institute
  3. ↑ The narrowness and the structural condition of the building made a new building for this school inevitable. In 1965 the school operation could be relocated to the Kerschensteiner vocational school (today the municipal vocational school I for metal and electrical engineering in Regensburg).
  4. ↑ Until 1999 these institutes existed in many cities as associations for the promotion of democratic ideas in Germany

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 '11.9 "  N , 12 ° 5' 35.4"  E