Volkshaus Meiningen
The Volkshaus in Meiningen is a classical ensemble of buildings in the southern Thuringian district town of Meiningen . It was built as a "Schützenhaus" for the Meininger Schützengesellschaft as a club domicile, later served a variety of uses and today, as an event location, forms a focal point in the city's social life.
location
The listed Volkshaus ensemble is located in the north of the city center, not far from the castle park on Landsberger Strasse and Volkshausplatz. The Volkshausbrücke over the nearby Werra is named after him. The former Bank for Thuringia and the Meiningen State Theater are nearby .
Buildings
The Volkshaus Meiningen consists of two buildings, the main building built in 1831 and the large ballroom building built in 1913. Until 1947 the ensemble was called "Schützenhaus" and "Großer Schützenhaussaal". An application made in 1997 to demolish both buildings was rejected by the monument protection authority.
Volkshaus (Schützenhaus)
The rifle house was built in 1831 as the domicile of the Meininger Schützengesellschaft and rebuilt and expanded in 1835 and 1863. The building is a three-storey building in the classicism style with a central projection , Corinthian pilasters and four triangular gables . It has a two-storey hall on the ground floor and a large ballroom on the second floor. Renamed “Volkshaus” in 1947, it has served a variety of uses since it was built. The Volkshaus has been vacant since 1996 with emergency security.
Volkshaussaal (Schützenhaussaal)
Architect Karl Behlert had the large Schützenhaussaal built in 1912/1913. The Schützenhaussaal, with a 23-meter-long and 9-meter-wide foyer in front of it, offered space for 1400 people in the 25-meter-long and 20-meter-wide hall with a gallery . From 1991 the hall was empty. The renovation began in November 2016 and the Volkshaussaal was returned to social use on October 2, 2018. The modernized building now offers a height-adjustable stage with the latest stage technology , 460 variable seats or 920 standing places in the parquet and around 200 permanent seats on the three-sided tier . In addition to the lobby, which can also be used for events, there is also a lounge with a bar on the upper floor.
history
Volkshaus (Schützenhaus)
The Schützenhaus was built in 1831 as a single-storey classicist building with a garden by the architect Georg Philipp Buttmann for the Meiningen Schützengesellschaft. The Meininger Schützengesellschaft was created in 1795 through the merger of the civil and stately rifle clubs that had existed up until then and was one of the oldest in Germany in modern times. In addition to shooting sports , the rifle festival and bird shooting , it offered the residents of the residential city social and cultural offers of all kinds and thus formed the social and civic center of the city.
Because of the steadily growing city population, court architect August Wilhelm Döbner had the Schützenhaus enlarged in 1835 and the well-known Meiningen architect Otto Hoppe converted it into a classicist building that still exists today. In the two world wars, the rifle house served as a reserve military hospital and in 1944/45, like the hall, as the main camp IX C (b) designated hospital for Western Allied prisoners of war. After the end of the war, in May 1945 it was briefly a displaced persons camp for former Polish forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners. From September 1945 the rifle house served as a transit camp for displaced persons from the former German eastern regions. The Soviet military administration confiscated the building complex in October 1945, banned the Meininger Schützengesellschaft and on January 1, 1947, handed over the Schützenhausensemble to the SED.
On May 1, 1947, the name was changed to Volkshaus . After the confiscation was lifted in 1951, the Meininger Schützengesellschaft was finally expropriated and the Volkshaus became the legal entity of the city as the property of the people. In the late 1950s, a three-story extension with apartments was added to the south wing, which was then torn down again in the 1990s. From 1959 to 1979, the Volkshaus housed the regional speech therapy school , which then moved into a new building. The upper ballroom fulfilled the function of a gym and assembly hall , while the hall on the ground floor continued to serve as a gastronomic facility with dance events. The cult discotheque “Diele” was established here from the mid-1970s and existed until 1996. The building has been empty since then.
Großer Volkshaussaal (Großer Schützenhaussaal)
From 1910 the construction of a new hall building was planned because the halls in the Schützenhaus were no longer able to cope with the diverse requirements of the growing royal seat. A concert and festival hall was designed to serve charitable purposes. In the following architectural competition, the project from court building officer and architect Karl Behlert was awarded the contract. Soon afterwards, in 1912/1913, Behlert had the "Großer Schützenhaussaal" built, which was ceremoniously handed over to the Schützengesellschaft on July 28, 1913. The official opening of the 203,000 marks (purchasing power adjusted in today's currency: around 1,102,000 euros) expensive building took place on April 19, 1914. In addition to a share of 80,000 marks from the Schützengesellschaft, friends of the Schützengesellschaft contributed to the construction costs by subscribing to share certificates (28,000 marks), the city of Meiningen (60,000 marks), the Strupp banking family (15,000 marks) and Duke George II (20,000 marks) at.
The organ from GF Steinmeyer & Co. with 2965 pipes and 45 registers was built according to Max Reger's specifications and put into operation by himself on February 20, 1914. The cost of 25,000 marks for this was borne by Duke Georg II from his private fortune. The organ was officially inaugurated on April 19, 1914 by Karl Straube . Max Reger also played on it on the occasion of the funeral service for the death of Georg II. The Schützengesellschaft sold the organ in 1937 to the Christmas Church in Berlin-Haselhorst . During the First World War the hall was used as the “Royal Reserve Hospital”, during the Second World War initially as a reserve hospital and from 1944 as a hospital for Western Allied prisoners of war (main camp IX C (b)).
In 1947 the Schützenhaussaal was renamed the Großer Volkshaussaal . From May of the same year, major political events, district and district days, boxing competitions, balls, company celebrations, dance events of all kinds and rock concerts were held in the large hall. As one of the largest venues in the region at the time, almost all known rock bands from the GDR performed here , including Renft , the Puhdys , Stern Meißen , Lift , Electra , City and Karat . The Hungarian bands Omega and Generál were also guests here. Extensive rebuilding and renovation work was carried out in 1967. In 1991 the hall was closed due to construction defects and an emergency backup was carried out later. In 2000, the “Volkshausförderverein” was founded with the aim of preserving the ensemble of the Volkshaus, which is a listed building, and putting it back into use. In 2011, the Meininger Theater temporarily used the Volkshaussaal as a venue for the musical Cabaret due to the renovation of the Great House .
In November 2016, with funding from the Free State of Thuringia, under the direction of Meiningen architect Karsten Merkel, the fundamental renovation and the installation of multifunctional uses of the Volkshaussaales began. The ideal “Volkshaus share” contributed to the financing with 80,000 euros in proceeds, which could be acquired by sponsors in amounts of 50, 100 or 1,000 euros, as well as 25,000 euros in donations from the Volkshausförderverein. The total cost of the renovation was around 5 million euros. The Volkshaussaal was reopened with a ceremony on October 2, 2018.
literature
- Peter Schmidt-Raßmann: Meiningen as it used to be. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen, 1992, ISBN 3-925277-82-X .
- Alfred Erck (Ed.): Meiningen. Lexicon on city history. Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
- Tränhardt / Pfannschmidt: Architecture in Meiningen. Verlag Resch, 2010, ISBN 978-3-940295-08-8 .
Web links
- www.volkshausmeiningen.de Volkshausförderverein
- www.insuedthueringen.de 100 years Volkshaussaal
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Peter Schmidt-Raßmann: Meiningen as it used to be. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen, 1992.
- ↑ a b c Meininger Tageblatt, edition on October 3, 2018.
- ↑ www.ev-weihnachtskirche.de Reger organ
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 29.2 " N , 10 ° 24 ′ 47.6" E