Waaghaus (St. Gallen)
The Waaghaus is a listed building in St. Gallen's old town. In the open, lower floor of what is now the two-story building, changing events take place, such as Christmas markets or events. On the upper floor in the east there is a hall for exhibitions and concerts. In the western part facing the market square is the council chamber for the meetings of the St. Gallen city parliament.
location
The weighing house is at the eastern end of the market square and narrows the exit to the Brühltor and the traffic-wise important Rorschacherstrasse. This passage is therefore now reserved for public transport and local feeders. Originally there were other historic buildings in the area, such as the armory, later the theater (where the McDonald’s branch is today), the Brühltor itself and the bank, which is now again labeled with Notenstein .
history
The building was built between 1584 and 1585. For a long time it was known simply as the Waag , in the 19th century this name was slowly replaced by the name of a department store . After it had not fulfilled this function for a long time, this name was forgotten again in the second half of the 20th century. Today it is known as the Waaghaus .
The original purpose results from a council resolution of the year 1581: that one welle ain Huss zur Fhurwaag also the merchants' goods on the old Endtengraben by the Brülthor buwen and then on top on two grain chutes ob ainandrent . So you should be able to weigh, declare and store goods here. At that time, the upper floor of the butcher, which was located in the western part of today's market square, served as the actual department store for the sale of goods.
The building was used as a weighing and warehouse until the 19th century. After the construction of the train station and the new bonded warehouse in its vicinity, it became superfluous and briefly housed the police station. In 1876 a post office was opened in the Waaghaus, which remained there until the renovation in 1958 - this is now in the building immediately to the south. In a referendum in 1958, the population voted for the preservation and renovation of the weighing house with 6,448 against 6,147 votes. In this it was given the current room structure on the upper floor with two rooms in the east for events and in the west as a council chamber.
description
The weighing house has several noticeable features. First of all, the large entrance gates on the ground floor are noticeable, which were originally used by cars. The ground floor is open all around and is only protected against the cold with temporary doors for certain purposes - the openings on the east side are more recent, because as part of the former city wall it had to be closed at the time. The ground rises slightly to the east and is paved. The east and west facades are finished with stepped gables .
On the west facade there are two rows of windows above the ground floor. The two middle windows are particularly large and used to be equipped with a hauling crane, which made it possible to store large bales of linen and other loads on the upper floor. At the very top there is a large clock with a moon phase indicator and above it a roof turret with an onion hood. These come from the old town hall, which was demolished in 1877.
literature
- Erwin Poeschel (Berarb.): The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen. Volume 2. The city of St. Gallen. Part 1: History, fortifications, churches (without pen) and secular buildings (= The Art Monuments of Switzerland; Vol. 37). Birkhäuser, Basel 1957.
- City of St. Gallen: a geographical and historical local history. School administration of the city of St. Gallen. Without ISBN, approx. 1988, pp. 198f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josua Kessler p. 53, there is also a stonemason mark of the builder Wolfgang Fögeli from 1584 in the stone support of the ground floor
- ^ The monuments of the city of St. Gallen , edited by A. Hardegger, Sal. Schlatter and T. Schieß (St. Gallen 1922); cited in Pöschl, page 252
Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '34.6 " N , 9 ° 22' 38.5" E ; CH1903: 746,267 / 254637