Wallrafplatz

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The Wallrafplatz is a place in Cologne Altstadt-Nord , located between High Street and Cologne Cathedral .

View from the south tower of Cologne Cathedral . On the left is the beginning of the Hohe Straße , on the top right the radio building

history

middle Ages

Arnold Mercator's Cologne cityscape from 1570 mapped Wallrafplatz as a crossroads between "An der gulder Wagen" / "Voir der vetter hennen" and "Op hoigher smitten" / "Am Howe"
Wallrafplatz 3 - houses at the Hohen Schmiede 1614
Carl Emanuel Conrad - The large cathedral picture (1856) with Wallrafplatz in the foreground

In the Middle Ages, there was no space at today's Wallrafplatz, but the intersection of “An der Hohen Schmiede” / Am Hof ​​with “An der gulder Wagen” (today's Hohe Strasse) / Unter Fettenhennen. So-called chain houses ( row houses ), which were built around 1554, were located “at the Hohen Schmiede” . The “smithy near Haus Rom” (today's Wallrafplatz No. 3; formerly Hohe Straße 149) gave the street its name. The Gymnich (Gymnicus) printer family lived here. The neighboring house to the west was the house “zum Bären”, whose oldest owner is recorded in the shrine books in 1255 as Christian Bere. An extension is already recorded in 1258 and in 1312 it was given the name "zum kleine Bären". On June 22nd, 1424, Maximilian I arrived in Cologne by ship and, coming from the cathedral, drove through the street “An der Hohen Schmiede”. That was also her name in Arnold Mercator's Cologne cityscape from 1570 (“Op hoigher smitten”). Mercator mapped the - not yet existing - Wallrafplatz as the intersection between "An der gulder Wagen" (today's Hohe Straße) / "Voir der vetter hennen" (Unter Fettenhennen) and "Op hoigher smitten" / "Am Howe" (Am Hof).

A real printing district later established itself in this area. Johann Gymnich IV (Gymnicus; * around 1570 in Cologne, † 1634 ibid) bought the house "Zum Bären at the high smithy" for 1200 Reichsthalers in December 1598 and set up a printing house here. In 1605 and 1608 he acquired the two neighboring houses in Ludtgen (first Mentioned in 1496) in order to have a new building with stepped gables erected under the name “Zum Einhorn” on the entire site in 1614 (today's Wallrafplatz No. 3; previously: Hohe Straße 149). The house "zum Einhorn" offered space for printing companies and families across generations. The last bookseller family here was that of Thomas Odendall, whose widow was still selling publications in 1778. In 1747 his publishing house published the "Bibliotheca Coloniensis" by the Jesuit Joseph Hartzheim.

Founding period

The Dompropstei, built in 1363, was also "An der Hohen Schmiede", at the intersection of Unter Fettenhennen / Am Hof ​​1. The vernacular had named Unter Fettenhennen after an inn that had been there since 1400, "zo der Hennen bei dem Domkloster" , a pub owned by the landlord Dietrich von Rheydt, which is also mentioned in a document on March 5, 1448. The street name then appeared in a tax list from 1478 as "zo vetterhennen". In No. 7 Arnold Birckmann named his bookstore founded in 1511 “In pingui gallina” (in the fat hen) after the street. The dilapidated cathedral provost house had been empty since 1794 after the then Cologne cathedral provost Franz Graf Wilhelm Oettingen-Baldern (1725–1798) had to flee and leave his official residence. The later namesake of Wallrafplatz, Ferdinand Franz Wallraf (1748–1824), last rector of the old Cologne University and donor of an extensive art collection, received permission from the French prefect in 1794 to live rent-free in the empty Cologne cathedral provost during the French occupation to preserve his art collection. Wallraf was of great importance for the French administration, because he was commissioned by it to deliver the French translations for the Cologne street names in the address book " Itinéraire de Cologne " , which was valid from January 1, 1813 . Max Greven ( Greven's Adreßbuch-Verlag ) took over the representation of the Parisian house Ch. Christofle & Cie. From his father Wilhelm Greven . (No. 2) and continued it until 1900.

  • Wallrafplatz - Dompropstei portal and south tower of the cathedral (drawing by Samuel Prout , 1824)

  • The 1838 square with the cathedral under construction in the background.

  • Wallrafplatz 3 - to the unicorn (around 1900)

  • Wallrafplatz 5 - Hotel Monopol (around 1905)

  • Wallrafplatz with Stollwerck House (postcard around 1910)

  • Wallrafplatz with advertising pillar by "Farina opposite" 1925 ...

  • Wallrafplatz 2012

  • The plane tree in summer

  • Entrance of the WDR broadcasting house, inaugurated in 1952

The Prussian government later tolerated Wallraf's tenancy agreements and on June 17, 1823 rejected an application by the city of Cologne to let the city own the area. At the instigation of the building councilor Matthias Biercher, the royal government granted permission on February 11, 1829 that the city and the cathedral chapter could demolish the cathedral provost in exchange for a building site on the castle wall and set up a space here. After the provost's office was demolished in June 1830, a secular new building was to be built in the same place; three Roman matron stones were found here during excavations .

The now unobstructed view of the - as yet unfinished - cathedral was positively noticed, so that the plans for the new building were rejected, while the citizens of the city increasingly called the free area "Wallraf's-Platz". The square also enabled a direct connection between Hohe Straße and the cathedral monastery. Building officer Biercher succeeded in securing this place as a gathering and resting place before entering the narrow Hohe Straße. By 1830, a total of three new squares were created that connected to Hohe Straße, namely Augustiner, Laurenz and Wallrafplatz. On February 15, 1831, a showman performance took place for the first time on the newly laid out Wallrafplatz. On March 29, 1833, the Cologne city ​​architect Johann Peter Weyer delivered the building plans for the vacated space of the demolished house in which Wallraf lived. On October 15, 1880, Kaiser Wilhelm I and his wife Augusta drove north along Hohe Strasse to take part in the inauguration of the cathedral and, to the sparse applause of the crowd, turned onto Wallrafplatz to reach the cathedral in an open carriage. The map by Anton C. Greven from 1888 already takes Wallrafplatz into account.

Far-reaching structural changes to the architectural image took place on Wallrafplatz from 1895, when the low, classical building of the Johannes Wrede court pharmacy (No. 1; formerly Hohe Straße 147) was replaced by a five-storey building. The Wrede family has been running pharmacies here in the fifth generation since 1781. The second house burned down in 1943, the rest were destroyed by bombs in 1945. From 1945 the pharmacy was temporarily housed in an emergency building at the same location. At the urgent request of the Wrede family, the farm pharmacy was to be rebuilt, so that on April 15, 1946, planning permission for the rebuilding was obtained. On September 15, 1954, architect Peter Neufert applied for permission for Georg Wrede to complete the rest of the building (three additional upper floors and an attic) of the court pharmacy. The luxury hotel Monopol with the “Café Monopol” - a meeting place for progressive artists - was built between 1899 and 1900 at No. 5 by architect Ludwig Paffendorf , and was converted in 1927 by Emil Fahrenkamp. On December 6, 1918, the general of the British occupation forces, Charles Ferguson, took up residence in the Hotel Monopol, where he received the Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, on December 12, 1918.

Modern times

A horse-drawn tram had been running between Wallrafplatz and Cologne-Merheim right in front of the Monopol Hotel since May 1, 1901, and turned into the street An der Rechtschule / Am Hof. The luxury hotel, which was hit by a bomb in World War II but was not completely destroyed, determined the floor area and height of the new WDR building Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz , which was built here , because the hotel ruins were integrated into the new building. Both cost pressure and material shortages played a role. Construction on the first generation of WDR buildings began in April 1948, when large parts of the city were still in ruins. It was the first major construction site in Cologne after the war. The still usable 25 percent of the building fabric of the destroyed hotel was included by the architect Peter Friedrich Schneider . On June 21, 1952, the entire broadcasting house was officially opened in the presence of Federal President Theodor Heuss and 700 other guests. The entrance portal is decorated with engravings by Ludwig Gies (1952).

Just as historically significant is the Stollwerck House on the south-east corner, which was officially inaugurated on April 27, 1907, on the corner of Hohe Strasse (no. 160–168) with a passage to the street Am Hof. On the south side of Wallrafplatz, at the beginning of the street An der Rechtschule, a sandstone building from 1915 is the only reminder of the earlier development, the “zum Einhorn” printing house that was demolished in 1899. In May 1935, the Hermann Abels art salon moved to No. 6 next to the Dr. Andreas Becker in No. 4. There were no more vacant lots on the small Wallrafplatz; it is surrounded by residential and commercial buildings.

Wallrafplatz 6 - former Kristallpassage (February 2012)

Numerous air raids on Cologne , especially on May 30/31, 1942 and March 2, 1945, caused major damage to the existing buildings on Wallrafplatz. Today, single-storey buildings (nos. 2-4 and 6-8) line only the east side of the square. The southern vacant lot of this (No. 6) will be closed by an office and commercial building, which should be completed by the end of 2015. For this purpose, the Kristallpassage (No. 6) was demolished in January 2013; it was built in 1952 as a single-storey building in unity with the Blue-Gold House (Domkloster 2) by the Cologne architect Wilhelm Koep (1905-1999). A Swarovski boutique is located in No. 8 . Numbers 7 and 9 are on the north side; it is residential and commercial buildings.

After the Hohe Strasse was declared a pedestrian zone on September 29, 1967, motor traffic was also banned after 1969 on Wallrafplatz, Am Hof ​​and Unter Fettenhennen, which created space for outdoor catering. Gigi Campi and Alfred Biolek opened the "campi im funkhaus" in the former WDR canteen in September 1997. After Campi's death in 2010, the children Ines and Paolo Campi continued to run the café, which is now an authority. When the lease with WDR expired on June 15, 2012, the move to Aachener Strasse took place in December 2012. Redevelopment of the square by August 2003 led to the laying of a new floor area of ​​3000 m² made of Spanish granite.

Others

The television series Der Spatz vom Wallrafplatz (first broadcast: September 9, 1969) is named after the square. The sparrow - with an obvious Berlin background - explored the area around Wallrafplatz from the only plane tree on the square in order to explain everyday stories to children. The series ended after 36 episodes in 1976 because the crowds were no longer manageable during the shooting.

Location and importance

The 123 meter long square is located between Cologne Cathedral, Domplatte and Hohe Straße, which is heavily frequented by passers-by, making it one of the liveliest squares in Cologne. It forms the focal point between the luxury shops at the cathedral monastery and the tourist focus Cologne Cathedral on the one hand and the Hohe Straße shopping street on the other. In addition to Hohe Strasse, there are entrances from Wallrafplatz to the streets Am Hof, An der Rechtschule, Domkloster / Roncalliplatz and Unter Fettenhennen. The Dom / Hauptbahnhof underground station and Appellhofplatz underground station are nearby .

Web links

Commons : Wallrafplatz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Köbler: Collection of smaller Old High German language monuments . 1986, p. 238.
  2. ^ Judith Breuer: The Cologne cathedral environment as a mirror of the cathedral reception in the 19th century . 1981, p. 176, FN 98.
  3. ^ The city of Cologne inherited his collection with 1,616 paintings, 3,875 hand drawings, 42,419 prints, documents, manuscripts, books and coins
  4. ^ Johanna Schopenhauer: Excursion to the Lower Rhine and Belgium in 1828 . 1830, p. 235 f. ( online )
  5. ^ Greven's Adressbuch-Verlag: 1828-1978: 150 years Greven-Verlag Cologne . 1978, p. 21.
  6. ^ Greven's Adressbuch-Verlag: 1828-1978: 150 years Greven-Verlag Cologne . 1978, p. 63.
  7. ^ Ferdinand Franz Wallraf / Johann Heinrich Richartz: Selected writings . 1861, p. XXIX. ( online )
  8. ↑ Joseph Klersch / Heribert A. Hilgers: From the Imperial City to the Big City: Cityscape and Economy in Cologne , 1794-1860. 1925, p. 48.
  9. ^ Johann Peter Weyer / Ulrich Bock / Werner Schäfke: Cologne antiquities . Volume 1, 1993, p. 22.
  10. ^ Werner Strodthoff: The radio house on Wallrafplatz . In: Klaus Katz, Dietrich Leder, Ulrich Pätzold, Ulrike Ries-Augustin, Günther Schulz, Petra Schulz (editors and editors): In tune with the times. 50 years of WDR. Kiepenheuer & Witsch , Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-462-035-80-0 , pp. 288 and 291.
  11. ↑ a b Markus Brehmer / Bettina Hasselbring: Radiotage, Fernsehjahre: Studies on the history of radio after 1945 . 2006, p. 301. ( online )
  12. ↑ June 21, 1952 - Opening of the NWDR radio house in Cologne. WDR 1, June 21, 2012, accessed October 10, 2013 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 25.5 "  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 22.8"  E