White Horse (Braunschweig)

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Advertisement from 1935, with the note: Old historic restaurant for 600 years

The White Horse was an inn in the northwest of the city of Braunschweig , which existed at least since 1641, but possibly since the early 14th century.

history

The inn name "White Horse" appears in various chronicles as early as 1330. At that time, however, for an inn that was in the northwestern area of ​​the city of Braunschweig on the Rennelberg , between the Petritor and the city ​​fortifications . There it was mentioned several times between 1641 (first documented mention) and 1705. It was roughly where there is now the Freisestraße (formerly Pflegehhausstraße, named after the local “care house”, a hospital), the remains of the Kreuzkloster and the Rennelberg JVA .

Lithograph by Wilhelm Pätz , mid-19th century

When the city's defenses were modernized between 1717 and 1719, the residents of Rennelberg had to leave the area. Their houses as well as the “White Horse” were demolished in order to have a clear field of vision and field of fire . The ducal commission for the administration of the public property thereupon built a new economy of the same name only about 500 m northwest of the original place, at the crossroads of strategically important military and long-distance trade routes from the west and north . Today the place is at the intersection of Celler Straße and Neustadtring ( B 1 ). The inn was initially a contact point for all those travelers who had not managed to get into Braunschweig before the city gates closed. In 1718, stables were built on the land that the nearby Kreuzkloster had given for it, and in 1720 a garden was laid out for the inn, again on the former site of the monastery. In 1726, Hans Meyer became the first private owner to purchase the inn for 2100 thalers. The innkeepers then changed in quick succession and the name of the hostel also varied between “White Rose” and “White Horse”. From the middle of the 18th century, the name "White Horse" had finally established itself.

From this time on, the inn developed into an important meeting place for cattle traders who came to the Braunschweig trade fair , which takes place twice a year . The building was expanded to accommodate larger parties and eventually had two floors. Concerts were held in the upper room from April 1786. The ten-year-old “musical child prodigy ” Johann Nepomuk Hummel made a guest appearance on July 25, 1789 at the “Weissen Roß” and gave piano concerts there.

Postcard around 1900
Advertisement from 1909 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment No. 92

During the French period in Braunschweig between 1807 and 1813, the innkeeper Stäffe was an opponent of the French and a supporter of the Brunswick Duke Friedrich Wilhelm , whom he made it possible several times to meet with confidants incognito in the premises of the "White Horse" and resisted to organize against the Napoleonic troops. After the end of the French era, the inn became a popular destination for the citizens of the nearby town and the surrounding area. In the Biedermeier period , host Christian Gravenhorst had been providing musical entertainment for his customers since around 1828 with summer concerts in the adjacent garden and in winter on the upper floor of the half-timbered house . As early as 1829, public interest was so great that concerts were given for ten weeks in the summer. The concert and ballrooms were used in winter .

In 1844 a major fire destroyed the old half-timbered building. It was then replaced by a two-story, but much larger and more comfortable new building in the neo-Romanesque style with round arches and balustrades.

However, the decline of the "White Horse" came with the growth of the city beyond its medieval borders and with industrialization from the middle of the 19th century. In Braunschweig, the west and north of the city were particularly affected by this development, where numerous large companies and craft businesses settled and at the same time cheaper living space had to be created for the necessary labor.

During the First World War , the inn was converted into a reserve hospital . Then it was back to an inn. In the 1930s a hotel with 31 beds was added. Around 1934 the “White Horse” celebrated its 600th anniversary. On the advertisement from this time is given as the date of foundation "1334". On the night of October 15, 1944, the entire area, as well as large parts of the city, was completely destroyed by the heaviest bombing raid on Braunschweig . Reconstruction began in 1948 - albeit on a much more modest scale. In 1968, only 20 years later, everything was torn down again and Nord / LB set up a bank branch on part of the property.

Until the end of 2007 there was still a small pub called “Weißes Ross” on another part of the site . It was demolished together with the remaining small-scale buildings at the end of 2007 to make way for a shopping center . The work was completed in 2009 and the mall opened.

Reminiscences

Logo of the “Weisses Ross” shopping center in 2013

The shopping center was given the name “White Horse” as a reminiscence of the popular excursion restaurant. As a reminder, a large white horse in the style of the Lower Saxony horse and the words “Weisses Ross” are emblazoned on two sides of the building above the entrances .

A street running nearby was called Roßstraße until 1935. In 1935 it was renamed Julius-Konegen-Straße in honor of the Brunswick industrialist Julius Konegen . The first horse-drawn tram ran in Braunschweig in the 1890s . One stop was called "Weißes Roß". In the post-war period of the Second World War, a bus stop with the same name was a reminder of the well-known tavern for a long time. Today it no longer exists either.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Kurt Hoffmeister: Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte: Historic restaurants…. P. 44.
  2. ↑ a b Mechthild Wiswe: From the "White Horse" in Braunschweig. P. 26.
  3. ^ Hermann Kleinau : Historical directory of the state of Braunschweig L – Z. In: Publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony (Bremen and the former states of Hanover, Oldenburg, Braunschweig and Schaumburg-Lippe). XXX: Historical directory of Lower Saxony. No. 2: State of Braunschweig. August Lax Verlagbuchhandlung, Hildesheim 1968, p. 687.
  4. ↑ a b c d Mechthild Wiswe: From the "White Horse" in Braunschweig. P. 27.
  5. ↑ Otto Hohnstein : History of the Duchy of Braunschweig. Verlag der Buchhandlung F. Bartels Nachf., Braunschweig 1908, p. 449.
  6. ↑ Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Gerhard Schildt (ed.): The Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia . 2nd Edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9 , pp. 863 .
  7. ^ Kurt Hoffmeister: Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte: Historic restaurants…. P. 45.
  8. ↑ White horse razed to the ground In: Braunschweiger Zeitung of December 6, 2007.
  9. ↑ The shopping center will be called "Weißes Roß" In: Braunschweiger Zeitung of March 31, 2008.
  10. ↑ Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweigs streets - their names and their stories. Volume 3: Outside the city ring. Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-926701-48-X , p. 144.

Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 21.1 ″  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 22.4 ″  E