Wurmeck

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The Wurmeck in a picture from 1910
The worm

The Wurmeck is the south-west corner of the New Town Hall in Munich , where the Weinstrasse joins Marienplatz . The building, completed in 1906, has a corner tower, the facade design of which takes up the Munich saga of the lindworm on several floors .

layout

A copper depiction of the lindworm winds up on the neo-Gothic corner tower above the ground floor . The figure was modeled by the sculptor Anton Kaindl and chased in copper by Hygin Kiene . Above it are three stone reliefs that tell the legend of the Munich lindworm. The dragon rises in the middle field, a citizen falls to the ground, hit by the poisonous breath of the animal, women and children flee to the sides. On the left, mercenaries and citizens prepare for battle against the dragon. You load a card . In the right field the Schäfflertanz celebrates the victory over the Lindwurm. The stone reliefs were created by the sculptors Jakob Bradl , Roth and Franz Bernauer and were a donation from the Munich-Aachen fire insurance company .

The theme is taken up again at eaves height above the third floor in the form of the gargoyles . In the center is a mega-fair , under whose cloak a devilish creature creeps up, symbolizing the plague . Next to it are figures who represent the fight against the disease, such as a doctor, a Schäffler and a musician.

History and legend

The saga of the Munich lindworm is a falsifying story of the origin of the shepherd's dance. According to it, a lindworm crawled out of the earth in the city center, possibly also at this corner of the market square at that time, and spread the plague. Courageous men defeated him, but still no citizen dared to go out into the streets until the shepherds marched through the city with their dances, which is still remembered today by the shepherd's dance . Since the shepherd's dance is only proven as a guild custom in the 17th century, long after the plague, it is a retransfer.

The reason for the legend is the name Wurmeck for the medieval town house, which was demolished for the construction of the town hall, with the address Marienplatz 3 in the same place. The building was officially listed as Schönnecgaeris eckehaus (Schönecker's corner house) as early as 1310/12 and is also mentioned in connection with the Schönecker family. The house name Wurmeck is mentioned for the first time in 1431. In a list of corner house names from the year 1725 it is reported that a lindworm was attached to the corner house, from a later time the relief of a Saint George killing the dragon is proven.

Since it is known from an Augsburg branch of the Schönecker family that they had a panther in their coat of arms, this could be the origin of the representation and legend: This mythical creature has a dragon's head, a lion's body and eagle's claws and, depending on the heraldic representation, can easily be mistaken for a lindworm become. Thus, the name could also be derived from a family coat of arms of the Schöneckers attached to the house. As a theory, it is stated that the panther may no longer be recognized as such and that Saint George was added as an allegedly meaningful representation.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The description is based on Josef Divora: Das Rathaus zu München , Verlag der Städtischen Regieverwaltung, 1909, page 12 f. - Facsimile edition in the Munich Archive , Volume 17 (2000), Archiv Verlag
  2. ^ Richard Bauer : Marienplatz and City Hall. Hugendubel, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89631-193-X , p. 50.
  3. ^ Richard Bauer: Marienplatz and City Hall. Hugendubel, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89631-193-X , p. 51 f.

Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '15.17 "  N , 11 ° 34' 30.36"  O