Zwinger (Munster)

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The kennel on today's promenade .

The Zwinger in the Westphalian Münster is part of the former city fortifications from the early modern period . During the Nazi era it was both a prison and a Gestapo place of execution and was badly damaged by Allied bombing raids. Since it was converted into a memorial, the Zwinger has belonged to the Münster City Museum and houses the sculpture The Opposite Concert .

architecture

View of the outer wall from inside the kennel.

The Zwinger in Münster is a roundabout with a diameter of 24.3 m. This makes it bigger than the better known kennel in Goslar . The wall thickness of the outer wall is about 1.95 m. It is unclear whether this is the original strength. In 1932 , Max Geisberg assumed that the outer wall was up to 4.64 m thick during the construction period in the 1530s and was only partially removed in 1732, since, according to him, the walls of the inner ring were only new at this time were bricked. This would make “Dat grote Bollwerk”, as the Zwinger was also called, one of the strongest city fortifications of the early modern period.

According to recent research, however, the history of the building could also have taken a different course: It is known that Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck made the building “more powerful” between July 1535 and March 1536. The original system thus consisted of a roundabout with a diameter of approximately 19 m and a wall thickness of 1.9 m, today's inner ring. In order to strengthen the kennel, Franz von Waldeck had a second, upstream wall built at a distance of around 2.2 m with a wall thickness of around 1.9 m, creating the characteristic tour, the origin of which Geisberg originated in the partial removal of the outer walls sees. This new thesis is supported by the fact that the outer wall contains marl quarry stones. They were used in the construction of the original city wall and could have been used as building material for the wall of the bulwark when it was demolished and relocated in the area of ​​the Zwinger.

There is no reliable information about the original height of the kennel. Before the partial destruction in World War II , it was 8.75 m on the west side. However, it can not be yet to the original height, as in the razing of the fortifications and applying the boardwalk was demolished around the kennel earth even around in 1772 and he has since at least 2.25 m appears higher. This can be seen clearly from the former entrance, which was level with the surrounding area at the time of construction.

Inside, the kennel consisted of two floors, a basement and a separate attic. There is no information about the original division. On the other hand, there are plans for the interior design after the conversion to a prison in the 1730s. On all three floors there were six cells arranged in a circle around the inner courtyard in the middle of the kennel. They were connected by an outer walkway between the outer wall and the cells inside. The layout was changed again in 1919 when the Zwinger was rented out as a house and studio for painters. Walls were removed accordingly and new openings created. The partial destruction in World War II subsequently contributed to the fact that only a few parts of the original architecture have been preserved.

history

The kennel on a postcard from around 1900.

Due to the rule of the Anabaptists in the years 1534/35, the history of the Zwinger is only clearly documented from this point in time, as many documents in the city archive were destroyed by the Anabaptists. The construction and development history of the building before it came to power is therefore essentially based on the scientific study of the development of city defense and water management in the northeast of the late medieval minster.

Previous buildings

With the award of city rights by Prince-Bishop Hermann II von Katzenelnbogen in the period between 1173/74 and 1178, the construction of a city fortification began shortly afterwards, which consisted of a four to eight meter high city wall and a city moat in front. A critical area existed from the beginning in the northeast of the city defense: This is where the exit of the Aa from the city was, but at that time still in the area of ​​today's Coerdeplatz . The difference in height between the Stadtgraben and Aa, the water level of which was about three to four meters below that of the moat, was particularly problematic, as locks and later water bears ensured that there was always enough water in the moat. Therefore, special defense precautions had to be taken here. In addition, two old trading routes from the Roggenmarkt and the Old Fish Market ran in this area and joined together in the northeast of the city, so that at least the existence of an appropriately secured city gate is likely.

About the type of defenses one can only draw conclusions based on the topography and documents of the Überwasser Abbey : In the northern part of the city there was a floodplain of the Aa, a so-called “ Bruch ” or “Breul” in Middle High German. It was roughly between the current course of the river and the street "Am Breul" on the direct line of the former city wall. In the 11th century, the course of the Aa was shifted to the south in order to be able to drive additional mills on the so-called “Mollenstrom”. This created a new floodplain in the northeast, the “Nigebruche”. For the beginning of the 13th century is lifting register of the pen above water the plant of a new bridge in this area mentioned. Accordingly, it is assumed that the construction of the city wall was completed at this point in time and the bridge was needed to access the “Nigebruche” and the “Bentheimer Tor” located on a trade route to the north. For the year 1229 there is also a document of a city gate near the “Nigebruch”, which suggests that this meant a gate in the area of ​​the later Zwinger.

As early as the 1260s there were changes to the defenses, which also affected the area of ​​the Zwinger. The fact that there was construction activity at that time is proven by the “Powder Tower” east of the Bentheimer Tor, which was newly designated in 1265. A new city gate, the “Neubrückentor”, was built between the Bentheimer Tor and the gate in the northeast in 1265/66 at the earliest. Since only a new bridge and not a gate is used to indicate the location in documents from the years mentioned, from a scientific point of view the new gate must have been built after this time. Simultaneously with the construction of the new gate, the old trade route was probably relocated, which changed sides of the river within the city walls and has since led through the Neubrückentor. The old city gate in the northwest then became a watchtower, which Max Geisberg referred to as the "northeast tower" as early as 1932.

However, there are no documents in which this northeast tower is mentioned. The hypothesis is supported by the fact that marl quarry stones were built into the outer facade of the Zwinger and that rubble was filled inside the walls of the Zwinger as they were used for the construction of the city wall and the Buddy Tower . In contrast, these could only have got into the outer wall when Franz von Waldeck strengthened the complex in 1535/36, when he had this erected as a second, upstream wall.

With the advancing development of weapons technology in the 14th century, further adjustments to the defenses of Münster became necessary. Another earth wall was placed in front of the previous moat, which was also further protected by a moat. Different sources report the existence of this second ditch as early as 1350. This led to the question of how the exit of the Aa could be secured from the urban area, since four ends of the ditch now met the lower Aa and the different levels had to be leveled with sluices . The solution offered was an elaborate, but specially adapted solution: relocating the course of the Aa. So it no longer emerged from the city at the level of the Neubrückentor, but ran from the gate in the direction of the future Zwinger. Part of the inner ditch was used and the city wall between the Neubrückentor and the northeast tower to the city center was moved behind the Aa. This relocation brought two advantages: On the one hand, a lock could be relocated between the Aa and the inner ditch within the city walls and, on the other hand, the three remaining locks required could be concentrated directly in front of a defense tower, the northeast tower, which took over their security. In addition, it can be assumed that the tower was further expanded in order to be able to place additional cannons on it.

Construction as a fortress and part of the city fortifications

Excerpt from Everhardt Alerdinck's bird's- eye view of Münster , which clearly shows the structure of the fortification.

The construction work on the actual Zwinger began approximately around 1528 as a bulwark in the defenses of the city of Münster on the site of the old northeast tower. This hypothesis is supported by calculations by the city treasury from 1532, in which a "grothes Bollwerck" is mentioned for the first time in the area of ​​the city fortifications between Neubrück- and Hörstertor. The extent to which the bulwark corresponded to the shape and dimensions of today's kennel is unknown. Egbert Kaerbuck, who was commissioned by the Prince-Bishop to build the new plant in the southwest when the Aa entered the city, was possibly responsible for the construction.

During the reign of the Anabaptists in 1534 and 1535, they took control of the Zwinger and used it to defend against the sovereign Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck . After the bloody end of the Anabaptist rule, von Waldeck had the plant and the Neuwerk in the south-west converted into a fortress to put down a possible revolt within the city. According to this function, the complex was given the name "Zwinger", which is first documented in 1537. The renovation work began in July 1535 amid violent protests and against the ban by the district estates. The burgrave of Iburg, Johann Beyer, was commissioned with the renovation. A moat was drawn to the city side and the course of the city wall and moat was changed in a southerly direction towards the Hörster Tor. From then on they ran closer to the city, so that the kennel was completely surrounded by water like a kind of moated castle . It could only be reached via a narrow embankment, coming from the city side. The exact layout of the kennel can be seen on Everhard Alerdinck's “bird's eye view” from 1636.

On November 20, 1535, the Reichstag in Worms decided that Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck had to demolish the two illegally built fortifications. After negotiations by the state parliament, he was granted the right to build a new fortification on March 23, 1536. From this point on, he concentrated the construction work on the new plant, so that after just one year the Zwinger practically lost its function as a fortress and was again used for city defense. However, control of the complex was still under the control of the prince-bishop. This changed in the next two years. As early as the winter of 1537/38, the bishop no longer took over the wages for the farmhands stationed at the kennel. The costs for this were borne by the city and the state estates, who had already paid for the re-tiling of the roof in 1536/37. After the bishop did not pay any wages again in 1539, citizens of the city were assigned to guard the Zwinger. Thus, the plant was in fact already subject to the city of Münster.

The Zwinger was officially returned to the city in 1541 when Franz von Waldeck returned parts of the city's rights to self-government by means of a restitution deed on August 5th . From then on, a Zwingburg was no longer necessary and since then the Zwinger has served exclusively to protect the city. Little is known about its use in the following decades. It is only known for 1582 that a saltpeter lived in or in a porch on the dam at Zwinger, which served as an entrance from the city. In contrast, the oldest surviving depiction on the cityscape by Remigius Hogenberg comes from around 1570. This cityscape is based on an older model by Hermann tom Ring . The Überwasserkirche in the picture still has the spire that it had already lost during the Anabaptist rule. On this representation, which can be dated well before 1570, the pointed, red roof of the Zwinger can be seen.

Use as a mill and renovation

West side of the kennel

In 1619 it was initially planned to use the building as a penitentiary. However, it is not known who is responsible for this. However, this plan was initially not implemented and was only to be taken up again over 100 years later. Instead, around 1635, a horse mill for grinding black powder was installed in the Zwinger after a mill installed on the protective wall between the Zwinger and Hörstertor threatened to slide into the moat. It is explicitly mentioned in the city treasurer's bills. For the year 1657, two mills have been handed down.

Map excerpt from a siege plan from 1657. The Zwinger with its characteristic conical roof is easy to see.

On April 15, 1650 a fire broke out in the kennel and the powder caught fire. An explosion of over 500 pounds of black powder stored at the time was prevented, but the facility was severely damaged. A week later, on April 22nd, 1650, the city council decided that the mill had to be removed from the kennel and that other traders who had stored it there had to transport their powder away. At the same time, the council decided to vault the kennel in order to allow a pile of earth for a battery of cannons on the roof. This idea was dropped during a visit and so the council decided on May 2nd, 1650 to provide the kennel with a flat wooden ceiling. After almost a year nothing happened, this decision was rejected on July 9, 1651 and again replaced by the idea of ​​a vault. The city council gave the treasurers the job of procuring the necessary building materials. At the same time, the renovation work on the kennel began, with the roof being removed and temporarily covered with boards. However, due to a report by the respected engineer Heinrich van Geldern on May 10, 1652, this idea was not implemented either.

Almost a year later, the renovation was still not completed. It was only when the council put pressure on the guilds on April 2, 1653 and accused them of being to blame for the delays that construction work continued. The well-known Westphalian painter Everhard Alerdinck , who was already responsible for the beautification of the town hall for the negotiations on the Peace of Westphalia , was also involved. The Zwinger did not have a vault, but retained its conical roof, albeit in a slightly modified form. This is evidenced by siege plans by Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen from 1657 and 1661.

Conversion into a penitentiary

Years on the outer wall provide information about the respective construction phases.

After von Galen's successful siege of Münster in 1661, control of the fortifications and thus also the kennel passed to the victorious prince-bishop's ruler. However, there is no information about the use of the building during this time. The Zwinger does not appear historically until 1732. On behalf of the Münster cathedral chapter and the knighthood, a penitentiary was to be built in the city . As early as November 1731 there were plans to build such an institution near the Zwinger. The construction plans for this were provided by Johann Conrad Schlaun , who included the fortifications. It was supposed to serve as a remand prison while the convicts were imprisoned in the newly built penitentiary.

Schlaun's design initially envisaged dividing the inner ring by tenths on each level and setting up eight cells on the ground floor and on the top floor. Two parts per level were to be combined to form a large room in which the inmates could hear the mass from the prison opposite. There should be no cells in the basement. Here, the first draft envisaged connecting the two entrances with an arched corridor, possibly in order to be able to fill the basement with earth in order to enable a ground-level inner courtyard. Access to the individual cells should be established through a walkway between them and the outer wall. This either already existed since the renovation work by Franz von Waldeck in 1535/36 or, according to Max Geisberg's assessment, was achieved by partially removing the originally 4.64 m thick outer wall, which then only had a wall thickness of 1.95 m . The cells themselves were to have a door and a barred window facing this corridor, and a window on the opposite side of the outer wall through which light fell into the cells. Another, small unbarred opening was planned to the inner courtyard, where the toilet was also located, which was connected to a basin in the inner courtyard via a fall shaft. The basin was to be flushed through a feed line from the city moat, and the drainage into the Aa running directly next to the kennel.

On January 2, 1732, the state parliament decided to build the penitentiary. In order to cover the costs for this, the then Prince-Bishop Clemens August I of Bavaria was asked on January 27, 1732 whether he would approve collections or a lottery for financing. He issued an edict on May 16, 1732, according to which he had a corresponding collection carried out throughout the diocese of Münster . With the help of the money, the prison should be bigger and more representative than originally planned. Clemens August also planned the establishment of a prison factory.

Schlaun changed his designs to meet the new requirements. The large room on the ground floor should no longer serve as a meeting room for the inmates to listen to the mass, but as a guardroom. The large room upstairs became an interrogation room. The final result of the renovation work differed greatly from the original plans. So there were no longer eight, but only six cells per level. Instead, the basement was no longer filled, but was also given six cells, so that there was space for 18 instead of the initially planned twelve inmates. The cells were also given no windows to the outer walk, but only a door with a small, barred window above, and the windows in the outer wall were no longer opposite the doors of the cells. As a result, very little light fell into the cells; the cells in the basement were almost completely dark.

The cells on the different levels also differed significantly from one another: The room height in the basement was only 2.36 m, on the ground floor 2.96 m and on the upper floor 3.6 m. In order to reach the ceiling height on the upper floor, it was raised by 1.65 m.

As early as 1833 and 1835, the then building inspector Teuto suggested demolishing the building and building a new, larger prison on the same site. Since Teuto could not get through with this proposal , a new prison was built around 1850 on Gartenstrasse , just a stone's throw from the Zwinger . Nevertheless, the function as a prison was retained for some time. The last indications for a corresponding use of the Zwinger can be found for the year 1877, when the city of Munster did not purchase it.

Later use

The east side of the kennel. The entrance to the cellar vaults is half covered by the tree.

The Zwinger has had the status of a monument since August 21, 1900, after the provincial curator at the time intervened with the state government against the demolition. On June 16, 1911, the city of Münster purchased the Zwinger for 130,000 Reichsmarks . She was also required to keep the kennel permanently. After the First World War , the city rented the Zwinger in autumn 1919 to the Berlin painter and co-founder and first chairman of the Free Artists' Association Schanze Friedrich Wilhelm Liel , who had it redesigned for living and studio purposes. Corresponding use took place until 1935.

View from the outer corridor in the basement through the cells in the basement and ground floor.

During the time of National Socialism , the Zwinger was initially used as a “cultural home for the Münster Hitler Youth ”, and from 1944 as a detention center for the Gestapo . This led to executions of u. a. Soviet forced laborers and prisoners of war, apparently even after the building was partially destroyed by bombs in the spring of 1945 .

After the war the kennel fell into disrepair. Plans to turn the site into a memorial fell victim to financial difficulties. Among other things, Heinrich Böll was supposed to write a memorial plaque and visited the kennel in April 1971. It was only after Rebecca Horn brought the Zwinger to life with the sculpture The Opposite Concert during the exhibition Skulptur.Projekte 1987 that it was converted into a memorial. In September 1989, the city council decided to use the building as a memorial, commemorating "the victims of violence in Münster, the victims of war violence and the persecution of innocent people, especially the inhuman criminal justice system and the terror against political opponents," Members of minorities and prisoners of war during the Nazi regime ” . A comprehensive restoration took place between 1995 and 1997.

The opposite concert

The sculpture The Contrasting Concert by Rebecca Horn , which has been installed in the Zwinger since 1987 as part of the Sculpture.Projects , brought the Zwinger back into the public eye and accelerated the restoration of the ruined building. Horn installed a total of 42 metal hammers on the walls of the kennel, which regularly make a ticking noise. Together with erected eternal lights, an oppressive atmosphere should be created.

Inside the kennel, water regularly drips from a funnel and falls twelve meters deep into a cistern . Small details complement the sculpture, such as an egg that is held in place by two pointed metal needles that grow out of the ceiling and the floor.

Visits and opening times

The kennel can be visited during a guided tour on the first Sunday of the month from April to October. It begins in the Münster City Museum with a sound slide show about the history of the building. In addition, the kennel can be visited every third Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. Additional appointments can be made for groups and school classes (the guided tour is free for the latter).

In addition, from June to September there is the possibility of a visit on Sundays between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

literature

  • Marcus Weidner: Only graves as traces. The life and death of prisoners of war and "foreign workers" in Münster during the war 1939–1945. Munster 1984.
  • Rebecca Horn: The Zwinger in Münster . W. König Verlag, ISBN 3883756474
  • Max Geisberg : The architectural and art monuments of Westphalia , Volume 41: The city of Münster Part 1: The views and plans, basis and development, the fortifications, the residences of the bishops. Aschendorff, Münster 1976, ISBN 3-402-05090-0
  • Barbara Rommé (ed.): The Zwinger: bulwark, work of art, memorial . Aschendorff, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-402-12732-2

Web links

Commons : Zwinger  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Max Geisberg: The architectural and art monuments of Westphalia, Volume 41: The city of Münster, Part 1: The views and plans, basis and development, the fortifications, the residences of the bishops. P. 163f
  2. a b Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 20ff
  3. Max Geisberg: Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen, Volume 41: The City of Munster Part 1: The views and plans, basis and development, the fortifications, the residences of the bishops. P. 159
  4. Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 13f
  5. Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - Bollwerk, artwork, memorial , p. 14
  6. a b c Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - Bollwerk, artwork, memorial , p. 15
  7. Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 14f
  8. Max Geisberg: Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen, Volume 41: The City of Munster Part 1: The views and plans, basis and development, the fortifications, the residences of the bishops. P. 158
  9. a b Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 16
  10. ↑ Information board at the kennel
  11. Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 18
  12. Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - bulwark, artwork, memorial , p. 26
  13. a b Barbara Rommé: The Zwinger - Bollwerk, artwork, memorial , p. 28
  14. Westfälische Nachrichten : Tours in the Nazi era: New city guide about "Münster in the Third Reich" published , Münster, Münster, Martin Kalitschke, April 27, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten : New book about "Münster in the Third Reich": Tours in the NS -Zeit , Münster, Martin Kalitschke, April 28, 2013

Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 3.3 "  N , 7 ° 37 ′ 54.1"  E

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 30, 2006 .