Speaker
Description
This theme focuses on the reconstruction process of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in “Breitscheidplatz”, which was located in the center of West-Berlin. After the World War II, there have been extensive discussion between intellectual regarding the traces of war, namely ruins of urban architectural spaces or fragment of significant buildings in the city.
About the reconstruction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also were various opinions from a board of trustees for reconstruction the church, the senate of West Berlin, experts from different fields and the public in Berlin. At the same time new urbanistic demands around “Breitscheidplatz” had to be considered due to changes in urbanistic, political, and economic conditions. Such demands have been incorporated into the reconstruction process of Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church through Egon Eiermann's architectural concept, and as a result, the architectural and historical value of the church continues to be preserved to this day.
This presentation covers 1) the various opinions on the ruins that were commonly present in Germany after the World War II, 2) the discussions surrounding the reconstruction of the church from 1947 to 1956 across different fields, and 3) how these discussions led to the establishment of monument concepts for the fragments, so called "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church", and 4) furthermore, it will be explained how they ultimately influenced Egon Eiermann's architectural concept.
References
1) Sabine Baumann-Wilke: Die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche von Egon Eiermann in Westberlin, Entstehung und Bedeutung, Bände 1-3. Techn. Univ. Braunschweig, 1988
2) Otto Bartning: Ketzerische Gedanken am Rande der Trümmerhaufen, in: Frankfurter Hefte, Nr. 1, 1946
3) Paul Clemen: Rheinische Baudenkmäler und ihr Schicksal. Ein Aufruf an die Rheinländer. 1946
4) Ernst Sauermann, Landeskonservator in Schleswig-Holstein und Direktor des Thaulow- Museums in Kiel, aus dem Abschiedsvortrag, gehalten am 30. September 1947 an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, zitiert nach: Günther Grundmann, Lebendige Denkmalpflege. Zum Tode von Prof. Dr. Ernst Sauermann. In: Deutsche Kunst und Denkmalpflege, 1956
4) Eberhard Hempel, Kunsthistoriker Dresden, Ruinenschönheit. In: Zeitschrift für Kunst 2, 1948
5) Albert Rapp, Leiter des Historischen Museums in Frankfurt, 1948, Brief an OB von Frankfurt. Quelle: Denkmalpflege Berlin. Zitiert nach: Durth, Werner/Gutschow, Niels: Träume in Trümmern. Planungen zum Wiederaufbau zerstörter Städte im Westen Deutschlands 1940- 1950. 2 Bde. Braunschweig/Wiesbaden 1988
6) Walter Dirks: „Mut zum Abschied. Zur Wiederherstellung des Frankfurter Goethehauses“. In: Frankfurter Hefte 8/1947
| Keywords | Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, reconstruction, Monument Concept, Egon Eiermann |
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