Building in Germany - Renaissance

Old architecture is definitely worth considering, and if you use short vacation on short trips in your own home country, it is the old architecture in Germany, which in this case is worth considering. More specifically, today we are concerned with the Renaissance in Germany and its influence on architecture and architecture.

In our country, admirable architectural monuments is in such a sufficient selection that you could make an era for every shorter journey: If you have already visited the structural legacies of the old Romans (see the article "Buildings in Germany - the beginnings from antiquity to Romanesque" ), the Gothic architecture may come to the next vacation (place "Gothic architecture in Germany" ).

Of course, the era you have to do with your holiday destination, the monuments of the early days can only be visited in the west and south of Germany, the Gothic offers a little more choice, and if you have already penetrated the Renaissance, you can visit buildings from this era across Germany:

The Renaissance as a "new fashion" from Italy

While the first models of the Gothic architectural style were transmitted from France, the Renaissance was influenced Italian “Baumode” The country in which the supposed revival of the ancient forms from which the Renaissance has its name, began to build the country with the ancient.

Historians with a impartial look do not see this revival as deliberately intended process, they speak soberly that the high achievements of architecture in the fighting in the fight simply have been forgotten and one now wanted to go back to the old artistic heights.

At the time, as is often the case, the recording of modern currents in the architecture was first prepared by the avant -garde: the Fugger was that in 1509 had their delimited family band of the St. Anna Church in Augsburg expanded in the trendy Italian style, and suddenly all Augsburgers wanted to build in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

The first customer of the new building style had come to Augsburg via trade routes, this trading city was one of the most important cities in Europe with countless trade connections and was also one of the important information exchanges of that time.

However, such productive relationships in the world were not the rule, and there were by no means trade routes across the country, where travelers could "carry the latest gossip" in every place.

, also advanced builders to struggle with the difficulty that they did not even know the Italian buildings of antiquity from illustrations and that they were usually given reports of the current forms of the Italian Renaissance architecture from second or third hand.

German builders didn't easily implement the Renaissance

When implementing these not very precise reports through the hands of German builders, there were many misunderstandings; That z. B. Ornaments made of textile sample books served as a model for the decor of a facade was not uncommon.

Architectural historians have observed that in Germany of the 16th century there was a kind of bourgeois "Lego antiquity" in which small elements were supposed to show progress in architecture, but looked glued in their individual tiny forms as well as the traditionally built facades.

For another reason, the German builders did not have easy to implement these current influences: even then there were immovable and therefore anti -progress bureaucracy, and even a lot of it in Germany.

Even more worse and much worse, Germany was a territorial patch carpet of numerous tiny principalities who liked to be able to work frequently and often the religious leadership by the Reformation caused almost lawyer between these influences and paid the colliery in the arguments with their life and with their goods. As a result, large parts of the country remained in their development.

Only where the powered princes lasted long enough and promoted the Renaissance style as a trendy form of modern art could impressive Renaissance buildings be created. Thank God there were some such princes scattered across the entire area of ​​later Germany, and there were builders whose constant interest in foreign cultural influences made them smarter.

Finally, the Italian Renaissance was connected, at the latest with the castle buildings , the Dresden Residenzschloss , Hartenfels Castle in Torgau in Saxony and the Berlin city palace , for example.

You can find Renaissance buildings in Germany in every direction

Northern Germany

In the northern part of Germany, the Renaissance buildings were rather simple compared to other regions. The architecture showed no pronounced preference for the strict based on antique role models, as was the case in Italy. Instead, the North German Renaissance was largely influenced by the Dutch architect Hans Vredeman de Vries (1526-1609).

In northern Germany, the Güstrower Castle a visit, and the Nikolaikirche in Stralsund, which comes up with a very interesting and elaborated interior.

East Germany

In the east, the castles attract in Dresden and in Torgau, and in Halle an der Saale, Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg made several representative Renaissance buildings created between 1514 and 1541: Moritzburg, the cathedral, the new residence and the market church form their own, in any case impressive Renaissance ensemble.

Saxony has even more to offer when it comes to Renaissance art, as well as Thuringia, in both federal states, many castles and churches in the Renaissance style have been built: the Wilhelmsburg in Schmalkalden, the Gotha Castle, the Rudolstädter Stadtkirche, the town hall of Leipzig, the inner choir room of the Cathedral of Freiberg and the Schönhof in Görlitz.

In the Baltic Sea area there are also some remarkable architectural masterpieces from the Renaissance period, such as the Güstrower Schloss and Wismarer built . The castle was built as a residence for Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg from 1558, while the Mecklenburg dukes had the Fürstenhof built in Wismar in 1553 as a magnificent summer residence in the Italian Renaissance style.

The facade of the Fürstenhof is decorated with semi -plastic terracotta plates, with figurative fries differentiate the three floors. On the street side, the Frisians tell stories from the Trojan War, while the parable is portrayed by the lost son on the courtyard. The entrance portal made of Danish sandstone is decorated with grotesque figurative representations at the time. The Fürstenhof is considered the northernmost Renaissance castle in Europe .

From 1580 to 1602, the "water art" in the style of the Dutch Renaissance built according to the designs of the Utrecht master builder Phillipp Brandin (around 1530-1594). The pavilion -shaped building, which secured the city's water supply until 1897, has a regular twelve -ailed floor plan and is carried by twelve hermen. These pillars are decorated with relief -like limestone figures and support a curved copper bell roof with a hexagonal lantern.

The "Schabbellhaus" , which was built from 1569 to 1571 as a residential and brewery according to the plans of Phillipp Brandin, is one of the earliest and most important bourgeois Renaissance buildings in Mecklenburg and throughout the Baltic Sea area. The street fronts of the two -storey building and the curved foggy gable with canned pilasters, which was increased by four floors, are made of red brick, which is framed by white sandstone.

Germany's west

In the west, Heidelberg with its castle with its castle has to offer Dutch Renaissance, in Wolfenbüttel there is a Welfenschloss and the Evangelical City Church with testimonies of the Renaissance style to visit, a whole Renaissance city picture can be found in the historic city center of Lemgo and in the middle of Hameln.

In Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, you can visit numerous men's seats and castles along the Weser as further examples of the Dutch influenced Renaissance, which is why the style of which is also called "Weseraiissance"

The Dutch artist Cornelis Floris de Vribendt (1514-75) developed with his fittings and roller plant as well as cartilage and auricle plant. The so-called Floris style is particularly evident in Germany at the town hall and community center facades of the Weser-Renaissance (see Baukunst-NRW ).

Southern Germany and Austria

Southern Germany and Austria became centers of late Renaissance (mannerism) . In contrast to the Gothic, no more castles were built, you built princely seats, castles or town houses.

The works of mannerist architecture are an impressive testimony of past eras. The stable castle , which was created between 1558 and 1569, as well as the Amalienburg , which was completed in 1605 by the talented Pietro Ferrabosco, are just a few examples of this. Especially in Munich , a true center of mannerism in Germany, you can admire numerous fascinating buildings. The calm and gentle tonality of these architectural masterpieces lets visitors immerse yourself in another time and conveys a feeling of elegance and beauty.

• Jesuit Church St. Michael , 1583–1597, architect was Friedrich Sustris.
• Münchner Residenz , 1607-1619. The antiquarianpati presents itself impressive and unique as the largest profane Renaissance hall north of the Alps. Its origins go back to 1385 when there was still a water castle. But only Elector Maximilian I gave the building its current splendor between 1611 and 1616. Since then, the west facade of the Munich residence has been shining in an impressive shoveling, the architectural division of which was painted on. It is decorated by artistic sculptures, including the statue of the "Patrona Boiariae" by Hans Krumper from 1614 and some bronze sculptures.

Augsburg town hall was built in the late time of the Renaissance (1614 and 1620) , which is also worth a view. In the south you can still visit "Authentic Renaissance" in Landshut, the Landshut city residence was built by Italian craft masters (probably the first guest workers of the modern period just beginning).

In Aschaffenburg, the Renaissance lock Johannesburg can be viewed, which was only built around 1610.

Wherever you go in Germany during the Easter holidays, you will always find a Renaissance building nearby, which is worthwhile. Interesting monuments in the Renaissance style of the Renaissance can be found here: Quermania: Architectural monuments of the Renaissance in Germany .

National Atlas Federal Republic of Germany also provides a clear overview of the regional architectural styles of the Renaissance in Germany

The detailed regional map is available directly from the archive of the National Atlas Federal Republic of Germany as a PDF download .