#german architecture

[ancientsstudies]

UNESCO-Welterbe Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth by baroqueblockbuster.

[arc-hus]

Mary Queen of Peace Church, Neviges, Germany - Gottfried Boehm

[modernbrutalismus]

Kirche Christi Auferstehung (Church of the Resurrection of Christ), Cologne, Germany.

(Arch. Gottfried Böhm, 1968-70)

Photo by Carlos Traspaderne with Hasselblad 500 C/M & Ilford film.

[madeleineengland]

Nymphenburg Palace (Munich, Germany).

The great hall. Ceiling painted by Johann Baptist Zimmerman

[jambuonthemoon]

heidelberg, germany (june 2024) 🌞🇩🇪🌾

this was the first stop on my germany vacation! the people were incredibly kind and the views were breathtaking. the castle had so much history behind it and the architecture here was just as lovely ❤️

photos by me :)

[germanpostwarmodern]

Winfried Nerdinger undoubtedly is one of Germany’s most distinguished architectural historians: between 1986 and 2012 he was professor of architectural history at TU München and with his trenchant contributions had a major impact on the discourses surrounding the Bauhaus and National-Socialism, the architectural and political history of Munich or the architecture of Nazi Germany and how to deal with it as built heritage of a grim past. In recent years Nerdinger also involved himself in the hard-fought discussions in the context of reconstruction in general and the reconstruction of buildings like the Berlin Palace in particular.

This year Nerdinger celebrated his 80th birthday, at welcome occasion to look back at past and present discourses in the form of a collection of essays: edited by Wilhelm Vossenkuhl and recently published by Prestel „Recherchen Reflexionen Positionen“ collects fourteen essential essays by Winfried Nerdinger in which he deals with his primary research topics.

And already in the first four essays the recalcitrant spirit of Nerdinger emerges: in the late 1970s and mid 1980s he was responsible for two exhibitions dealing with the Munich after the First and Second World War with which he recollected the council republic and its brutal suppression as well as the personnel continuities in the city’s planning and building administration before and after the Nazi era. His disclosures were met with fierce opposition and personal attacks.

Another sacrosanct topic with which Nerdinger provoked opposition is the Bauhaus and the legends surrounding it. Again, he brought up the painful subject of the continued existence of Bauhaus ideas in the Nazi era. Nerdinger convincingly demonstrates how the school’s ideas and design principles, and thus also its graduates and former students, were largely detached from society and thus compatible with almost any social system.

On a more recent note, Nerdinger interferes in the heated debates surrounding architectural reconstruction and pleads for more objectivity and less ideology: in a long essay he follows the thousands of years old tradition of reconstruction as a form of historic continuity. From the ancient world to the decades after the Second World War reconstruction was an effort legitimized by citizens and/or politicians and for the most part served as a means to strengthen identity and identification. On the other hand, many reconstruction projects hark back to private and not at all democratic initiatives, a circumstance that explains much of the opposition.

In view of the very insightful and at times bold essays collected in the book it doesn’t surprise that Winfried Nerdinger still is one of the most important voices of German architectural history. A highly recommended read!

[juliaknz]

WERNER SOBEK HAUS R128, 2000 Stuttgart, Germany Image © Zooey Braun, Roland Halbe

[dokuzadaiyuho]

Bremen old town

[tilbageidanmark]

The old Kugekhaus (Sphere building) in Dresden. It was built in 1928, and demolished by the Nazis in 1938, for being "Un-German".

[dashalbrundezimmer]

rüttenscheider straße // essen rüttenscheid

colours, shapes, structures! part II

houses, advertising, noise barriers.

the stacked city.

[diemelusine]

Schloss Ahrensburg, Germany. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Holger.Ellgaard

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Late 1960s / early 1970s interiors in West Germany

Imagine the black-and-white photo as a mixture of dark red and orange on white background

[arc-hus]

Library in Kressbronn, Germany - Steimle Architekten

[modernbrutalismus]

Rathaus Bensberg, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.

(Arch. Gottfried Böhm, 1962-67)

Photo by Carlos Traspaderne with Hasselblad 500 C/M & Ilford film.

[madeleineengland]

Munich Residenz, Antiquarium Room, Germany.

This hall is the oldest room in the residence. Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria had it built from 1568 to 1571 for his collection of antique sculptures, hence the name "Antiquarium".

[jambuonthemoon]

ludwigsburg, germany (june 2024) 🏰🇩🇪🎠

i wish i took more pictures here, such a beautiful palace with amazing history! we could not take pictures on the inside but the gardens were absolutely stunning.

photos by me :)