Old and New Town Halls in Germany, Hanover resort
Rating: 8,9/10 (5077 votes)  According to many guidebooks, the first Hanoverian Town Hall was built in 1410. However, this is not entirely true. The construction of the town hall was carried out over 5 centuries in several stages. Part of the building along today's Schmidelstrasse was erected in the years 1409-1413. At that time it was a two-storey building with a basement, made in the Gothic style and decorated with a Gothic lancet portal. Today this part is decorated with an artistic frieze with medallions depicting the coats of arms of counties, princes and the city. In the middle of the 15th century, the town hall was expanded – a wing was added from the Marktplatz side. In the same period, a steep tiled roof was built, having three twin bay windows, decorated with figures and stepped pediments, made in the form of gothic peaked towers. In 1565, the next stage of expansion of the town hall building took place – from the side of the present Kebelingstrasse, a half-timbered building was added, which also had two underground floors. At that time, a pharmacy was located in the basement of the building. Unfortunately, this building has not survived to this day. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the town hall underwent frequent external reconstruction. In the 1830s, the director general of Hanover decided to increase the area of the city administration. For this, he planned to build a new one on the site of the old town hall. In 1844, for these purposes, the Pharmacy Wing was destroyed, and in its place a three-story building was built, called the Doge's Palace. This building did not in any way harmonize with the old Gothic part of the building, so in the future it was planned to destroy the remaining buildings. However, thanks to the building board and the city community, the building was preserved for the city. The last point in the construction of the old town hall was set in the 1890s. In the course of construction work, a building was built from the Karmarshstrasse side. Konrad Wilhelm Hase became the architect. The architect made every effort to ensure that the building was as different as possible in style from the main part of the building. During the Second World War, the Town Hall was seriously damaged, but by 1964 it was completely restored. The construction of the New Town Hall in Hannover dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The foundation stone of the building was laid in June 1903. Due to a shortage of workers, construction proceeded at a slow pace. At the same time, a building for the building council began to be built next to the town hall, which was completed in 1906. Upon completion of construction work, a commission was immediately located in the building, which monitored the progress of the work from there. During the Second World War, this building was completely destroyed, after which it was not rebuilt. The most difficult thing in the construction of the town hall was the arrangement of the dome. The dome itself was built from 1906 to 1908. You can get to the dome by lift or by a spiral staircase. By 1909, all external work was completed, and the Board Meeting Hall was also completed. The opening of the New Town Hall building was scheduled for 1912. For this, an anniversary collection was made, which told about the history of Hanover and the construction of the Town Hall, and also created commemorative medallions. However, construction was completed only in 1913.         We also recommend reading Casino in Germany, spa Baden-Baden Topic: Old and New Town Halls in Germany, Hanover resort. |
