The Atlantis House () on

Böttcherstraße Böttcherstraße is a street in the historic centre of Bremen, Germany. Only about 100 m (330 ft) long, it is famous for its unusual architecture and ranks among the city's main cultural landmarks and visitor attractions. Most of its bu ...

in the old town of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

in the north of Germany is an interesting example of German architecture in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. Designed by

Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold f ...

, it was completed in 1931. After suffering serious war damage, it was rebuilt in 1965 with a new facade designed by

Ewald Mataré Ewald Wilhelm Hubert Mataré (25 February 1887 in Burtscheid, Aachen – 28 March 1965 in Büderich) was a German painter and sculptor, who dealt with, among other things, the figures of men and animals in a stylized form. Career Mataré began ...

History and architecture

The building was the second designed by

(1929–31) for Böttcherstrasse on the basis of ideas from

Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported ar ...

, the prosperous coffee entrepreneur, and

Herman Wirth Hermann Felix Wirth (alternatively referred to as Herman Wirth Roeper Bosch or Herman Felix Wirth (although spelled ''Hermann'' on his birth certificate); 6 May 1885 in Utrecht – 16 February 1981 in Kusel) was a Dutch-German historian, a schol ...

, the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

specializing in German ancestral heritage. Roselius was impressed by Wirth's belief that

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

, now sunk in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, was originally inhabited by

Germanics The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

who took their culture and civilization to Egypt and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

, making the Germans the oldest race on earth. Constructed as a demonstratively modern

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

building of glass, wood and

ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having ...

, it was therefore structured specifically to house an institute for the study of

with a lecture theatre, reading room, club rooms (for members of Roselius' ''Club zu Bremen'') and exhibition space. The Atlantis building has been described as the "bizarre centre" of Roselius's architectural investment in Böttcherstraße. The facade which was rebuilt after the war was originally rasterized right up to the roof with steel supports. The visible framework was accompanied by one of Hoetger's monumental carved wooden features above the entrance representing the Tree of Life (''Lebensbaum''). It formed an archaized image of the

Wheel of the Year The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of Modern paganism, modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are ...

, a cross and the solar disc, symbolically representing the origin of life from the start of the year, in other words the beginnings of humanity. Hanging on the cross was the strange figure of the "Altlantis saviour", combining the image of the crucified Christ with the pagan

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

Barbara Goette Barbara Goette (26 July 1908 – 23 October 1997) was a German academic. She lived in Germany and then Australia. From 1935 to 1943, she was the private secretary of Ludwig Roselius, creator of Böttcherstraße and Café HAG, and financier of Foc ...

was the closest collaborator of

and she risked her life when she wrote a philosophical tract on Hoetger's Tree of Life which was attached to the façade of the Atlantis House. The ''Lebensbaum'', which was violently criticized by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, was destroyed by fire during the war. In 1954, the feature was temporarily replaced by Max Säume and Günther Hafemann with a facade displaying an abstract representation of celestial bodies but this was subsequently hidden by a closed, concentrically ornamented brick wall completed by Ewald Mataré in 1965.

Interior

Inside the house today there is designer lighting that shows off the choice of bold colours and the flowing lines of the interior design. The building has a winding

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently e ...

staircase made from glass and concrete which leads up to the Himmelssaal on the first floor with a ceiling decorated with white and blue glass blocks. The three floors originally started out with a reading room on the first floor, the Himmelssaal ballroom on the second and a museum at the top.

Hotel

In 1988, the Atlantis House complex was sold to the Swedish hotel firm

Scandic Scandic Hotels is a Swedish hotel chain headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with its main operations in the Nordic countries. Alongside hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the company also has a presence in Germany and Poland. As of 31 ...

which combined it with an adjacent recently completed hotel building. The interior was completely renovated but the old staircase and the Himmelssaal with its mosaic ceiling of blue and white glass were maintained as interesting examples of German architecture in the interwar period. Today the building belongs to

Radisson Radisson Hotels is a multi-brand hotel chain with a worldwide presence. Its brands include several using the Radisson name, as well as other brands like Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Country Inn & Suites. In June 2022, Radisson Hotel Group ...

as the Radisson Blu Hotel, Bremen. The Himmelssaal (sky room) is open to the public.

References

External links

Photographs of Hoetger's Odin sculpture at Haus Atlantis
{{Authority control Hotels in Bremen (city) Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany Buildings and structures in Germany destroyed during World War II Buildings and structures completed in 1931 Buildings and structures completed in 1965 Rebuilt buildings and structures in Germany

History and architecture

Interior

Hotel

See also

References

External links