The Barmer Ruhmeshalle () is a historic building in the
Barmen
Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal.
Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...
district of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
town of
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...
, originally built as a
hall of fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
. It was officially known as the ''Kaiser Wilhelm- und Friedrich-Ruhmeshalle'' and later as the ''Haus der Jugend''.
History
The Barmer Kunstverein, founded in 1866, endeavored to create exhibition spaces from the very beginning. Initially, the works of the association could be displayed in the "Concordia" society house on Werth. When this venue moved to a new building, the idea of constructing an art hall was born, and in 1886, a fund was established to finance the project. In the "Three Emperors' Year" (1888), the Barmer city administration decided to build a hall of fame in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiser Friedrich III, and provided the land for the project. The financing was then secured through the Barmer citizenry. In 1895, an architectural competition was held, which was won by the Barmer architect Erdmann Hartig. The director of the Barmer School of Arts and Crafts prevailed over 57 other submitted designs. After three years of construction, the building, officially named "Kaiser-Wilhelm-und-Friedrich-Ruhmeshalle" (Emperor Wilhelm and Frederick Hall of Fame), was inaugurated on October 24, 1900, by Kaiser Wilhelm II in the presence of a large crowd.
Under the art historian
Richart Reiche, who became the conservator of the Kunstverein in 1907, modern works were shown. In 1909 and 1911, two "Sonderbund Exhibitions" were held, and in 1910, the Neue Künstlervereinigung München, the predecessor of the "
Blue Rider" group, was presented to the public. Solo exhibitions of
Franz Marc
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaking, printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose ...
, Alexej von Jawlensky, and
Emil Nolde
Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early ...
were held in the same year, and in 1912, exhibitions of Adolf Erbslöh and Marianne von Werefkin followed. With the works of August Macke, Barmen became a stronghold of Expressionism in 1913. By the late 1920s, the Barmer Kunstverein had one of the most important and respected collections of modern art. However, during the Nazi
"Degenerate Art" campaign in 1937, 94 works from this collection were confiscated, including pieces by Jankel Adler, Wladimir Bechtejew, Max Burchartz,
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...
, Otto Dix, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, and many others.
Many of these works were subsequently destroyed.
When the cities of Barmen and Elberfeld merged to form the dual city of Elberfeld-Barmen in 1929 (officially Wuppertal from 1931), the Ruhmeshalle remained independent.
During World War II, the
Luftangriff (air raid) on Barmen in the night of January 29–30, 1943, resulted in the near-total destruction of the dome building and the collection; the building burned down. The Städtisches Museum took over the management, and on April 21, 1946, the Kunstverein merged with the Elberfeld Museumsverein, which ran the
Von der Heydt Museum, forming the Kunst- und Museumsverein (KMV). Many artworks were stored during the war, but losses from fire, theft, and confiscation were significant. The remaining parts of both collections were consolidated in the Elberfeld Von-der-Heydt-Museum.
In the 1950s, after over ten years as a ruin, the Ruhmeshalle was rebuilt. It was reopened on June 21, 1958, under the name "Haus der Jugend" (House of Youth), with a redesigned interior. The dome was not reconstructed, nor were the large stone eagles on the roof or the Kaiser statues, as they had been destroyed in the postwar period. An annex for the library was built in 1965. Despite extensive interior and roof modifications, the building was listed as a historic monument in 1985.
See also
*
Else Lasker-Schüler
Else Lasker-Schüler (née Elisabeth Schüler) (; 11 February 1869 – 22 January 1945) was a German poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and her poetry. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist ...
*
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...
*
Jankel Adler
References
Bibliography
* Lutz Engelskirchen: ''Die Barmer Ruhmeshalle. Von Bürgertum und Bürgergeist in Barmen.'' Göttingen: Cuvillier, 1996.
External links
Article on the Heydt-Museum Wuppertal site
Buildings and structures in Wuppertal
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