Architecture in Germany – The magnificent Baroque, albeit a little delayed in our country

Germany's late start to the Baroque era

The Baroque architectural period is generally dated to a timeframe from about 1575 to 1770, except in Germany, where the Germans once again had better things to do.

In Germany, "better" far too often meant war, and this was no exception. In this case, it was the Thirty Years' War , an endless series of battles for supremacy in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and also a religious war.

The young Protestant religious movement wanted freedom of religion, the Catholic authorities refused to grant it – the disputes over the right path to heavenly salvation were fought, as so often, with weapons and at the cost of the most gruesome sacrifices on earth, and the Thirty Years' War is only one of many wars in the conflict of interpretation between Catholics and Protestants.

The Thirty Years' War was not the only conflict involving armed action in relation to the massacres fought for supremacy on the European continent. Parallel conflicts included the Eighty Years' War (Spain-Netherlands, 1568-1648), the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659), the Torstensson War (Sweden and Denmark-Norway, 1643-1645), and the naval war on Lake Constance (Habsburg against Württemberg, supported by Sweden and France, 1632-1648).

Since all these wars involved rulers who sought a little more power on European land, and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was located pretty much in the middle of this land area, most of the battles of all these wars took place in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire.

The battles of the Thirty Years' War, of course, and in all other wars, battles often touched the edges of the empire because the emperor's interests were also affected – which could happen quickly, as the emperor was simultaneously King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria.

This decades-long war, especially on German soil, not only cost the lives of soldiers involved in battles: these soldiers also plundered and devastated (“devastate” comes from “army”) entire regions on their way to battles, thus robbing the local population of their livelihood.

In addition, there were famines and epidemics… Of the approximately 15 to 17 million inhabitants who lived in Germany around 1600, only about 10 million remained by 1650; some territories affected by the war needed more than a century to recover from the consequences of the endless war.

A cruel and senseless waste of resources, typical for the time (and especially for Germany), which German cultural and architectural history not for the first time – although we Germans were already quite far behind, because we started from a backward position:

While the Romans were already constructing magnificent stone buildings, Bavarians and Franks, Frisians and Saxons, Swabians and Thuringians were still living in tents, wooden huts or pile dwellings; only when the Romans themselves also “had something better to do”, i.e., when their empire was brought to the brink of collapse through armed conflicts watches did the German tribes develop the first more permanent architecture from Roman legacies in the Middle Ages, the Romanesque .

The real stars in art and architecture were the countries that were largely able to keep the wars away from their territories: France was always able to keep the wars pretty much on the periphery of its lands, so Gothic architecture develop to sophisticated heights in the interior of France; Italy appears in the list of major battles only three or four times, so Romanesque architecture could transition quite directly into richly decorated Renaissance buildings .

The impetus for German architects to develop Gothic and Renaissance architecture came from France and Italy. In Italy, the first forms of Baroque architecture emerged towards the end of the 16th century. This style spread from Italy, initially to the Catholic countries of Europe, before being adopted in a modified form in Protestant regions.

Magnificent architecture, by all, but not for everyone

Only after the end of the Thirty Years' War, around 1650, did the Germans once again have the mental and financial resources to devote their attention to the latest trends in architecture. With regard to the then-dominant Baroque style, they emulated the French model rather than Italy.

For at that time, German rule lay in the hands of Emperor Ferdinand III, who had inherited a weak power position from his father Ferdinand II, a father who, as some malicious tongues claim, was marked by Habsburg inbreeding, weak and wasteful, and who wanted to strengthen this position.

This included lavish displays of wealth (Ferdinand III's first wedding was celebrated for 14 months, even though it was in the middle of the war), the ardent patron of the arts also readily absorbed cultural influences from art-loving Italy, he imitated Italian opera in his own compositions and wrote numerous poems in Italian.

In the field of representative art and culture, however, he preferred to follow the absolutist model of France, whether in court ceremony or architecture.

Baroque architecture thus became, in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the architecture of an absolutist conception of the state; architecture was intended to emphasize the absolute power of the ruler.

This is evident in many details: The entire spatial composition is geared towards the ruler and highlighting his position of power – magnificent staircases have only one goal on earth, the person of the ruler, the murals and the ceiling paintings glorify his figure, sculptures on the sculpted walls depict scenes from the life of the princely or royal builder with their motifs.

Ferdinand III was not the only powerful figure who “used” baroque architecture for his own purposes: Every ruling prince wanted to use it to highlight his wealth and power, much like many large banks or insurance companies do today with a magnificent building in a German city center.

Much like today: those in power strove to outdo each other in displays of splendor, while the financing of this pomp was left to the many working people. Whether it was the Dresden Zwinger, built over almost two decades (1709 to 1728) solely to host courtly festivities like those at the court of the Sun King, or the three-year expansion of a bishop's residence today, costing 31 million.

At least in terms of usage, we are generally better off today. While the festivities in the Dresden Zwinger were accessible only to a select few in society at the time, the bishop's residence aroused so much resentment among its involuntary financiers, the German citizens. Even the church's financial administration, not exactly known for transparency towards the laity when it comes to financial decisions, no longer dares to even consider its future use as a bishop's residence.

The future of the bombastic building complex is the subject of heated debate: refugee shelter and soup kitchen, park café and drop-in center for the homeless, memorial and daycare center, and opening the garden as a tourist attraction – all options are under discussion, the main thing being that “the stench of money is gone afterwards ,” as one member of the cathedral chapter aptly put it. The Catholic lay initiative “We Are Church” commented on the whole matter, stating that bishops “are not absolutist princes, but servants of the people in the dioceses” (in case the connection to the Baroque period wasn't clear).

However, today there are other ostentatious buildings in which companies demonstrate their unbridled economic power, and which are financed by the global exploitation of disenfranchised workers, combined with uncritical consumption in the sales markets.

A good example is the new headquarters of a leading company in the IT entertainment industry, 260,000 square meters, demolition of existing buildings, design of the new building by star architect Norman Foster , construction time at least three years, the costs are estimated (before construction begins) at 5,000,000,000,- (5 billion) US dollars.

The Baroque style is characterized by a great deal of magnificent ornamentation

The term Baroque initially referred simply as an adjective to a "baroque" architectural style, derived from the Portuguese "barroco ," a description of irregularly shaped pearls. Only later, with the rise of this new architectural style, did the "pearl" come to be emphasized as a term for "uneven" buildings, and in French-speaking regions also slightly pejoratively for "strange" buildings.

The terms, however, only came much later; the “baroque” art and the noun “baroque” in the 19th century; in the 17th century, people simply built as they saw fit.

The Baroque is truly irregular in that it supplements the regularly structured art of the Renaissance, which emphasized tranquility and unity in its lines, with a completely new abundance of formal elements. Renaissance were adopted, they were dramatically exaggerated; new, varied elements were intended to inject movement into the expression, and influences from diverse art forms—architecture, sculpture, and painting—were incorporated without regard for the previously clearly defined boundaries.

The Baroque did not replace the Renaissance through contrasts, as the Renaissance did the Late Gothic. Instead, the Baroque gradually developed its characteristics from the Renaissance, in such diversity that in the almost two-hundred-year Baroque era, hardly any stylistic feature can be found in every work of art or building.

Baroque art found its most diverse expression in architecture ; concave and convex forms, sweeping domes and rhythmic groups of columns, gables and window crowns richly decorated with ornaments mutually enhance their effect and appear to the viewer as if in powerful motion.

The uniform order of the Renaissance is dissolved. The complex individual forms are arranged to form a unified work of art. They utilize light effects and incorporate sculpture, three-dimensional art, and painting into the design possibilities within architecture.

Baroque buildings in Germany

The magnificent palace served as the base for a whole series of royal buildings Louis XIV., Versailles, as a model. These buildings were often amplified in importance through geometrically designed gardens and urban layouts. Examples include the Mannheim Palace, with a built area of ​​six hectares, one of the largest castles in Europe, and Karlsruhe Palace with its extensive palace gardens in the French Baroque style.

The Würzburg Residence exemplifies a synthesis of European Baroque architecture. Architects and artists from across Europe contributed to its construction. The Residence's Imperial Hall and staircase showcase an impressive interplay of architecture, sculpture, and painting.

Examples of Baroque ruler culture , from north to south across Germany:

• New Palace in Potsdam (1763-1769)
• Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin (1695 – 1699)
• Berlin City Palace (1699 – ca. 1706 Baroque expansion)
• Berlin Armory (1694 – 1729)
• Dresden Zwinger and Crown Gate (1709-1728)
• Eisenach City Palace (1703–1756)
• Augustusburg Palace in Brühl (1725 – 1768, interiors partly already in the Rococo style)
• Arolsen Residence Palace (1710-1728)
• Würzburg Residence (1719-1744)
• Weißenstein Castle near Pommersfelden (1711-1718)
• Ludwigsburg Palace (1704-1733)

The Church, too, favored Baroque architecture. The Roman Catholic Church, embroiled in conflict with the Protestants, sought to captivate or win back its faithful, whose eyes were to be enthralled by the sight of splendor and magnificence. Catholic territories account for by far the largest share of ecclesiastical Baroque art.

some of the most famous examples of Baroque religious architecture (because of the expansion of existing buildings, there are usually more construction histories than exact construction dates):

• Dresden Frauenkirche
• Fulda Cathedral
• Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Upper Franconia
• Steinhausen pilgrimage church near Bad Schussenried
• St. John Nepomuk Church (Asam Church) in Munich
• Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan, Munich
• Ottobeuren Abbey
• Weltenburg Abbey
• Ettal Abbey
• Banz Abbey
• Birnau Pilgrimage Church
• Wieskirche in Steingaden

However, the “baroque way of life” is not only characterized by magnificent ornamentation, but also by a feeling for transience and regret over the sudden flight of time, which has never before been expressed with such vehemence in any other century.

This is perhaps the reason why Baroque buildings still inspire in us today a reverence that goes beyond the mere artistry of their execution. Many people in our time also struggle with the rapid passage of time.

In any case, taking the time to visit the Baroque wonders in your area or at your holiday destination is always a memorable experience. Incidentally, Baroque architecture can often be enjoyed in combination with pleasant physical activity on a beautiful summer day; there are several Baroque hiking trails .

One of them, for example, is in North Rhine-Westphalia; it leads through the Altenfeld meadows on the edge of the Rothaar Mountains Nature Park (Altenfeld lies between Winterberg and Schmallenberg).

A less strenuous Baroque walk leads you through the old town of Aachen, and in Baden-Württemberg, in the Upper Swabian region of the Federsee area, you can even hike a 21 km Baroque-Stone Age route, on which you can visit two special highlights of the Baroque and the Paleolithic periods:

The pilgrimage church in Steinhausen near Bad Schussenried , a unique Baroque church and known as the most beautiful village church in the world, and the Paleolithic campsite at the Schussen spring , where Stone Age hunters camped around 13,000 years ago and hunted reindeer and other game of the Ice Age tundra from their camp.

Of course, you don't necessarily have to explore the Baroque on foot; the last recommended hiking route, for example, is located in the middle of the "Upper Swabian Baroque Route" , which, over hundreds of kilometers and in four routes, opens up more than a hundred different Baroque sights for a structured visit.

You can find more information on the Upper Swabia Tourism website: Upper Swabian Baroque Route .