400th anniversary of the Bremer Rathaus

10Jun12

I am a little late – last week there was the jubilee of the town hall of Bremen. Due to this event there were some guided tours offered for free. I joined one of them and here are the pictures:

The 2nd floor of the new town hall.

Wale bones. New town hall. During the wale hunting age – when wale hunting was dangerous and an adventure – Bremen was into some hunting business.

Festival hall at the new town hall. In former times this hall was the place where the parliament of the state of Bremen met.

Festival hall at the new town hall.

Painting at the festival hall. This painting’s view is from a ship arriving Bremen on the river Weser. I do not know the painter.

Festival hall at the new town hall.

Mirror at the festival hall. It mirrors the main door on itself. While you are entering the hall you can check your look, though.

The hall of the old town hall. This is the 400 years old town hall. Here was all the political business of the former times at Bremen. The building itself is from 1410, but renovated in 1612. The ceiling of the hall is remarkable, because of its construction. It is inspired from the ship constructioning.

Emperor and bishop. In 1186 Bremen became a free city with some privileges (the Bremer Freimarkt is for example a result of that). Bremen had a bishop and not a monarch. So all the coming conflicts between the traders and the town authorities resulted in conflicts with the church.

The big wale picture. It is the biggest known picture of a wale and was made by Franz Wulfhagen, who was a scholar of Rembrandt. To become a UNESCO world heritage the town had to rebuy it to put it on the wall. The wale beached on the Swedish riverside and the shippers of Bremen brought it to their riverside. It almost resulted in a war.

The emblem of Bremen. The key is the emblem of Bremen, because one of the two keys of Saint Peter. One of them opens the door to the paradise the other one the door to the earth. The people of Bremen thought the Bishop did not need a key to the earth anymore.

Corkscrew stairs. The easiest way is the way of the devil.

The entrance to the Güldenkammer. Unfortunatly I was not allowed to enter. The chamber is from 1595 and was redesigned in 1905 and is made in the Jugendstil.

Seats of the council. It is from 2007. Some of the original furnitures are at the Focke museum.

Crypta at the cathedral. After you have been to all those fascinating places, you can visit the room of silence at the cathedral. This is the view onto the ceiling. I am sorry that I cannot provide the smell of the wet air there. Some years ago there have been the mumies which are now at the Bleikeller.

The bonbon store at the Böttcher Straße. Here you can follow the process of handcrafting bonbons and finally buy them. The street itself is a sight. It is the artist street of Bremen.

Here is a picture of the Güldenkammer.

Some references are not available in English.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Hall_of_Bremen

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/wiki/Bremen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_imperial_city

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/wiki/Freimarkt

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fes_Walbild

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCldenkammer

Filed under: Bremen   |  1 Comment
Tags: bremen, güldenkammer, hanseatic city, major, rathaus, town hall, unesco, world heritage