The Bremen Main Post Office Building (german: Ehemaliges Hauptpostamt) or (german: Kaiserliche Oberpostdirektion) is a

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

building in Bremen, Germany, that used to be the Imperial Post Office for the Bremen area. The building stands on the city square named

Domsheide Domsheide is a major square in the city of Bremen, Germany. It is located east of the Marktplatz and south of Bremen Cathedral. Streets leading to it include Ostertorstraße, Dechanatstraße, Balgebrückstraße and Violenstraße. It contains a nu ...

Building history

The four-winged building in the old town of Bremen was designed by

Carl Schwatlo Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

, a Berlin architect now known for his post office work, and constructed under the supervision of Ernst Hake from Stargard. It was completed in 1878. Kaiserliche Oberpostdirektion Every Building Tells A Story
, Bremen Tourism, retrieved 15 January 2014 The project followed the establishment of the ''Deutsche Reichspost'' as a national monopoly in 1871. An area of land on the Domsheide was made available by the Bremen senate on the site of the former Eschenhof, once the residence of Alexander Erskein, who was the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

"president", in modern terms

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, of the

Duchy of Bremen ), which is a public-law corporation established in 1865 succeeding the estates of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (established in 1397), now providing the local fire insurance in the shown area and supporting with its surplusses cultural effor ...

(previous Archbishopric of Bremen). The building was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of the times, with all the sophistications of a Central Imperial Post Office (''Kaiserliche Oberpostdirektion''). The sections overlooking the Domsheide were three storeys high while those on the lower Dechanatstraße had four storeys. Until 1896, the building enclosed a large courtyard. The interior was decorated with paintings by

Arthur Fitger Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm Fitger (4 October 184028 June 1909) was a German painter, art critic, playwright and poet. Biography Arthur Fitger was one of the ten children of Delmenhorst (Grand Duchy of Oldenburg) postmaster Ratsherr Peter Diedrich ...

. The Neo-Renaissance building housed the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

department and the main post office while the second floor held the grand rooms required by the director of the post office, not just his residential quarters but also a large banqueting hall in the centre of the

avant-corps An ''avant-corps'' ( it, avancorpo or , plural , german: Risalit, pl, ryzalit), a French term literally meaning "fore-body", is a part of a building, such as a porch or pavilion, that juts out from the ''corps de logis'', often taller than othe ...

. While fine apartments in such buildings were common, the banqueting hall was unusual and may have resulted from the city's desire to excel in its first really prestigious building. Arthur Fitger depicted nymphs and centaurs in the arches and the director's apartment was in line with his high status within the German Empire. During the 1970s the building was extensively redesigned to meet the needs of the German Federal Post Office. Since 2006 the building has been used by the St John Catholic School but the more prestigious ''Emperor's Hall'' with its murals by Fitger are sometimes open to the public. The building's history is summarised with a plaque on the wall which includes a

QRpedia QRpedia is a mobile Web-based system which uses QR codes to deliver Wikipedia articles to users, in their preferred language. A typical use is on museum labels, linking to Wikipedia articles about the exhibited object. QR codes can easily be gene ...

code that links to this article. Last not least, the post office in the ground flour has not been closed, it is still one of the busiest in Bremen.http://standorte.deutschepost.de/Standortsuche → Suchen (search=: Bremen Domshof

References

Literature

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bremen Post Office Buildings and structures in Bremen (city) Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany Tourist attractions in Bremen (state) Government buildings completed in 1878 Post office buildings Postal system of Germany