The ''Glaspalast'' (Glass Palace) was a
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
and iron exhibition building located in the
Old botanical garden - Munich in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
modeled after
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...
in London. The Glaspalast opened for the first
General German Industrial Exhibition
The General German Industrial Exhibition was designed to demonstrate German industry to a global audience, but was adversely impacted by a cholera epidemic.
It ran from 15 July 1854 until 15 October. There more than 5,000 visitors a day
with mor ...
on July 15, 1854.
Planning
Following other examples around Europe, the ''Glaspalast'' was ordered by
Maximilian II,
King of Bavaria
King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished. It was the second time Bavaria was a kingdom, almost a thousand ...
, in order to hold the ''Erste Allgemeine Deutsche Industrieausstellung'' (First General German Industrial Exhibition) on July 15, 1854.
Originally it was planned to erect the building on
Maximilianplatz. However, the relevant Commission decision preferred an area near the railway station. Designed by architect
August von Voit
Richard Jakob August von Voit (17 February 1801 in Wassertrüdingen – 12 December 1870 in Munich) was a German architect specializing in glass and iron structures.
Notable projects
Voit designed the city hall of Annweiler am Trifels (Rhinela ...
and built by
MAN AG
MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, ) is a subsidiary of Traton, and one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MAN Truck & Bus produces vans in the range from 3.0 to 5.5 t ...
, the building was built in 1854 to the north of the Old Botanical Garden close to the
Stachus.
Construction
Following the completion of 1853 Schrannenhalle and the planned and conservatory of Munich Residence, a glass with cast iron design was used, using existing experience for this modern building.
As with
the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...
in London, initial designs were relatively complex. Due to the short time available for construction, the design was significantly simplified and relied on use of standard components. Conventional construction methods were not possible due to the large amount of building materials required.
The two-storied building was 234 meters (768 ft) long, 67 meters (220 ft) wide and 25 meters (82 ft) high. The elongated rectangular glass palace, in the form of a five-nave and two-storey main building in the hall with a transept in the middle and rectangular extensions at the ends of the longitudinal ship had a length of 234 meters and was 67 meters wide; the height was 25 meters.
The building was built entirely of glass and cast iron, load-bearing walls were completely omitted. The 1,700 tons of prefabricated iron parts were made by
Cramer-Klett in Nuremberg. The company Cramer-Klett was the leader at this time in southern Germany in the field of iron constructions, the company had previously built the Großhesseloher bridge in Munich and also the Maximilian II conservatory. For this construction, the glass was produced in the more traditional Schmidsfelden glass works.
Construction was a mere six months, beginning December 31, 1853 and ending June 7, 1854, during which time 37,000 windows were installed. The total cost of construction was 800,000
guldens.
The ''Erste Allgemeine Deutsche Industrieausstellung'' opened five weeks later, only three years after the completion of the Crystal Palace in London, which served as its model.
Use
First General German industry exhibition
Just three years after the completion of the Crystal Palace in London, which served as a model, the First General German Industry Exhibition opened at the newly built glass palace on July 15, 1854. However the opening was overshadowed as first the staff and later the exhibition guests were affected by
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
.
Electrification
In 1882 ''die erste elektrisch beleuchtete Internationale Elektrotechnische Ausstellung'' (the first electrically lit international electrotechnical exhibition) took place in the Glass Palace. The German engineer
Oskar von Miller
Oskar von Miller (7 May 1855 – 9 April 1934) was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science in Munich.
Biography
Born in Munich into an Upper Bavarian family from Aichach, he was the son of ...
had built a 2000 volt
DC overhead power line from
Miesbach
Miesbach () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and is the capital of the Miesbach district. The district is at an altitude of 697 metres above sea level. It covers an area of approximately 863.50 km² of alpine headlands and in 2017 had a popul ...
, 50 km distant, to bring power to Munich. At the exhibition, an electrically powered pump for an
artificial waterfall
An artificial waterfall is a water feature or fountain which imitates a natural waterfall.
Artificial waterfalls have long been featured in traditional Japanese gardens, where they can serve to highlight a scene or to provide focus. The classic ...
demonstrated the feasibility of bringing electrical power over long distances.
[Chronologie des Miesbacher Bergbaus](_blank)
, Websitebetreiber: Kappenverein Peißenberg, retrieved 5 March 2010.
The Glass Palace as a venue of art exhibitions
In 1858, the "First German general and historical art exhibition" organized in the palace, followed in 1869 by the "I. International Art Exhibition ", 1888" III. International Art Exhibition ".
From 1889, the Crystal Palace was almost exclusively used for art exhibitions. This affected the forum and place of the international art trade.
Other uses
When it was planned, following the industrial exhibition, it was assumed that the Glaspalast would be used as a greenhouse. However it was almost exclusively used for international art exhibitions and artist festivals.
Fire
The building was destroyed in a fire on June 6, 1931, a fate shared with the other crystal palaces. The cause of the fire was later determined to be
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
. The fire in the ''Glaspalast'' irretrievably destroyed more than 3,000 artworks including more than 110 paintings from the early 19th century including many paintings by
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...
,
Moritz von Schwind image:Moritz von Schwind 2.jpg, 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860.
Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and th ...
,
Karl Blechen
Carl Eduard Ferdinand Blechen (29 July 1798, Cottbus – 23 July 1840, Berlin) was a German (his mother was a Sorb) landscape painter and a professor at the Academy of Arts, Berlin. His distinctive style was characteristic of the Romantic ideal ...
, and
Philipp Otto Runge
Philipp Otto Runge (; 1777–1810) was a German artist, a draftsman, painter, and color theorist. Runge and Caspar David Friedrich are often regarded as the leading painters of the German Romantic movement.Koerner, Joseph Leo. 1990. ''Caspar Dav ...
. A further 1,000 works by contemporary artists at that time were heavily damaged and only 80 artworks were recovered unharmed.
[
]
The daily newspaper "Neues Wiener Tagblatt" reported on the following day, June 7, 1931, in a telegram: The fire of the Munich Glass Palace, S. 4:
Other
After the fire, plans were made to rebuild the ''Glaspalast''. However, the plans were abandoned in 1933 after seizure of power by the new
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
government. Instead of rebuilding the palace, the government built the
Haus der Kunst (House of Art) on the
Prinzregentenstraße near the ''
Englischer Garten
The ''Englischer Garten'' (, ''English Garden'') is a large public park in the centre of Munich, Bavaria, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits. It was created in 1789 by Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814), later Count ...
'' (English Garden).
In 1936 a small exhibition pavilion was built, but was destroyed in World War II. This was rebuilt by artists after the war.
The Park Cafe now stands on the site of the Glaspalast.
''Webpräsenz des Münchnes "Park Cafés"''
dort unter
Erfahren: ''Geschichte''
The fountain of the Glaspalast, which remained intact, today stands in the center of the Weißenburger Platz in the Haidhausen quarter of Munich.
Footnotes
Sources
*German Wikipedia
The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia.
Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...
External links
Historisches Lexikon Bayerns: Glaspalast, München
Several photographs of the interior and exterior of the Glaspalast
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Munich
1854 establishments in Bavaria
Glass architecture
Demolished buildings and structures in Munich
Maxvorstadt
Buildings and structures destroyed by arson
Buildings and structures completed in 1854
Former palaces in Germany