The Langenstraße is a historical street in the old town of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

in the north of Germany. First mentioned in 1234, it is one of Bremen's oldest streets and one of the most important for the city's merchants. It no doubt originated at the time when the first settlements grew up on the north bank of the

Balge Balge is a municipality in the district of Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Weser river. The community belongs to the ''Samtgemeinde'' Weser-Aue which consists of six municipalities including Balge. History On March 1, 1974 t ...

. It runs west from the

Marktplatz A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

parallel to the

River Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

over Bürgermeister-Smidt-Straße to Geeren. Many of the street's historic buildings were seriously damaged during aerial bombings in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

but were carefully reconstructed in the postwar period.

Landmarks

There are many historic buildings along the road, many of them listed. On the corner of the market square, the Sparkasse am Markt is a gabled building reconstructed in 1958 by

Eberhard Gildemeister Eberhard Gildemeister (1897–1978) was a German architect who was mainly active in Bremen. In addition to a number of churches and residential buildings, he designed the Sparkasse building on Bremen's market square. Early life Born in Bremen, ...

who made use of a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

facade originally located at 31B, An der Schlachte. The facade was built by the stonemason Theophilus Wilhelm Frese in 1755 with

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

s, a wigged upper gable and

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

decorations. The

Kontorhaus am Markt The Kontorhaus am Markt in Bremen is a historical building in the city centre of Bremen. Today, it is used as a shopping mall. It is situated at the Bremer Marktplatz between three streets: Langenstrasse 2/8, Stintbruecke 1 and Bredenstrasse 13. ...

stretching from No. 2 to No. 8 consists of a group of buildings designed by Richard Bielenberg and Josef Moser in the

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 o ...

style and completed in 1912. First used as a bank, the Kontorhaus complex has now been converted into a shopping centre with office accommodation. Of special interest is the portal flanked by columns and decorated with

allegorical sculpture Allegorical sculpture are sculptures of personifications of abstract ideas as in allegory. Common in the western world, for example, are statues of Lady Justice representing justice, traditionally holding scales and a sword, and the statues of ...

s. The Stadtwaage at No. 13 is a former

weigh house A weighhouse or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights, and were often a large and representative ...

used for weighing goods for the purpose of levying taxes. The original brick building from 1588 in the

Weser Renaissance Weser Renaissance is a form of Northern Renaissance architectural style that is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany and which has been well preserved in the towns and cities of the region. Background Between the star ...

style was almost completely destroyed in 1944 apart from its outer walls. The new building constructed in 1960 maintains the original gable. It is now used as a cultural centre. The Deutsche Factoring Bank building (earlier Bankhaus Martens & Weyhausen) which covers the section from No. 15 to No. 21 was reconstructed in 1955 after serious war damage. It contains the Renaissance

Essighaus The Essighaus was an impressive gabled town house in the old town of Bremen in northern Germany. One of the city's finest examples of Renaissance architecture, it was almost completely destroyed by bombing in 1943. The entrance flanked by projec ...

portal with bay windows from 1618 and the gable of the former Sonnenapotheke (1770). The Suding & Soeken building at No. 28 (from c. 1620) is noted for its projecting

and its two-tiered

stairway ascending from the hallway. Other listed buildings of note are the house at No. 16 in the Renaissance style from 1715, and the Bank für Handel und Gewerbe, Bankverein für Nordwestdeutschland, Bremer Bankverein at No. 3 to 5 (first built 1912), Bank für Handel und Gewerbe & Bankverein für Nordwestdeutschland & Bremer Bankverein

Gallery

File:Sparkasse am Markt - Bremen, Am Markt 12.jpg, No. 1: Sparkasse am Markt File:Stadtwaage FHB0831,T.JPG, No. 13: Stadtwaage File:Bremen_Langenstrasse_16.jpg, No. 16 Langenstraße, 17th-century residence File:BremenEssighaus2.jpg, Section between the Essighaus (left) and the Stadtwaage (right) File:Bremen - Essighaus - Utluchten.jpg, Essighaus portal and bay windows File:Bremen, Langenstrasse 38-42.jpg, No. 38-42: Reisbörse, Argo-Haus File:SudingSoeken-Langenstrasse28.jpg, No. 28: Suding und Soeken building (c. 1620) File:Bremer Bankverein FHB0954.jpg, No. 3: Bank Verein building File:Kontorhaus am Markt N Portal FHB.jpg, Kontorhaus portal File:Kontorhaus am Markt - Bremen, Langenstrasse.jpg, No. 2: Kontorhaus am Markt

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langenstrasse (Bremen) Streets in Bremen (city) Culture in Bremen (city) Buildings and structures in Bremen (city) Tourist attractions in Bremen (state)