More Scenes Of Erfurt

Erfurt, huh? Yes, I like that town, so here I go showing some more of the pictures I took there. The antidote to big city presumptions, or to hyper urbanism, or whatever.

What makes Erfurt really so interesting for me personally? Looking at these pictures it´s perhaps the imagination that the city is so German, in a way we don´t see things as being typical German anymore because they´re so outdated and so old fashioned. Perhaps also because some of the older typical German attributes have been hijacked by the neo-right movements. A city that has been spared the systematic carpet bombing of the allied forces and that somehow survived the socialist urban planning scheme, is a popular show and tell object for twisted minds, showing what is at stake when we leave our country in the hands of savages who want to first take over and later destroy our heritage. Ahem...  seriously? Well I think you get the message.

From a neutral point of view the city is an exciting field for adventures and discovery. Architects or historians are in their game when they see the city and its layout of streets and alleys that have grown and spread over time, when they read history through buildings of different epochs. It´s not that Erfurt is the only city in Germany with a preserved old town center, but it´s one of the few where the historic substance has not been renovated into an unrecognizable state. Most old towns, especially in West Germany, have a Disney Theme Park flair. A terrible result of the past "state-of-the-art" architecture preservation. in a way socialist negligence turned out to be fortunate for many old towns with historic substance in East Germany. In a deplorable state at first, they then have been restored with the most up-to-date concepts and technologies. Modern preservation is not only good to look at in general, but also accurate to the smallest details - in most cases.

The Krämerbrücke (grocers bridge) is a jewel with houses on both sides of the bridge,

leaving a narrow lane running through the middle.

The ruin of Barfüsser Church.

The narrow lane on Krämerbrücke.

I named this picture Hilda on her way to visit Aunt Klara for a similar version on my Instagram account. It nicely shows the intact ensemble of old town Erfurt. Except fot the cars of course. Even though most parts of the historic downtown area are off limits for non-commercial vehicles, the defined area could well be expanded.

While I was standing on the steps to the cathedral to take the Hilda picture, I just had to turn around to take the next one. Erfurt Cathedral to the left and St. Severi Church to the right.

House with a small jetty.

A registry, seems like a nice place to marry.

Some of the houses are open to the public. In this case a building located on Krämerbrücke

that houses a foundation for the preservation of historic buildings. In one of the rooms the

patina of centuries-old wooden wall panels could be scrutinized.

The small round opening over the entrance signals the right of the house owners to brew and serve beer. If the present house owners still have the right to do so, they´d have to place a bundle of straw in the hole if freshly brewed beer were available. Nice tradition.

One of the topics that keeps preservers busy is the question wether to restore historic windows, or replace them by modern energy efficient replicas. The problem: Replicas are too perfect, often they´re made of synthetic material and don´t match the old wear and tear character of the buildings.

Thüringen/Thuringia Gallery