Darmstadt Artists’ Colony on Mathildenhöhe
The Fondation of Bauhaus
Lush Art Nouveau ornamentation next to reduced facades, new living and houses that have been designed down to the last teacup: the artists on Darmstadt’s Mathildenhöhe laid the foundation for what the Bauhaus later perfected and what is now associated with the concept of New Building.
Anyone wandering through the almost square-shaped quarter in which the buildings of the artists‘ colony are gathered will feel the fascination of this ensemble: the spirit of awakening at the beginning of the 20th century, the absolute will for renewal, the desire for peaceful coexistence of cultures around the world and for mutual inspiration.
For 14 years, from 1901 to 1914, the Mathildenhöhe was one of the most important centers of modern art and architecture in Europe and the world.
A visionary sovereign who invited mostly very young architects and artists to this field of experimentation, and four international exhibitions – the latter ended abruptly by the beginning of the First World War – were enough to lead the previously valid laws of architecture and design into a new age.
The architect Joseph Maria Olbrich and the painter, architect and designer Peter Behrens – teachers of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus directors Gropius and Mies van der Rohe – were already the grand seignors of the scene at their early thirties.
Based on the so-called arts & craft movement of the English architecture and art scene, the artists on Mathildenhöhe developed new construction methods that are still visible today in the so-called International Style. Clear lines, reduced ornamentation, clinker bricks, all-round window fronts, flat roofs, as they became the predominant style elements in the Bauhaus, were seen for the first time in Darmstadt. For example in the Wedding Tower designed by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, which already had corner windows designed in 1908. The heart of the site was primarily the Ernst Ludwig House, the central studio house designed by Olbrich. There was thought, debated, drafted and then rejected again. Today works by the former 23 members of the artists‘ colony are shown in a permanent exhibition.
Darmstadt Mathildenhöhe
UNESCO World Heritage since 2021
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