Leipzig, Universität und MendebrunnenIch bin mir sicher, sollte sich jemandem, aus welchem verrückten Gedanken heraus auch immer, die Möglichkeit eröffnen, Deutschlands Städte etwa um das Jahr 1900 herum zu besuchen, er würde glauben, er durchwandere einen Traum. Orte nicht nur von feingegliederter, berückender Schönheit, sondern auch mit Seele und Vergangenheit. Nicht ausschließlich natürlich, aber von dem ausgehend, was wir heute wissen, schon.
Ich bin beim besten Willen nicht geneigt, in diesem Moment ein paar Invektiven in Richtung des gegenwärtigen Bauens zu schießen, später gern. Das einzige, was noch immer verstört, daß diesen Verlust, der nun geschehen ist, kaum jemand bemerkt, geschweige betrauert. Auch das macht mich mißtrauisch gegenüber dieser Gegenwart. Übrigens, man weiß ja nie, wie lange so ein Link hält, aber ich war überwältigt von diesem, der etwas davon lebendig werden läßt, übrigens es ist das Deutschland von vor 100 Jahren, es gab da gewisse Veränderungen.
3 Kommentare:
Cities looked much better before there were skyscrapers.
Seeing all these pictures to which you have linked reminds me of my visit to Chicago in the 1970's. I was immediately struck by how much more attractive I found it than Boston. Soon I realized that the reason was that in downtown Boston, buildings from different centuries, of very different sizes and architectural styles are "cheek by jowl." In Chicago, by contrast, the buildings in the downtown area called the Loop were all of a period, style, and scale: they fitted together. The pictures of the German cities in your link show a similar consistency.
When I visited Chicago, there were already a few taller buildings, but not enough to destroy the beauty of the city. I'm sure it's different now. A danger sign even when I was there was something I found in the Art Institute of Chicago: one of the exhibits was an elevator cage which had been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and was part of a certain building which had been recently demolished to be replaced by a massive skyscraper.
As a practical matter, I suppose the skyscrapers make it possible for people to work in the cities, rather than having the spread far and wide across open countryside. Mechanized transportation has made commuting possible, and it is not an altogether bad thing, perhaps. But it comes at a price, and that price is the beauty of our cities.
Sometimes the reason somebody hasn't answered is simply a lack of words, they were running out, so to speak. Eine meiner stehenden Redensarten ist, die Autos haben die Städte häßlich gemacht. But that's not the “whole truth”. There must have been also a widespread destruction in mind to explain al this ugliness. And what seems to remain for us - we can only warmly mourn the loss.
A belated thanks for commenting.
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