Historical Reconstructions that we love! (in Europe)

[wolfpaw]

After looking at the brilliant thread about Dresden's Neumarkt and the thread about German 19th century townscapes I thought it would be good to share the historical reconstructions that we actually like!

Many cities and towns in Europe have been ruined by hideous post-war reconstruction that had little to no resemblance to what was there before (Exeter is one example and the sad case of Nürnberg is another ) - but many great and beautiful buildings in Europe have been either totally restored or completely reconstructed from scratch (e.g. the amazing work taking place in Dresden)!

Add your own examples of totally reconstructed/restored buildings. Here are some of my favourites:

[wolfpaw]

House of the Blackheads, Riga, Latvia: mid-14th century with 16th century Renaissance facades in the Dutch style.

The original house was heavily damaged in World War 2, the ruins were completely cleared away in 1948 and a public garden was placed on the site. In 1999 an exact replica was built on the original location! Just beautiful!

Pre-War:



http://eng.meeting.lv/latvia/latvia_...p?cid=2&gid=23

Post-2001:



http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/Latvia/Riga/Riga.htm

Detail:



http://marvaoguide.com/index.php/Latvia/Riga.html

[wolfpaw]

Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland: 13th-19th century. The Royal Castle was gutted by fire in 1939 before being deliberately demolished by the Nazis in 1944 after the Warsaw Uprising. It was restored to its pre-war condition between 1971 and 1974, including many of the opulent interiors. Incredible!

Pre-War Castle:



http://www.luketravels.com/warsaw/wa...yal-castle.htm

Castle in 1940:



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...arsaw_1940.jpg

Castle in 1945:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Th...rsaw,_1945.jpg

Castle Today:



http://www.virtualtripping.com/a-nor...and-the-great/

Great Assembly Hall:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Castle,_Warsaw

[Häfner]

Brunswick

image hosted on flickr

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Münster

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Rothenburg Ratsherrntrinkstube, town hall and marketplace

image hosted on flickr

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old smithy and Roeder gate
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Gallow Lane and Wuerzburger gate
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Donauwörth, imperial road
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Mainz, Cherry Orchard
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market
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source

[wolfpaw]

Goldener Saal, Rathaus, Augsburg, Germany: completed 1643, one of the greatest examples of a German Renaissance interior, the Goldener Saal was the main room in the Rathaus at Augsburg. The Rathaus was severely damaged during an Allied bombing raid in 1944 (along with much of the historic centre of the city) and the Goldener Saal was completely destroyed. Although the building's exterior was restored after the war the Goldener Saal was not reconstructed until the 1980s when it was exactly reconstructed using original plans and pre-war photographs!

Pre-war:



http://www.heimatsammlung.de/topo_un...r_augsburg.htm



http://www.e-pics.ethz.ch/index/ETHB...1965_2296.html

Post-war Rathaus Ruins:



http://www.stadtarchiv.augsburg.de/index.php?id=17269

The Goldener Saal today:



http://www.augsburgwiki.de/index.php...rgWiki/Rathaus



http://www.luke72.it/2005_Bayern.htm

[wolfpaw]

Hi Hafner.

I really do love the reconstruction of the facade of the schloss at Braunschweig. I just wish they had recreated the interiors as well. Still, the facade is hugely impressive!

Another pic of it:



http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~kpa...dt/schloss.htm

And a photo of the war-damaged schloss prior to its demolition



http://elm-asse-kultur.de/html/body_herzogtum.html

[EvanG]

Belgium's best known example. The 13th century Cloth Hall and cathedral of Ypres.


This is how they looked near the end of world war one.





And here's how it looks today.

[wolfpaw]

Yes, the Cloth Hall at Ypres has to be the ultimate example of total reconstruction! A staggering achievement really (but what an absolute disgrace that the building should've been reduced to that state in the first place). I'm so glad that it was rebuilt though: one of the great secular buildings of medieval Europe.

[erbse]

Good thread, thanks for coming up with this But please, everyone, CREDIT your image sources!


Ypern/Ypres as a whole is a good example of a towns rebuilding after war. Quite some interesting architecture where they didn't reconstruct the buidlings, lots of Art Decó and Jugendstil buildings. Ypres got quite some luck it was rebuilt after WWI, not WWII. If rebuilt in post-WWII times, it'd most probably look like a concrete dump today...

[wolfpaw]

Hotel de Ville (1501 - 1506) & Belfry (1463 - 1554), Arras, France: Both the Flemish-Gothic town hall and the belfry were totally destroyed by German shell fire during World War One, along with much else in the historic city of Arras (and the city was again heavily damaged in World War Two). Fortunately the Hotel de Ville, the now UNESCO-listed Belfry, and the vast market squares known as the Grande Place and Place des Heros have all been restored to their pre-war condition!

Pre-War:



Source: http://www.elfinspell.com/Belgium/Title.html

Post-World War One:



Source: http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/battlegrounds6.htm



Source: http://www.censol.ca/research/greatwar/arras/

Reconstruction:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arras_HdV.jpg

[wolfpaw]

The Great Arsenal, Gdansk (Danzig), Poland: Dutch Mannerist, 1600-1609, this is one of my favourite buildings! Probably designed by Anton von Obberghen. Like most of Gdansk, the Arsenal was severely damaged by the advancing Soviet army in 1945 before being reconstructed in the post-war years. It's an absolutely superb, beautiful building

Pre-War:



Source: http://www.castlesofpoland.com/prusy...oczt_tn_de.htm



Source: http://www.mechelenblogt.be/2007/12/...se-bouwmeester



Source: http://www.castlesofpoland.com/prusy/gdan_po068_de.htm


Post-War:



Source: http://sabaoth.infoserve.pl/danzig-online/1945.html



Source: http://sabaoth.infoserve.pl/danzig-online/1945.html


Reconstruction:



Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/537392



Source: http://de.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dewiki/548035

image hosted on flickr


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjfnjy/190296560/

[wolfpaw]

Knochenhaueramtshaus (The Butchers' Guild Hall), Hildesheim, Germany: Built 1529, Destroyed 1945, Reconstructed 1987-1989, regarded as perhaps the finest fachwerk domestic house in Germany prior to World War Two. Of Hildesheim's 1500 half-timbered medieval houses only 200 survived the destructive Allied bombing raid of 22nd March 1945. After 1945 the remains of the original Knochenhaueramtshaus were cleared away and a modern hotel was built on the site. In 1987 the hotel was demolished and a replica of the Amtshaus was constructed on its original site using the original plans

Pre-War:



Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...shaus_1900.jpg


Reconstruction:

image hosted on flickr


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dh4oaa/3651619117



Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/543827

[wolfpaw]

Umgestülpter Zuckerhut ('Upside Down Sugar Loaf' House), Hildesheim, Germany: Half-timbered domestic house c.1510. One of hundreds of half-timbered houses destroyed in 1945, plans are afoot in Hildesheim to rebuild the Sugarloaf House but, stupidly in my opinion, it's being built in the middle of lots of hideous post-war constructions instead of being part of a reconstructed ensemble It's better than nothing but really nowhere near satisfactory The house is due to be completed in 2010.

Pre-War:

[img]http://i30.************/k9x65h.jpg[/img]

Source: http://www.bildindex.de/

Only the bit on the right is being rebuilt, not the taller building to the left as well

[img]http://i26.************/sfv1nn.jpg[/img]

Source: http://i26.************/sfv1nn.jpg


This is what the finished building will look like



Source: http://www.architekturforum.net/view...hp?f=37&t=2338

More information here (in German): http://www.architekturforum.net/view...hp?f=37&t=2338

[Dr.Mabuse]

http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.de/rekoliste.php

Church of our Lady in Dresden
http://www.reisefuehrer-dresden.de/w..._innenraum.jpg

http://dirko.net/bilder/frauenkirche_dresden_kuppel.jpg

The Amber Room
http://images.google.de/images?hl=de...-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Reichstagbuilding
http://www.dradio.de/images/23547/landscape/
http://skurrilsteer.files.wordpress....-shattered.jpg
http://omassoud.free.fr/wordpress/wp...hstag-1945.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ore_sunset.jpg

Brandenburg Gate
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._dem_Krieg.jpg
http://www.kunsthaus-luebeck.de/site...chaldej001.jpg
http://www.berlin.de/geschichte/hist...g/9/big_80.jpg
http://www.dortmund-airport.de/uploa...ger-tor-at.jpg
http://www.berlin.de/stadt/20031004/...randenburg.jpg

and if you liked the 19th century thread, PLEASE VISIT MY THREADS TOO. you will not regret it

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...162&highlight=

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...=#post37885528

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...=#post37916362

*EDIT*
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...=857628&page=2

[C-mere]

Warsaw Old Town 1945


Warsaw Old Town 2007

[Urbanista1]

Wow, amazing pics of Warsaw. I had no idea that Ypres and all those other beautiful buildings in Europe are reconstructions too.

[AMS guy]

Graeat thread! I hope to see some more reconstructions as good as these ones.

[Clay Hefner]

Weimar, Market (1990s), from scratch

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source

Hanau, Goldschmiedehaus, from scratch (1950s?)
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Aschaffenburg, Lion's Apothecary (1990s), from scratch
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[the spliff fairy]

Beijing restored its former 'Chinese City' (dating from the Qing era, when China was ruled by Manchurians who resided in the 'Tatar City' and Forbidden City)




[img]http://i36.************/s5iywp.jpg[/img]


before restoration:




After restoration, centred around the Qianmen Gate, entry point to the formerly imperial Tatar centre

x













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press opening day:


public opening:

[artstates]

Originally Posted by the spliff fairy

Beijing restored its former 'Chinese City' (dating from the Qing era, when China was ruled by Manchurians who resided in the 'Tatar City' and Forbidden City)

I even haven't been the newly finished qianmen street...