The House of the Glockenspiel (Haus des Glockenspiels) is a gabled red brick building in Bremen’s historic Boettcherstrasse. It was designed by Bremen architects Alfred Runge and Eduard Scotland and constructed by Ludwig Roselius, the inventor of decaffeinated coffee.
Haus of the Glockenspiel in Bremen – the carillon with 30 Meissen porcelain bells chimes three times per day. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
The Carillon of the House of the Glockenspiel
The House of the Glockenspiel was constructed between 1923 and 1924, and the carillon, made of 30 Meissner porcelain bells, was added in 1934. The bells were placed between the gables and initially painted blue on the outside and gold on the inside. In 1944, during World War II, the building and the Glockenspiel suffered serious fire damage. Following the war, white porcelain bells were installed. The carillon chimes three times a day (at noon, 3 pm and 6 pm). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlCXUK-j_pc&vl=en/
The Wooden panels in the tower of the House of the Glockenspiel
While the 30 bells in the tower chime, ten wooden panels rotate on a mechanism inside the tower. The panels were designed by Bernhard Hoetger and built by Zdzislaus Victor Kopytko. They survived the Second World War undamaged. Restored in 1991, they depict pioneering seafarers and aviators from around the world:
(1) Leif Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefni (Icelandic explorers – first known Europeans to have set foot on continental North America)
(2) Didrik Pining and Hans Pothorst (German explorers who may have reached America twenty years before Columbus)
(3) Christopher Columbus (Italian explorer who discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas)
House of the Glockenspiel in Bremen. One of 10 wooden panels that rotate while the bells chime. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
(4) Robert Fulton (American engineer and inventor who developed a commercially successful steamboat)
(5) Paul Koenig (German maritime pioneer)
(6) Herbert Scott, Sir Arthur Whitten Brown and John William Alcock (British airship pilots who navigated the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight)
(7) Charles Lindbergh (American aviator who made the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight)
(8) Hermann Koehl and Freiherr von Huenefeld (German aviation pioneers) and James Fitzmaurice (Irish aviator) who piloted the first transatlantic flight by fixed-wing aircraft from East to West)
(9) Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin and Hugo Eckener (German inventor and pilot who piloted the first rigid airship flight around the world)
(10) Earth, Moon, Stars
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
