Meissen porcelain Archives - Walled In Berlin

Posts Tagged ‘Meissen porcelain’

Boettcherstrasse – Street of the Coopers

Monday, February 18th, 2019

Boettcherstrasse – a 330-foot alleyway leading from the town market square to the River Weser – is a major tourist attraction in Bremen, Germany. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages. At that time, coopers (Boettcher in German) inhabited the short street. They were artisans who crafted wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets and tubs from heated timber. The boettcher business boomed in the 18^thcentury. But in the middle of the 19^thcentury the harbor was relocated, and Boettcherstrasse went into decline. Over the years, its brick and sandstone buildings deteriorated one by one.

Boettcherstrasse is a 330-foot alleyway in Bremen, leading from the town market square to the River Weser. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com

The Man who Saved Boettcherstrasse

By 1900, the houses on Boettcherstrasse were so dilapidated that the city of Bremen wanted to tear them down and replace them with new government buildings. But the Bremen coffee merchant and art collector, Ludwig Roselius, had a different idea. An aficionado of archaeology, culture and civilization, he purchased the house on Boettcherstrasse 6 (today the Ludwig Roselius Museum) and turned it into the headquarters of his coffee empire, Kaffee HAG (Kaffee-Handels-Aktiengesellschaft – Publicly Traded Coffee Company). Between 1922 and 1931, Roselius transformed the entire “Street of the Coopers” into a unique piece of art that combines traditional artisanry with modern architecture.

Boettcherstrasse during World War II

In 1944, British aerial bombs destroyed large portions of Boettcherstrasse. Having passed away the year before, Roselius did not have to see his life’s work destroyed. Following the war, his daughter Hildegard took on the task of slowly restoring the buildings with private funds. By 1954 the Kaffee HAG company had restored most of the facades to their original state. In 1979, Ludwig Roselius Jr. sold the company, along with Boettcherstrasse, to General Foods. Two years later, he bought Boettcherstrasse back. When it became apparent in 1989 that significant additional repairs were needed, a Bremen bank purchased the street and its buildings, restored them and transferred ownership to a non-profit foundation in 2004.

Boettcherstrasse Today

Today, the restored Boettcherstrasse remains a major tourist attraction. Along its winding alleyways, it houses arts and crafts shops, workshops, several art museums, bars, restaurants and a hotel. The street and its buildings are rare examples of modified Brick Expressionism. A major attraction is the carillon of Meissen porcelain bells at the Glockenspiel Haus.

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Tags: Boettcherstrasse, Brick Expressionism, Glockenspiel Haus, Kaffee HAG, Ludwig Roselius, Ludwig Roselius Museum, Meissen porcelain, Street of the Coopers
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Meissen Porcelain – first true European porcelain

Monday, December 10th, 2018

Meissen Porcelain, manufactured by the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufactur Meissen GmbH, has been produced in Germany for more than 300 years. It was the first true porcelain made outside the Orient. While Meissen Porcelain is expensive, its high quality and unique designs make it desirable collector items.

Meissen Porcelain vase on exhibit in the lobby of the Leipzig Nationalbibliothek. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Chinese Porcelain

The first pottery was created in China during the Paleolithic era some 2.6 million years to about 12,000 years ago. The term “pottery” includes earthenware, which is porous and fired at low temperatures, and stoneware, which is non-porous and fired at higher temperatures. Porcelain, according to Western definition, is stoneware that is white, strong and translucent. It can be shaped, glazed and easily painted. The process of making porcelain was originally perfected in China about 2,000 to 1,200 years ago and slowly spread to Europe and the rest of the world. By the seventeenth century porcelain had become a valuable export commodity for China. But because it was expensive, only the elite could afford it.

Early Meissen Porcelain

Starting in 1708, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, a mathematician and scientist, experimented with the manufacture of glass and porcelain. Johann Friedrich Boettger, an alchemist, perfected the process and began producing porcelain in Meissen, Germany, near the city of Dresden. Following his initial reddish-brown stoneware, called Boettgersteinzeug, he came up with a hard-paste white porcelain that could be glazed and painted. In 1720, the Meissen Porcelain logo was created. It consists of two crossed swords based on the arms of the Elector of Saxony. Three years later, Johann Gregorius Hoeroldt introduced multicolor enameled paints, and in 1733 the sculptor Johann Joachim Kaendler added a series of painted figurines, which became synonymous with the Meissen Manufactory.

Meissen Porcelain – after World War II and the reunification

Following World War II, when Germany was partitioned into four sectors, the town of Meissen fell under Communist rule. In 1950, the manufactory, once owned by the King of Saxony and later by the State of Saxony, became a people-owned company. Meissen Porcelain, which had always sold to the elite, struggled in vain to find its way into mass consumption. Then, in 1969, the East German VEB Meissen Porzellan decided to once again focus on its traditions and became one of the few profitable companies in the economically troubled East German system. After German reunification in 1990, ownership of the Meissen manufactory reverted to the State of Saxony.

Tags: Boettgersteinzeug, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, Johann Friedrich Boettger, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Johannn Gregorius Hoeroldt, Meissen porcelain, Staatliche Porzellan-Manufactur Meissen GmbH, VEB Meissen Porzellan
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Coffee Saxons – Connoisseurs of fine Coffee

Monday, February 26th, 2018

“Kaffeesachsen” (Coffee Saxons in English) is a tongue-in-cheek expression that makes light of the Saxons’ love for coffee. Saxony, one of 16 Federal German states, is located in the eastern part of the country. In the early 1700s, coffee became the region’s most treasured drink. Supposedly, the Coffee Saxons still drink more coffee than the rest of the German people.

Coffee Saxons drink more coffee than the rest of the German people. www.walled-in-berlin.com

The Coffe Baum – Leipzig’s famous coffee house

The second oldest continuously operated coffee house in Europe is the Café “Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum” (To the Arab Coffee Tree), located in the Saxon city of Leipzig. In the early days, coffee houses were social hubs where thinkers and creators congregated. The Coffe Baum was once THE place where composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, Gustav Mahler and Richard Wagner talked about music and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/Goethe-writes-faust-a-closet-drama/ philosophized. Today, the Coffe Baum is mostly a tourist magnet.

Coffee house “Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum” in Leipzig, Germany. www.walled-in-berlin.com

No Bluemchenkaffee for Coffee Saxons

As early as 1697 the first German “coffeehouse order” was issued. It established the guidelines for the strength and composition of the coffee served. The then fashionable Meissen porcelain, invented in 1710, was typically adorned with floral designs. Soon, the Coffee Saxons referred to particularly weak coffee as “Bluemchenkaffee” (flower coffee) because you could see right through the brew to the floral design at the bottom of the cup.

What the Coffee Saxons call “Bluemchenkaffee” (flower coffee). It’s a tad exaggerated, but you get the idea. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2018. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Did the Coffee Saxons start the coffee habit?

Despite their love for the delightful brew, the Coffee Saxons did not invent coffee houses or the cup of steaming Java. Both originated in the 14^th or 15^th century in the Middle East, probably in Yemen or Turkey. There were coffee houses and an entire culture around coffee in much of the Eastern Mediterranean area at that time. It was not until the 18^th century, around the time of the invention of Meissen porcelain, that coffee, along with tea and chocolate gained in popularity in Saxony.

Coffee Consumption around the World

Despite their coffee fondness, the Coffee Saxons are by no means the biggest consumers of the brew. Neither can the United States claim that distinction despite the fact that there is a Starbucks on almost every corner. Although statistics vary, it appears that Finland and the Netherlands are the two top coffee consuming countries. Germany ranks fifth or eighth (depending on whose figures you believe) in consumption. The United States falls somewhere between number 16 and number 25.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/countries-that-drink-the-most-coffee/ and https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-what-the-world-drinks

A survey indicates that almost 30% of Germans believe that a cup of coffee helps in deal-making. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Tags: Bluemchenkaffee, coffee, Coffee Saxons, flower coffee, Germany, Kaffeesachsen, Leipzig, Meissen porcelain, Saxony, Starbucks, Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum
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