The historic Moritzburg castle in Halle is a very notable element of Gothic military architecture, which was popular in Germany at the end of the 15th century. Its stormy history is unavoidably reflected in the numerous changes it has endured. The present architectural appearance of Moritzburg Castle is influenced by its construction and use as an archbishop’s palace, as well as its later transformation into an art museum. The historical structure with four wings around a courtyard is essentially an impressive-looking construction dating from the late Middle Ages to the early Renaissance. The various uses have constantly altered Moritzburg Castle’s look it has seen over its 500-year history. It is now a remarkable architectural icon in the core of Halle a der Saale.
Construction | Kunstmuseum Moritzburg
It was built around 1500 on the northwestern outskirts of the city centre, both as a magnificent home and as a fortified fortress, as the headquarters of the regional government of the Magdeburg archbishops. It was the most effective form of defence at the time. Saint Maurice, the patron saint of the Magdeburg archbishopric, inspired the name of the complex.
Archbishop Ernest of Saxony laid the foundation stone (1476–1513). By 1503, most of the construction had been built. It was lavishly embellished by Ernest’s successor, Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), with rare timber panelling, exquisitely tiled fireplaces, luxurious carpets, murals, and expensive paintings by the best artists of the time. The archbishop’s state apartments and private living and working areas were originally housed in the west and north wings, which now house the new museum rooms.
During WWII, the complex’s deep vaults served as an air-raid bunker for Halle residents and the NSDAP’s Gauleitung (Gau administration). The cellar also had important gates and parts of castle construction.
Cardinal Albert began work on a “new structure” to the south of the cathedral in 1531 as a second residence. This “new residence” combined Moritzburg Castle and the cathedral to form a one-of-a-kind Renaissance ensemble that stood tall over the Saale. The Reformation prompted Cardinal Albert to flee the city in 1541, taking all his portable property.
Restoration
Moritzburg Castle earned increased interest in the nineteenth century as it fell into dangerous ruin. Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) proposed developing the ruins for university use in 1829, but the plans were never carried out. It wasn’t until long before 1900 that the town council decided to renovate the north wing, adding a gymnastics hall and fencing rooms for the University of Halle-Physical Wittenberg’s Education Institute. The university also took over the Maria Magdalena Chapel, which had its fan vaulting rebuilt in 1898.
Despite this, the building’s major architectural features remain untouched: the enclosing wall, three of the four round towers at the corners, and the central courtyard. The partial demolition of the north and west wings during the Thirty Years War in the 17th century left the castle as a romantic ruin, which it has maintained over the decades. Except for a stillborn proposal by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1828, no integral effort to remodel and enhance the historic ruin for the art museum situated there has been undertaken.
Moritzburg Castle earned increased interest in the nineteenth century as it fell more into dangerous ruin. Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) proposed developing the ruins for university use in 1829, but the plans were never carried out. It wasn’t until long before 1900 that the town council decided to renovate the north wing, adding a gymnastics hall and fencing rooms for the University of Halle-Physical Wittenberg’s Education Institute. The university also took over the Maria Magdalena Chapel, which had its fan vaulting rebuilt in 1898.
Conversion into Modern-day Art Museum | Kunstmuseum Moritzburg
Even though a new museum could not be constructed, the apparent solution was to expand the museum by extending and converting the west wing. The new extension in the west and north wings, completed between 2005 and 2008 based on proposals by the two Spanish architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano, is the most recent structural alteration.
The architects’ design was based on an idea as simple as it is clever: the west and north wings of the late-medieval mansion were linked by an aluminium-covered roof shaped by raised roof lights, rising and falling like an irregularly folded platform. However, its flat surface never protrudes past the top of the wall. Thus, historical architectural styles and shapes from the 15th through the 20th centuries are merged with a postmodernist geometric language.
As a result of this operation, the old ruin’s floor has been freed, creating a one-of-a-kind area with various exhibition options. This design is supplemented by the construction of two new vertical communication cores. The first is positioned in the north wing to connect the levels that must communicate with one another.
Therefore, the region and its colourful history have been successfully aesthetically brought into the present. Moritzburg Castle’s current architectural aspect thus represents the museum’s new beginnings at the turn of the century.
References:
- Dezeen. (2011). Moritzburg Museum Extension by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. [online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2011/06/17/moritzburg-museum-extension-by-niento-sobejano-arquitectos/.
- www.kunstmuseum-moritzburg.de. (n.d.). Moritzburg Castle – Museum & Exhibitions – Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt. [online] Available at: https://www.kunstmuseum-moritzburg.de/en/museum-exhibitions/moritzburg-castle/#collapseBox-7185.
- ArchDaily. (2011). Moritzburg Museum Extension / Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/132838/moritzburg-museum-extension-nieto-sobejano-arquitectos.
- ArchDaily. (2011). Moritzburg Museum Extension / Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. [online] Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/132838/moritzburg-museum-extension-nieto-sobejano-arquitectos.
- Arquitectura Viva (2018). Moritzburg Museum: Paintings of an Exhibition, Halle – Nieto Sobejano. [online] Arquitectura Viva. Available at: https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/museo-moritzburg-cuadros-de-una-exposicion-6.
