|
the founding of a school for the poor in Glaucha, then
just outside the city jurisdiction, in 1695. August Hermann
Francke (1663-1727) is among the most significant representatives
of the Pietist movement, an offshoot of German Protestantism.
As parish priest with a Chair at the University, he collected
contributions for the founding of a school for the poor
in Glaucha, then just outside the city jurisdiction, in
1695. Over the next few decades this grew into a veritable
educational complex including, alongside its institutions
dedicated to upbringing, the headquarters of the East
Indies Mission, the Canstein Bible Foundation, collections
of teaching materials, areas for botanical and vegetable
garden use, as well as production facilities such as a
pharmacy, a printing house and various agricultural undertakings.
The Foundations, with their more than 40 buildings, as
it were hidden behind an encircling wall, formed a city
within the city up to 1945. The main house, completed
in 1700 and facing onto Franckeplatz, bears on its pediment,
over Francke's motto twin eagles flying toward the sun.
Previously used for all manner of purposes, it is now
the seat of the committee responsible for the Foundations
and has rooms for exhibitions and public or private events.
The remaining buildings, whether timber-framed constructions
or of brick or stone were erected between 1700 and 1914.
Francke's ideas enlightened not only Europe but reached
as far as India and America, leading to the foundation
of numerous schools and teacher training institutions
after his example.
House 22, which houses the principal library, claims to
be the oldest secular functional building in Germany:
its original Baroque room with stacks, housing some 120
thousand early printed works, is still in use. What is
considered the oldest museum room in Germany still used
in its original form is the art and curios cabinet (Kunst-
und Naturalienkammer). The historic architectural ensemble
behind the original orphanage is a monument of quite particular
kind, consisting predominantly as it does of traditional
timer-framed buildings, among them the longest such in
Europe with its over 100 metres.
Preservation and restoration work on the Foundation's
architectural heritage, listed by UNESCO, has been undertaken
intensively since 1990 alongside with the intellectual
renewal of this place with such a great tradition.
|
