Unbekanntes Braunschweig

Overview & Synopsis

Braunschweig beyond the familiar squares and magnificent buildings: drawings by an unknown artist reveal in detail the appearance and life of the city 260 years ago. Braunschweig had become a royal seat in the mid-18th century; Baroque buildings were springing up in the city centre, yet the long-obsolete fortifications still hemmed in the city, when an artist known to us today only by name wandered through the streets. In pencil drawings, each about a span in size, meticulously detailed and often naive, the artist Collier captured groups of houses and streets that had vanished just decades later, having been built over or clad in a new style. This is the unknown Braunschweig, away from the familiar squares and magnificent buildings: the half-timbered town whose value was only slowly rediscovered a hundred years later and which was almost completely destroyed a further half-century on. Yet the extensive collection of drawings has survived. Gerd Spies has now individually located these unique cityscapes and placed them within the context of city life at the time. This makes it possible to accompany Collier on his way through the streets of Braunschweig at the end of the 18th century, to see the houses, façades and courtyards through his eyes, and to locate the views depicted in 121 illustrations on a contemporary city map.