Speech OB 26/08/2011 Council treasure

The spoken word counts!

Dear members of the Chemnitz City Council,
Dear residents of Chemnitz,
dear guests,

When the New Town Hall was inaugurated on 2 September 1911, the people of Chemnitz not only took possession of a new administrative building.
The King of Saxony had come. Tens of thousands of Chemnitz residents thronged the streets and squares surrounding the new building.
There was great joy and pride in this successful and imposing building.

The pride of the growing industrial city and its citizens is visible in this building, whose 100th birthday we are celebrating.
It confirms the city's status as a metropolis and emphasises the efforts of its citizens to exploit industrial progress through work, entrepreneurship, trade and diligence.

The exhibition "The Treasure of the Council and the Citizens - The Gifts of Honour for the Inauguration of the New Town Hall" gives us an idea, even after 100 years, of how proudly and joyfully the people of Chemnitz experienced the inauguration of their New Town Hall.
I am delighted that you have all come to this extraordinary exhibition opening.

When we talk about the "Council's treasure" today, that is not quite right. "The treasure of the Council and the citizens" rightly refers to those to whom the treasure is dedicated: the citizens of the city.
In this sense, we are fulfilling a fine duty by making the treasure accessible to the public again.

City planning officer Richard Möbius also had the citizens of the city in mind when he designed the concept for the New Town Hall. He reflected the spirit of the times in a remarkable way and took it further.

The commemorative publication from 1911 states:
"From its manifold, yet calm and bold, forms, most highly elevated above the city council chamber, speaks the pride of the bourgeoisie, which essentially created by its own efforts what the city possesses and what proclaims its fame throughout the world.It also speaks of a high, serious, artistic endeavour, a strong artistic will and capable ability, the same will and ability that has made our Chemnitz great and what it has become."

Salutation,
Although the building was not without controversy and alternative building concepts were put forward against its design, City Planning Officer Möbius and Lord Mayor Dr Heinrich Beck were able to convince the majority after long debates about the pros and cons.
It was to be a building that would (and I quote) "fulfil the requirements of modern municipal administration for centuries to come."

And the gentlemen were not wrong. The building has lost nothing of its charisma and functionality over the years.
It can undoubtedly hold its own alongside modern buildings.
The staircase, foyers and entrance halls are a source of wonder for visitors. Not in awe of the mighty, but with sympathy for the successful composition.
It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. Even more so after the extensive refurbishment in recent months.
We renovated the tall building for its birthday.
Since January, the City Councillors' Hall has shone again in new and traditional splendour. The façade of the town hall has been undergoing work and maintenance since September 2009.

Richard Möbius would hopefully have been pleased if he had known how we value his heritage. And this legacy also includes the treasure of the council and the citizens.
Möbius was not only a marvellous architect, he was also - today we would say - a marketing expert.
He was able to win over many donors for himself and his project: Associations, institutions and private individuals.

A corresponding appeal by the Chemnitz city councillors was published in 1910, just one year before the opening of the town hall. Money was also scarce in the up-and-coming industrial city.

In any case, these donations and gifts, which were received in the period that followed, significantly enhanced the appearance and character of the town hall.

• Architectural elements such as the fountain and the water dispensers were realised, as were clocks and representative glass windows
• Works of art such as those by Max Klinger were commissioned for our town hall.
• and a rich treasure trove of silver, crystal and Meissen porcelain was collected.

Among them, for example, is a gold-plated seal, a kind of stamp for the Chemnitz council seal, with the image of our Roland figure.
Goldsmith and engraver Paul Christiansen, like many of the citizens, was so fascinated by the old symbol of urban freedom that he immortalised it without further ado for the large Chemnitz council seal and donated the seal as a gift of honour to the city.
Christiansen was thus in the truest sense of the word in "great company" with over 166 donors who did the same.

Salutation,
The fact that we are presenting the Council Treasure in this way today, 100 years later, is not a matter of course.
War, hardship and collapse followed the happy inauguration of the New Town Hall.
And the city was not always aware of the value and symbolic power of its treasure.

In the early 1950s, for example, there were plans to donate 300 Roman glasses, which were also mentioned in the 1911 commemorative publication, and other council silverware and the council china to the hospital's catering department.
Perhaps there was a shortage there too and there were even good reasons for the idea.
Fortunately for us, however, it did not come to that, but an attitude prevailed that argued in favour of preserving the treasure of the council and the citizens.

And finally, and fortunately, it was placed in the hands of the institution that preserves, maintains, researches and exhibits the treasures of the past on behalf of the public: our Schlossberg Museum as the town's historical museum.

The Council Treasure is still preserved in the Schlossberg Museum's collections today.
Lars Ehrhardt, restorer at the Schlossberg Museum, has completely restored the entire "Council Silver" collection for the first time in its 100-year history in just under a year.
The director of the Schlossberg Museum, Uwe Fiedler, curated this exhibition and found an imaginative way to show the entire spectrum of Chemnitz council silver.

I am delighted that we are able to present the treasure of the Council and the citizens - the gifts of honour for the inauguration of the New Town Hall - to you and hopefully to many visitors today. Because it is the treasure of the people of Chemnitz!

The opening of the exhibition is also the start of a whole week of celebrations centred around our town hall.

• Today and over the weekend, the city festival invites you to take a "journey through time in Chemnitz".
• Following the opening of the exhibition, we will honour entrepreneurs whose companies are at least as old as the New Town Hall,
• On Tuesday and Thursday at 6 pm, the city archives will present interesting facts about the town hall and the city's history.
• There is a large historical parade as well as concerts and a stunt show in which Chemnitz textiles play a decisive role.
• Towermen from all over Germany meet in Chemnitz.
• And finally, the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra will conclude the event with a festive concert on the market square on 4 September

Ladies and Gentlemen,
2 September 1911 was a day of celebration for the people of Chemnitz. Their town hall was inaugurated.
Now it is 100 years old. We are lucky enough to be there.