fairly cool facade embellishment on a rather unassuming building in bingen. i think it was part of a vocational school, maybe a gym.
bingen is a really old city ( origins dating back to the 2nd century before christ, when the romans were roaming the southern part of germany ) in the state of rhineland-palatinate, sitting right next to the rhine river, in an area that is widely known as the starting point of the upper middle rhine valley. many a legends and myths are part of the city's history, involving quite a few historic human beings, one of the most famous one being the sainted hildegard von bingen. she was a nun that, through her visions, but also through intelligence and far-sightedness, was one of the most influential women of the medieval age, even being a counselor to germany's elite back in the day. a writer, musician and general polymath, she contributed immensely to many important political discourses, wrote about moral problems and created teachings, observed nature and how it could add to human lives, practiced medicine and even composed musical pieces that are quite extraordinary in the context of gregorian chants and melodies.
this post of course is not a story about hildegard, though, but i thought it was worth mentioning, as she still, even to this day, is a highly regarded figure of history and her presence seeps through every single crack of bingen's city mesh.
bingen historically has been an important junction with being situated on the shores of two important rivers, the rhine and nahe. that position made it very attractive for trade, especially since the two rivers covered huge landscapes of southern and western germany, and brought prosperity and wealth to these regions. in addition to that, the city is absolutely gorgeously embedded into one of the most charming natural landscapes of germany, making me ooh and aah everytime i visit it. the narrow gorge of the middle rhine valley is just something you absolutely have to experience while you're visiting these parts of germany, surely making you fall in love with its beauty.
on my visit to bingen early in the year 2020 i stuck to the city core with the intent to uncover some of its architectural fabric in search of some nice gems amongst the already well-known structures and sights. so let's go and see what secrets bingen is hiding in the shadows of klopp castle and its basilica, while also taking note of exactly those iconic buildings.
a detail of a fountain i stumbled on early on my walk. turns out it's part of the draisbrunnen - a fountain that was built during medieval times, though its current appearance is sort of belonging to the french empire style era. the head of this grim looking chimera did not spit out any water, though, i guess in winter the city is trying to go easy on the ancient underground aqueduct.
what would a bingen ( or rüdesheim - which sits on the other side of the rhine river ) visit would be without the mentioning of the niederwald memorial? usually people focus more on the memorial and its scenic embedding into the the vineyard hills, but when i strolled along mainzer straße i noticed this little detail, a crossing sign harmonizing with the patterns and lines of the vines in the back, while the figure suggests that it is on its way up to the memorial. sometimes contrasts like this really get my attention and i kinda feel like it brings a new cheeky perspective to the eternally same ways to portrait a building or landscape.
the memorial was inaugurated in 1883 to commemorate the proclamation of the german empire in 1871, which makes this a heavily discussed memorial, as some right-wing political groups look at it in glorification, others just see it as part of germany's history and just enjoy its beauty and monumentality and great views down the rhine valley, and even another part of german society hates it from the bottom of their hearts and would rather tear it down. in any case, the germania overlooking germany's most beloved national river, the romantic rhine with all its historic importance, its fairytales and legends, will probably not go away too soon, as it also is a big attraction for tourists from all around the world and you know, what would these two cities and the whole region be, without this memorial drawing thousands of people every day? it's become such a stable in the tourism itinerary.
i did not make my way down to the river, but instead turned around to finally start exploring the city ( taking the river stroll is what you usually do as a bingen visitor :P ). i came upon this huge villa, an art nouveau construction that got built between the years 1908 and 1911 by the utterly awesome architect dominikus böhm, who built spectactular and game-changing sacral architecture in his later career, expressionistic in style, almost brutalist in their execution, paving a path towards mid-century modern architecture. he was the father of the architect gottfried böhm, who was also important in shaping post-war germany's architectural history.
the whole villa appeared more like a stronghold than a delicate art nouveau creation, which is usually rather lively and playful with all kinds of curlicues and flourishes when it comes to decorational elements. you can already see a penchant towards more simplicity and the use of concrete ( which was not very common back then! ) also already indicates the path böhm senior would later take.
taking a step inside the courtyard. the iron gate was definitely art nouveau, and to me felt like the most typical detail of that style.
the entrance pathway, very simple and almost unornamental. it's probably very beautiful in times when the vines entwining around the concrete trellis have their leaves still.
discovered this little figurine in one of the niches to the right side of the pathway.
it's quite a massive building! it was on sale not too long ago for 2.142.000 euros. a steal, really 😂 it had been in the ownership of one architect inge kappes, who offered holiday rentals and social gathering venues, even opening it up on memorial days in september. i hope the new owners will provide something equal! i would love to take a look inside this exceptional building.
the quite gorgeous evangelical johanneskirche ( 1858 - 1860 by eduard köhler ). the ashlar facade gives this neo-romanesque church a time-honoured and elegant appearance! i also really liked the very minimal clock face on the tower. felt very mid-century to me.
on the ground surrounding the church were some colourful sculptures made out of ceramic, which i LOVED. they were created as a contribution for the state garden show 2008 by the artist lies ebinger and symbolize some evangelical concepts. this fountain is supposed to remind you where you can find the source of vital water.
i was wondering why the work i found here reminded me so much of friedensreich hundertwasser's oeuvre, so i looked lies ebinger up and found out that the couple ebinger were an integral part of hundertwasser's work, they helped realize basically all of his creations. i love when i stumble upon connections and collaborations between artists that i like!
the golden marble on top of the fountain functioned as a great reflective surface, creating an image that reminded me of egon schiele's landscape paintings. ❤
this guy is supposed to help reflect where you are coming from. i like how introspective he looks and sort of melancholic, too.
i did not go inside the church ( i am not sure if it was open - didn't even try ), but from the outside this window was peaking my interest. these three figures showed various types of pain, i suppose they symbolize despair, death and hardship. i felt that it was quite extraordinary to showcase these very real fears of humanity. looking back i would like to see what the window's colouration looked like from within. the abstract and stylized execution of the window is a good sign that it was installed in the 1950ies or later!
this blue guy seems to be asking where his heart is at. is it shattering in thousand pieces, or are all the pieces his hopes and yearnings, his longings and aspirations?
on the other side to the church, the former post office of the city stood out to me with its steel frame construction and sandstone raster facade. upon closer inspection you could make out all kinds of imprints, which i found completely charming! the building was constructed in 1955/56.
i don't know what prompted the architects to include whales in the facade decoration, since bingen does not have a maritime connection at all to the creatures of the wide ocean, but i still loved it!
these days the former post office is used by an ophthalmologist, and there's probably some other companies and offices residing here.
scales always seem to attract me. must be the fact that i am a libra sun ;P
the stars and the moon ❤
the sun, or a really funny looking medusa head? the imprints were so cheeky and playful ❤
one last imprint before moving on, a very snakey creature!
when you turn around the corner of the building this magnificent mural can be discovered, this time with an actual connection to the city, the boats on the river rhine and hildegard letting go of a dove. i adore the design with the added and very typical geometrical and colourful kidney forms of the 1950ies.
along the mainzer straße you can further find more majestic villas, such as this neobaroque one from 1899 ( architects: julius busch & carl moritz ). in historic times there was a cork production manufacture inside this villa, now it's a business and residential building.
almost art deco in style, this art nouveau building captured my interest. you rarely find art deco architecture here in germany ( it's more widely known in america ), which i am a little sad about, because it is that tiny little link that connects the architecture of historism to the creation of modern architecture. a special focus in art deco is the use of geometrical forms and shapes, whereas in art nouveau natural and organic decorational elements were used more often. i don't know when and by whom the building was erected, but my guess would probably be that it was built in the late 1910s.
i am little frustrated that i couldn't capture the coloration of the building well, all the various blue shades and the occasional green highlight were quite beautiful to look at!
here you can see the green glass inlays that were giving this building another interesting layer.
this tiny alley with staircase to a higher part of the city was very charming. in the cellar on the right a cabaret/live venue called binger bühne is situated. apparently they offered an event monthly, but now seem to have been closed due to corona. back then it was still open, as the virus was in fact only a wisp of a cloud on the other side of the globe. little did we know how fast that cloud would approach...
and since the alley was called martinstraße, it had to be made apparent that it was called after st. martin, the guy who divided his coat and shared it with a poor freezing fellow. found this relief right on a facade on martinstraße. the style is pretty clearly mid-century in nature, which always makes me happy, finding art from that era!
sometimes, when walking around a city, i don't always focus on big ensembles or historical buildings, but i discover random things that draw me in because of a certain detail. that happened with this balcony situation, the coloured glass matching beautifully with the overcast sky.
and i adored this concrete wall, the patterns are absolutely stimulatory to some parts of my brain that loves brutalist design.
before i introduce you to one of bingen's most iconic buildings, let's have something modern to clear our palates. i don't know when this was built, but it felt very early modern to me, maybe mid-1920ies to early 1930ies? it wouldn't surprise me though, if it is a much later design era, maybe 1980ies.
over a stone bridge you'll enter the area of klopp castle via a gate house, already getting a glimpse of the 37,5 meter high donjon.
klopp castle dates back to roman times, it was built on the foundation walls of a roman fort from the late 4th century. it was first mentioned as a medieval castle around 1282, but probably was around for a few decades earlier already - it is estimated it was erected between 1240 & 1249. the castle you see today though, is not the castle that was built so many centuries ago, it was brought to ruins during the devastating thirty-year's war and while they tried to re-fortify it, following succession wars put it over the edge and only the purchase of a cologne merchant named ludwig maria cron in 1853 preserved it from its final dereliction. while only parts of the curtain walls and the lower levels of the donjon are still original, the rest of the castle was built in a neo-gothic style after the merchant acquired it. there was a time were many owners fell victim to the so-called rhine romanticism, where people bought old ruined castles along the rhine river and rebuilt them as they saw fit to how they imagined historic castles looked like. which makes a lot of these castles some idealized version of their former selves, but that's still super popular with people and tourists of modern times, of course. today, the castle is used as the city's mayor office and there's a restaurant, too, which you can book for social happenings and all.
these little crenels looked newly renovated to me, apparently they repaired the bridge in 2019.
entering the castle grounds. the gorgeous donjon is quite a sight! you can climb the tower from april to october, giving you a breathtaking view on the surrounding landscapes and towns.
just loving the rubblestone facade 😍
the gate house from the inner ward.
you gotta love overgrown architecture, i surely do!
the donjon again, looking quite massive from this perspective.
gnarly ivy roots. it always astonishes me that common ivy can develop massive roots and trunks like that! this plant can also reach an age of about 450 years, which is equally mind-blowing.
even if you don't climb up the donjon, you are still able to get great views from the castle grounds. on the western side of the castle are some vineyard hills leading down to the city, from here you get to see bingerbrück, one of bingen's city districts. it's situated on the other side of the nahe river and its layout is fairly new, many buildings were erected after the second world war as it was devastating to the district, and bombs basically destroyed a big part of the former little town ( it was incorporated in 1969 ). the hills and woods are part of the binger wald, a low-range mountain ridge.
closing in on that particular high-rise, which i felt very attracted to! it's called 'panoramahaus' ( panorama house ) and was built in 1975. renting an appartment here is more expensive than it looks, i have found listings that were as expensive as 149.000 euro for a 5-room appartment or 650 euro lease without utilities for a 3-room appartment. but i also guess it's not the worst of property prices either. apparently the complex even has an indoor swimming pool and offers a sauna to its inhabitants, which is quite a cool addition for people living here!
i loved the coloration of the balconies, good color-blocking!
moving a little to another part of the castle hill, more to the east, you'll also get views of the entrance to the rhine gorge. the big church you see here is bingen's basilica st. martin.
i never could say no to views like this 😍
st martin's basilica is bingen's most important church building ( next to the chapel of st. rochus on the rochusberg ). first mentioned in 793 it underwent a lot of changes and reconstructions. its current appearance is mostly of gothic origin ( after a big fire in 1403 the church was re-erected until 1416 and again reconstructed in 1505 ). after world war 2, though, the church was heavily battered, but with a lot of effort and money it got quickly reconstructed and repaired so it now can entice visitors with its splendor again.
all kinds of roof forms shape the layout of modern bingen, which was quite heavily bombarded during world war 2 ( its close proximity to one of the most important train hubs of the region basically sealed its fate ). even though bingen's origins are very, very old, you can't always see it, as modern buildings and post-war structures often rule streets of houses. in this image, though very small and distant, you can also see the mouse tower, a legendary tower situated on a small island of the rhine river ( it's the white little turret greeting you from afar on the upper left side of the picture ). legend says that hatto II, an archbishop of mainz, fled to the tower he built himself, due to millions of mice chasing him after he had burned peasants who had rebelled against him for not providing food to them. he had lured the peasants into a barn, promising them food, but then he locked them in and burned the whole thing down, listening to the screams and saying: listen to the mice squeak! as he said that, mice were emerging from all directions and chased him to the island where he thought himself safe, but falsely so, as the mice swam over and devoured him alive.
pretty amazing legend it is, and though some people call it a cruel one, i personally find it very satisfying 😂
loved this facade detail 😍
making my way around the castle i encountered some sweet little paths with remains of old walls.
the curtain wall is one of the oldest structures of the castle, dating back to the 14th century.
back to the donjon again, which i really couldn't get enough of. i wish i could live inside it! 😂
to get the above view i climbed up a little platform next to the donjon.
next to the entrance of the tower an ancient door frame made out of sandstone was incorporated into the facade, as was this lovely little relief of a skipper. i could not find any further details on their origins, unfortunately.
dies wirtshaus wirt zum schefgen genant - this tavern is named to the little boat. the relief probably decorated the entrance to a tavern at some point, how it made its way up to the facade of the donjon, i really don't know. it seems that there is no restaurant in town that is called that way, so i guess this information is lost to time.
found randomly blooming laurestine, which i thought was very curious, but as it turns out, they can bloom from november to april! the blossoms had a really delicate pleasant smell, i can't find words to describe it well.
so many of them were about to pop open!
the manor house again. if you ever wanted to marry here, they offer the possibility to do so!
on the right you can see the coverage of the 52 meter deep castle well.
again, i reached a viewpoint to take a look down the hill into the city and towards the rhine gorge. i swear, this is a view i could never get tired of! by the way, you are looking at the borders of two states here, bingen being part of rhineland-palatinate and the vineyard hills on the other side of the rhine river being part of hesse.
in the far back of those vineyard hills you can barely make out ehrenfels castle, but thanks to the zoom on my camera, i tried getting a good picture of it anyway! it's a ruined and VERY romantic castle sitting on the 'rüdesheimer berg', which produces some of the best riesling wines of the rheingau region. the old castle was probably built between 1208 & 1220, and it served as a medieval toll station for a very long time, until it was destroyed by french troups in 1689 during the siege of mainz. unfortunately you can't enter the castle grounds, but just passing it by or seeing it from afar or from a passenger ship from the river below is already a fantastic experience. apparently, there is a pair of falcons breeding every year in the castle, and they are the reason why they don't let many tourists inside ( i think you can still make appointments for a guided tour every once in a while, though ).
close-ups again from various parts of the city. the white building in the back is bingen's congress center. the strange black tiled building in the middle of the picture looked interesting to me, but apparently it is not interesting enough to warrant a mention in the annals of the world wide web.
i returned my gaze towards the other side of the nahe river again, towards bingerbrück, marvelling over the terraced house construction. i especially like the front row, which to me seems to be the oldest existing development. they surely also have the best views onto the river!
i don't know if anybody else is reminded of egon schiele's art again. but for me, the assortment of these buildings very much reminded me of his work, namely the paintings he did when he lived in krumau. here are some examples, maybe you can see what i mean ;)
the fading winter sun slowly started to cast quite a magical light over the townscape.
😍
i spent a huge amount of time on the castle grounds and it was fascinating to see how the light changed the way the buildings appeared.
the mood was very gorgeous, with the cold air filling your lungs and the sun drenching the old masonry in a glorious and romantic light.
slowly i made my way back to town, saying an internal thank you and good-bye to klopp castle.
i passed by this villa from 1891/1892 and was mostly enamoured with the fountain standing inside its garden...
very elegant and dreamy! details about the villa are rare to find, apparently there's a medical institute for holistic cell therapy in here now, but seems to have been a health office in former times, too.
back in the downtown area again, exploring a little bit of the pedestrian zone. the speisemarkt is a market square that's said to have existed in 983, when bingen was mentioned inside the veronese bestowal from king otto II to archbishop willigis of mainz. it's always been an important marketplace for the region and the close proximity to the rhine and nahe river was probably very beneficial to that as well. though you can't see its age anymore ( remember, a lot of bingen was destroyed in world war 2 ), a little bit of its former glory still survived, like the late baroque 'alte wache' in the background, which was probably built in 1789 by one jakob josef schneider. in this picture you can see a fountain by the sculptor karl-heinz klein, who designed it in a way to showcase happenings in the history of bingen and some of the city's most important historical figures. the fountain's execution is simply gorgeous and very virtuously done! it was erected in 1981.
a scenery from the year 1820, which shows the aforementioned 'alte wache' and the old market fountain, which in old times was fed with the waters of the draisbrunnen ( which i mentioned at the beginning of this article ).
this image of the celebration of the 'rochusfest' ( st. roch festival ) in 1910 also shows the chapel up on rochusberg hill. the festival traditionally has been a pilgrimage up that hill rather than it being a festival like you would look at it today. 
the romans in bingen. bingen's oldest foundation walls date back to the times of when the roman empire was keeping germania superior in its colonial grip. but even before that it is said that celtic tribes were living in this area, the junction of nahe and rhine river just always has been very wholesome for civilizations of the past.
hildegard preaching in front of the people in 1155, in front of her monastery. the monastery on rupertsberg hill in the bingersbrück district was her main domain in bingen, the place where she had visions, wrote her books, communicated with the big personalities of her era and developed her spiritual, medicinal and musical ideas. unfortunately all that is left of that monastery are some cellars underneath a villa, not much else has survived.
the old crane down by the river in 1520. this crane still exists today, but in a newer version from around 1787, which i will show you soon, i visited it as well on my way back to my car.
this building ( from 1961 ) was the complete opposite of the building next to it, it's an example, of course, of modern architecture. with architecture like these i like focussing on the detailwork, which in this case is the mosaic that was laid out in this facade.
i really loved all the different shades of blue and, as a cute little contrast, the golden stones that were thrown into the mix as well!
and when you looked closer you could also make out red mosaic stones! it was probably a lot of work to create these little pieces of art!
even the light blue beams separating the darker squares were entirely made out of the tiniest little mosaic stones!
i made my way down to the river via salzstraße, an old narrow & steep alley. the facade of this particular building did not really fit into the mostly historic ambiente of the street, but while local people seem to hate it a lot, i was reminded of a similar facade decoration in hochheim, which i had actually liked! i mean, i get that in a street where smaller houses mostly rule the streetscape, a futuristic-looking square of a monstrosity does not really add to the overall homey mood, but in my opinion, contrasts are what the zest of life is about ;P the building was probably built in the early 1970ies, i found an image from 1975 where it was indicated that it already stood there for a few years. on the ground level some shops have their homes, what is hidden behind the upper levels, i don't know at all.
finally i reached the most important gem of bingen, the rhine promenade. walking along the shores of this exceptional river is always an experience, and quite certainly, never boring. in the far back you can see the lights of the town rüdesheim, which sits on the hessian side of the river and is a magnetic tourist spot for people from all over the world! i haven't been to rüdesheim in ages, so maybe i should consider returning again this year, but usually the masses of tourists flocking to the tiny street of the town are keeping me away from it often. though it is really a super cute city, don't get me wrong!
on this evening the sky had prepared quite a show for me, and it was wonderful to stroll on the promenade back to where i parked my car and discovering some spots even that i have never quite noticed before. the whole atmosphere was magical, and i hope i did succeed a little with capturing it.
rüdesheim a little closer.
some shots of the promenade ( in the back a landing stage of the köln-düsseldorfer passenger line, which is the biggest of the passenger shipping companies on the rhine river ). i fell in love with the trees bearing bright red berries! i could not figure out what kind of trees they were, though, definitely not something that is very local. i thought of certain kinds of crabapple trees that have deep red fruit, but i am not sure.
this building is from 1975 and houses a retirement home for senior citizens. the building itself is a typical representative of international architecture, nothing that is super remarkable. but i still liked how it was lit up.
these were not real grapes, but part of a sculpture. i didn't even try to capture the whole thing, the lighting conditions were a bit sub-par. the ice wine memorial was erected in 2008 and designed by local architect britta dickescheid. it was cast in bronze and commemorates the supposed discovery of the ice wine in bingen-dromersheim, another district of the city. ice wine is very special, a very sweet dessert wine made out of frozen grapes.
a glance back on the river, a slightly different, more nightly mood.
the old customs office ( 1904 - 1906 ) is an heimatstil building that charms with a natural stone facade and some delicious timber-frame decor. today, there's a very chic restaurant inside.
the aforementioned old crane, a crane that was manually operated by sheer man power, they had to basically tread two big running wheels. the crane at its location existed since at least 1487, but as time and techniques developed, it was tweaked and re-built several times. this version is from 1787, so still quite an ancient monster! it's one of the last 3 rhine cranes still in existence, one being upstream on the other side of the river in oestrich-winkel, and another one downstream in andernach. on special occasions interested people can still witness the crane in action, there's a club that offers to show presentations of how much strength and power men needed to set this into motion.
another much more modern crane was situated a little further away and forms an interesting contrast to the old crane! it's a travelling crane from 1964 built by the company fries. an industrial memorial, it sits prominently directly next to the river in a park that was once built for the state's garden show in 2008. balancing on top of the crane are some sculptural figures, created by hubertus von der goltz in 2007. the installation is called 'begegnung' ( encounter ).
i don't know what it is that i like so much about old rusty and corroding industrial machines, maybe it's the way they alway seem so apocalyptic?
one last glance back to the crane and the promenade and the wonderful hues of a cold winter evening sky!
i bid adieu to father rhine as well and left the city feeling appreciative and grateful, filled with all kinds of new impressions and insights.
bingen is always worth a revisit, and though not a huge city in itself, the core city is still coming up with plenty of eye-opening surprises that you haven't discovered before. there's also still so much i want to uncover in bingen, even the outer districts have some hidden gems that i want to visit at some point. and of course, the town is just worth visiting for its glorious embedding into its surrounding nature alone 😍
Comments