European Heritage Day - Art Nouveau and other Görlitz, Germany General Tips

Favorite Thing: Very high on my list of objects for the visit at European Heritage Day ranked the apartment houses built in Art Nouveau style.

Görlitz has numerous excellent (and perfectly preserved) examples of townhouses (apartment houses) of this style. They are usually not accessible inside - unlike the department store or Strassburg passage - but on that special day some of them are open to visitors.

In 2004 I was able to see some beautiful apartments in the apartment building Joliot-Curie-Strasse 4 (picture). It was built 1903/04 by a retired man from Greifenberg who planned to move to Görlitz. The architecture is still related to Neo-Renaissance, but the facade is decorated with Art Nouveau elements. There are beautiful paintings and stained glass windows in the staircase (picture), in the apartments I saw lovely stucco works, wooden panels, doors with stained glass windows etc.


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Favorite Thing: A little older than Art Nouveau art/architecture are the townhouses which were built in the 19th century. They usually quote architecture styles of previous centuries, such as Renaissance and Baroque (which are the most popular styles).

I stumbled by chance into one of those beautiful apartment houses (Blumenstrasse). The entrance hall and the staircase were accessible - absolutely amazing, see the picture.

Another object open to visitors was the former "Ständehaus" (a sort of parliament building), now a seniors residence. I joined a very interesting guided tour. We could see the entrance hall, the staircase and the big hall. Very beautiful again, inside late-classicistic style (the big hall renovated in 1900 in Art Nouveau style) and a sort of neo-gothic (castle-like) style from outside. Beside the architecture it was fascinating to experience the heartily, warm atmosphere in the seniors residence.


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Favorite Thing: One of the rare examples of Art Deco style in Saxony is to find in Görlitz - the former Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (Four Seasons). It is located right vis-a-vis the railway station. The hotel was built in the 2nd half of the 19th century as an upscal accommodation.

The facade shows historistic architecture, but the interior was re-decorated 1927 in Art Deco style. The Lobby is the highlight; it is decorated with tiles in yellow and magenta colours and excellent quality. Allegoric figures of women in slightly frivolous pose symbolise the four seasons.

The hotel is at the moment closed and in need of restoration. It was open to visitors only for the European Heritage Day. Some local folks presented ideas to re-vitalise the hotel for one or the other purpose, but I am not very optimistic.


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Favorite Thing: Some of the townhouses in private ownership open their doors for visitors on European Heritage Day. I was very happy to be able to see some of the famous examples of Renaissance architecture.

The picture shows a sculptured Renaissance pillar in the 2nd floor room of the townhouse Brüderstrasse 10. The house was built 1570. The pillar is very beautiful: female masks and puttos, above the ionic capital reliefs of the building owner and his wife plus his coat-of-arms - and all that in wonderful colours.

Absolutely fascinating are also the many painted wooden Renaissance ceilings in many townhouses, which are usually perfectly preserved. Since Görlitz has so many famous townhouses from the Renaissance (Bible House, Schönhof ...) it is really hard to choose one :-)


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Favorite Thing: Most of the merchant's townhouses in Görlitz remained their (late) Gothic structure - this is what Görlitz is famous for (among other facts :-)). But only few of them are always open. So it was yet more fascinating for me to explore some of the usually closed examples.

One of them is the building Peterstrasse 8 - now the four-star Hotel Tuchmacher. The house was built 1525 in early Renaissance style (portal, painted wooden ceilings etc.) but the former big central hall has still its late Gothic - and very special - vaulted ceiling. It is very similar to the famous ceiling in Prague's castle Hradschin (Hradcany) - the ceiling in the Wladyslaw Hall.

Other examples especially at the Untermarkt square, Brüderstrasse and other houses Peterstrasse.


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