Two towns, almost 100km apart in the federal state of Schlesweig-Holstein in northern Germany, were both founded by members of the Danish Royal Family in the beginning of the 17th century. They don’t look alike; they have their own history. Before telling you more about these - which we call "Kings’ Towns" in this federal state - it is good to know some background about Schleswig-Holstein, especially its tumultuous history.
The Duchies Schleswig and Holstein came under rule of King Christian I of Denmark in 1460. Afterwards the area was divided, and then united again under the Danish crown in 1773. Schleswig was almost totally Danish-speaking but became more and more German-speaking in the south. Holstein became part of the German Confederation in 1815, but this did not happen without a fight. German nationalists had planned to unite Schleswig - which was inhabited by Germans - with the German state Holstein. At that very moment, however, the Danish nationalists wanted to pull the historically Danish Schleswig closer to the Danish crown. Both Duchies were thereafter ruled by a personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark even though Holstein was bound by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as part of the German Confederation. Schleswig was a fiefdom in the Kingdom of Denmark whereas Holstein was a German fiefdom. They share a complex history, but mind you, that is not all.
A pro-German group supported by Prussia, declared Schleswig-Holstein independent of Denmark in 1848. That was short-lived, after the First Schleswig War ended with a Danish victory over Prussia. The Second Schleswig War followed in 1864, in which Prussia and Austria then triumphed. Denmark was ordered to hand over Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg to Russia and Austria, by the Treaty of Vienna in 1864. After the Austro-Prussian War and during the Peace of Prague in 1866, it was made clear that both Duchies belonged to Prussia which united them in Schleswig-Holstein. Lauenberg was added in 1876. After the First World War ‘Europe’ again was reshuffled. According to the Treaty of Versailles from 1919, the inhabitants of Schleswig-Holstein were asked, by referendum, to choose the country to which they wanted to belong. In the northern part of Schleswig, the majority chose to join Denmark, and the rest remained with Germany. After the Second World War a small part of Schleswig-Holstein was added to the federal state of Mecklenburg and it was part of the British occupation zone. In 1946 the rest of the area became Schleswig-Holstein as part of the Federal State of Germany. This means that you can find German (Prussian) and German influences from different periods in this area. We hope we didn’t lose you in the historical tumult.
King Christian IV of Denmark, in 1617, wanted to establish a town on the spot where the Rhine flows into the river Elbe. He appears to have said ‘Dat schall glücken und dat mutt glücken und dan schall se ook Glückstadtheeten’ (that will succeed and must succeed, and it will also be called Glückstadt). It was swampy and wet land, so this was not easy to accomplish. It was designed as a so-called polygonal radial town. is the only example of such a town dated in this period in a German-speaking area. The design was based on a plan by the master of fortress building, Daniel Specklin from Strassburg. Starting with the shape of a cross combined with an ideal defence structure, this polygonal plan was developed. It was probably Georg Ginter Kröl, City Architect who translated it into an urban plan. Starting from the market square, the radians end in the outstanding bastions and the connecting fortifications. To build a harbour, the fortifications were moved outwards, and the pattern of the streets was adjusted. In 1644, the towns heyday, there were 550 houses with approximately 5,000 people (960 households). It became Christian IV’s favourite town and one of the biggest towns in the Danish Kingdom at that time. It was the ‘Landeshauptstadt’ (capital of the federal state) for 200 years.
In the winter of 1813-1814, during the Napoleon war, Glückstadt was attacked by the anti-Napoleon united army of Sweden, Prussia and England. Because of developments in artillery, it was possible to shoot over the fortifications into the city. Glückstadt surrendered and the fortifications had to be demolished. Quite soon thereafter, the ramparts were changed into a park on the north-eastern side of the town. In the first half of the 19th century two basins were built. Exotic trees were planted and viewing platforms were built in the following years. You can still experience this park today and it is used by many inhabitants.
The arrival of the train was a great adjustment for the town. The Glückstadt Elmshorner Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (train company) started very shortly after the route between Hamburg – Altona – Kiel had been introduced in 1845, to build the route from Elmshorn (direction Hamburg) to the harbour railway station, Glückstadt. Twelve years later the extension of the tracks on the route from Elmshorn to Glückstadt eventuated and a new route was built between Glückstadt up to the river Stör near Itzehoe. Eventually the route went all the way to Westerland and the island of Sylt. This was popularly called ‘Marschbaan’ (marsh track). This is due to the wetlands and the sandy area that is characteristic of this area. A broad road was built between the railway tracks and the park, which separated the park from the town.
A harbour town on the Elbe River was of strategic importance during the many hostile encounters and wars; it is not too far away from the North Sea. Herring fishing did very well here from the end of the 19th century until about 1930. The herrings were gutted on board the ships, salted and put into barrels. The barrels were opened in the harbour, where the fish were sorted on size and quality and further distributed. Because of competition by Scotland, Norway and England – with harbours much closer to the sea – it became unprofitable. The herring industry remained until after the Second World War, when it finally ceased in 1976. Each year they celebrate herring week to honour the old tradition.
Knowing its history, it is fun to explore the town on foot. The most enjoyable way to get to Glückstadt is to go by ‘Elbfähre’ (Elbe ferry) from Wischhafen in the federal state Nedersaksen. We love ferries. With all the bridges that have been built, there is less and less need for ferries so there aren’t many left. Here you would otherwise have to first drive all the way to Hamburg which is no fun if Glückstadt is your destination. During holidays the ferry sails frequently but the waiting time can be up to 1½ hours. Sailing around the sandbank of Rhinplate you arrive at the ‘Ausserhafen’ (outer harbour) of Glückstadt, much more to the north than the city harbour. The Elbe is quite wide here, 3km, which remains so until it reaches the sea. Following the street named Am Neuendeich (at the new dike), you drive into town. Here, in the northeastern part of town, the radiant structure can be experienced at its best. The marketplace is clearly the centre of the town. It is limited by a straight-lined pond amidst grass, which is located between the streets ‘am Fleth’. The actual appearance of the pond, now with wooden cladding in a green brink, was made mid 1980s when the town was adjusted to modern times to attract more tourists. Its appearance suited the trends of that time with circle shapes and arches. A good example is the way the paths go around the trees as a fortification.
The Evangelical Lutheran church is the oldest building that still stands in this town. It was built in 1618-1623. The cross-shaped plan was never finished, with only one of the transepts built and it has an awkward scale in comparison to the main nave (it is big and quite wide). In 1648 the tower collapsed during a hurricane, and it was rebuilt in 1650-51. The tower looks a bit odd because of this. It seems like the spire is too small for its base. This effect is even stronger because of the difference in colors: green oxidized copper on the base and copper-coloured top. Because the buildings in the town are quite low, the church literally towers above the town. When entering the church, the first thing to notice is that it is not symmetrical. The transept was added to the space of the main nave by placing the church benches in the same direction. The pulpit is placed in such a way that both the people in the nave and the transept have a good view of same. The way the balconies are placed further strengthens the non-symmetrical appearance as they are put against the walls, one with and one without a transept. There seems to have been quite a demand for seats as there is also a balcony on the west side, in the nave, placed in front of the organ and also in the aisle where the floor of the balcony is in front of a window. In the chancel there is only one balcony on the southern side. The position of what is called the "men’s bench" is extraordinary: beneath the balcony on the southern side. It doesn’t quite honour the importance of such a bench, but it is close to the pulpit. All the balconies are decorated with framed paintings. The baptismal font (dated 1641) is special because of its painted wooden protective cover in eight parts with an abundant ‘lid’ hanging above it. The altar also has eight panels and is richly decorated with marble-painted columns and gold-painted statues.
The other outstanding building in the marketplace is the Town Hall. The original Town Hall dates back to 1642-1643. Despite being a brick building, it had to be demolished in 1872 because of frailty. When the new Town Hall was built, they copied the original façade. The renaissance details such as the door and window frames, seem to be quite stringent next to the smooth, orange-coloured bricks. It is a symmetrical building with arches on both sides. What is a bit odd though, is that the building is standing in the corner of the marketplace, and one of its arches connects one of the radiant streets.
It is not possible to describe all the extraordinary buildings of the town. We do, however, want to bring three buildings to your attention as they especially contribute to the towns history.
In the harbour, next to the unused railway track, you can find a small building, two storeys high with roof tiles. The facades are made of a wooden lattice work filled with white-colored bricks. It is called ‘Das königliche Brückenhaus’ (the Royal Bridge House). The house was built at the same time as a royal lift bridge in 1635. This bridge made it possible to go from the royal ‘Glücksburg Castle to the royal garden. Alas nothing can be found as a reminder of this, but it does emphasise that this was King Christian IV’s favourite town. The bridge was torn down at the beginning of the 19th century and the bridge house was sold. In 1840 a house was built adjacent to same, which is now almost pushed away by a very big tree. The house is privately owned and cannot be visited.
There still is a big storehouse in the town along the street ‘Am Proviantgraben’. It is almost as long as the street and is three storeys high with a roof. It is a quite a large-scaled building for the size of the town. You can find it on the western edge of town, near but not next to the harbour. Alas the area between the building and the dike has been filled with apartment blocks that have no connection whatsoever with their surroundings. There had been some temporary use of the building, but it had obviously been empty for quite a while when we were there. The dike, which reminded us of the higher dikes in the Netherlands, is an inner dike. Climbing up the stairs on the dike did not give a good view of the Elbe, but rather an outlook over a piece of land with an indistinct purpose.
Wobau, the social housing corporation, undertook a new housing project in 1985 that fits quite well with the main structure of the old inner town. It was one of the larger developments in the old town. A plaque explains the history of this place. There used to be a building that functioned as a ‘Korrektionsanstalt’ (correctional institution) from 1933-1945. Offenders of the Nazi regime were kept prisoner in inhuman circumstances. The building was demolished, and the housing project was built on the plot in 1979-80. The building has the same features as the long pond in the town, with – what we call postmodern elements – circular shapes and columns. The houses are located around a parking lot. The houses, one or two storeys high, fit in well with the scale of the town even though the scale of the whole project is quite different.
We found something quite unexpected walking away from the old railway station on the Bahnhofstrasse (Railway Station Street, now part of the railway museum) to the park: the old Jewish cemetery. The tombstones are all from the 19th century and laid flat between pebbled stones. This is quite unusual as we more often find standing tombstones, on which one places stones, in Jewish cemeteries through Europe. The tombstones are decorated as Christian tombstones, with sandglass and skulls. There is also a very old grave dated 1705 with a coat of arms on it.
Glückstadt is a pleasant small town with approximately 11,000 inhabitants. Quite a lot of buildings are signposted, and larger signs can be found at certain points in town. We are two of very few tourists to walk around this town. This is quite different in comparison with the next ‘kings' town’ that we will visit: .
Less than 100km up north, a nephew of King Christian IV, Friederich III von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, started to found a new town in 1621. The idea was that this town could play an important role for Denmark in the trade with Spain, its colonies and Russia. He knew the Dutch and how they had earned their part in the international trade. How could he make this new town attractive to them? He found a way by offering a home to those people who felt like second-class citizens in the Netherlands. He had set his eye upon those who wanted to leave the Netherlands because of their religion. The groups he appealed to were the Armenians, Roman-Catholics, Mennonites and several Jews. He succeeded in attracting such people to his town by installing Dutch as the trade language, promising freedom of religion and other privileges.
Just by looking at the regular pattern of the streets, it is no surprise that Friederichstadt was an established town. Friederich III chose the spot: where the river Treene flows into the river Eider. On the northern side of town, the Treene is wide and it looks like a lake. It is attached to a wider stream on the west and a smaller stream on the east. The town lies in between with only 2,500 inhabitants. You can see a parallel with Glückstadt in that the towns plan is divided into two pieces. You also find an artificial pond with green borders dividing the town into two parts. It is called ‘Mittelburggraben’ (moat in the middle), though the Dutch word ‘channel’ and not just the German word 'Graben' is also quite commonly used in Friederichstadt.
The marketplace in Friederichstadt, as in Glückstadt, is situated next to the water. The southern part of town is the oldest and most dense part of the town. The market is divided into two: a green park and a brickwork park. On the brickwork park they used to have a horse market and you can still see iron bars by the fences which were used to secure the horses. The facades on the west side of the market are the most striking. You could mistakenly imagine being in the Netherlands, except for the fact that the facades are painted in light shades of white, yellow and blue. Appearances can be deceptive. Only the ground floors remain from the time the town was founded, as the upper facades were added in the 20th century. The Town Hall is located on the southern side of the marketplace and was never built as such. When the 17th century buildings collapsed after the five-day war in 1850, Mr. Windahl ordered a two-storey hotel to be built which was extended towards the back in 1877. Later, the municipality bought these buildings to use as a Town Hall in 1910. This required a new façade and building master August Eggers was asked to design this to suit its characteristic use. This meant it was to be built in the Dutch Renaissance style. The building was extended and modernised in 1985. Next to this building you can find what is called the ‘Altes Amtsgericht’, which was used as a town hall until 1910 and thereafter was used as a court. This ceased in the early 1970s and it has been used as a restaurant since 1978.
Freedom of religion is one of the foundations on which the town was built and that is the reason that you can find four churches. One church, St. Christopher’s, is in the northern part of the town. It has an almost empty churchyard in front of it. The building of this Evangelical-Lutheran church began in 1643 and was financed by the founder of Friedrichstadt. It was completed in 1649. The walls are made using bricks from the Netherlands that were usually used to build convents (larger sized than usual). It is a simple building without a transept. The tower as we see it today was built in 1762. The door has a gracious frame with a large plaque above it including arms, in which the founder is thanked for his donation to make the building of the church possible. A church bell, the baptismal font and the alter (made of unpainted wood) are all saved from the churches destroyed during the flood of 1643 in Nordstrand. As in many churches you can find special mourning signs to honour the believers. An outstanding grave, in front of the church, has an epitaph that shows the old Dutch connection. This is the headstone of I.C. Biernatzki (1795-1840) and his wife Henriette Biernatzki born de Vries (1798-1888).
You almost need to be a detective to find the church of the Mennonites. It is on the other side of the water on the Mittelburgwal, located behind one of the most impressive buildings in the town, the Old Coin. This is a beautiful example of Dutch Renaissance. It was a warehouse from 1626. The brickwork is like patchwork. The combination of arches, doors and windows and an extraordinary lintel of brickwork on the next highest storey make the building look playful. The town museum is currently in this building. When you enter the building it is possible to look in the church of the Mennonites. If you enter the graveyard you can see the church from the outside. It is a small building but quite high, with two storeys and a steep roof. This parish is the smallest of the town and now worships in a different building. This church has been used by the Church of Denmark since 1946.
On the southern side of town you can find the Roman-Catholic church, St. Knud, at the street: ‘Am Fürstenburgwall’. Jan, brought up as a Roman-Catholic, is slightly disappointed when we stand in front of this building. He had high expectations for this church dating from the 17th century. But we can read on the sign that the first Catholic chapel was built in 1649 somewhere else in the duchy. It used to be the centre point for the Catholics in the area and the priests were buried there. Later the priests were buried in the graveyard of the Armenians. A new church was built on this site in 1846 by architect Friedrich Hetsch from Copenhagen. Because of mistakes during building and the war in 1850, the building was demolished very quickly. The building of the present church began in 1853, and was consecrated a year after by the vicar. It is a small building made of a yellow brick: a hall church with a roof. The only opening in the front of the building is the front door, as the windows are what are called fake windows. The parish was moved to Husum in 1935 and St. Knud became a so-called ‘Filialkirche’ (branch church). The church is quite interesting on the inside. Old pews dated 1760 give an older atmosphere. They are on both sides of the aisle, painted white and decorated with grey and golden curls. This is the only church in Friedrichtstadt with coloured glass windows. There is a small balcony – with Latin sayings written on it – in front of a modest organ.
The most impressive church is saved for last: the church of the Armenians on the corner of the Kirchenstrasse (Church Street) and Prinzessstrasse (Princess Street). It is the only church of its kind outside the Netherlands. The Armenians have a liberal religion, founded in the 17th century, when people opposed to Calvin fled from the Netherlands to this town. In 1624 the daughter of the regent of the town laid the first stone of this church, probably also a hall church. This church also did not survive the war activities in 1850. What we can see today is the church which was built in 1852-1854. It is a small hall church coloured pink. It looks quite large because of the tower which is twice as high as the church. Therefore, it is also one of the tallest buildings in Friedrichstadt. The tower has three parts: the second part has a balcony and the spire is in green copper. The text on the tower is quite eye-catching:
‘Built in 1624, by the founders of this town, who emigrated from Holland because of the free religion, called the Armenians. Destroyed by the fire of the war, 5 October 1850. Rebuilt 1854. GOD GIVETH PEACE HERE. HE HAS THE GLORY’.
As is custom with the Armenians there is no alter. ‘Men’s benches’ and the pulpit are combined in one piece of furniture in the chancel. Whitewashed pews are on both sides of the aisle. A balcony and an organ are above the entrance, all painted off-white. You can find a sign in the hall with the words ‘The service was led by’ after which follows a long list including many Dutch names, dating from 1769 to the present (on the second sign), such as Van Rhijn, van Vollenhoven, Mensinga, de Vries, Trip-Kleinstarink and Bouman. Some very old headstones lie behind the church in its churchyard. One says
‘Here layeth the honourable Jan Hendricks van Loon and the righteous Heser Ploveris, real people of which the last one died in 1667’ and ‘Here layeth buried Neltie Peters daughter of Peter Henderichs Schoester in the year 1701 on the 5th of March’.
You could get the idea that only a few buildings survived the war of 1850. Fortunately, you can find several old buildings in the town. The double house on Prinzenstrasse 23 is a beautiful example. The Armenians had beautiful houses made as you can see in Haus Laman Trip from 1626-1629 (Prinzenstrasse) and Paludanushaus (Prinzenstrasse 28) from 1637. The Armenians kept on building in the town. A house for the Armenians was built in 1909, just outside of the old town on the east side. It is a bit hard to see in the flourishing garden. It used to be the vicar’s house. Now it is a clinic, as a vicar comes from the Netherlands every month and no longer requires a house in town.
The northern part of town is less dense, especially closer to the river Treene. The houses are smaller, only one storey high with a roof. You can’t say that the houses make good use of the waterfront. The southern part of town is also less built up. There used to be a couple of factories and warehouses, for example, a mustard factory was built on the Holmertorstrasse. This is quite logical as the old harbour was located on this side of town.
Glückstadt and Friedrichstadt were founded almost at the same time by members of the Royals of Denmark. It is quite easy to tell that these towns were planned by their structure, but they differ quite a bit as well. The larger Glückstadt is located at the river Elbe, where only a few tourists come, and the much smaller Friedrichstadt with iconic Dutch staircase facades attracts many of tourists and has multiple signs (both in German and Danish). Both towns are more than worthwhile destinations, and instructive in learning the tumultuous history of Schleswig-Holstein.
2022
