Unicorns in Erlangen?
Alas, a unicorn sighting has not yet been documented for Erlangen! Einhornstraße (Unicorn Street), however, has been in existence since 1745. It is named after the heraldic beast in the eponymous Zum goldenen Einhorn (The Golden Unicorn) inn.
Naming streets after inns was common in the 18th century, as these were easily recognisable by the elaborately designed inn signs suspended on beams reaching into the street. There were ca. 80 inns in Erlangen around 1750, giving it a higher density of public houses than Nuremberg. Some of these venues are still remembered in street names today, such as the Blaue Glocke (The Blue Bell) is in Glockenstraße (Bell Street), Zum goldenen Halbmond (The Gold Half Moon) in Halbmondstraße (Half Moon Street) and Zum Goldenen Schiff (The Golden Ship) in Schiffstraße (Ship Street).
But it is Einhornstraße that became most well-known: after the street signs had been stolen several times by unknown unicorn enthusiasts, the municipal council decided on 1st April 2017 to rename the street Zweihornstraße (Bicorn Street). This act later turned out to be an April Fool's hoax.
Inn sign Zum goldenen Einhorn (The Golden Unicorn)
ca. 1900 (later overpainted)
This mythical creature has been ascribed miraculous powers since antiquity. Drinking from its horn is supposed to cure diseases. No wonder, then, that countless inns bore names incorporating its moniker.
Erlangen's 'fifth' season?
In 1755, Erlangen's municipal council decided the following: The Whitsun market to commemorate the consecration of the Old Town Church shall in future take place at the Shooter's Lodge on Burgberg (Castle Hill) – at the same time as the popular bird shoot. Due to its proximity to the local beer cellars, the market over the years developed into a boozy beer festival. Erlangen's 'fifth season' had been born.
Today, the Bergkirchweih (Parish Ale on the Hill) is one of Germany's largest folk festivals, with over one million visitors annually. For many, the twelve Berch (local dialect for 'mountain') days are a welcome opportunity to see old acquaintances and friends from student days again. The character of the festival has changed a lot since its beginnings: Classic market traders were replaced by fairground rides. Newly introduced 'traditions' and rituals – be they concerning music or fashion – do not always meet the approval of dyed-in-the-wool Berch purists.
This elaborate model by Erlangen engineer Hermann Seißler (1918-2014) casts a nostalgic eye over the Bergkirchweih of days gone by.
Bergkirchweih model from the 1920s:
Ferris wheel and revellers
Model maker: Hermann Seißler
1998 / 2008
The complete Bergkirchweih model consists of 21 stations and is illuminated by 500 lights. It is on display at the Steinbach brewery's beer museum. Taking years of work all done by hand, Hermann Seißler created it based on his childhood memories.
Made in Erlangen?
From Erlangen to the world?
When members of the 18th century upper classes wanted to source an elegant pair of glacé gloves, they would be hard pressed to look past Erlangen. Together with Berlin and Magdeburg, the town was considered a leader in German glove manufacture. Its major markets, however, lay abroad. Thanks to the Huguenots, Erlangen had been the very first German town where this trade became established. At the end of the 19th century, more than 30 glove makers were still active locally.
Then, competition from abroad caused sales to decline after 1945. More and more companies had to close. The one to resist the crisis the longest was Pfeiffer's Leder & Mode (leather and fashion) business, founded in 1876 and located at 52 Hauptstraße since the 1930s. Despite an expanded range introduced in the 1970s, structural change in the northern part of the town centre weakened demand. With the shop's closure at the end of July 2019, Erlangen's glove-making tradition finally became history.
Illuminated signage for the Pfeiffer leather goods store
Sheet metal, glass
1977
Cotton from Erlangen?
Cotton can neither be grown nor harvested in Erlangen. However, this plant fibre remained an indispensable part of the local industrial landscape for many decades.
The Baumwollindustrie Erlangen-Bamberg AG (Erlangen-Bamberg Cotton Industry PLC), better known as ERBA, with its large global export component, counted among Germany's top textile industry companies into the 1970s. The company, which had been in existence since 1927, flourished again quickly after the Second World War. In 1949, a new raw cotton store had become necessary.
This painting, with its cotton bales stacked almost to the ceiling and the blue-clad worker neigh on disappearing among them, only hints at the enormous amounts of cotton – and increasingly also of synthetic fibres – that were required and processed daily at the ERBA works.
In 1975, the financial collapse of ERBA's main shareholder marked the beginning of the end. While the company's head office initially remained in Erlangen, after 1983 the large industrial site saw the construction of the ‘Am Färberhof’ housing estate. Bankruptcy in 1992 resulted in the company's ultimate demise.
Anton Leidl
ERBA cotton stores in Erlangen
Oil on canvas
1950
This cotton storehouse once stood at today's number 14 Am Färberhof (Dyers Yard). Raw cotton was stored here at a constant temperature of 28°C and at 70 to 80% humidity – presenting correspondingly hard and sweaty working conditions.
Genius at every scale
The scope of Erlangen's products is large: it ranges from everyday objects like these pencil sharpeners to highly complex medical technology such as the Röntgenkugel.
Erlangen's pencil sharpener industry emerged in the early 20th century. In 1908, Theodor Paul Möbius invented the sharpener type with conical bore and steel blade without which no pencil case is truly complete. Sharpeners from Erlangen soon dominated the world market. Two traditional companies, KUM and Möbius + Ruppert, still exist today.
Erlangen companies also played an important role in the development of X-ray technology. The discovery of X-rays by the Würzburg physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen had revolutionised medicine in 1895. The Siemens-Reiniger-Werke company, which had emerged from Erlangen's Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall AG, from 1934 onwards produced an X-ray machine that was more compact and flexible than previous models. Weighing in at only 12 kilograms, the Röntgenkugel (X-ray ball) became one of the world's best-selling X-ray machines.
Sample box with pencil sharpeners
Brass sharpener with steel blade
1932
This sample box by the KUM company shows that pencil sharpeners can be more than bland utilitarian objects. By the early 20th century, they were already available in every imaginable shape and colour. Their range takes us on a tour of 1920s cultural icons: from Chaplin via jazz to the Zeppelin airship.
X-ray 'ball' by Siemens-Reiniger
Siemens-Reiniger-Werke
1963
In the Röntgenkugel (X-ray ball) manufactured from 1934 to 1974, both high-voltage transformer and X-ray tube are contained within a compact, radiation-proof housing. This makes the device far more mobile than previous X-ray machines. One main area of application for the Röntgenkugel were dental practices – in some of which they continue to perform their service to this day.
Armed students?
'Armed' students were not an unusual sight in the past. Since the 19th century, large numbers of students had been organised in fraternities, many of which were of the schlagende (combatant) kind: ritual academic fencing bouts called Mensur were part of everyday student life; the Schmiss (smash), a fencing scar to the face, served as proud proof of lifelong membership.
Most of these fraternities arose in the course of political reorganisation after the Napoleonic Wars. Burschenschaften (fraternities, lit. 'ladships'), such as the ‘Bubenreuther’ founded in Erlangen in 1817 (colours: black, red, and gold), flew the flag for the foundation of a German nation state based on liberty and civil rights. More recently, many fraternities have become subject to criticism for their conservative and nationalist, sometimes even right-wing extremist, worldview.
Even today, 20 active student fraternities still exist in Erlangen, half of which are schlagend; most only accept men. However, only a small fraction of the student body is still organised in them.
Stammtisch pennant for the 'Teutonia' student fraternity
Brass
1900–1940
The bearing of arms was considered a privilege by class-conscious students, by which they distinguished themselves from ordinary folk. This brass figure probably marked the Stammtisch (regulars' table) of the 'Teutonia' fraternity. Its mission was joint physical exercise in the sense of the Latin motto mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body), and later also included the 'cultivation of patriotic sentiment'.
Worthy of immortalisation?
The once important garrison town of Erlangen, like other places during the German Empire and after the First World War, tended to adorn itself with war memorials. Many of these stone relics disappeared after 1945 – the glorification of emperor, war and the military was no longer considered worthy of memorialisation. Among those to be dismantled were, for example, the war memorial on Martin-Luther-Platz and a war-glorifying monument to the fallen in the palace gardens. An obelisk dedicated to Emperor Wilhelm I on today's Lorlebergplatz also had to make way.
This light infantry monument, however, stood the test of time. It memorialises the 6th Royal Bavarian Light Infantry Battalion, which had been stationed in Erlangen from 1868 to 1878. This larger-than-life human figure has maintained its position at the junction of Hindenburgstraße and Bismarckstraße since its pompous inauguration in 1912. The battalion's barracks used to be located opposite, in the grounds of today's Faculty of Philosophy. These street names are therefore no coincidence. Like the monument itself, they also refer to a warlike past – and they are not the only ones in Erlangen.
Raimund Liebhaber
Design for light infantry monument
Plaster
1910–1912
The idea for the monument emerged in 1910 on the occasion of a reunion of the Jägerbataillon (a type of light infantry battalion) in Erlangen. The sculpting work was carried out by Johann Baptist Mantel and his son Heinrich Mantel on the basis of this maquette by Raimund Liebhaber from Munich.
Who laid out Erlangen?
In the second half of the 19th century, Erlangen's population doubled to 20,000. The university and the garrison played a major part in this expansion. The boundaries of the Baroque town centre became too crowded, and Erlangen grew mainly to the east, where the barracks were located.
In order to guide further development in an orderly manner, the town commissioned Munich architect Otto Lasne to draw up a 'master plan' in 1907. This plan envisaged extensive new districts to the south, but also deliberately reserved green spaces and parks on the banks of the Schwabach creek. The trees on Burgberg (Castle Hill) were to be spared ("Future generations shall be grateful!").
Not all suggestions were well received: taking over parts of the Theaterplatz and Bohlenplatz town squares for construction was rejected by the population, as well as the recommended straightening out of the "evil triangular square" behind the Old Town Church. Overall, however, the 'Lasne Plan' set the direction that Erlangen followed in the 20th century on its way to becoming a major town.
Construction overview after Otto Lasne
1908 / 1928
On this updated Lasne plan of 1928, residential development has already expanded further south. Below today's Werner-von-Siemens-Straße, the former Seku railway track, mainly building society apartments were constructed from 1913 onward. The villages of Sieglitzhof, Alterlangen, Büchenbach and Bruck had been incorporated into the municipality between 1919 and 1924. The Main-Danube canal, constructed from 1960 to 1992, is already envisaged here to the west of Alterlangen.
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