At old times in Denmark

With the loss of the current Northern Germany the territory of Denmark has decreased and the former Danish lands in some areas became forgotten. A new book ”Hidden treasures of borderland. Danish architecture in Schleswig and Holsten” (Authors - Kasper Learing and Badeloch Vera Noldus) tells about architectural treasures of borderland and offers a new critical view on the myth of the peculiarities of national architecture.

Shortly after you have crosed the Danish-German border you can experience that the landscape and the architecture around have changed. Possibly. But maybe it is just an illusion.  Firstly, a great amount of treasures of Danish architecture remained in the Northern Germany –after all it is former Danish lands, and secondly, it is all very similar to what is usually considered as a specific Danish architectural tradition with a specific Danish simplicity and other advantages that sometimes rightly sometimes not attributed to the Danish architecture - material consciousness, correspondence between buildings and landscape, competent usage of light.

This is one of the main topics in the new book about architecture and Danish memorials of the borderland. There are other books about buildings of Danish architects in Northern Germany- not least of all  is K. F Hansen’s book,  but the new addition with beautiful photographs by Robert Fortuna is in many ways a masterpiece that seeks to perpetuate the Danish architecture close to the Southern border, and at the same time to point out a number of interesting examples of German architecture in borderland that curiously enough are not always surrounded by the same piety and admiration as the Danish once. The book even demonstrates how the traces of German influence have been eliminated from the buildings, as architecture is certainly an ideological construction.

The book has several objectives at once, but it also has rather voluminous material. One aspect, as it was mentioned before, is interesting study of to what extend we at all can talk about a national architecture that is separated from the architecture of the neighboring countries.  We can to a certain degree, as it is clear as hard-edged foreign architecture often gets softer in Danish interpretation. Danish and Scandinavian architecture prefers soft lines and unity of architecture with surrounding landscape, which organic forms we often transfer to the buildings. But we should not talk about it as it was something consistent or permanently relevant principle.

One can most likely talk about common sources of inspiration for the major European and in part American architectural movements that are subject for reconsideration depending on the region- this is one of the ideas of the book. Besides the book shows how national traditions are mixed in the borderlands. The German architects are also familiar with simplicity and the urge to built houses that are consistent with moderate surrounding nature. 

Whose, who are interested in art and architecture are familiar with Emil Nolde Museum in the middle of the marshland in the area of Seebüll. It is possible to say that here the Danish and the German traditions are united in one art piece which architecture says a lot about Nodel´s obsession with colour, his life and destiny. Recently, the museum was expanded by annexe designed by a German architect, who lets the landscape with its broad fields and vast sky to be the center of the composition. If the place is beautiful as it is, the task of the architecture is to attract the attention to the place and not to itself. That is why Walter Rolf´s annexe shows one of most important areas of Noldes´ motives.  Unfortunatly, the buildig is so new that it was not included in this successful book.

Another main theme of the book is an invitation to visit the wonderful works of building art that are described in the book, and along with it to learn something about the architects, many of which are forgotten. Herein lies the greatest value of the book for the interested in history and architecture.

 It is therefore peculiar and surprising to read about the zeal with which Denmark was destroying the German sites, when the land became Danish again. This zeal, of course, should be looked at in compression with the destruction of architecture that was carried out by the other part. Here the Danes were four times more “effective” then the Germans, and it is also in contradiction with the myth of peaceful Denmark and the aggressive Southern neighbor.

In this sense the book is an interesting comment to the writing of history. The boarders were reconsidered due to wars in our war-won corner of the world. It is said that the history is written by winners. The question is, is it important - as it happened in many places - to preserve the memory of past acquisitions and invaders. Not to continue to hate each other, but to remember that peace and democracy are fragile entities that are constantly under threat.

Borderline location has left its mark on the fate of Southern Jutland and Northern Germany, and many places here remind about the hostility between the neighboring countries. from time to time things have gone well and forwards, an example of what is an interesting story about the construction of the railway station, and despite the fact that the palaces and villas, churches and parks are naturally fill the pages of books - they do fill the landscape, there is a brief overview over everyday architecture in the book.
 
Of course, the book does not confine itself to those days when the borderland was a battlefield for real - and when the loss of Schleswig and Holstein, was a mortal wound to the national identity. Looking at Jutes who grew up in the borderland, you understand: It is not forgotten, but we learn to leave with it.

The main focus of the book is on the old times, but it also tells as about for example, Arne Jacobsen’s buildings that li to the South form the boqarder, and about such a modern masterpiece as A.P Møller School in Schleswig designed by C.F. Møller.

Authors: Kasper Learing and Badeloch Vera Noldus.
The name: The lost treasure of the borderline. Danish architecture in Schleswig and Holstein”.
Grafic Design:  Ase Eg.
Foto: Roberto Fortuna
Pages: 296 p.
Price: 500 DKK
Published by: Bianca Luna.
 
On the picture: Country House of the Gebaurs A.F, director of the bank, in Othmarshen, outside the Altgon did not look entirely like this in 1807, when K.F. Hansen built it. In the end of the XVIII century Hansen was architecture in Holstan, lived in Alton.