“The First Such Liberal Undertaking in Breslau”: The Breslau Competition for the Design of the New Exchange Building in 1863

Abstrakt

The Neo-Gothic Exchange Building in Wrocław (15 Krupnicza Street) was erected in the years 1864–1867. It can be considered as one of the most interesting works, both in terms of architecture and style, which were built in Central Europe until the 1870s. Its final form was created as a result of a thorough transformation of the competition design (“nur deutsch” motto) by the Breslau architect Carl Johann Bogislav Lüdecke (1826–1894), who won second award. The all-German competition, announced in October 1863 and decided in March 1864, was one of the most interesting artistic undertakings in Silesia in the third quarter of the 19th century. It was described in the Breslau press as “the first such liberal undertaking”. Twenty-six designs were submitted for it. They were shown at an exhibition open to the general public, and some of them were thoroughly discussed in the press. The aim of the article is to present the context of the competition, which takes place against the background of the conflict between Christian and Jewish merchants in Breslau, and to discuss and analyse the competition designs. It was proposed that a new attribution be made to the part of these projects stored in the Lüdecke’s legacy at the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität in Berlin.