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111-583: Saalbau Essen is a concert venue in Essen , Germany, the home of the Essen Philharmonic. The original building was completed in 1902, and destroyed during World War II on 26 July 1943. It was rebuilt between 1949 and 1954 and completely renovated in 2003 and 2004. The Saalbau Essen is located a little bit south of the city center close to the Aalto Theatre . Since the 2013/2014 season Tomáš Netopil has been

222-705: A Counter-Reformation . In 1624, a "re-Catholicization" law was enacted, and churchgoing was strictly controlled. In 1628, the city council filed against this at the Reichskammergericht. Maria had to flee to Cologne when the Dutch stormed the city in 1629. She returned in the summer of 1631 following the Bavarians under Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim , only to leave again in September. She died 1644 in Cologne. The war proved

333-511: A Cologne goldsmith as it shares many features with the Gero crucifix of Cologne Cathedral . Mary is depicted sitting on a stool, with a slightly oversized Christ child figure sitting on her lap. She wears a tight, long-sleeved tunic and a cloak ( palla ) drawn over her shoulders. On her head she wears a veil, the ends of which are covered by the cloak. In her right hand she holds aloft a globe with her thumb and two fingers, while her left hand supports

444-532: A chair and covered with pure gold"). The Thirty Years' War necessitated the first evacuation of the sculpture. In 1634 the then abbess of Essen, Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum und Valör, sought shelter in Cologne and took the cathedral treasure with her. It would remain there until the end of the war in 1648. In these years the Madonna and the now lost Marsus shrine of the Essen treasure were paraded in processions, outshining

555-493: A chapel dedicated to Saint Mark in what is today the neighbourhood of Essen- Bredeney . A memorial cross commemorates the place of these meetings today. When the Diocese of Essen (the so-called Ruhrbistum ) was established in 1959, Mary was elected as its patron saint under the title “Mother of Good Counsel”, and thus came to be a symbol for the whole Ruhr area. The first bishop of Essen, Cardinal Franz Hengsbach , decided to make

666-532: A height of 14 metres (46 ft). At the head end of the venue is the pipe organ from Kuhn. The installation of the new RWE Pavilion was sponsored by the energy provider RWE and is located between the two staircases of the Saalbau. It is an extension to the historical part of the building. It offers room for up to 400 people. Inside the room are two artworks of the artist Thomas Schütte . The festival room (Festsaal) offers place for up to 238 people. The wall paneling

777-528: A little more extreme and drier in other continents in such geographical location . Its average annual temperature is 10 °C (50 °F): 13.3 °C (56 °F) during the day and 6.7 °C (44 °F) at night. The average annual precipitation is 934 millimetres (37 in). The coldest month of the year is January, when the average temperature is 2.4 °C (36 °F). The warmest months are July and August, with an average temperature of 18 °C (64 °F). The Essen weather station has recorded

888-515: A local body of nineteen members with limited authority. Most of the boroughs were originally independent municipalities but were gradually annexed from 1901 to 1975. This long-lasting process of annexation has led to a strong identification of the population with "their" boroughs or districts and to a rare peculiarity: the borough of Kettwig , located south of the Ruhr River, and which was not annexed until 1975, has its own area code and remains part of

999-477: A modernized version was rebuilt. The most significant attribute of the building was the copper roof of the building. The white hall (Weiße Saal) got a unique ceramic wall from Charles Crodel . Between 2002 and 2004, the Saalbau was refurbished at the cost of 72 million Euro . During this time, the Alfried-Krupp-Saal was extended at the back side. The building was reopened on 4 June 2004. Some parts of

1110-585: A precious pontifical gown. The size is meant to illustrate the importance of Christ as redeemer. In contrast Mary is depicted in a serving role, in accordance with Luke 1:38: And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. At the same time she embodies the Seat of Wisdom as the Throne of Solomon is described in 1 Kings 10:18: Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with

1221-541: A price of 1,2  million Euro . The instrument has a weight of roughly 24 tonnes (24 long tons; 26 short tons) a size of 300 cubic metres (390 cu yd). The largest pipe has a size of 4.8 metres (16 ft). Critics have repeatedly voted the Essen Philharmonic as Germany's Orchestra of the Year. The Essen Stadtbahn station Philharmonie is located near the Saalbau and named after it. Essen Essen ( German pronunciation: [ˈɛsn̩] )

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1332-452: A severe blow to the city, with frequent arrests, kidnapping and rape. Even after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648, troops remained in the city until 9 September 1650. The first historic evidence of the important mining tradition of Essen date back to the 14th century, when the princess-abbess was granted mining rights. The first silver mine opened in 1354, but the indisputably more important coal

1443-729: A small French military command, occupied the Krupp car hall to seize several vehicles. This event caused 13 deaths and 28 injured. The occupation of the Ruhr ended in summer 1925. On the night of Kristallnacht on 10 November 1938, the synagogue was sacked, but remained through the whole war in the exterior almost intact. The Steele synagogue was completely destroyed. During the Nazi era, tens of thousands of slave labourers were forced to work in 350 Essen forced labour camps. Here, they did mining work and worked for companies like Krupp and Siemens. Alfried Krupp

1554-670: A studio in Essen, which is responsible for the central Ruhr area. Each day, it produces a 30-minute regional evening news magazine (called Lokalzeit Ruhr ), a five-minute afternoon news programme, and several radio news programmes. A local broadcasting station went on air in the late 1990s. The WAZ Media Group is one of the most important (print) media companies in Europe and publishes the Ruhr area's two most important daily newspapers, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ; 580,000 copies) and Neue Ruhr/Rhein Zeitung (NRZ; 180,000 copies). In Essen,

1665-479: A total of 37,014 tonnes (82 million pounds ) of bombs on the city. Over 270 air raids were launched against the city, destroying 90% of the centre and 60% of the suburbs. On 5 March 1943 Essen was subjected to one of the heaviest air-raids of the war. 461 people were killed, 1,593 injured and a further 50,000 residents of Essen were made homeless. On 13 December 1944 three British airmen were lynched. The Krupp decoy site ( Kruppsche Nachtscheinanlage )

1776-625: A total population of approximately 1.4 million. The city extends over 21 kilometres (13 mi) from north to south and 17 kilometres (11 mi) from west to east, mainly north of the River Ruhr . The Ruhr forms the Lake Baldeney  [ de ] reservoir in the boroughs of Fischlaken, Kupferdreh, Heisingen and Werden . The lake, a popular recreational area, dates from 1931 to 1933, when some thousands of unemployed coal miners dredged it with primitive tools. Generally, large areas south of

1887-722: Is a blade found in the borough of Vogelheim  [ de ] in the northern part of the city during the construction of the Rhine–Herne Canal in 1926. Other artifacts from the Stone Age have also been found, although these are not overly numerous. Land utilization was very high—especially due to mining activities during the Industrial Age—and any more major finds, especially from the Mesolithic era, are not expected. Finds from 3,000  BCE and onwards are far more common,

1998-428: Is a so-called arms of alliance ( Allianzwappen ) and consists of two separate shields under a single crown. Most other coats of arms of cities use a mural crown instead of a heraldic crown. The crown, however, does not refer to the city of Essen itself, but instead to the secularized ecclesiastical principality of Essen under the reign of the princess-abbesses. The dexter (heraldically right) escutcheon shows

2109-427: Is entirely covered with sheets of gold leaf less than 0.25 millimetres (0.01 in) thick, which are held in place by minute golden bolts. The size of the individual gold leaves varies to suit the surface texture. The faces of both mother and child are pounded out of one single leaf each. The coloured eyes of the figures are made of cloisonné enamel. While the eyes of the mother are inset into carved fittings, those of

2220-609: Is made from mahogany and pear wood. The color halls (Bunte Säle) of the conference centre are above the Wandelhalle. There are yellow, green and white halls with a size between 75 square metres (810 sq ft) and 139 square metres (1,500 sq ft). The white hall is the medium room. It consists of a ceramic wall from Charles Crodel dating to the 1950s. They are covered with motifs of European myths. The yellow hall has walls made from citron wood and silk prints by Oswald Petersen  [ de ] in 1954. The prints show

2331-486: Is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex , which had once been the largest of its kind in Europe. Ultimately closed in 1993, both the coking plant and the mine have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 2001. Notable accomplishments of the city in recent years include the title of European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr area in 2010 and the selection as

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2442-402: Is the central and biggest venue. The design consists of bright wood paneling and warm colors. The red steel construction elements are references to the company Krupp During an acoustic test it was observed that the steel elements should not be covered for acoustical reasons. Therefore, they are still undisguised and visible. The hall has places for 1906 people. The stage size can be adjusted to

2553-605: Is the central and, after Dortmund , second-largest city of the Ruhr , the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 586,608 makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne , Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as the tenth-largest city of Germany. Essen lies in the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, second largest by GDP in the EU , and is part of the cultural area of Rhineland . Because of its central location in

2664-476: The Archdiocese of Cologne , whereas all other boroughs of Essen and some neighbouring cities constitute the Diocese of Essen . Essen has a typical oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ; Trewartha : Dobk ) with cool winters and warm summers (different from Berlin or Stuttgart ). Without large mountains and the presence of inland seas, it ends up extending a predominantly marine climate is found in Essen, usually

2775-673: The Art Nouveau movement. Gustav Mahler conducted the world premiere of his 6th Symphony here in 1906 at the 42nd Tonkünstlerfestes (sound artist festival) of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein , followed by Max Reger in 1913 with the world premiere of his Böcklin Suite . The Saalbau was destroyed in World War II on 26 July 1943 together with the city center of Essen. After World War II, between 1949 and 1954,

2886-511: The Byzantine iconoclasm . The overall form of the Madonna indicates that the sculptor was not experienced in carving free-standing sculptures, since profile, front and rear view do not match up to a harmonic whole. Like many medieval works of art, the Madonna displays a very complex iconography . The statue shows the Virgin in a rather plain gown, while the oversized Christ child figure in her lap wears

2997-506: The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: The Essen city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: The coat of arms of the city of Essen is a heraldic peculiarity. Granted in 1886, it

3108-462: The Crucifixion . The statue is dated around the year 980 and was thus created during the tenure of Mathilde , a granddaughter of Emperor Otto I , as abbess of Essen Abbey . Under her reign and those of her successors Sophia of Gandersheim (1012–1039) and Theophanu (1039–1058), the abbey acquired what is today considered the most precious of the works of art of the Essen treasury. The creator of

3219-508: The Diocese of Hildesheim . The voucher deposited in the Netherlands was destroyed after the treasure was finally brought back to Essen in 1925 when the political situation seemed stable. In the summer of 1925 the goldsmith from Aachen and his son retrieved the treasure from its sanctuary and brought it back to Essen, travelling in a fourth-class Reichsbahn carriage and carrying the treasure inconspicuously as hand luggage. During World War II

3330-515: The European Green Capital for 2017. Essen is located in the centre of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants into a megalopolis . The city limits of Essen itself are 87 kilometres (54 mi) long, and border ten cities – five belonging to a district ( kreisangehörig ) and five independent – with

3441-730: The Fürstin-Franziska-Christine-Stiftung  [ de ] and the Golden Madonna of Essen . The green hall is covered by pear wood. The Bauhaus design was restored during the refurbishment in 2004. There are three club rooms (Clubräume) Richard Strauss , Gustav Mahler and Max Reger for up to 44 people. The organ in the Alfried Krupp Hall was built by Orgelbau Kuhn  [ de ] . The instrument has 62 organ stops (4502 organ pipes ) on three manuals and pedal keyboard . The instrument had

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3552-497: The Marktkirche (Market Church). On the following morning the statue was veiled and carried in a solemn procession back to the cathedral, where it was laid down on the steyn , the "stone" where offerings to the abbey were usually placed. There she was ceremonially unveiled and crowned with Otto's child crown . The crowned Madonna was then carried back into the minster under the eyes of the congregation, just as Mary had been welcomed by

3663-586: The Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus . It is a wooden core covered with sheets of thin gold leaf . The piece is part of the treasury of Essen Cathedral , formerly the church of Essen Abbey , in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany , and is kept on display at the cathedral . Dated around the year 980, it is both the oldest known sculpture of the Madonna and the oldest free-standing medieval sculpture north of

3774-434: The fibula beneath has Gothic features and is dated to the fourteenth century. The Madonna was first restored in 1905. By then the statue's core was riddled with woodworm tunnels and threatened to collapse. The restorers carefully wrapped the statue in a plaster cast , insufflated the cavities to remove bore dust, impregnated them with insecticides and finally filled them with a mixture of glue, chalk and water, turning

3885-515: The music director of Essener Philharmonic. Also since 2013/2014 Hein Mulders has been the intendant of the Saalbau Essen. The first concert venue at the same place, the so-called Stadtgartensaal, was opened in 1864. A new concert venue was built in 1901 at the same place – the first Saalbau. Richard Strauss conducted at the opening on 24 September 1904. The design of the building was influenced by

3996-412: The 1970s, attracted workers from all over the country; it was the fifth-largest city in Germany between 1929 and 1988, peaking at over 730,000 inhabitants in 1962. Following the region-wide decline of heavy industries in the last decades of the 20th century, the city has seen the development of a strong tertiary sector of the economy . The most notable witness of this structural change ( Strukturwandel )

4107-524: The Alps, and is also one of the few major works of art to survive from Ottonian times. To this day it remains an object of veneration and symbol of identity for the population of the Ruhr Area . It is the only full-length survival from what appears to have been a common form of statue among the wealthiest churches and abbeys of 10th and 11th century Northern Europe; some of these were life-size, especially figures of

4218-478: The Dukedom of Bavaria after Henry's revolt. This would further suggest that the eventual Emperor Otto III may have donated the “Child’s crown” of the treasury on his visit to the abbey out of gratitude for its loyalty in the power struggle that took place when he was a mere child. The Golden Madonna has always held a special place in the liturgy of Essen Abbey. From her creation she seems to have been normally kept in

4329-522: The Empire" ( Reichsfürstin ) in an official letter. In 1244, 28 years later, Essen received its town charter and seal when Konrad von Hochstaden , the Archbishop of Cologne , marched into the city and erected a city wall together with the population. This proved a temporary emancipation of the population of the city from the princess-abbesses, but this lasted only until 1290. That year, King Rudolph I restored

4440-458: The Essen show is smaller and is focused on car tuning and racing interests. Other important fairs open to consumers include SPIEL , the world's biggest consumer fair for tabletop gaming, and one of the leading fairs for equestrian sports , Equitana , held every two years. Important fairs restricted to professionals include "Security" (security and fire protection), IPM (gardening) and E-World (energy and water). The Westdeutscher Rundfunk has

4551-680: The Essen treasure was first evacuated to Warstein , then to Schloss Albrechtsburg in Saxony and finally moved to an air-raid shelter in Siegen , where it was discovered by American troops by the end of the war. Because the treasury in Essen had been destroyed by air raids, the Madonna could not return to its natural place until the 1950s. It was first brought to the Hessian State Museum in Marburg , then to Schloss Dyck near Rheydt . From April to June 1949 it

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4662-587: The Evangelist are mentioned, as for example those by Spearhafoc in the 11th century. The fact that the Essen statue is free-standing and its enamel eyes point to the influence of Byzantine art and its spreading to the Holy Roman Empire after the marriage of Emperor Otto II with the Byzantine princess Theophanu in 972, although statues on this large scale were completely outside Byzantine traditions after

4773-478: The Grace of God , the rightful sovereign of the Empire until her son would be of age. Consequently, it may be inferred that Theophanu in fact donated the sculpture to Essen Abbey. In the struggle for the throne, Mathilde most probably took the side of Otto and Theophanu. Mathilde's family line had a long history of rivalry to Henry's, and she was the personal heiress to her brother Otto (d. 982), who in 976 had been granted

4884-521: The Krupp family dynasty and Essen shaped each other. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded Germany's first cast-steel factory in Essen and laid the cornerstone for what was to be the largest enterprise in Europe for a couple of decades. The weapon factories in Essen became so important that a sign facing the main railway station welcomed visitors Hitler and Mussolini to the "Armory of the Reich " ( Waffenschmiede des Reiches ) in 1937. The Krupp Works also were

4995-558: The River Ruhr (including the suburbs of Schuir and Kettwig ) are quite green and are often quoted as examples of rural structures in the otherwise relatively densely populated central Ruhr area. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany , Essen with 9.2% of its area covered by recreational green is the greenest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the third-greenest city in Germany. The city has been shortlisted for

5106-536: The Roman Catholic parish of St. Johannes, which used the former abbey church as its parish church. Throughout the 19th century the sculpture mostly remained locked away in the treasury and was hardly ever examined by art historians. The Madonna remained in Essen throughout World War I but was again evacuated in its aftermath. After the communist revolt in the Ruhr area in the spring of 1920, the authorities of St. Johannes parish, fearing another uprising, decided to hide

5217-578: The Ruhr, Essen is often regarded as the Ruhr's "secret capital". Two rivers flow through the city: the Emscher in the north, and in the south the Ruhr River , which is dammed in Essen to form the Lake Baldeney  [ de ] and Lake Kettwig  [ de ] reservoirs . The central and northern boroughs of Essen historically belong to the Low German Westphalian dialects area, and

5328-540: The Treasury, and only brought out for major feast-days and other special occasions. She was paraded in all major processions, and the altar dedicated to Mary in the cathedral was the place where deeds of donation to the religious community were received and deposited, thus putting them under the symbolic custody of the Virgin. It is however uncertain whether it was in fact the Golden Madonna who presided over these deeds, since

5439-458: The WAZ Group also publishes the local Borbecker Nachrichten  [ de ] and Werdener Nachrichten  [ de ] , both of which had been independent weekly newspapers for parts of Essen. Additionally, Axel Springer run a printing facility for their boulevard-style daily paper Bild in Essen. Golden Madonna of Essen The Golden Madonna of Essen is a sculpture of

5550-531: The abbey inventories list two other Mary figures besides the golden one. The most important procession took place on the day of the Purification of the Virgin 40 days after Christmas. In a steady ritual, the treasuress handed over the sculpture to the youngest canon of the parish on the eve of the procession, who then concealed it under his cloak and brought it to St. Gertrude's church in the City of Essen, today known as

5661-610: The abbey of Saint-Foy in Conques in Southern France not many of those artifacts survive. We know Charlemagne had a life-size crucifix with the figure of Christ in gold in his Palatine Chapel in Aachen , the oldest such object to be described, and many similar figures in precious metal, all now vanished, are recorded in large Anglo-Saxon churches and elsewhere. Most often they are crucifixes, and sometimes accompanying figures of Mary and John

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5772-412: The abbey. The seal of the city of Essen of 1244 shows the Madonna between Saints Cosmas and Damian. The first documented mention of the Madonna is from the 1370 Liber Ordinarius , which details a fully developed liturgy and processions centred around the statue. The fact that the canon received the Madonna from the hands of the treasuress for processions on Purification leads historians to assume that

5883-615: The abbey. She was to become the most important of all abbesses in the history of Essen. She reigned for over 40 years, and endowed the abbey's treasury with invaluable objects such as the oldest preserved seven branched candelabrum, and the Golden Madonna of Essen , the oldest known sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the western world. Mathilde was succeeded by other women related to the Ottonian emperors: Sophia, daughter of Otto II and sister of Otto III , and Teophanu, granddaughter of Otto II. It

5994-588: The allies, Essen was assigned to the British Zone of Occupation . On 8 March 1946, a German army officer and a civilian were hanged for the lynching of three British airmen in December 1944. Although weaponry is no longer produced in Essen, old industrial enterprises such as ThyssenKrupp and RWE remain large employers in the city. Foundations such as the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach - Stiftung still promote

6105-598: The arts through the respected Folkwang University of the Arts , its Zollverein School of Management and Design, and the Red Dot industrial product design award. In early 2003, the universities of Essen and the nearby city of Duisburg (both established in 1972) were merged into the University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and a university hospital in Essen. In 1958, Essen

6216-513: The beholder. Thus Mary may arguably not only be interpreted as a passive devotee but also assumes the role of mediator between the people and the Redeemer. There are several possible interpretations for the orb Mary is holding in her right hand. It has been construed as the globus cruciger of the Holy Roman Empire. However, a globus cruciger is not attested as part of the Holy Roman regalia until

6327-496: The best gold. Sitting on her lap is the Christ child, whose ornate chasuble betokens his significance as ruler of the heavens, the book his role as herald of the faith. Bearing in mind other medieval portrayals of Christ as teacher, it may be supposed that the child's lost right arm was originally raised in a gesture of blessing. However, Christ's face is turned towards his mother, while from any position Mary's look seems directed towards

6438-446: The building were converted to the style of the 1950s, for example the entrance and the lobby (Wandelhalle). At the main entrance are some small box offices, at the top are some historical candleholders. The box offices were used only for a short time, as they are too small and have no IT connection. The wardrobe side of the lobby is made from marble , the other sides are made from beton . The Alfried Krupp Hall ( Alfried-Krupp -Saal)

6549-456: The cathedral save in wartime. Apparently the bitter conflict between the diocese of Cologne and the Lords of Isenberg over control of Essen Abbey that resulted in the murder of Archbishop Engelbert at the hands of Friedrich von Isenberg in 1225 did not affect the sculpture, nor did the centuries-long quarrel over whether the city of Essen was legally a free imperial city or rather a dependency of

6660-604: The centres of resistance to Social Democracy and the Freikorps alike. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), mayors were installed by the Nazi Party . After World War II , the military government of the British occupation zone installed a new mayor and a municipal constitution modelled on that of British cities. Later, the city council was again elected by the population. The mayor was elected by

6771-438: The child are merely pasted on the wooden core. The child's hand is made of cast silver and was added only in the 14th century; the original right hand is lost. There are traces of original tenth century adornments on the orb in the Virgin's right hand, on the right back leg of the stool, as well as on the child's book and halo . The agrafe showing an eagle and seemingly pinning Mary's cloak is an early thirteenth century addition;

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6882-513: The church and the settlement. The church was rebuilt, expanded considerably, and is the foundation of the present Essen Cathedral. The first documented mention of Essen dates back to 898, when Zwentibold , King of Lotharingia , willed territory on the western bank of the River Rhine to the abbey. Another document, describing the foundation of the abbey and allegedly dating back to 870, is now considered an 11th-century forgery. In 971, Mathilde II , granddaughter of Emperor Otto I , took charge of

6993-423: The city and the abbey about supremacy over the region remained common until the abbey's dissolution in 1803. Many lawsuits were filed at the Reichskammergericht , one of them lasting almost 200 years. The final decision of the court in 1670 was that the city had to be "duly obedient in dos and don'ts" to the abbesses but could maintain its old rights—a decision that did not really solve any of the problems. In 1563,

7104-422: The city council, with its self-conception as the only legitimate ruler of Essen, introduced the Protestant Reformation . The Catholic abbey had no troops to counter this development. During the Thirty Years' War , the Protestant city and the Catholic abbey opposed each other. In 1623, princess-abbess Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum und Valör, managed to direct Catholic Spaniards against the city in order to initiate

7215-448: The coat of arms can be found on the roof of the Handelshof  [ de ] hotel near the main station . Essen has a population of 586,608 and is the 2nd largest city in Ruhr area after Dortmund and the 10th largest city in Germany. Essen has also the largest urban density with cities such as Bochum , Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen borders this city. In 1960, the population reached its historical peak of over 720,000 (Essen

7326-431: The core and the sooty film that had accreted on the gold leaves over the centuries were chemically analyzed. The experts recommended that the statue be kept in a steady climate and not exposed to agitation. Cologne wood restorers Ria Röthinger and Michaela von Welck consolidated the wood of the stool, silversmith Peter Bolg polished the metal leaves of the coating and the child's right silver arm which had tarnished black over

7437-418: The coronation of Conrad II in 1024, and besides in the habitual depiction of the globus cruciger the orb is always shown held by the full hand and all fingers, not just three. It is therefore safer to interpret the orb as an "apple of salvation" —in much the same way as Eve held the apple of damnation plucked from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil , Mary now proffers the beholder an apple symbolizing

7548-423: The corporate headquarters of Schenker AG , the logistics division of Deutsche Bahn. Other major companies include Germany's largest construction company Hochtief , as well as Aldi Nord , Evonik Industries , Karstadt , Medion AG and Deichmann , Europe's largest shoe retailer. The Coca-Cola Company had originally established their German headquarters in Essen (around 1930), where it remained until 2003, when it

7659-402: The council as its head and as the city's main representative . The administration was led by a full-time Oberstadtdirektor . In 1999, the position of Oberstadtdirektor was abolished in North Rhine-Westphalia and the mayor became both main representative and administrative head. In addition, the population now elects the mayor directly. The current mayor of Essen is Thomas Kufen of

7770-475: The double-headed Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire , granted to the city in 1623. The sinister (heraldically left) escutcheon is one of the oldest emblems of Essen and shows a sword that people believed was used to behead the city's patron Saints Cosmas and Damian . People tend to connect the sword in the left shield with one found in the cathedral treasury. This sword, however, is much more recent. A slightly modified and more heraldically correct version of

7881-407: The end of 2017. The city's exhibition centre, Messe Essen , hosts some 50 trade fairs each year. With around 530.000 visitors each year, Essen Motor Show is by far the largest event held there. It has been described as "the showcase event of the year for the tuning community" and as the German version of the annual SEMA auto show in Las Vegas . As contrasted with the Frankfurt Auto Show ,

7992-476: The figure around repeatedly in the process so as to reach every nook and angle. The surface holes were then sealed with bolts of oak. The restoration cost a total of 3,200 Goldmarks , part of which was paid by the Prussian state. During and after World War II the statue suffered from hasty evacuation transports; many gold leaves came loose and the wood was again infested with wood boring insects. A second restoration

8103-458: The following extreme values: In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it has the same form as the German infinitive of the verb for "eating" (written as lowercase essen ), and/or the German noun for food (which is always capitalized as Essen , adding to the confusion). Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of

8214-450: The infant in her lap. The Christ figure himself wears a pontifical gown and presses a book against his breast with his left hand. The statue measures 74 centimetres (29 inches) in height; the pedestal is 27 centimetres (10.6 inches) in width. The core of the sculpture was carved from a single piece of wood, most likely from a poplar tree, though earlier art historians have assumed it to be pear, plum or lime. The sculpture's surface

8325-515: The main reason for the large population growth beginning in the mid-19th century. Essen reached a population of 100,000 in 1896. Other industrialists, such as Friedrich Grillo , who in 1892 donated the Grillo-Theater to the city, also played a major role in the shaping of the city and the Ruhr area in the late 19th and early 20th century. Riots broke out in February 1917 following a breakdown in

8436-405: The most important one being a Megalithic tomb found in 1937. Simply called Chest of Stone ( Steinkiste ), it is referred to as "Essen's earliest preserved example of architecture". Essen was part of the settlement areas of several Germanic peoples ( Chatti , Bructeri , Marsi ), although a clear distinction among these groupings is difficult. The Alteburg  [ de ] castle in

8547-583: The name, there remain a few noteworthy interpretations. The oldest known form of the city's name is Astnide , which changed to Essen by way of forms such as Astnidum, Assinde, Essendia and Esnede. The name Astnide may have referred either to a region where many ash trees were found or to a region in the east (of the Frankish Empire ). The oldest archaeological find, the Vogelheimer Klinge , dates back to 280,000 – 250,000  BCE . It

8658-406: The northern borough of Karnap at 26.5 metres (86.9 ft), the highest point in the borough of Heidhausen at 202.5 metres (664 ft). The average elevation is 116 metres (381 ft). Essen comprises fifty boroughs which in turn are grouped into nine suburban districts (called Stadtbezirke ) often named after the most important boroughs. Each Stadtbezirk is assigned a Roman numeral and has

8769-619: The people of the Heavenly Jerusalem upon her arrival there according to the scripture. The Purification processions ceased in 1561 when the Protestant Reformation reached the city of Essen – though not the abbey –, and the parish of St. Gertrude was converted to the Lutheran faith. The medieval tradition of the coronation of Mary was revived in 1978 by Essen's first bishop Cardinal Franz Hengsbach but had to be stopped in 2000 due to

8880-418: The princess-abbesses to full sovereignty over the city, much to the dismay of the population of the growing city, who called for self-administration and imperial immediacy . The title free imperial city was finally granted by Emperor Charles IV in 1377. However, in 1372, Charles had paradoxically endorsed Rudolph I's 1290 decision and hence left both the abbey and the city in imperial favour. Disputes between

8991-498: The redemption she has brought to the world by incarnating Christ. She thus appears as "the New Eve". Another interpretation of the orb is akin to the globus-cruciger theory. While such an object may not have been part of the coronation ceremony of the Holy Roman Empire until the next century, the idea of an orb symbolizing power over the Mundus , i.e. the world, was well known by the time

9102-451: The restorer's concerns. Another procession in which the Madonna was shown took place every year on the Monday preceding Ascension Day . On this day the nuns, canons and scholars of the abbey and its daughter house in nearby Rellinghausen held a formal meeting with the monks of Werden Abbey and took the Golden Madonna along. The two processions met about halfway between the two monasteries at

9213-558: The river and Essen. Essen is twinned with: Essen cooperates with: Essen is home to several large companies, among them the ThyssenKrupp industrial conglomerate which is also registered in Duisburg and originates from a 1999 merger between Duisburg-based Thyssen AG and Essen-based Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp . The largest company registered only in Essen is Germany's second-largest electric utility RWE AG . Essen hosts parts of

9324-458: The sculpture is unknown, but it is generally presumed to have been crafted in either Cologne or Hildesheim . Hildesheim is home to a Madonna slightly younger than the one in Essen, while Cologne seems more likely as the home of the artist since the folds in the Madonna's gown resemble those of the Cross of Otto and Mathilde dated 982 which is also part of the Essen treasury but was doubtless created by

9435-487: The sculpture was crafted. Depictions of this symbol of power can be found in Carolingian and Ottonian illuminated manuscripts . According to this theory then, Mary is holding the whole world in her hands, and she is holding it on behalf of the one who is in fact its sovereign, i.e. the infant in her lap. The image of a mother holding the power over the world for her son may have had far-reaching political implications at

9546-671: The sculpture was shown exclusively during processions and was stored out of public sight for the rest of the year. Suggested repositories include the fortress-like westwork of the cathedral and the armarium dictum sychter , an annex to the south nave. The sculpture has been known by its current name Golden Madonna only since the 19th century. A liturgical manuscript dating from around 1370 simply describes it as " dat gulden bild onser vrouwen " (literally “the golden image of Our Lady”). The 1626 treasure inventory of Essen Abbey lists Noch ein gross Marienbelt, sitzend uff einen sthuell mit lauteren golt uberzogen ("[A]nother image of Mary, sitting on

9657-404: The size of the ensemble. The stage together with the parquet can be adjusted in height to the level of the balcony. Then the hall can be used as a ballroom or as a shareholder venue. The acoustic roof has a diameter of 11 metres (36 ft), weighs 18 tonnes (18 long tons; 20 short tons) and can be adjusted in height. The venue has a height of 21 metres (69 ft), the second balcony starts at

9768-420: The south of Essen dates back to the eighth century, the nearby Herrenburg  [ de ] to the ninth century. Recent research into Ptolemy 's Geographia has identified the polis or oppidum Navalia as Essen. Around 845, Saint Altfrid (around 800–874), the later Bishop of Hildesheim , founded an abbey for women ( coenobium Astnide ) in the centre of present-day Essen. The first abbess

9879-494: The south of the city to the Low Franconian Bergish area. Essen is seat to several of the region's authorities, as well as to eight of the 100 largest publicly held German corporations by revenue, including three DAX -listed corporations. Essen is often considered the energy capital of Germany with E.ON and RWE , Germany's largest energy providers, both headquartered in the city. Essen is also known for its impact on

9990-407: The statue in a safe place that would be unknown even to its own priest so as to prevent discovery by treason or extortion. A goldsmith from Aachen was assigned to find a hiding place, and he finally negotiated with another German diocese that the Madonna and the rest of the Essen treasure was to be concealed in a place that only the goldsmith and a designated guardian would know about: even the bishop

10101-527: The supply of flour. There were then strikes in the Krupp factory. On 11 January 1923 the Occupation of the Ruhr was carried out by the invasion of French and Belgian troops into the Ruhr. The French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincaré , was convinced that Germany failed to comply the demands of the Treaty of Versailles . On the morning of 31 March 1923, the culmination of this French-German confrontation occurred when

10212-598: The time of the sculpture's creation. Emperor Otto II, uncle to Mathilde, the then abbess of Essen, died in 983 in Rome, leaving as heir to the throne only his son Otto, a child of three years. Until her death in 991, Otto's mother Theophanu served as regent for her underage son and defended his title against the claims of Henry the Quarrelsome , formerly Duke of Bavaria and male next of kin to Otto. The Madonna could thus be construed as an expression of Theophanu's insistence on being, by

10323-439: The title of European Green Capital two consecutive times, for 2016 and 2017, winning for 2017. The city was singled out for its exemplary practices in protecting and enhancing nature and biodiversity and efforts to reduce water consumption. Essen participates in a variety of networks and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the city's resilience in the face of climate change. The lowest point can be found in

10434-533: The treasures of Cologne's cathedral, as the annals of Essen Abbey proudly claim. The second evacuation was in 1794 before the advance of the French revolutionary army . It was hidden in the orphanage of the nearby town of Steele . Essen Abbey ceased to exist in 1803 following the secularization of ecclesiastical principalities under the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss . Ownership of the Madonna passed to

10545-592: The well-being of the city, for example by supporting a hospital and donating €55   million for a new building for the Museum Folkwang , one of the Ruhr area's major art museums. The administration of Essen had for a long time been in the hands of the princess-abbesses as heads of the Imperial Abbey of Essen . However, from the 14th century onwards, the city council increasingly grew in importance. In 1335, it started choosing two burgomasters , one of whom

10656-401: The years. The restoration was overseen by a commission of art historians and restorers led by Dr. Brigitta Falk, curator of the Essen treasury. The Madonna was returned to its habitual place in the cathedral in December 2004. A detailed restoration report is due to appear in an anthology in 2007 along with further research papers on the statue and Essen Abbey. Whether and exactly when the statue

10767-454: Was Altfrid's relative Gerswit (see also: Essen Abbey ). In 799, Saint Liudger had already founded Benedictine Werden Abbey on its own grounds a few kilometres south. The region was sparsely populated with only a few smallholdings and an old and probably abandoned castle. Whereas Werden Abbey sought to support Liudger's missionary work in the Harz region ( Helmstedt / Halberstadt ), Essen Abbey

10878-510: Was built in Velbert to divert Allied airstrikes from the actual production site of the arms factory in Essen. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Essen in April 1945. The US 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 17th Airborne Division , acting as regular infantry and not in a parachute role, entered the city unopposed and captured it on 10 April 1945. After the occupation of Germany by

10989-561: Was chosen as the seat to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen , often referred to as the diocese of the Ruhr ( Ruhrbistum ). Founded around 845, Essen remained a small town within the sphere of influence of an important ecclesiastical principality , Essen Abbey , until the onset of industrialization. The city then—especially through the Krupp family's iron works—became one of Germany's most important coal and steel centres. Essen, until

11100-426: Was commissioned, acquired or donated is unknown, and documents referring to the Madonna are scarce for the first couple of centuries of its existence. It seems certain that it was part of the cathedral treasure by 993, when Emperor Otto III paid the abbey a visit and donated a crown , the so-called “child’s crown”, which is also part of the treasure to this day. Since this first mention the Madonna has always been in

11211-575: Was convicted in the Krupp trial at Nuremberg for his role in this but was pardoned by the US in 1951. There were several subcamps in Essen in Second World War , such as the subcamps Humboldtstraße  [ de ] , Gelsenberg  [ de ] , Schwarze Poth  [ de ] . As a major industrial centre, Essen was a target for allied bombing, the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropping

11322-714: Was made part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg from 1815 to 1822, after which it became part of the Prussian Rhine Province until its dissolution in 1946. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 , Essen was the home of the Essen Tendency ( Essener Richtung ) within the Communist Workers' Party of Germany . In 1922 they founded the Communist Workers' International . Essen became one of

11433-468: Was meant to care for women of the higher Saxon nobility. This abbey was not an abbey in the ordinary sense, but rather intended as a residence and educational institution for the daughters and widows of the higher nobility; led by an abbess, the members other than the abbess herself were not obliged to take vows of chastity . Around 852, construction of the collegiate church of the abbey began, to be completed in 870. A major fire in 946 heavily damaged both

11544-515: Was moved to the capital Berlin. In light of the Energy transition in Germany , Germany's largest electric utility E.ON announced that, after restructuring and splitting off its conventional electricity generation division (coal, gas, atomic energy), it will move its headquarters to Essen in 2016, becoming a sole provider of renewable energy . The DAX -listed chemical distribution company Brenntag announced it would move its headquarters to Essen at

11655-402: Was not mentioned until 1371, and coal mining only began in 1450. At the end of the 16th century, many coal mines had opened in Essen, and the city earned a name as a centre of the weapons industry. Around 1570, gunsmiths made high profits and in 1620, they produced 14,000 rifles and pistols a year. The city became increasingly important strategically. Resident in Essen since the 16th century,

11766-401: Was only informed about the general plan, but not about the exact location of the sanctuary. A document detailing the whereabouts was deposited in a Dutch diocese in case the middleman was killed. The plan worked so well that to this day it is unknown where exactly the treasure was hidden at that time. The only certainty is that it was packed in shabby cardboard suitcases and taken to some place in

11877-424: Was placed in charge of the treasury. In 1377, Essen was granted imperial immediacy but had to abandon this privilege later on. Between the early 15th and 20th centuries, the political system of Essen underwent several changes, most importantly the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in 1563, the annexation of 1802 by Prussia , and the subsequent secularization of the principality in 1803. The territory

11988-673: Was shown in an exhibition in Brussels, then through October in Amsterdam, and finally returned to Essen. Until the reconstruction of Essen Cathedral was completed the treasure was stored in the vault of Essen's savings bank. The Madonna has not left the city since. The Golden Madonna is both the oldest known sculpture of the Madonna and the oldest free-standing sculpture north of the Alps. It is also one of only two extant medieval gilded cult images . Gilded sculptures are frequently mentioned in medieval documents, but apart from an image of Saint Fides in

12099-596: Was the fifth largest German city at that time) due to its booming industrial era of the Ruhr Area and the West German Wirtschaftswunder . Since 1970s, the population of Essen declined due to loss of jobs by coal and mining. Essen has a large migrant population, most of them are from Turkey , Syria and Poland . The City of Monessen, Pennsylvania , situated along the Monongahela River , was named after

12210-471: Was under the reign of Teophanu that Essen, which had been called a city since 1003, received the right to hold markets in 1041. Ten years later, Teophanu had the eastern part of Essen Abbey constructed. Its crypt contains the tombs of St. Altfrid, Mathilde II, and Teophanu herself. In 1216, the abbey, which had only been an important landowner until then, gained the status of a princely residence when Emperor Frederick II called abbess Elisabeth I "Princess of

12321-430: Was undertaken by the Essen goldsmith Classen, who gassed the sculpture with pesticides and filled the bore holes with “liquid wood”, a plastic then commonly used in wood restorations. The most recent restoration was undertaken on site in 2004. A workshop was installed in the cathedral's treasure chamber to examine the condition of the sculpture. X-rays and endoscopy were used to detect remaining cavities, and both wood from

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