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Bauhaus Dessau

Wednesday, 25 June 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General, Architecture, Intelligent Buildings, Living, Working, Building, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was an art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term Bauhaus – literally “house of construction” – was understood as meaning “School of Building”.

The Bauhaus was first founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. In spite of its name, and the fact that its founder was an architect, the Bauhaus during the first years of its existence did not have an architecture department. Nonetheless, it was founded with the idea of creating a “total” work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together. The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential currents in modern design, Modernist architecture and art, design and architectural education. The Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.

The school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933, under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933, when the school was closed by its own leadership under pressure from the Nazi regime. The Nazi government claimed that it was a centre of communist intellectualism. Though the school was closed, the staff continued to spread its idealistic precepts as they left Germany and emigrated all over the world. The changes of venue and leadership resulted in a constant shifting of focus, technique, instructors, and politics. For instance: the pottery shop was discontinued when the school moved from Weimar to Dessau, even though it had been an important revenue source; when Mies van der Rohe took over the school in 1930, he transformed it into a private school, and would not allow any supporters of Hannes Meyer to attend it.

Since 1994, the building is the seat of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation “to preserve the legacy of the historical Bauhaus and to convey to the public” and is committed “to contribute to the shaping of today’s living environment in the face of this heritage”. Since 1996, the building complex has been entered in the list of world cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Read more on Bauhaus Dessau, 100 years Bauhaus, The Guardian, 20 January 2019: Bauhaus at 100: the revolutionary movement’s enduring appeal, The Guardian, 30 March 2019: Bauhaus: 100 years old but still ubiquitous in our homes today, Bloomberg, 2 October 2020: What a Second Bauhaus Movement Means for Europe, European Commission, 14 October 2020: Press statement by President von der Leyen on the New European Bauhaus, White City Tel Aviv, Transfer Agreement, New European Bauhaus and Wikipedia Bauhaus (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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