Master builder Karl Christian Eschke (1769-1857) documented the gateless towers of the city wall in 1800. What was to be done with the fortification wall and the moat at a time when projectiles with explosive force could create a breach in a matter of hours? In 1818, the mayors Ernst Friedrich Haupt and Johann Traugott Weise took the initiative to free Zittau from the corset of the walled city and plan a ring road with a city extension. Eschke was initially responsible for the design. The park was designed by the young Joachim Friedrich Zischling (around 1800-1853), the future town gardener, who was familiar with the theory of the English park style because he had worked as a gardener's assistant to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar and Jena. Another influence on the plans was the doctor Brauer, who wanted to remove the wall and moat for hygienic reasons. Under the city planning directors Carl August Schramm (1807-1869) and Emil Trummler (1829-1894), a balanced ring road with promenades and many public buildings was created. The demolition of the wall and the moat had freed up a three-kilometre-long and 60-metre-wide zone, which provided space for larger schools and retirement homes as well as the new buildings of the main post office and the district court, which had become necessary due to the expansion of the city.

Prof. Jos Tomlow, holder of the Chair of Fundamentals of Design and Monument Conservation, reports on the research project of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the Zittau Museums, Director Dr. phil. Volker Dudeck.

30 circular buildings, which have been documented on the basis of student building descriptions, will be presented. The accompanying exhibition KUNSTWERK STADT *Der Zittauer Ring* Phantasievoller Städtebau des 19. Jahrhunderts was shown in the Zittau museums in 2000 and in the Old Castle in Bad Muskau in 2001.

A subsequent discussion with Jos Tomlow will take place in a cozy and culinary atmosphere in the restaurant Viet-Thai (Zittauer Ring).

The Zittauer Ring as an urban ensemble through the ages
Lecture by Jos Tomlow

Location: Museum Franziskanerkloster, Klosterstraße 3, 02763 Zittau
www.museum-zittau.de

Contact:

Hella Trillenberg
Advisor to the Rector / Press Office
Theodor-Körner-Allee 16
02763 Zittau
Tel. 03583/ 612 3030
Email: h.trillenberg@hszg.de