The Andlau Palais

One of my very first blogs (number five) dealt with the country estate of the noble family derer zu Andlau at Hugstetten near Freiburg.

The Andlaus bought two standard 50 times 1000-foot plots
to build their noble house.

Noblesse oblige, so the Andlaus also had a noble house downtown, Freiburg, a Palais on Herrenstraße.

The Andlauhaus in 1943

The ruins of the Andlauhaus in 1960

Like many other historical buildings in Freiburg, the Andlau Palais was destroyed in the bombing raid on November 27, 1944. The plot was flattened, tarred, and used as a parking lot in the sixties.

In 2015, a lady looked into the excavation.
She is standing before the former entrance, where the remaining stones will be reused.

Freiburgers frequently asked why the ugly gap on Herrenstraße was not closed. 

Freiburg's archdiocese sought to fill the empty site in 2012, when the disastrous Tabartz-van Elst affair made headlines in 2013. As the Bishop of Limburg, he used church money to build a palace residence for himself. Immediately, the Catholic Church scrutinized all building activities in 2015, and the Freiburg project was put on ice.

The Freiburg Office of Historical Monuments found few traces of the Andlau Palais.

Only in 2016 did the Church resume building activities.

Red Baron had only visited the place a long time ago. So suddenly, he stood before the nearly finished building last week.

The new construction somehow recreated the former building. In particular, parts of the historical portal made from sandstone were salvaged during the excavation and were integrated into the facade of the new building.

The Church calls its new premises Münsterforum. The forum will house the so-called C-Punkt, a visitor and information center for Freiburg's Minster Church, and rooms "for various spiritual and musical events." The Archdiocese and Caritas will operate a café-restaurant on the ground floor. It will be run by people with and without disabilities.

Freiburg is looking forward.

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