KÜNSTLERBAHNHOF ROLANDSECK
The Bahnhof Rolandseck, the classicist jewel from the middle of the 19th century near Remagen.
The Bahnhof Rolandseck, the classicist jewel from the middle of the 19th century near Remagen, has been a place for famous artists from all over the world for decades - musicians, writers, painters and sculptors. Originally, the station was the terminus of a private railway that ran from Cologne. Today, a local train still stops here every hour in the direction of both Koblenz and Cologne.
The Bahnhof Rolandseck railway station by Emil Hermann Hartwich (1801-1879) was completed in 1856.
Today, it is considered an important cultural monument of Rhenish art history and early German railway construction. The surrounding cast-iron viewing galleries are striking examples of Rhenish iron art casting. Today, it is considered an important cultural monument of Rhenish art history and early German railway construction. The surrounding cast-iron viewing galleries are striking examples of Rhenish iron art casting.
Simple forms and the balanced proportions of the exterior architecture give the building a sense of calm and elegance.
The layout of the building with its side towers and the park with its old chestnut and lime trees harmoniously integrate the station into the surrounding villa architecture and landscape. Even in the middle of the last century, the station's magnificent ballroom was a meeting place for society and a venue for cultural events on the Rhine river.
After the Second World War, the railway station was no longer operated. The monument from the early days of the railway era was left to decay and was to be demolished. Shortly before the planned demolition in 1964, Johannes Wasmuth, the "spiritus rector" of the railway station who died in September 1997, discovered the building. Full of zest for action, he brought it back to life as an art and artists' centre. His basic idea of transforming Rolandseck station into a place of artistic creation was vividly evoked in Marcel Marceau's "Manifesto of Rolandseck" on 15 May 1969.
The station has thus developed into a centre for intellectual, artistic and social encounters, a place for informal dialogue, open to anyone who is interested.
Names such as Martha Argerich, Svjatoslav Richter, Stefan Askenase, the Menuhins, Pinchas Zukerman, Gidon Kremer, Oskar Kokoschka, Gotthard Graubner, Günther Uecker, Bruno Goller, Hans Arp, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Martin Walser, Gerhard Zwerenz, Marcel Marceau and Clown Dimitri speak for Johannes Wasmuth's skill as the station's impresario.
After the economic problems of this private initiative became increasingly pressing, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate established the "Bahnhof Rolandseck Foundation" in 1973, which acquired the station building, took over the financial burden of maintaining and operating the cultural institution and thus put the future of the station on a solid footing.
The new museum building, inaugurated on 28 September 2007 and built by star architect Richard Meyer, can be reached from the station building through an underground tunnel. Among other things, it houses a permanent exhibition by the artist couple Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber Arp.