Am Kurpark

Odds are, if you have ever been to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, you have taken a picture of the Sorge Tourist Shop on Am Kurpark.  

Only Ludwigstraße in Partenkirchen rivals the pedestrian walking street of Am Kurpark in Garmisch as the most popular place for lüftlmalerei pictures.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen tourist office is just at the end of the street, next to the Kurpark for which the street gets its name.

At Am Kurpark 3, there is a large lüftlmalerei depicting the Adoration of the Magi — or the three wise men giving gifts — to the infant Jesus, seated here on Mary’s lap.

At the bottom, a putto playing a lute beside a salamander — neither often included in images of the Nativity.

Hermann Bierl in his book, Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmelereien, identifies the artist of this mural as Karl Gries.1

In this photo from the Marburg Photo Archives, one can see how this lüftlmalerei looked in the 1920s.

Photo by an unknown photographer (circa 1925)

Am Kurpark 5.

False window.

Am Kurpark 8.

A building covered in traditional Bavarian-focused lüftlmalerei by Sebastian Pfeffer.

Am Kurpark 11.

According to Hermann Bierl’s book, Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmelereien, this house was painted by Heinrich Bickel around 1928.2

Am Kurpark 13, an image of the Patrona Bavaria and porters.

While the town archivist, Franz Wörndle, identifies this mural as painted by Kurt Marchlowitz3, in his book, Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmalereien, Hermann Bierl identifies it as painted by Karl Gries.4

On the wall of the Anton Buchwieser’s shoe store at Am Kurpark 14, a lüftlmalerei of Saint Anthony and an infant Jesus overlooking a scene from Richard Wagner‘s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg painted by Sebastian Pfeffer in 1984.5

Am Kurpark 15, Ferdinand Gerspach’s shop has made, repaired, and sold watches and jewelry since 1889.

On the front of the building, lüftlmalerei of a watchmaker and a woman, multiple coats of arms, and, at the very top, an image of God with a proverb written on a banner, “An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen” (“Everything depends on God’s blessing”), all painted by Heinrich Bickel.6

Am Kurpark 17, “Haus Gattinger,” with lüftlmalerei originally painted by Heinrich Bickel some time around 1945.

At the top left, a penitent Mary Magdalene at Golgatha, at the top right, Saint Anthony.7

Compared to old photos of this building, it is clear to see that the Lüftlmalerei have changed dramatically since when they were first painted.

Undated photo of the mural by the original artist from the Markt Archiv Ga-Pa, Depositum Heinrich Bickel.
Photo taken in 2019
Photo taken in 2019

Am Kurpark 18 the Bavarian folk art and souvenir shop Bayerische Volkskunst Sorge & Geschwister, has perhaps the most photographed lüftlmalerei in the entire town.  

Once the Garmisch town hall — with a requisite dance hall on the second floor — the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Tourist Office has placed a plaque on the front where you can literally read this building’s history, and artist Heinrich Bickel figuratively incorporated that history into the details of his mural, originally painted in 1926.8

In 1760, the building was sold to Stephan Jocher9 — hence the “Haus Jocher” painted beneath the window on the right.

His grandson, Johann Georg, went by the last name “Schloapferer,” which gave the building its current title, the “zum Schloapferer” House,10 which is noted on a scroll behind the putto at the bottom. 

For the last three generations, the Sorge family has run the store on the first floor, selling “Bayer Volkskunst” (or the “Bavarian Folk Art”) that you see today.11

On the gable at the top, in the left corner, an image of Saint Elisabeth.

In the center, an image of Anna Selbdritt — Mary, an infant Jesus, and Mary’s mother Anne — with a banner above in Latin, a line from the Book of Tobit, “Benedicite Dominum omnes electi eius agite dies laetitiae et confitemini illi”12 (“Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: and praise the everlasting King, that his tabernacle may be builded in thee again with joy, and let him make joyful there in thee those that are captives, and love in thee for ever those that are miserable”13).

In the top right corner, a reference to this building when it was still a dance hall, with a putto and musical instruments beside an image of the place’s previous facade.

Photo taken around 1890 on the plaque on the wall

In the center on the left, an image of Saint Maximilian dressed in the vestments of a Catholic bishop, complete with Mitre and Crosier.  We know it’s Saint Maximilian, because the the angel with the book at the bottom is pointing to his name, which, in Latin means “The Greatest.”

Saint Maximilian was an apostle to the Bavarian region in the 3rd century, and is apocryphally credited with establishing the first Christian church in Freising, a small town near Munich.

According to the “Vita sancti Maximiliani”, written around 1291, Maximilian was born in the town of Celje — what is now the third-largest city in the country  of Slovenia —  when it was a flourishing Roman colony, known for its Temple of Mars, the Roman God of War.

The only child of very wealthy Christians, his parents entrusted his education to a priest named Oranius.  When he was orphaned, he gave all his wealth away and made a pilgrimage to Rome.

Pope Sixtus II sent Maximilian as a missionary to Lorch, a town near Passau in what is now Germany.  It was during that time that Maximilian is said to have converted a pagan temple in Freising into a chapel to the Virgin Mary.

In 257, he was elected Bishop of Lorch.

When Maximilian learned that the Roman Governor was persecuting Christians in his home town, he returned to Celje. According to legend, he was beheaded there by the Romans for refusing to make a sacrifice in the Temple of Mars, in either 218, 284, or 288, depending on the source. 

However, (almost) all of the sources agree it was on October 12, which became his feast day.

In the center at the right, Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost things and of the nearby Saint Anthony pilgrimage church.

A traditional Bavarian dancing scene around the corner of an oriel window at Am Kurpark 19.

Above bookstore ADAM at Am Kurpark 20, a lüftlmalerei of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden titled “Paradise” by Heinrich Bickel in 1930, inspired by the works of Jan Brueghel the Elder.14

"Landscape of Paradise and the Loading of the Animals in Noah's Ark," by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1596); source: wikimedia.org
"The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man," by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1612); source: wikimedia.org
Lüftlmalerei at Am Kurpark 20 (2019)

At the Bavarian State Archives online, you can see a photograph of what is now Am Kurpark 23 with its original lüftlmalerei taken by Rudolph Rudolphi in 1900-1910.

Today, the lüftlmalerei are gone, but its original icon remains at the corner.15

At Am Kurpark 25, a faded lüftlmalerei by Heinrich Bickel in 1931 of putti as craftsman, stone sculptor with potter’s wheel and as goldsmith.  The banner reads: “Built in the year 1931 Gift House Sorge”.16

Am Kurpark 27.

Saint Martin.

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  1. Bierl, Hermann. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmalereien." Mohr, Löwe, Raute. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Landkreises Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Band 18, Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte im Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 2020, p. 17: "028 Am Kurpark 3 Hl. Drei Könige Karl Gries".
  2. Bierl, Hermann. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmalereien." Mohr, Löwe, Raute. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Landkreises Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Band 18, Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte im Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 2020, p. 19: "033 Am Kurpark 11 Werdenfels Bickel ca. 1928".
  3. Wörndle, Franz. "Re-4: Fwd: Re-2: Homepage Lüftmaler". Message to the author. 22 September 2020. Email: "Marchlowitz, Kurt; [...] Viele seiner Werke sind im gesamten Landkreis Ga.-Pa. noch zu bewundern – z.B. [...] Am Kurpark 13 Fresko [...] (Abbildung forcheida 1992); Literatur: A1939-58, forcheida November 1991/ November 1992; (freundliche Auskunft von Herrn H.Filser, WFM); Mg: KM".
  4. Bierl, Hermann. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmalereien." Mohr, Löwe, Raute. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Landkreises Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Band 18, Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte im Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 2020, p. 20: "035 Am Kurpark 13 ehem. Hypotheken- und Wechselbank Patronin des Fernhandels Karl Gries".
  5. Bierl, Hermann. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen und seine Lüftlmalereien." Mohr, Löwe, Raute. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Landkreises Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Band 18, Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte im Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 2020, p. 21: "039 Am Kurpark 14 Schuhhaus (Anton) Buchwieser Hl. Antonius Hans Sachs Eva Walther von Stolzing (aus Die Miestersinger von Nürnberg) Pfeffer 84".
  6. Härtl, Rudolf. Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 122: "A 129 Bahnhofstraße 75, Haus Gersprach: Uhrmacher und weibl. Gestalt; Allegorie; nach 1945."
  7. Härtl, Rudolf.  Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 122: "A 44 Bahnhofstraße 77, Haus Gattinger, jetzt Günzrodt-Hüte: Büßende Magdalena, St. Antonius; Fürbitte".
  8. At least according to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Tourist Office plaque on the wall, the Denkmalliste, and even the artist's own signature on the lüftlmalerei.  The author of Heinrich Bickel - The Fresco Painter from Werdenfels noted, incorrectly, that it was painted in 1928. 

     

    Historischer Ortsrundgang: Haus „zum Schloapferer" / Historic Town Tour: The "zum Schloapferer" House (Plaque on the wall of Am Kurpark 18). Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Fremdenverkehrsverein und Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte.

    Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Denkmalliste, Markt Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 4 August 2020, www.geodaten.bayern.de/denkmal_static_data/externe_denkmalliste/pdf/denkmalliste_merge_180117.pdf, p. 5: "D-1-80-117-25 Am Kurpark 18. Wohn- und Geschäftshaus, zweigeschossiger freistehender Flachsatteldachbau, Ende 18. Jh., Fassadenmalereien von Heinrich Bickel 1926."

    Härtl, Rudolf. Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 12: "Der Hl. Franziskus am Sorgehaus in Garmisch um 1928"; and p. 121: "A 7 Bahnhofstraße 85, „Sorgehaus” (Hausname „Schloapferer”) Hl. Franziskus, 1 Bischof, anbetend vor Maria und Jesusking; Frauengestalt, Scheinarchitektur, Hausdarstellung; 1928."

  9.  Historischer Ortsrundgang: Haus „zum Schloapferer" / Historic Town Tour: The "zum Schloapferer" House (Plaque on the wall of Am Kurpark 18). Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Fremdenverkehrsverein und Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte.
  10.  Historischer Ortsrundgang: Haus „zum Schloapferer" / Historic Town Tour: The "zum Schloapferer" House (Plaque on the wall of Am Kurpark 18). Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Fremdenverkehrsverein und Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte.
  11.  Historischer Ortsrundgang: Haus „zum Schloapferer" / Historic Town Tour: The "zum Schloapferer" House (Plaque on the wall of Am Kurpark 18). Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Fremdenverkehrsverein und Verein für Geschichte, Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte.
  12. Tobit 13:10.
  13. King James Version.
  14. Härtl, Rudolf. Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 92-93: "Auch die Komposition des „Paradies” (Adamhaus) läßt Einheitlichkeit vermissen und zerfällt deshalb in zahlreiche, wenn auch schön und liebevoll gemalte Einzelepisoden. Angeregt wurde diese Darstellung von einem Bild Jan Brueghels d.Ä., das sich heute in der „Alten Pinakothek” in München befindet."
  15. Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Denkmalliste, Markt Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 4 August 2020, www.geodaten.bayern.de/denkmal_static_data/externe_denkmalliste/pdf/denkmalliste_merge_180117.pdf, p. 6: "D-1-80-117-26 Am Kurpark 23. Hausmadonna, neugotische Steinfigur unter blechernem Wettermantel, um 1900."
  16. Härtl, Rudolf. Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 121: "A 13 Bahnhofstraße 85, Geschenkhaus Sorge: Putten als Handwerker, Steinbildhauer mit Töpferscheibe und als Goldschmied.  Spruchband „Erbaut mit Jahre 1931 Geschw. Sorge”; 1931."