Badgasse
Badgasse, or “Bath Alley,” in Partenkirchen, just off the historic Ludwigstraße, was originally named for the bath house once located at Badgasse 12. The first documentary evidence of that bathhouse dates back to 1421, and it was operated till well after mid 20th century — it wasn’t demolished until 1992.
The street winds back and forth, and the house numbers are in no way sequential, as the alley follows the course of the Kankerbach stream which flowed along the lane and was only recently relocated.
Badgasse 3.
Badgasse 9, the old Partenkirchen Post Office.
On one side, sgraffiti around an oriel window.
On the front, appropriate for a German post office, a large lüftlmalerei depicting the Greek god Hermes or the Roman god Mercury — god of messengers — a winged putto holding the horn and mail of the German Post, and an old man with wings, holding a scythe and hourglass, representing Kronos.
Kronos was conflated with Chronos, the personification of time, all the way back in antiquity, though the confusion became more solidified during the Renaissance when Kronos was considered the God of Time. It’s natural that a God of Time should endure, and Kronos still survives in New Year’s celebrations as “Father Time” who is replaced by the “New Year’s Baby,” usually swaddled or in a loose diaper—a form of Zeus that even recalls the “rock” wrapped with cloth. In this form, he is often accompanied by a clock or timepiece of some kind.
Both sgraffiti and lüftlmalerei by Heinrich Bickel, 1955.
Here, at the Bavarian State Archives, you can see August Becker’s photograph of this building around the time the lüftlmalerei was first painted.
Badgasse 11, “Gasthof Zur Linde.”
Here, at the Bavarian State Archives, you can see August Becker’s photograph of this building taken some time between 1920 and 1930.
Badgasse 12a.
A large depiction of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost things, done by Stephan Pfeffer in 2017.
This particular lüftlmalerei is highly reminiscent of his father, Sebastian Pfeffer’s work.
Badgasse 13.
In addition to the ornate scrollwork around the windows, a large narrative lüftlmalerei showing St. Martin painted by R. Vieröther in 1967.1
Born in 336 AD, legend has it that, as a Roman calvary soldier stationed in Gaul (now Amiens, France), he used his military sword to cut his own cloak in two to give half to a beggar. The beggar revealed himself to Martin in a dream that night to be Jesus Christ, and Martin awoke to find his cloak made whole again.
The supposed relic of St. Martin’s miraculous cloak was kept in an Abbey near Tours, France.
The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was called a cappellanu, and ultimately all priests who served the military were called cappellani. The French translation is chapelains, from which the English word “chaplain” is derived.
A similar linguistic development took place for the term referring to the small temporary churches built for the relic. People called them a “capella“, the word for a little cloak. Eventually, such small churches lost their association with the cloak, and all small churches began to be referred to as “chapels”.
Here, in the corner of the lüftlmalerei, painted on a stone beneath the banner identifying the saint, you can see the artist’s signature and a date, “1967.”
Incidentally, as the patron saint of Garmisch, it’s odd to see St. Martin on a building on the Partenkirchen side of the Partnach river.
Badgasse 14, the “Berwein-Schuhaus“.
The placard on the side of the building explains in both German and English the origin of the building and its original name, the “Zum Schöttlwastl” house — for the generations of tanners who lived here since at least 1671, and the last name of the man who married into the family in 1855, “Schöttl.”
The shoe business was founded in 1814 by Peter Paul Berwein, a tanner by profession. Now in its fifth generation, the father of the current owner was Bernhard Berwein (1903-1996). He was the inventor of the double-laced ski boot, which, at the time of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, all the ski greats — from Birger Ruud to Gustl Lantschner — used Berwein boots.2
Around the front door, the lüftlmalerei are an homage to the building’s history.
At the very top, a medallion with a small bear and grapevine, referencing “Berwein,” or “Bear-Wine”.
On the left, an image of the famous poet and shoemaker Hans Sachs.3
On the right, an allegory for the spirit of music.
Around the corner, a lüftlmalerei depicting the Virgin Mary with Jesus appearing to Saint Crispin, the patron saint of shoe makers.4
All of the lüftlmalerei were painted by Heinrich Bickel in 1947 and are listed as protected by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments.5
Set off from the street, a new lüftlmalerei at Badgasse 16a. A rhyming inscription painted in a cartouche medallion above the door says “This house is mine and not mine. Who comes after me, it is his house, too. And for the third it will be no different. Then I ask you, who really owns this house?”6“Dies ist mein Haus und doch nicht mein, beim nächsten wars nicht anders sein, den dritten trügl man auch haus, dann frag ich Dich wem gehört dies Haus?”[/efn-note]
On the side facing the Kankerbach stream, around the window, separate Bavarian scenes and the symbol for Partenkirchen, all painted by Sepp Guggemoos.
In the 2000s, Guggemoos renovated Heinrich Bickel’s mural at Ludwigstraße 53.
Bickel’s figures were clearly the inspiration for Guggemoos’s paintings on the corner of Badgasse 16a, as you can see in this photo from 1960 by August Beckert from the Bavarian State Archives online.
Badgasse 19, “Fiakerhof”.
Besides the window surrounds, a life-sized boy in lederhosen holds a sign above the door advertising the apartments there for rent.
At Badgasse 22, “Haus Lindebner,” you can see ornate lüftlmalerei surrounding half the buildings windows and doors.
Although the lüftlmalerei around the windows are plainer than the rest of the house, on the wall closest to the street, on the second floor between the windows, just above an icon of Saint Mary, you can see the original inscription stone from 1822.
The inscription stone and the latticed woodwork beneath the roof, the “bundwerk,” are both listed as protected by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments.
Bundwerk had its heyday between 1830 and 1860 when artists and woodcarvers, as well as carpenters, decorated the wood with paintings and carvings, often with mythical creatures or Christian symbols.
Badgasse 24.
Three saints above the windows on the second floor, all painted by Kajetan Garschhammer in 1934. In the center, St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. On the right, Saint Agnes.7
Just above the door and below the current house number, the original inscription stone for house “Zum Bummara“ from 1787, an item listed as protected by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments.
- 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. 34: "080 Badgasse 13 St. Martin R. Vieröther 1967".
- Kaiser, Wolfgang. "Olympia-Helden von 1936 mit Skischuhen ausgerüstet". Merkur.de, 2009-05-02: "Gegründet wurde das Geschäft von Peter Paul Berwein, der von Beruf Gerber war und den Hausnamen Schöttl trug. Dieser lernte das Schusterhandwerk, und da sein Sohn Sebastian hieß, lautete der Hausname an der Badgasse (früher Partenkirchen Hausnummer 108) fortan "Schöttl-Wastl". Der Vater des jetzigen Inhabers war Bernhard Berwein (1903 bis 1996) - die vierte Schuster-Generation. Er gilt als Erfinder und Patentinhaber des doppelgeschnürten Skischuhs, den die Firma Rieker industriell fertigte. Zu Zeiten der Winterspiele 1936 benützten alle Sportgrößen von Birger Ruud bis Gustl Lantschner Berwein-Skischuhe.
- 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. 36: "087 Badgasse 14 Zum Schöttl Wastl Schumachermeister und Musiker Bickel Hans Sachs Allegorie der Musik Der Senior erfand den doppelt geschnürten Schistiefel".
- Härtl, Rudolf. Heinrich Bickel - Der Freskenmaler von Werdenfels. Adam Verlag, 1990, p. 122: "A 120 Badgasse 14, Haus Berwein: St. Crispinus mit Madonna; Türumrahmung, Allegorische Figuren; nach 1945. (Abb. Seite 86)".
- "A 120 Badgasse 14, Haus Berwein: St. Crispinus mit Madonna; Türumrahmung, Allegorische Figuren; nach 1945. (Abb. Seite 86)".
Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Denkmalliste, Markt Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 11 November 2020, http://geodaten.bayern.de/denkmal_static_data/externe_denkmalliste/pdf/denkmalliste_merge_180117.pdf, p. 6: "D-1-80-117-9 Badgasse 14. Wohn- und Geschäftshaus, zweigeschossiger geschleppter Flachsatteldachbau mit reichem Zierbund, Anfang 18. Jh., Fassadenmalereien von Heinrich Bickel 1947."
- 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. 33: "076 Badgasse 24 077 Hl. Antonius 078 Hl. Agnes Kajetan Garschhammer 1934".