THE ART PROJECT STADTZEIT – ZEITSTADT!

An art tour.

Have you ever noticed the colorful plaques on some buildings while walking through the old town? And have you ever wondered what meaning these plaques might have? Come with us on a little art tour.
These plaques are part of a Regensburg art project that was realized in 1995 by the painter and graphic artist Maria Maier under the name “Stadtzeit – Zeitstadt” to mark the anniversary of “750 years of imperial freedom of the city of Regensburg”. The signs refer to the architectural history of the city and depict the ground plan of selected buildings and places in the form of pictograms. The floor plans are viewed from a bird’s eye perspective.

A journey of discovery through times gone by.

A total of 76 plaques can be found in the city center, covering the following ten topics: Churches, patrician houses, palaces, gates, museums, new buildings, squares, parks and the Old and New Town Halls. On the right-hand side of each panel is the floor plan of the place where you are currently standing. On the left-hand side of the panel you will then find all the floor plans of the respective group. For example, if you are standing in front of the Emmeramer Tor, its floor plan is shown on one side and on the second panel on the left you can see all four city gates, namely the Emmeramer, Brück, Jakobs and Ostentor gates.

Incidentally, most of the illustrations show nine ground plans, as in the photo below. However, there are other exceptions: the two town halls are highlighted with individual panels and due to the large number of churches in Regensburg, the corresponding panels even show 16 places of worship (Old Chapel, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Dominican Church, Holy Trinity Church, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Carmelite Church, Neupfarrkirche, Niedermünsterkirche, St. Ägid, St. Emmeram, St. Jakob, St. Johann, St. Kassian, St. Leonhard, St. Oswald, St. Ulrich).

A common thread through built history.

In her work, artist Maria Maier explores the changes to the city of Regensburg in space and time, getting to the bottom of them, so to speak. The artist Maria Maier has placed the ground plans of Regensburg’s buildings, squares and parks in a square grid in relation to each other and symbolized similarities through the centuries in colors.
The colors also have a meaning: the patrician houses are blue on an orange background and thus point to distance and trade. The red-green combination in the parks has a critical component for the artist Maria Maier: she includes red as a threat to the green due to environmental pollution.

Incidentally, the project was originally presented in 1995 with a screen print edition in the Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie before the 76 weatherproof art panels were installed throughout the old town. The art project was planned on two tracks from the outset: the installation in the old town and a screen print edition. The portfolio consists of 10 color screen prints with serially arranged floor plans.

Time stored in stone.

In her project description, Maria Maier formulates her artistic idea as follows: “The use of floor plans is intended to metaphorically indicate that the examination does not want to content itself with a superficial perception of the city of Regensburg, but wants to ‘get to the bottom of it’.” For those of you who would also like to get to the bottom of the city of Regensburg, we warmly recommend a tour of the city on the trail of this art project. In addition to the art panels, you will find information panels at many of the historical buildings and places, explaining the background and history. You don’t have to visit all 76 panels at once. Why not start with the group of patrician houses? Then the parks, the gates, etc.

We find this public art project very exciting and can only recommend this journey of discovery!

Here is an overview for you:

Old town hall (black-red)
Churches (blue-yellow): Old Chapel, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Dominican Church, Trinity Church, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Carmelite Church, Neupfarr Church, Niedermünster Church, St. Ägid, St. Emmeram, St. Jakob, St. Johann, St. Kassian, St. Leonhard, St. Oswald, St. Ulrich Patrician houses (blue-orange): Runtingerhaus, Gravenreuther-Haus, Goliathhaus, Arch, Zanthaus, Heuport, Kastenmayerhaus, Goldenes Kreuz, Neue Waag Palais (orange-green): Löschenkohlpalais, Lauser-Villa, Dahlberg-Residenz, Erbprinzen-Palais, Dörnberg-Palais, Rosenwirtsgarten, Präsidial-Gebäude, Würtembergisches Palais, Regierungsgebäude Gates (red-blue): Emmeramer Tor, Brücktor, Jakobstor, Ostentor Museums (red-yellow): Natural History Museum, Leerer Beutel Municipal Gallery, East German Gallery, Kepler Memorial House, Thurn und Taxis Princely Museums, Reichstag Museum, Museum of the City of Regensburg on Dachauplatz, Cathedral Treasury Museum, Obermünster Diocesan Museum New buildings (blue-yellow): Haus an der Eisernen Brücke, Friedensstraße hotel complex, HUK-Coburg, railroad post office, employment office, Castra-Regina-Center, Zitzelsberger office building, Hypo-Bank, Alfons-Auer-Straße residential and commercial building Squares (red-blue-yellow): Arnulfsplatz, Haidplatz, Alter Kornmarkt, Emmeramsplatz, Domplatz, Neupfarrplatz, Bismarckplatz, Dachauplatz, Ägidienplatz Parks (green-red): Herzogspark, Fürst-Anselm-Allee, Villapark, Ostenallee, Schlosspark, Dörnbergpark, Stadtpark, Bahnhofs-Anlagen, Prebrunnallee New Town Hall (red-black)

You can find all buildings and locations including a city map here:
City-Time-Town brochure
Have fun discovering!