Black Forest building culture
The architecture in the 11,100-square-metre Black Forest holiday region is unique. Castles, fortresses, ruins, monuments, and towers are the stuff of another time. This goes back to the first settlement of the Black Forest by the Alemanni. The Romans also left their mark. The "Baukultur Schwarzwald" (Black Forest Building Culture) initiative demonstrates that modern buildings can also be part of tradition. Hosts and builders will find suggestions on how the needs of guests and regional building culture can be harmonised when building or renovating.
For centuries, the rural area in the German southwest is characterised by a unique architecture: the "Black Forest house". A typical feature of this type of construction is the hip or crippled-hip roof that extends down at the sides. This protects the house from the heat of summer whilst keeping it warm in winter when the sun is lower. Another characteristic of a Black Forest house is the tiled stove in the living room. In the back of the house were the stables, where the animals help to warm the house in winter. These are no longer found today.
The most famous
Black Forest house
In the TV series "Die Schwarzwaldklinik" (the Black Forest Clinic), Prof. Dr. Brinkmann's Black Forest home is featured often. The house was built in 1912 as the summer residence of Helene Siegfried, a Berlin singer born in Lörrach, and has been a museum for the Waldshut district since the owner’s death in 1966. Today, the local history museum "Hüsli" shows the way of life and rural culture typical of the Black Forest.
The house of “Professor Brinkmann” can be visited today. – © Hochschwarzwald Tourismus GmbH
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Architecture in the Black Forest
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