Treasure chest city archive reopened for visitors and users

Representatives of the media are cordially invited once again to the celebratory event at 4 p.m. in the City Archive (Aue 16, near Falkeplatz) (PM 4 from 3 January 2013). The Chemnitz City Archive will reopen regularly for visitors and users tomorrow, Tuesday.

Precious donations

In 2012, the Chemnitz City Archives received significant donations from private individuals and associations, adding valuable items to the official records of the city's history. These include the founding charter of the "Brautsuppengesellschaft" from 1685, which Ingo Esche - a descendant of the well-known Chemnitz industrialist family - officially handed over from the family estate to the Chemnitz City Archive today at the festive event. Regina Primus-Hempel donated the photo archive of her late husband Horst Hempel, who was the owner of the well-known photo shop "Lichtbild Hempel", and will also present the donation in person today and talk about her relationship with the city archive. Among the most valuable additions to the picture archive in 2012 are photos of the start of the demonstration at the Luxor Palace on 7 October 1989, which Peter Forkel took at the time. The diary of a Chemnitz soldier from the 1870/1871 war was also acquired from a private collection. An equally important addition is the handover of several years of the "Wochenblatt von Reichenbrand und Umgebung" by the Heimatverein Reichenbrand.

Extensive digitisation work

Extensive measures to preserve archival records, such as filming, digitisation, conservation and restoration, play a major role in the day-to-day running of the archive and were also the focus of work in 2012. For example, the digitisation and filming of the city archive's entire collection of documents was completed. Original photos of public buildings and streets from around 1900, after 1945 and from the GDR era were also filmed and digitised, as well as photos taken by photojournalist Rudi Seidel after 1945. One particularly valuable individual item restored was the revenue manual from 1426 and construction files of the oldest buildings from around 1820 onwards that no longer exist in the cityscape today.

City archive as a specialised service

The preservation and development of historical records is not an end in itself. The city archive fulfils its obligation to be a specialist service centre for questions of the city's history in a variety of ways. This is served in particular by academic publications, including the in-house series "Aus dem Stadtarchiv Chemnitz" (From the Chemnitz City Archive) - 11 volumes have been published since 1994 - and lectures, also in an in-house series, which was continued in "alternative quarters" even during the closure of the building.

The city archive is also valued as a partner of scientific and cultural institutions: Thomas Bauer-Friedrich, curator of the Gunzenhauser Museum, will speak at the celebratory event about the cooperation between the two institutions, including in the preparation of the Dix exhibition, Prof. Dr Werner Kaden will talk about the series "Mitteilungen des Chemnitzer Geschichtsvereins", published jointly with the Geschichtsverein, and the Vice-Rector of the TU, Prof. Dr Christoph Fasbender, will talk about further research projects. The focus will therefore also be on preparations for the 875th anniversary of the first documentary mention of Chemnitz in 2018.

Construction and installation work realised in the city archive in 2012

The reason for the three-quarter closure of the Chemnitz City Archive at Aue 16 was necessary construction and installation work. As a result of the harsh and snowy winter of 2010/2011, combined with ice and moisture penetrating the building, extensive moisture damage had occurred in the storeroom of the historic building as well as in the offices on the 3rd floor. In order to protect the "memory of the city" quickly and effectively, the necessary work including damage assessment, moisture measurements and determination of the degree of salinisation was planned, prepared and commissioned.

This necessitated the closure of the building to public visitors and users, which was followed by extensive work to dismantle parts of the shelving, remove the valuable archive material and clear the offices. The roof was professionally inspected for leaks, a dust protection wall made of hardboard was installed and a temporary access door was fitted. The plaster was then stripped from the entire exterior wall of the storage room and the offices and, after the wall plaster had been completely removed, moisture measurements were carried out again to reassess the damage and the duration of the drying process was determined based on the measurement data. After the drying period, the plastering work was carried out on the outer wall of the storeroom and offices, the dust protection wall was removed again and painting and cleaning work was carried out in the storeroom and offices. Finally, the archive room was ready to be cleared - a great day for the archive staff.
The costs for the structural work totalled just under €26,000.

In the course of the work, which required an extensive period of time, urgently needed installations for new lighting technology were also carried out in the city archive in March 2012 in line with preventive fire protection requirements. The costs for this totalled just under € 4,100. The construction work in Haus Aue 16 was also used - also in March 2012 - to realise the necessary installations for the implementation of the printer concept introduced in the city administration throughout the city archive. The costs for this totalled just under € 2,000.
In addition, the necessary closure period of the city archive was also used to replace the fire alarm system in the entire Aue 16 building. This work was completed at a total cost of around € 14,000.

In total, the city invested around €46,000 in the measures realised in the city archive last year.

The following companies were involved in the work: Innen- und Außensanierung GmbH for the plastering work, Dach GmbH Wolfgang Kunze for the chimney inspection, Malerfachbetrieb Seifert for painting work and flooring, Fa. Wackler Service Group GmbH for the building cleaning, Ingenieurbüro Wolfram Knobel for the building diagnosis, Elektro-Bach for the renewal of the lighting and work to implement the printing concept, Handwerkerhof for the inspection of the electrical systems, Fa. Reißwolf for the removal of the files, Ahlbrandt technische Anlagen GmbH for the replacement of the detectors.

Note for editorial offices: The press office will publish a separate press release on the lecture programme "The city archive invites you", which will also take place in 2013. This year's first public lecture will take place on Wednesday, 16 January at 6 pm in the city archive: In the year of Richard Wagner's 200th birthday, the topic will be the famous composer's connection to Chemnitz and the search for traces of it.