Time Travel Büderich

In December 1813, the medieval town of Büderich, located directly on the Rhine, was completely destroyed in a very short time due to military considerations. From 1815, about 1.5km upstream, Neu-Büderich was built as a planned town in the classicist style.

The site of the old town remains a deserted area to this day, i.e. the former town area is still undeveloped and is used as pasture instead. On aerial photographs and especially on so-called shading maps, however, the outlines and structure of the town can still be seen today.

The aim of the project "Time Travel Büderich" is the 3D reconstruction and visualisation of Old Büderich and New Büderich at different times. In this way, we want to give the vanished town a face again. We want to bring the extraordinary history of the place vividly to everyone who is interested.

Various ground plans and town views are available for the reconstruction of Old Büderich. In addition, existing medieval buildings in other Lower Rhine towns will be used for analogies.
 
For a reconstruction of "Neu-Büderich" in its original state, the source situation is of course much better. In addition to building fabric that is still preserved in many cases, there are still drafts by Otto von Gloeden, the land inspector responsible for the construction, a doctoral thesis that deals in detail with the reconstruction of Büderich, as well as numerous old photos that document the original classicist architectural style of the buildings.
 
In addition to the 3D reconstructions that have already been carried out and the development of the website, films are to be made that impressively portray the changes over time in a historical context. The main focus will be on the economic upswing up to the 16th century, the time of the Reformation and the religious wars as well as the time of the reorganisation of Europe in the 19th century.
Another thematic focus will be the special architecture of Neu-Büderich, which has a unique selling point in the Rhineland.

The resulting films will be shown at local public events on the one hand, and on the other hand they will be made available to a broad public via the internet.

The memorial to Alt-Büderich at the former centre of the town is to be supplemented by large-format display boards and offer visitors an idea of the history of the place.


The reconstructions have been successfully realised thanks to funding from the LVR, and the website accompanying the project, https://zeitreise-buederich.de/, is constantly being filled with further information. 
What is still missing is the filmic realisation and the planned large-format display boards.

For a successful implementation we still need own funds in the amount of 6000,- EUR.


We would like to thank all our supporters already now.