"The cathedral of work"

The "cathedral" was designed by Erich Mendelsohn. The son of a milliner from Allenstein (Olsztyn, north-east Poland) and a Jewish merchant, Mendelsohn was one of Germany's most important 20th century architects. Buildings designed by him can be found in Germany, the former Soviet Union, Norway, England, Israel and the USA. His début work was the Einstein Tower in Potsdam and he later designed the Schaubühne theatre on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin.

The list of buildings designed by Mendelsohn is long. However, he himself considered the Steinberg Herrmann & Co hat factory in Luckenwalde as one of his finest pieces of work. It was this building that enabled his breakthrough as a prominent architect of the modern age.

Soon after advent of National Socialist rule, the Jewish Herrmann family had to sell off its company shares. The hat factory was converted into an armaments factory and the hat was dismantled. The prestressed concrete structure of the production halls has survived, however and awaits a new use: a faithful copy of the legendary hat was re-constructed in 2007. Mendelsohn also designed a housing estate for workers in Luckenwalde.Thus, the MARKERS show us just how little about Luckenwalde is provincial. They tell us something about the remarkable achievements of the citizens of Luckenwalde and how close its connections with the capital Berlin and other metropolises and countries have always been. We would like to lead you to some of these points. The MAKER relating to Erich Mendelsohn is located at the square in front of the theatre (1) and this is where we begin our small excursions to the architecture of the 1920s.