Feierlich/Festlich

This chapter in the copious exhibition catalogue on the German architect Heinrich Tessenow considers the pairing festlich/feierlich (festival/ceremonial, roughly) evident in his work, establishing a link to the nineteenth-century architect/theorist Gottfried Semper. In so doing, it considers a rarely discussed aspect of his work, the temporary building, the chief examples being the exhibition buildings and interiors designed for the city of Dresden in the 1920s. The chapter adds to the scholarship on Tessenow, the fruits of which can be seen in the extensive catalogue and in the exhibition itself (initially in Mendrisio, latterly Dresden).