Hotel “Zur Traube”
Vorstadt
The baroque Kirchheimbolanden suburb extended from the Vorstadt Tower [Location 01] to today’s Edenborner Street. In the 18th century, this area was primarily home to craftsmen such as potters, saddlers, carpenters, shoemakers, rope makers, and plumbers, residing in continuous rows of two-story houses. There were also service businesses, especially bakers, grocers, and butchers, and four inns.
In the subsequent 19th century, the situation changed only slowly, but then rapidly in the 20th century. Today, the Vorstadt is characterized by a structurally and functionally typical pedestrian zone, reflecting a medium-sized commercial center with a trend towards the service sector.
This structural transformation primarily took place in the 1960s/70s. During this time, the “Hotel zur Traube” was also converted into a commercial building. Its brick facade, which had previously stood out in the streetscape, dated back to 1895.
In the early 19th century, there was an inn here with old chestnut trees, where Ludwig Uhland stopped with two travel companions in May 1803, “just as the innkeeper Miesel’s beautiful sister had passed away.”
Did that inspire the then 16-year-old Uhland to write his later much-praised Rhine poem?
Three lads journeyed well over the Rhine,
at an innkeeper’s, they stopped.
“Mistress Innkeeper, do you have good beer and wine?
Where is your beautiful little daughter?”
“My beer and wine are fresh and clear,
my little daughter lies on the bier.”
And as they stepped into the chamber,
there she lay in a black coffin.
The first, he drew back the veil
and looked at her with a sorrowful gaze:
“Ah, if you were still alive, fair maiden!
I would love you from this moment on.”
The second covered the veil again
and turned away and wept:
“Ah, that you lie on the bier!
I have loved you for so many years.”
The third lifted it again at once
and kissed her pale mouth:
“I always loved you, I still love you today
and I will love you for eternity.”
“Three Lads Journeyed Well over the Rhine”
Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), a poet and literary scholar born in Tübingen, created an extensive body of poetic and scholarly work. A first edition of his poems was published in 1815. He thus became one of the main representatives of younger Romanticism.
A prime example is the poem “Three lads journeyed well over the Rhine.” Composed in five stanzas, each with four four-beat rhyming lines, it fully corresponds to the folk song form, which is why it was also set to music by Friedrich Silcher (1796-1860) and Johann Gottfried Loewe (1796-1869). Its dissemination was significantly promoted by its inclusion in the “Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch” (a collection of student songs). Its eventual popularization was primarily due to the emerging Rhine tourism boom in the 19th century.
Three lads journeyed well over the Rhine
German folk song sung by Hermann Prey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPPC2Q565Ds
Duration: 3.01 minutes
Additionally, series of photo postcards published around 1900 contributed to its further dissemination.
