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Als der Baumeister Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel (1938–1915) in Bad Doberan tätig war und dort u. a. das Münster restaurierte, baute er sich in den Jahren 1886 bis 1888 im Klosterbezirk ein Wohnhaus. An dem Bau in neogotischer Backsteinarchitektur, der heute das Stadt- und Bädermuseum beherbergt, hat es mir vor allem die Inschrift an der Westseite angetan:
Der Eine betracht’s
Der Andre verlacht’s
Der Dritte veracht’s
Was macht’s
Mir gefällt diese Einstellung.
Anm.: Dies ist der 1000. Beitrag in diesem Weblog.
1000 posts! Congratulations on the significant milestone!
Congratulations on your thousandth post, Gunther. And heres’s to many more.
Google Translate turns the inscription to gibberish. I found a translation online:
The one’s contemplative.
The other laughs at it.
The third despises it.
What does it matter?
Is this a riddle whose solution I just cannot figure out?
I just answered my own question with the help of Google Books: it’s an inscription addressed to would-be critics of the architect’s work. „It“ is the building itself. I’m guessing that must be obvious to anyone familiar with traditions of German architecture.
Stephen and Michael, thank you for your congratulations!
Michael: Google Translate is correct with the second and third line. However, I’d translate the inscription as follows:
One looks at it [or: One observes it]
The other laughs at it
The third despises it
Who cares?
To me, it’s an expression of self-confidence and obstinacy, with the latter in the sense of resoluteness or self-will.
Michael, your second comment came in while I was typing mine. This interpretation is new to me but it sounds plausible. Unfortunately I am not too familiar with German architecture so I haven’t thought of „it“ as the building.
Thank you very much for your post „Lexikaliker at 1,000“ in your blog!
Gunther, I came up with almost the same translation. Your „Who cares“ is perfect. Now I want to know more about these inscriptions.
Michael, thank you for your research and for sharing your findings on your blog! I haven’t heard of this kind of dealing with architectural criticism in Germany before (and it even goes back to at least the 14th century). At first I have seen it only as an expression of the builder’s general attidude.