Zum Jonas, Protected cultural heritage monument in Mitte, Bremen, Germany.
Zum Jonas is the three-storey gabled house at Am Markt 9, rebuilt in 1963 to plans by Bernhard Wessel for the Haake-Beck brewery after its predecessor was destroyed in the war. Its steep saddle roofs and grey Obernkirchen sandstone facade stand beside the Raths-Apotheke. The round-arched Renaissance portal with two female muse figures survives in its old position, and Paul Halbhuber's 1963 relief frieze shows food, drink, music and card games.
A plain three-storey gabled house was built here around 1600 in Renaissance style. Later known as the Kaune house after merchant C.H.F. Kaune, it housed Bremen's consumption tax chamber, which moved to the Neues Stadthaus in 1819. The upper floors were rebuilt in 1886; the building was destroyed in the Second World War, its ruin demolished in 1962, and the present structure built in 1963 to plans by Bernhard Wessel for the Haake-Beck brewery.
The name Zum Jonas comes from the weather vane on the gable: a rotating fish called Jonas above four gilded squares with anchor motifs, made by goldsmith Erika Albrecht to a design by Paul Halbhuber. It refers to the prophet Jonah swallowed by the great fish, read as a symbol of the dangers of seafaring. Today the building houses Beck's Bistro, whose rooms are named Kapitäns-, Raths- and Marktstube.
The building stands on the east side of the Bremer Marktplatz, with the Deutsches Haus (1951) on its right and the four-storey Raths-Apotheke (1958) on its left. It now houses Beck's Bistro, used as a restaurant and meeting venue, so the interior is seen by visiting during opening hours. The preserved Renaissance portal with its two muse figures remains at the original spot.
The rotating weather vane on the gable, a gilded fish called Jonas, was made by goldsmith Erika Albrecht from a design by sculptor Paul Halbhuber; the biblical prophet Jonah, swallowed by a great fish, gave the house its earlier name Zum Jonas. Halbhuber also created the 1963 relief frieze with dining, music and card-playing motifs and the bronze figure Der Trinker by the cellar entrance.
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