FEW visitors to central Germany would include Darmstadt as part of their itinerary. Just south of that gigantic beehive that is Frankfurt, and slightly off the majestic river Rhine, it is a place where one might easily miss an important chapter of European history of art, written here 100 years

Whenever I approach Darmstadt by train via the bleak industrial estates that surround it, I make every effort to spot the city's most famous landmark: the Wedding Tower, designed in 1905 by Art Nouveau architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, and clearly visible from a distance. Via a splendid Art Nouveau Hauptbahnhof (railway station) and a short bus ride, I will reach the tower soon after. Forty-eight metres of square brick with a few tiny windows and a green copper crown in the shape of five 'fingers' must surely have seemed somewhat 'novel' at that time! A kissing couple with angelic wings, inlaid in blue and gold mosaic above the entrance, indicates that this building is nothing other than the local Registrar's Office -- itself a successful marriage of function and beauty.

This is a concept that continues visibly throughout the surrounding area, named Mathildenhohe. Originally open parkland on top of a hill, it is covered in a neat array of ornate, almost dreamlike, yet strangely functional Art Nouveau architecture. Two sparkling white exhibition halls, a row of residential mansions in curved flowery ornate shapes, a Russian orthodox chapel with colourful mosaics, small filigree domes and gold plated turrets, a large fountain, sandstone sculptures and a square of plane trees all together look like something out of a fairy tale. It seems a haven of peace away from city life, a place to escape to.

In the summer of 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited seven carefully selected artists from all over Germany and Austria to Darmstadt, with the aim of starting an 'artists' colony' on top of the Mathildenhohe which he owned. The Grand Duke, an art lover and grandson of Queen Victoria, had spent much time in Britain where his taste had been profoundly influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. Now that he was in a position to promote art back home, it did not happen merely for art's sake: crafts and home furnishings were potentially big business at the time. A local presence of some of the best modem artists was expected to supply endless ideas, designs and models to Darmstadt craftsmen and manufacturers, thus boosting the local economy. Last but not least there were political motives: Hesse-Darmstadt had been an independent German state since 1866, a small enclave within the large Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau but with few political rights and, culturally, in the shadow of n earby Frankfurt. The Grand Duke saw culture as one of the few opportunities he had to express the individuality of a city then numbering only 30,000 inhabitants.

Today, an exhibition entitled 'The First Seven' on the Mathildenhohe commemorates the artists who took up work there on three-year salaried contracts precisely 100 years ago. They were Peter Behrens, a painter and interior designer; Rudolf Bosselt, a sculptor; Paul Burck, a graphic artist specialising in wallpapers and carpets; Hans Christiansen, also a graphic artist but specialising in stained glass and china; Ludwig Habich, another sculptor; Patriz Huber, an interior designer who also created jewellery; and last but not least Joseph Maria Olbrich, an architect. Except for Olbrich who had already achieved international fame through the 'Secession' building he had designed in his native Vienna, they were all fresh graduates in their early twenties -- raw talent waiting to flourish.

Their first exhibition as a group took place the following year: the Great Exhibition in Paris featured entire 'Darmstadt rooms' which were fully furnished and equipped, with every minute detail a work of art. Orders came flooding in from all over Europe: Darmstadt craftsmen and manufacturers were working overtime. In a newly industrialised world where mass-produced goods of ever diminishing quality were swamping the market, and where the new mobility of labour had left many people feeling uprooted, a new post-industrialist vision was emerging. People -- at least those who could afford it -- yearned to surround themselves with all things handmade, beautiful and aesthetic, and this was exactly where the concepts behind Art Nouveau caught on. No longer was art confined to the gallery; it had truly arrived in the home in order to permeate all aspects of everyday life. Whilst items such as china, cutlery, ceramics, glass and jewellery had to be practical and functional, their designs at the same time displayed h itherto unseen qualities: flowery patterns, curved shapes and images of dreaming women with long strands of curly hair all seemed to reflect people's desire for escape from the harsh and 'real' world and into more colourful, mystical realms. (In literature and painting the same ideas were expressed by the new style of symbolism.) The elaborate images of butterflies, beetles and dragonflies so often used to adorn Art Nouveau jewellery or vases reflected a 'back to nature' trend as well as pride in the progress of scientific research at the time. In the same manner, the use of cast iron and glass in architecture was inspired by progress in science and the building industry. All these elements made up a genuinely new -- hence the name -- uniform style, a refreshing change from the historism that had dominated the earlier part of the 19th century and had drawn most of its inspiration from the past.

On 15 May 1901, the seven artists opened their first joint exhibition on the Mathildenhohe, to huge public acclaim. The event marked the climax of German Art Nouveau, a style which had by now become dominant all over Europe. Thousands of visitors were roaming the newly-built exhibition hall aptly named Ernst Ludwig House, and eight purpose built, fully equipped Art Nouveau houses (later to be inhabited by the artists themselves). The masterplan and the exteriors of the houses had all been designed by Olbrich whereas the interiors were each the work of one artist. A new concept of quiet living away from the noisy, dirty city centre was being presented.

However, while the exhibition was still running and causing an international sensation, a crisis was looming behind the scenes. Due to financial miscalculation, the event was actually making a loss, and personality clashes between the artists started to give cause for concern. The colony was obviously different from other groups of artists in that it had not been formed voluntarily, like so many others during that period, but had been artificially created with members selected by merit. It was under the patronage and financial control of the Grand Duke at all times, and members had to create art by a pre-planned and timed schedule. Looking at it from this point of view, the ambitious project was destined to fail. Hence, whilst all of Ernst Ludwig's artistic and economic plans had been realised, his vision of a harmonic community of artists feeding off mutual inspiration had remained an illusion. Olbrich's work and personality clearly dominated the exhibition to the extent that the other artists, all of them strong individuals in their own right, saw no scope of advancing their own careers unless they stepped out of his shadow. Each of them had by now attracted enough individual publicity and sold enough designs to make it feasible for him to work independently. Consequently, as their contracts expired in 1902, everyone except Olbrich and Habich left Darmstadt and the colony for good. Huber committed suicide later the same year while the others each made more or less lucrative careers for themselves, mostly notably Behrens who moved on to industrial design and whose factory buildings, street lamps and railway station clocks still count amongst Germany's most attractive industrial architecture today. Gropius and Le Corbusier were among his students.

Back in Darmstadt, the Grand Duke immediately replaced the 'defectors' with new artists. Further exhibitions were staged, with similar success to the first one, in 1904, 1908 and 1914. The number of buildings on the Mathildenhohe he grew to include a theatre, restaurant, pub and bandstand, and in 1905 Olbrich started work on what was to become the dominant building. The Wedding Tower was meant as a gift to the Grand Duke on the occasion of his second marriage, to Princess Eleonore zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, in 1905, as well as being Olbrich's main project for the 1908 exhibition. Sadly, the architect never saw his masterpiece completed: Olbrich died of leukaemia in early 1908. Again, the colony continued with new artists (over 15 years, it had a total of 23 members) until the First World War put a stop to the activities -- and to Art Nouveau as a whole. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig lost his throne when Germany became a republic, but he continued to live in Darmstadt devoting his life to helping wounded veterans.

Looking at the Mathildenhohe today, it is hard to imagine that these splendid buildings have survived two world wars and 80 years of neglect. Darmstadt's city centre was razed to the ground by World War II bombs, and subsequently rebuilt in modem but soulless concrete. The Mathildenhohe, only a few hundred yards away, suffered comparatively little: only a couple of houses were lost and there was roof damage to the Wedding Tower and Ernst Ludwig House. In fact, the city council were eager to have the exhibition spaces open and running as soon as possible after the war to cater for a population starved of entertainment, as well as wishing to live up to the reputation Darmstadt had by now built for important exhibitions. Unfortunately, this resulted in the buildings being patched up with total disrespect for their original style. It was certainly difficult to procure the necessary building materials in the immediate post-war period: copper needed to restore the five fingers of the Wedding Tower was not availabl e until 1952. But then again, public opinion attached little value to architectural heritage. In an attempt to put the war and everything associated with the past behind them, 1950s Germans had become obsessed with throwing out any surviving pre-war items. After all one could now afford to buy new things, and Art Nouveau -- by these standards -- was hardly good enough for the flea market. Had it all been just a fashion craze, a passing fancy rather than a unique style? (As I write this, my mother is vividly describing an Art Nouveau cupboard she inherited and duly sold off for peanuts. What might its value be today, she wonders.)

As one might expect, the obligatory 50th anniversary celebrations in Darmstadt were sparsely attended. Maybe, as with all styles that have outlived their first brief period of popularity, it takes a certain amount of time for public taste to readjust and start to appreciate the real artistic value of the old in comparison to the new. It was not until the 1960s that Art Nouveau first came back into its own as one of the major influences on psychedelic art. This was art created by a generation that perhaps shared some of the 1980s' ideas about escapism and the search for a beautiful, colourful 'other' world created through art.

A 75th anniversary exhibition held in Darmstadt in 1976 finally marked a turning point in public taste. Post-war restorations, which were still ongoing, would from then on have a revised angle -- the idea was not just to enlarge, modernise and commercialise but to restore the buildings in a historic sense. What were once artists' homes now contain offices, flats and the headquarters of the German Arts Council. Work on the Mathildenhohe, which included re-landscaping the open spaces, was finally completed in 1992 at a total cost of DM 30 million ([pound]10 million approx.). Just in time for the centenary celebrations starting in 1994 with an Arts & Crafts exhibition. It was exactly 100 years since Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig had staged the first such exhibition.

To gear up for the big year 1999, Darmstadt city council started a programme of continuous investment into culture and the arts: a new cinema, an arts centre, a large concert hall, a fringe theatre and a house of literature were opened in 1997/98 alone. While everywhere else spending cuts are now the order of the day, Darmstadt has an annual arts budget of DM 58.3 million, due to increase further. The German Arts Council, the German Academy of Language and Poetry as well as the famous Summer School for New Music are all located (and financed) in Darmstadt, and a number of literary prizes regularly awarded here have turned the city into a national centre of literature. Needless to say, its events and institutions have brought Darmstadt -- currently numbering 139,000 inhabitants -- enormous national publicity and have confirmed its status as Germany's no. 1 'City of Culture and Science'. People enjoy living here and have come to consider theatre evenings or attending a poetry reading not as luxury but as part of everyday life -- which again comes close to the original idea of Art Nouveau. And, of course, it promotes the local economy just as it did then.

The centenary mania, climaxed in a four-day 'Open Air Festival of Life and Art' in June when 50,000 visitors attended theatre, dance, music and literary events. Throughout 1999 there were exhibitions on different aspects of Art Nouveau. The most interesting one was probably Interventions, a project by which seven contemporary artists were invited to place their work around the Mathildenhohe, to integrate old and new in this historic location. The most striking sculpture -- a large bronze figure of a man walking on the roof of Ernst Ludwig House -- was left in place at the end of the exhibition to symbolise a 'wanderer from past to present'. Finally, on the auspicious date of 9 September 1999, 23 couples were married in the Wedding Tower -- this number representing only the fraction of applicants that could be accommodated. Restoration work on the railway station, built in 1912, is still ongoing. Among the public spaces already completed is what must be the world's only Art Nouveau McDonald's, elegantly combi ning the rich and beautiful with the profane and tasteless. The 'First Seven' would have loved it.

Martina Weyreter teaches English as a foreign language.