Kaufhaus Reichenbach — project film v2.3
Audio-described transcript · approximately 90 seconds · September 2026

[0:00–0:05. A historical night photograph shows the illuminated shopfront of Kaufhaus Reichenbach at Martiniplan 10. Quiet strings begin.]
NARRATOR: The store is gone. The evidence is not.

[0:05–0:08. The photograph dissolves into the updated three-dimensional reconstruction of the connected buildings. A taller pitched roof rises above the left range; a lower roof covers the right range. The facade has continuous cornices, tall shop windows and a recessed entrance. Labels identify a working research model and provisional proportions and colors.]
NARRATOR: J. Reichenbach was a Jewish family firm, founded in Halberstadt in 1843.

[0:08–0:17. A 1925 museum photograph shows the long street frontage. A labelled family photograph of Paul Reichenbach follows.]
NARRATOR: Paul Reichenbach's 1913 rebuilding joined Hoher Weg 27 and Martiniplan 10 into one department store.

[0:17–0:32. A historical street photograph looks along Hoher Weg toward Martiniplan.]
NARRATOR: Under Nazi rule, the firm was removed from my family's control. The building did not survive the April 1945 bombing that destroyed much of Halberstadt.

[0:32–0:43. A slow push toward the corrected, textured exterior emphasizes the two joined street fronts. It remains labelled as an interpretive reconstruction.]
NARRATOR: What survived in my family were fragments. The model lets those fragments become a place again. Today, my great-grandfather's store is being reassembled from the evidence.

[0:43–0:51. The view enters the reconstructed wooden staircase entrance at Hoher Weg. The broad stairs rise on the left. Beside them, a bearded figure with a broad hat and banner stands on a paneled wooden pedestal. Columns, counters and shelves of folded cloth extend into the hall. A clock and ornamental railing mark the gallery above. The camera advances gently.]
[0:51–0:55. A closer view shows the statue, stair and gallery. The figure is a photographic relief derived from genuine historical reproduction AIF-21; the screen label says its unseen sides and depth remain provisional.]
[0:55–1:02. An elevated view of the updated model uses an evidence-status overlay. Green means documented or functional, blue source-constrained, amber interpreted, and red unresolved. The colors express status rather than historic finishes.]
NARRATOR: This is a working, evidence-led 3D research model. It reconstructs the street fronts, the recessed entrance, the light court and curved stair. Where the record ends, the model says so: documented and interpreted geometry remain distinct.

[1:02–1:10. Four text cards are each headed PROPOSED — NOT BUILT: Browser walkthrough; Gallery kiosk; AR street overlay; Classroom modules.]
NARRATOR: With professional review, it could support public interpretation, teaching, and an accessible digital experience.

[1:10–1:20. A higher view of the wooden entrance shows the gallery's scroll railing, shield and clock. The wider entrance view returns, showing the staircase, statue and long aisle. The film labels exact colors and finishes as interpreted.]
NARRATOR: Our first ask is simple: help us bring historians, museums, archives and digital-heritage partners into a Phase 0 review.

[1:20–1:27. The updated exterior is dimmed behind an invitation: Help us make a lost place explorable. Keep the evidence visible. Discuss support, expertise or introductions — contact@reichenbacharchive.org — reichenbacharchive.org/commerce/reconstruction.]
NARRATOR: Help us make a lost place explorable — and keep the evidence visible.

[1:27–1:30. Credits identify the reconstruction, historical sources and licensed music. The image fades and the music resolves.]

Sources, method and credits

The film is an interpretive working research reconstruction, plausible and proportional, not surveyed or metrically verified. Exterior photographs constrain the visible facade; the genuine AIF-21 entrance reproduction controls the wooden stair, statue and gallery details. AIF-21 is associated in the archive with Monika Lüdemann's 2004 study and Stadtarchiv Halberstadt building files 2/2485 and 2/2486. Unseen geometry and exact historic colors remain provisional. The statue is a photo-textured relief, not a recovered full-round sculpture. Independent professional review remains a project objective.

Historical photographs: Städtisches Museum Halberstadt — AH F 05499c (Werner Hartmann), AH F DS 0099 (Sammlung Werner Hartmann) — and Reichenbach Family Archive. Appearance does not imply institutional endorsement. Source-linked access is not a general reuse license.

Music: “Remembrance,” Jeffrey Ryan Smoots (BMI), Pond5 item 69887479, licensed under transaction 9943573. The approved v2.2 narration and music mix are retained; the MP4's audio stream is copied unchanged. Narration: Dolph voice, ElevenLabs Eleven v3.

© 2026 Reichenbach Family Archive · contact@reichenbacharchive.org
https://www.reichenbacharchive.org/commerce/reconstruction