July 8, Wednesday
After our included breakfast at the Pension Bohmer, we aimed straight for the Herderkirche (or Church of St. Peter and St. Paul). Our special interest here was the altar painting started by Lucas Cranach the Elder and finished by his son.
One pastor recently wrote: “To this day, the painting that stands over the altar at the St. Peter and Paul Church in Weimar, Germany, glows with a radiance that takes the viewer’s breath away. It is the most remarkable example of the uniquely Lutheran use of altar paintings to confess the Gospel rediscovery in the Sixteenth Century Reformation.”
Luther was also featured here in three paintings, from left to right, monk, preacher and Junker George. These paintings were located on the left front of the church by the altar.
A brief walk from the church led us to the Markplatz. A statue of Jupiter stands in front of the Rathaus. Among the old houses around the Marktplatz is the Lucas Cranach House.
Cranach House in Weimar (right) where he spent the last years of his life. Behind the Cranach House was the Grunes Schloss (Green Castle), which was the residence of Anna Amalia, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The courtly book collection was moved by her into this library. It was Anna Amalia that made Weimar into a great center of literary activity during Goethe’s early years.
We approached the Goethehaus (yellow) from the back, which enabled us to get a good look at the garden. From here we went around to the front of the baroque house. This was the home of Goethe from 1782 until his death in 1832.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in Western culture Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, philosophy, theology and science. His magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature is the two-part drama Faust.
Across the street, in the Frauenplan, were a fountain and a rather modern sculpture of a man with only his upper body and legs above ground.
Around the corner from the Goethehaus, on a tree shaded square, is Schiller’s yellow house with green shutters. Schiller lived here three years until his death in 1805. Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics , and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.
Statues of the two famous poets stand before the National Theatre on Theatreplatz. Goethe has a patronizing hand on the younger Schiller.
Only 3 miles northeast of Weimar was the infamous Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Buchenwald was established on the Ettersberg (Etter Mountain) in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil. Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia---- Jews, non-Jewish, Poles, and Slovenes, religious and political prisoners, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah Witnesses, criminals, homosexuals, and prisoners of war— worked primarily as forced labor in local armament factories. An electrified barbed-wire fence, watchtowers, and a chain of sentries outfitted with automatic machine guns, surrounded the main camp.
Entrance
Buchenwald's main gate, with the slogan Jedem das Seine (literally, "to each his own," but figuratively "everyone gets what he deserves").
Prisoners at Buchenwald. Periodically, the SS staff conducted selections throughout the Buchenwald camp system and dispatched those too weak or disabled to work to so-called euthanasia facilities such as Bernburg, where euthanasia operatives gas them as part of Operation 14f13, the extension of euthanasia killing operations to ill and exhausted concentration camp prisoners.
Former SS administration building
Beginning in 1941, a number of physicians and scientists carried out a varied program of medical experimentation on prisoners at Buchenwald in special barracks in the northern part of the main camp. Medical experiments aimed at testing the efficacy of vaccines and treatments against contagious diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera, and diphtheria resulted in hundreds of deaths.
The storehouse building at the concentration camp was turned into a museum about the history and conditions at the camp. Silverware taken from incoming prisoners was found in the storeroom. Mostly, the museum displays feature artifacts recovered from the camp, such as dishes used by the SS guards, combs, shoes, cigarette boxes, gray enameled soup bowls, carved wooden chess sets and a reconstructed whipping block used for prisoner punishment. We saw many photographs of inmates, their children, captured SS guards, and the “bitch of Buchenwald” (Ilse Koch).
There was only one standing barracks, but many foundations of where barracks had stood have been preserved.
By the time we finished looking at memorials, darkness was approaching. We left the camp in search of a pension. Our first choice was Pension Kux, but again they had no opening. We settled for Pension Zur Sonne -- a combination pension, cafe, beer garden and chicken farm. The DM 70 price seemed reasonable. The owner did not speak English, but she communicated in a unique way that she had fresh eggs for breakfast.
In the morning we drove to Dresden on the Autobahn. We made very good time. Dresden, the capital of Saxony, is also known as the “Florence on the Elbe.”
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British RAF and the United States AAF as part of raids between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in WW II. In four raids, 1,300 bombers dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city, the Baroque capital of the German State of Saxony.
The resulting firestorm destroyed 15 sq. mi. of the city centre. It has been argued that Dresden was a cultural landmark that had little or no military significance. Even Winston Churchill denounced the raid when he was told it had psychological value for ending the war.
Most of our time in Dresden was concentrated in the Altstadt which was undergoing massive reconstruction (90% of the central city had been destroyed by bombing).
Our walking tour started with the Frauenkirche, the Lutheran Cathedral.
There really wasn’t much standing. Blocks of rubble surrounded the zone with numbers painted on them. It didn’t look like there was much to put together.
A little further to Terrassengass and then a view across the river to the Japanese Palace. Started in 1714 and enlarged in 1723-33 in the late Baroque-Classicistic style, this four-winged building was originally intended to accommodate the porcelain collection of Augustus the Strong.
Augustusbrücke, or Augustus Bridge, spans the River Elbe in Dresden, linking the old and new parts of the city. Like most of Dresden, the bridge was destroyed in World War II, but later restored to its original splendor.
On our side of the bridge was the Catholic Cathedral. In 1697 Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony, converted to catholicism so he could become King of Poland. When the Protestant city of Dresden built the Frauenkirche in 1743, Augustus the Strong's son Augustus III decided a catholic church was needed to counterbalance the Protestant church. In secrecy plans for the largest church in Saxony were made by the Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri. Known as Hofkirche (Church of the Court), the new Catholic church was built between 1738 and 1751 in high baroque style. The monumental, oval shaped Hofkirche features a 272 ft high belfry. The church is framed with balustrades from which 78 statues of historical and biblical figures look out over the city. All of these statues are almost 10 ft tall.
The Bruhl Terrace was originally part of ramparts built to protect the city. Between 1739 and 1748 count Henrich von Brühl, a powerful minister under King Augustus the Strong, transformed the ramparts into a terraced garden for his palace.
The Bruhl Terrace runs in front of the Standehaus. The Standehaus has had many functions, it started as the State Parliament for Saxony. It was destroyed in the 1945 bombing and since has been reconstructed.
We now turned our attention to the buildings on the other side of the Catholic Cathedral. The Zwinger (on the left in picture) is a palace in Dresden and a major landmark of German baroque architecture. It was built for George the Bearded as part of the Dresden fortress of which the outer wall is conserved. The name derives from the German word Zwinger (outer ward of a concentric circle); it was for the cannons that were placed between the outer wall and the major wall. The Zwinger was not enclosed until the neoclassical building called the Semper wing was built to host the art gallery.
We drove out to Am Hellerhoff Pension that had been recommended by Professor Koelpin. We loved the place and friendly owners.
After freshening up we returned to the city center for more sightseeing. We started off by heading to the riverboat landing. Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt owns the oldest and largest paddle-steamer fleet in the world. Gliding up the Elbe River in a historic paddle steamer has to be one of the most pleasant ways to experience the Elbe River and discover the sights of Saxony.
One of the captains really looked the part with his nautical cap and worn out pipe.
Our river boat was called the Leipzig and was built in 1929.
We spent considerable time walking the deck and observing the shoreline.
Albrecht Castle: The Prussian garden architect Eduard Neide drew up the plans for the castle grounds and the court gardener Herrmann Sigismund Neumann carried them out. After the death of Prince Albrecht in 1872, their youngest son Frederick remained at the castle until his death in 1914. His brother subsequently took up residency in the castle. In 1925 he sold the castle and estate to the city of Dresden due to his gambling debts. Today it is used for a multitude of events; the whole castle as well as individual rooms can be rented for all sorts of occasions.
The adjacent Lingner Castle was built between 1850 and 1853 for Baron Von Stockhausen, Chamberlain of Prince Albrecht of Prussia. The Prince himself stayed here until his own castle was finished in 1854.
The third castle is the Eckberg Castle, a Tudor style building constructed between 1859 and 1861. It was designed by Christian Friedrich Arnold, a student of Gottfried Semper. The castle is now operated as a luxury hotel.
When we reached the Blue Wonder Bridge, we had to lower the smoke stack so we could go under it. After a two year construction time, the bridge was completed in 1893 at a cost of 2.25 million Goldmarks and named König-Albert-Brücke in honor of King Albert of Saxony. In the 19th century it was a masterpiece of technology to build a bridge of this length without river piers supporting it. Today its technology is less of a wonder but it is a much-loved symbol of the city. The "blue" in the name comes from the color of the bridge framework.
Had we kept on going we would eventually have reached the Czech Republic. Our final destination, though, was the Schloss Pillnitz.
And then it was time for the return boat trip to Dresden. We drove back to our lovely pension. Our friendly host recommended a good restaurant place nearby that served nice cold Radeberger Pils.
July 10, Friday
After a nice European breakfast at the Pension Am Hellerhof we took time for a visit with our German host who tried to teach us a little German. Then we embarked for the Sempergalearie to view art work.
Rembrandt - Ganymede
Rafael - Sistine Madonna
Johannes Vermeer “Girl reading a Letter at an Open Window”, c. 1659
Peter Paul Rubens “Hercules Drunk, Being Led Away By a Nymph and a Satyr”
It was difficult to leave this museum, but we had our agenda. As we were leaving the classical district of Dresden we stopped for a traffic light. I used my camcorder to take a shot of a gilded statue of August the Strong. Augustus II was called "the Strong" for his bear-like physical strength and for his numerous offspring (only one of them his legitimate child and heir). August was 5’ 9½” tall, above average height for that time, but despite his extraordinary physical strength he did not look big. In his final years he suffered from diabetes and became obese, at his death weighing some 242 lb. August II's body was interred in Poland — all but his heart, which rests at Dresden's Catholic Hofkirche.
Our lesson plan for the afternoon included a 14 mile drive northwest of Dresden to Meissen, “the city of porcelain.” We drove along the river for a scenic route. Meissen is located on the upper left of the map. Meissen porcelain is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed around 1708. The production of porcelain at Meissen, near Dresden, started in 1710 and attracted artists and artisans to establish one of the most famous porcelain manufacturers, still in business today as Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH.
We started off our tour by watching skilled workers in various stages of their work
Once outside, we did a little shopping. We were looking for handcrafted German mugs for our son-in-law. There weren’t many but ewe found some to our liking. The one on the right is one that we kept for ourselves. It now sets on a shelf in our computer room with other stuff we have collected on our travels.
“White Gold” from Meissen is legendary. It is now returning to the place where everything began. For more than 150 years, Albrechtsburg Castle was certainly the most unusual domicile for the first porcelain manufactory of Europe. Its late-Gothic walls provided both protection for the arcanum and space for the laborious manufacturing process The adjacent Gothic cathedral was the episcopal see established by Emperor Otto I in 968. The present-day church was built between 1260 and 1410, the interior features Gothic sculptures of founder Emperor Otto and his wife as well as paintings from the studio of Lucas Cranach the Elder.
July 11, Saturday
We headed east on the autobahn, exiting on the way to see the Exhibition Pavilion and Memorial for the Battle of Nations.
Here is where the Prussian forces defeated Napoleon at Leipzig in 1813. Cards at the gift shop depicted a dejected and defeated Napoleon with the Monument in the background.
Following Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia and his defeats in the Peninsular War, the anti-French forces had cautiously regrouped as the Sixth Coalition, comprising Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Britain, Spain, Portugal and certain smaller German states. In total, the Coalition could put into the field well over a million troops—indeed by the time of Leipzig, total Allied armies east of the Rhine probably exceeded a million. By contrast Napoleon's forces had shrunk to just a few hundred thousand.
The Monument commemorates Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig. This was a crucial step towards the end of hostilities, which was, in essence, a victory for the German people. Additionally, it mourns the dead from all the nations involved, not only the German soldiers. Casualties on both sides were astoundingly high; estimates range from 80,000 to 110,000.
From here we drove to the city Centrum. The historic part of the city was conveniently made into a walking mall. We parked our rental car by a beautiful fountain on Augustusplatz. Augustusplatz occupies an important spot in the heart of the city centre. Named after the Saxon King August, the square was, until recently, known as Karl-Marx-Platz in honor of East Germany's political philosopher. Most of the city's cultural institutions can be found here, including the Gewandhaus, the Museum der bildenden Kunste and several university faculties.
The University of Leipzig Library. During the Communist era the University was called Karl Marx Socialistic University.
As early as the spring of 1517 Eck (right) had entered into friendly relations with Martin Luther, who had regarded him as in harmony with his own views, but this illusion was short-lived. The Leipzig Disputation with Luther and Johann Eck took place in 1519. Luther, who, as Eck himself confessed, was his superior in memory, acumen, and learning. After a disputation on the absolute supremacy of the papacy, purgatory, penance, etc., lasting twenty-three days, the arbitrators declined to give a verdict. He did succeed in making Luther admit that there was some truth in the Hussite opinions and declare himself against the pope, but this success only embittered his animosity against his opponents, and from that time his whole efforts were devoted to Luther's overthrow.
The St. Nicholas Church was built around 1165 when Leipzig, also known as St. Nicholas's City, was founded. It is named after the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers, and is situated in the very heart of the city on the intersection of two then important trade roads. It is built partially in the Romanesque style but was extended and enlarged in the early 16th century with a more Gothic style. The church, largest in Leipzig, has been Protestant since 1539.
Neoclassical sanctuary of St. Nicholas. The columns were to represent palm trees. Bach served as choirmaster and organist here from 1723 to 1750.
The Old City Hall is one of Leipzig’s most famous landmarks. It was built in 1556 with the baroque tower constructed in 1744. It has a colorful history, once being the seat of the feudal highest court of appeal and also a prison. The market square in front of the Old City Hall was used in centuries past as a place of execution, so condemned prisoners never had far to go to the scaffold. Today the Old City Hall is used as a museum.
A statue of Goethe stands in front of the Old Bourse. The medallion portraits around the base of the statue are of Goethe’s mistresses. The baroque Bourse in the background was built as a meeting place for the Leipzig Merchant Guild.
St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. There has been a church at the current site of the Thomaskirche since the 12th century. Between 1212 and 1222 the preceding church became the new St. Thomas Monastery of the Augustinian order. The current building, an example of late Gothic architecture, was consecrated on April 10, 1496. The reformer Martin Luther preached here on Pentecost Sunday in 1539. Today, it is a Lutheran church.
After the destruction of the Leipzig Johanneskirche in World War II, the remains of Johann Sebastian Bach were moved from there to the Thomaskirche in 1950. Bach's grave in the floor of the altar in the Thomaskirche. Among many famous citizens of Leipzig, Bach was the most famous. When he got the job as a cantor at St Thomas Church, however, he was not the magistrate’s first choice and they did not treat him too well. The job was hard. Bach had to teach at the Thomaner school, deal with sometimes rowdy and sometimes untalented boys, compose, rehearse and perform new music almost every Sunday
As I toured the Bach Chapel, a choir was rehearsing for the evening service (which we later attended). Picture is blurry because it was taken from videotape.
A house in Thomaskirchhof opposite the entrance of the church hosts the Bach museum and archive. This house had belonged to the merchant Georg Heinrich Bose, a good friend of Bach.
On our way back to the car, we came across statues of characters from Goethe’s literature.
July 12, Sunday
After a full European breakfast in our comfortable pension we set out in a northeast direction on the autobahn to Halle. See map on right. Halle is a 1000 year old city built on the salt trade. With a population of 280,000 inhabitants, Halle, which is situated on the River Saale, is the biggest town in Saxony-Anhalt. As Halle was hardly destroyed in World War II, almost the entire inner city, with its numerous fine buildings from the last century, is well preserved.
When we arrived in Halle, we followed the Centrum (Zentrum) signs and then headed for the Martin Luther University where we parked. Located on University Ring (center of map).
The university was created in 1817 through the merger of the University of Wittenberg (1502) and the University of Halle (founded 1691). The university is named after the Reformer who was a professor in Wittenberg. The University of Wittenberg was founded by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. Under the influence of Philipp Melanchthon, building on the works of Martin Luther, the university became a centre of the Protestant Reformation.
In 1701 it became a centre for Pietism within Prussia. The University of Wittenberg was closed in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars. The town of Wittenberg was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and the university was then merged with the Prussian University of Halle in 1817. Melanchthon Hall (on the right).
We drove the car closer to the town center and parked. Our walk then took us down a charming street that led to the Markt. The marketplace, Halle's largest square, has been a center of commerce since medieval times and is still used during the week for selling fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. The heart of the square is dominated by a statue of composer George Friedrich Handle, born in Halle in 1685. On the north side of the square is the Roter Turm, or Red Tower (1418-1506).
Beyond the tower was Marienkirche, or sometimes called the Marktkirche (1529). Its four tall, slim towers dominate the skyline. The current Late Gothic, triple-nave hall church was completed in 1554, replacing two Romanesque churches. Händel was baptized here and learned to play the organ on the smaller of the two instruments in the church. Johann Sebastian Bach introduced the larger Reichel organ in 1716, even though his application was rejected three years earlier for the position of organist, a post one of his sons filled three decades later. The church also has a death mask of Luther, made while his body stayed overnight en route to Wittenberg.
We went inside the church which has a very attractive interior.
A church service had just begun so we stayed as observers. A baptism consumed a major portion of the service and many young people participated in what seemed like a service within a service.
After the child was baptized, all the young people were dismissed in a recessional. It was really a beautiful worship service, even if we didn’t understand all the German language.
As we were leaving the church I noticed a memorial plaque and portrait of the Pietist A. Franke. He was a central figure in the new University of Halle (Pietism's chief academic center). He founded and directed a Pietist Adelspaedagogium (a secondary school for the nobility). He was also the moving spirit in a network of orphanages, hospitals, and missions.
The Händelhaus, Große Nikolaistraße 5, is devoted to the composer and has a large collection of musical
instruments and documents from the period.
“Handel is the greatest composer who ever lived. I would bare my head and kneel at his grave"
-- L.v. Beethoven (1824)
On the northwest side of old town is Moritzburg Castle. The Moritzburg is a fortified castle in Halle (Saale).
The cornerstone of what would later become the residence of the Archbishops of Magdeburg (1484). Albrecht of Brandenburg, elected in 1513, was at the same time the most splendid and the most tragic sovereign of Halle. As cardinal, Archbishop and Prince-elector of Mainz, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of Halberstadt. He and the Moritzburg- were in the focal point of European history. In 1517 he called the notorious Dominican monk Johann Tetzel to the Moritzburg and started a limitless sale of indulgences, financing the archbishop's great collection of relics.
The west wing of the castle. In the Thirty Years' War both the city of Halle and the Moritzburg time and again attracted troops. In October 1625 Wallenstein occupied town and fortress. After the defeat at Breitenfeld, the Count of Tilly moved, pursued by the Swedes, to the Moritzburg as a first retreat. In September 1631 the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus appeared before Halle and could peacefully occupy it for a longer period
Moritzburg and Halle (Saale) as seen from the river in 1900. Since 1900, the structural condition of the castle deteriorated dramatically. In 1897 the East, South and West Wing was sold to the city of Halle for a new museum. Funded by donations, the Talamt, the southern battlements, the Gate Tower and the South Bastion were reconstructed to house the museum. We thought it interesting that one part of the castle was called Turnhalle.
Just 200 yards east of Moritzburg Castle is part of the Luther University. Opposite the University was the impressive Halle Cathedral (1280-1330). The Dom is surprisingly without a tower or an impressive façade as one would expect from a cathedral. It is, however, the largest church in Halle and originally served as a monastery church.
A deacon was about to close up the building, but he was kind enough to show us around. It has three aisles, with the central one only slightly higher than the narrow side ones. It dates back to the 13th century, but the original Gothic church was converted to a more Renaissance style during the Reformation. In 1631 Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered sermons in the Cathedral and has Swedish officials buried along the south wall.
In 1688 Huguenot refugees came from the Palatinate were given use of the Cathedral. The Reformed made little additions to the artistic qualities of church. In 1702--3 George Handel was employed as organist, “a Lutheran subject serving the Calvinists.”
I was struck by a bust of Erasmus labeled “St. Erasmus” near the organ in the balcony. Erasmus did have some influence on early Reformed theologians. He lived through the Reformation period and he consistently criticized some contemporary popular beliefs. In relation to clerical abuses in the Church, Erasmus remained committed to reforming the Church from within. He also held to Catholic doctrines such as that of free will which some Protestant Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination His middle road approach disappointed and even angered many Protestants, such as Martin Luther, as well as conservative Catholics
We caught the autobahn A14 just outside of Halle and headed north to Magdeburg on the Elbe River.
Of course, we aimed for the Altstadt. Our first objective was to see the Gothic Protestant Magdeburg Cathedral, the oldest Gothic church in Germany. Today it's the principal church of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. One of its steeples is 325 ft 7 in tall, and the other is 331 ft 4 in, making it one of the tallest cathedrals in eastern Germany.
The first church was founded September 21, 937 at the location of the current cathedral was an abbey called St. Maurice (St. Moritz), dedicated to Saint Maurice and financed by Emperor Otto I
the Great, whose tomb is inside.
Luther preached in Magdeburg in 1524. Some smaller churches in Magdeburg changed to Protestantism
soon thereafter. The unpopularity of Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg also furthered the Reformation, and after his death in 1545 in Mainz there was no successor. Magdeburg became a leader in the Protestant Reformation, and was outlawed by the emperor Charles V.
Just north of the Cathedral Complex is the Convent of Our Lady (Kloster Onser Lieben Frauen). Few of the German convents survived the Reformation. The church (1064-1230) is now used as a concert hall. The Art Museum in the Convent of our Lady is the most important exhibition of contemporary art in Saxony-Anhalt.
After walking around the grounds we thought it might be nice to have coffee and a snack in the Kloster cafe/shop. What a wonderful way to end the day.
We drove to Berlin on the autobahn and made good time. We checked in at the same Ibis hotel that we had used earlier in Berlin. We found a nice Argentina Steak house for our evening meal and cold bier.
July 13, Monday
We rose early in the morning to return our Audi in at the Airport National Car Rental by 6 am. We left Berlin at 7 am for Minneapolis via KLM. Irma, Mike, Kim, Matthew and our kittens met us at the
Minneapolis International Airport.
We had an excellent tour of Eastern Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment