Germany
Eisenach Thüringer Museum

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  • Day 5

    Wartburg Christmas Market

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 39 °F

    Finally, right? Isn't this trip supposed to be about Christmas Markets?
    Well, not entirely. But here it is. It was a nice market. Some interesting food choices and vendors. Some cos-players, some pretty good, some just honestly weirdos, and I'm saying this as someone who used to be a weirdo myself. But in a good way.Read more

  • Day 5

    The Festsaal

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    Maybe I'm easy to impress, but I loved this room. It was difficult for me to pick only twenty photos. Lots of weird shots of decorative details, but this room... There was a woman doing a demonstration/concert of Medieval-Early Modern music, and if the hall wasn't set up for shows, I'd have probably taken a lot more photos in there.

    This was the main hall. I'm thinking it was probably where the Sängerkrieg took place, if it was a real thing. If you've ever been to Crazy Ludwig's Neuschwannstein in Bavaria, the hall there is a copy of this one.

    The performer was really good, unfortunately all those chairs and people were in the way. One video. Poorly shot. Badly edited. Okay, chopped off to fit the under one minute limit. I'll post the whole badly shot thing somewhere at some point.
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  • Day 5

    Wartburg

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 37 °F

    So here's the big history, and some introductory pictures... I took so many. I do have to say, while the Medieval Christmas market was nice, I wish we had come on a regular day and saw the castle without the extras and the crowds. Also unfortunately, we found a great view from a distance to take a side shot, but the sun was behind the castle so the pictures are meh.

    We didn't come here for family history, we came for the Wartburg. It's a huge place. Like the Hohenfestung in Salzburg and the Kaiserburg in Nuremberg that we visited on our last trip, the Wartburg just overwhelms you and dominates the area. So that's worth a visit, not to mention that it was originally begun in 1067 (just one year after William the Conqueror invaded England-- be still my Medieval loving heart!), and parts of it have survived since then. Like all of these structures, it's burned down, been besieged, fired on and et cetera, but it's still here.

    The castle has been an important court site of the Wettin family (like the Wittelsbachs down in Bavaria and those darn Hohenzollerns we're going to hear a lot about the Wettins on this trip). It played a supporting role in one of my favorite to teach episodes of Medieval history- the Investiture Controversy between HRE Heinrich IV and Pope Gregory VII, again-- heart palpitations...

    Under the Ludowingian dynasty, the court was considered one of the most cultured in the German Reich. Two of the most influential poets/ Minnesängers were part of Hermann I's retinue: Wolfram von Eschenbach (who wrote parts of Parzival in the castle) and Walter von der Vogelweide. It was also the site of the perhaps fictional Sängerkrieg, or Minstrels' War (1206 or 1207), which was the inspiration for Wagner's Tannhäuser, which I listened to in preparation for the visit. You see how far I go for everyone? Opera!

    There were other notable figures linked to the castle. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary was raised here, then married to the Ludwig IV.

    The castle passed to the Electors of Saxony, and it's with them we get our next big historical adventure: the residence of Junker Jorg. Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony and great patron of education and the Catholic Church, “kidnapped”, then hid Martin Luther on his way back from the Diet of Worms. Luther lived in the castle for close to a year, during which he translated the New Testament from Greek into German. In order to do this, he took a handful of the many different dialects and standardized them so that his translation would be accessible to more people. Okay, more of the few people who could actually read.

    A lot of other things happened, of course. Wars, that Napoleon guy, and a prominent part in the Revolution of 1848 and the road to German unification. The Wartburg is so significant to German history, even the Communists recognized its place, and put significant resources in to reconstruction in the 1950s, and again in the '60s.

    A few last notes. Another noted visitor was Johann Wolfgang Göthe. He spent a few weeks at the castle making drawings. The castle once housed an extensive treasury of arms, armor, relics, artworks, and the sorts of blingy things one finds in a treasury. When the Red Army withdrew after WWII, most of the treasure “withdrew” with them, never to be seen again. A few items were returning in the 1960s, and the government of Germany has been trying to get the rest back from the new management.

    Good luck with that.

    So all of this history-- a total Medieval overload-- a hike up the hills to get to the place, and add to all that, a Medieval Christmas market. I was in historian hog heaven.
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  • Day 5

    Eisenach

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 32 °F

    Capital of Thuringia in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, and the castle overlooking the city, the Wartburg, has played an important role in German history. Ruled by the Ludowingians and the Wettins in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, as their fortunes changed, so too did the town.

    Eisenach played a pivotal role in the Reformation. Luther attended school here (1498-1501) in preparation for university. He came back when under Imperial ban (more about this later). The town accepted the tenets of the Reformation in 1528, after being damaged in the Peasants' War in 1525.

    Other important historical ties: it was the birthplace of JS Bach (1685), and home at one point or another to Pachelbel, JC Bach, and Telemann. The yellow house in one of the pictures is the house in which Bach was born.B

    From the 1860s until 1938, Eisenach had a large and thriving Jewish community, and it was here that the Nazis founded the Institute for the Study and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German Church Life, run by the Reich Church. BMW had a factor here during the war, producing aircraft engines with both forced and free labor. After the war, the plant was socialized and renamed EMW, producing the Wartburg, sold as a luxury vehicle in the DDR.

    Eisenach was one of the western-most cities in the DDR, which interfered with development and investment. The city suffered population loss, and overall deterioration of housing stock. The government demolished large swathes of historic homes to build Soviet-style apartment blocks to correct the problem. There are still a lot of very big, very impressive Jugendstil mansions, despite this. It's a very pretty town.

    After reunification, Eisenach saw an increase in tourism, mainly due to the Wartburg being named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    Personal connection: Eisenach is the city listed on my grandfather's papers as the place of departure when he entered the US. His place of birth on his naturalization papers is actually listed as Berteroda, which is a small suburb/ village right outside of the city. Didn't manage to get out there, but if we ever come back, we will.
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  • Day 5

    Museum and Luther's Room

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    Just a few more, then back to Eisenach.

    After I finally got dragged out of the Festsaal... No, they were going to do a puppet show next and I don't like puppets, so I left voluntarily. Next, we went to the museum, then down the long, narrow, darkish corridor to the room where Georg the Strong hid Martin Luther, and where Luther began his translation of the New Testament into German.

    Not much bling in the collection (remember, that was all stolen by the Soviets), but some nice historical things. The last three pictures are Luther's room, not the fancy one earlier on.
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  • Day 4

    Thuringia - villages and castles

    August 11, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After an early swim in Biggersee I went cross country to Eisenach. Lots of sleepy, immaculate villages on the way. Walked a 5 km forest trail up to Wartburg Castle and appreciated the dragon drinking fountain!! Campsite is good with little beach by the lake. Off for a run in the woods before cooking tea. All’s good😊Read more

  • Day 5

    Guätä morgä

    May 1, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Es isch zwor momentan no arschchalt🥶, aber es isch eifach herrlich bi dem Froschgequake dussä en Kaffi z'trinke😊. Momentan werded d'Frösch aber vom Vogelgezwitscher es bitz übertönt🤭. I bins am gnüssä🥰Read more

  • Day 183

    Wieder zu Hause

    March 8, 2023 in Germany

    12 Stunden Flugzeit, fast 24h wach und so gut wie die ganze Zeit gesessen - wer mich kennt "mein absoluter Albtraum", aber manchmal ist das halt so.
    Das Gefühl wieder hier zu sein: absoluter Luxus.
    Schwierig abschließend Worte zu finden für die letzten 182 Tage.
    Wir möchten auf jeden Fall keinen der Tage missen, auch wenn sie mal anstrengend, herausfordernd oder bedrückend waren. Die schönen Tage haben definitv bei weitem überwogen und von den paar nicht so guten haben wir sehr viel gelernt.
    Die Zeit verging so schnell und wir können uns noch so genau an den Tag der Abreise erinnern, als wäre es vor einem Monat gewesen.
    So viel gesehen, gelernt - Länder, Kulturen, andere Menschen, uns selber; hautnah erlebt, wie privilegiert wir wohnen, arbeiten und leben können; gemerkt, wie türöffnend ein ehrliches Lächeln sein kann; und wie schön es ist seine Freude mit anderen zu teilen.
    Nun ist unsere Reise im Ausland aus.
    So ganz aus ist sie eigentlich auch doch noch nicht, denn nun stehen die kommenden 1,5 Monate Familien und Freundesbesuche an - mitunter der schönste Teil🥰

    Wir haben uns sehr gefreut euch eine Freude mit unserem Tagebuch zu machen und gleichzeitig war es jedes Mal der perfekte Tagesabschluss um nochmal alles Revue passieren zu lassen, zu dokumentieren, zu reflektieren und beim Ein oder anderen noch mehr dazu zu recherchieren.

    Und nun auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen Over and out!😜🥰🤩
    Cori und Chris
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  • Day 5

    Georgenkirche and Luther

    November 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 36 °F

    The Georgenkirche was built by Ludwig III, of the Ludovigian Dynasty when they ruled the area. The church is associated with several important historical people and events, beginning with Elizabeth of Thuringia (aka Saint Elizabeth of Hungary) who married here in 1222.

    Martin Luther sang in the choir here as a student. He returned later, including to preach in the church before his mysterious kidnapping on May 2, 1521, after his refusal to return to the discipline of the Catholic Church.

    JS Bach was also baptized here.

    There's a carved crucifixion piece from the Voss Workshop of Nürnberg, which is you read our Bavarian trip, you would have heard of him already. Also, behind the altar are the tombstones of some of the members of the Ludovigian family. When the Communists took over, they were supposed to be removed and destroyed, but were taken into safekeeping.

    We stopped by the Lutherhaus, but didn't visit, just stopped into the guesthouse. We had a long day ahead of us at Wartburg Castle, beginning with a walk uphill to reach it.
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  • Eisenach - Wartburg

    September 30, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Der Beginn der Herbstreise in Eisenach war perfekt: Haus Hainstein mit Blick auf die Wartburg als Unterkunft, herbstliche Sonne 🌞 beim Weg zur Burg, eine intensive Führung durch die alten Gemäuer mit einer Musikeinspielung des Sängerwettstreites aus dem Tannhäuser im Festsaal und leckeres thüringisches Essen zur StärkungRead more

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