gabriel blow your horn

The Way-Back Machine at the Retronaut featured some illuminated illustrations dating from the 10th century of the Spanish theologian Beatus of Liébana’s Commentary on the Apocalypse.

It was the buggy, Picasso-esque figures that initially cause my attention in this particular rendering from the monastery at El Escoria. Perhaps the Spanish painter was influenced by such artwork on this manuscript. What is more interesting deeper within this study, however, is the de-symbolism, the stripping of allegory, behind the pictures. Contrary to popular historical context that makes fables out the oppressors of the day, reading the characters of Revelations as the Roman Empire, Gnostics, or, contemporaneously with Beatus’ writing, as the Muslims of then Islamic Spain, there is no mention of mistreatment or persecution and no topical interpretation of the biblical text. Rather than targeting heretics or people of another religious background for blame, the treatment instead suggests that the real nightmarish fiends represent elements within the established Christian community, holy-rollers, that profess one thing but really use the Church to advance their own interests. That’s a very modern technique from a classic source as well.

castle week: berlin-brandenburg

Throughout the ages and through to the present, Berlin as the seat of different ideologues and governments has become absolutely crowded with historic buildings and courtiers, though venue and use has evolved over the years. The grand city palace of Berlin was lost during World War II and the rubble has cleared away a long time ago, but there are long-term plans to rebuild the structure on the still vacant lot over the next decade.  Such a project, I think, would bring the other fine and intact buildings of the city into sharper focus.

Politics and intrigue are ever stifling things, and in a great tradition of seeking refuge from the demands of the court and escaping for quiet and reflection, philosopher king of the Prussians, Fredrick the Great, designed and commissioned his retreat, San Souci (French for Without Worries) among the vineyards outside of Potsdam.

A patron of the arts and sciences and a man of letters, under the advice of his long time friend and confident, Voltaire, he promoted reforms in bureaucracy and governance (including such revolutionary ideas separation of church and state and personal liberties) and followed the French philosopher’s maxims about immersing oneself in nature—though the wine business never really took hold. While enjoying the king’s hospitality at San Souci, Voltaire penned probably the first work in the genre of science fiction, with his short-story, Micromegas.

Fredrick was a sensitive soul and never, I think, really aspired to be the military strategists that he became known as. Scholar and polyglot as well as visionary and diplomat, he left a substantial legacy that’s not only in his distinctive architectural penchant (found in many monuments populating Berlin and Brandenburg) but in many intangible footnotes of the age of Enlightenment.

doctor pangloss, I presume

The ever engrossing and a sure bet for a good take-away to ruminate on, Boing Boing, recently presented two brief and chilling tracts about the echo chamber of communication and some dismal reflections on the realities draped by economic cheerleading. Boy, this was some bleak stuff, presented in a way that was hard to refute or not be disheartened.

Both made some arresting assertions that only seemed truer on dissection, memorable and ready to be unpacked or walked back like the collection of pensées. Without being shrill or dogmatic, the first article offered the axiom that one's smart phone is basically a tracking device that allows one to place calls. I only ever use that app that allows one to hear and speak to people over any given distance and that other app that allows one to see the time of day, but the interview goes on to illustrate what systems are already in place to limn a complete dossier of anyone and how the idea that one has nothing to hide is smug and irresponsible, since communications are interconnected and false assumptions are made and errant words can unintentionally become artillery for anyone in our network. The second article is a virtual bucket-list of 21 facts from economist Ian Welsh that bespeak trembling and revolution. Among other truths, austerity is defined as the opportunity for venture-capitalists to acquire assets usually not up for sale, that wage-earners are beholden to the company store and are unlikely to escape (although that disbelief is what sustains even the worst of markets) and that resistance is futile for those regimes who would dare oppose the conditions levied on the public by corporate interests. Both are definitely worth the read, despite the discomfort and disillusion that may result.

castle week: rheinland-pfalz

Castle Week happened to coincide with the beginning of Wikipedia’s month long call for sub- missions of landmarks, monuments and memorials. While I do not think anything looked at and looked after as a castle is something novel and undiscovered, there is always something to learn and maybe by sharing some of things I’ve seen can inspire a little deeper investigation. Erecting and maintaining a castle, even while not under constant siege, was a very, very expensive prospect, especially in medieval times before the sophistication of trade and monetary instruments in the Renaissance.

Most of the landed-gentry only had a single settlement to their name and did not live in much fancier quarters than their tenant-farmers. Sometimes, like with the gorgeous Burg Eltz along the Moselle river, flowing through Germany and France, different branches of one noble family combined their resources to build a shared residence and defensive fortification. Three lines of the same family (and descendants of the same founding members at that) live in separate sections of the castle nestled in the wine-growing valley on the road to Trier. At the other end of the Land, separated from its neighbouring state capital by the river Rhein, the ancient city of Mainz hosts an array of fine architecture.

One particularly interesting structure is Ostein Court (Osteiner Hof). This mansion was originally built as residence for the prince-elector of Mainz and his descendants. The unrest and upheaval of the French Revolution and subsequent Franco-Prussian War, however, meant its owners did not get to enjoy it for long. French forces occupied the Rhineland-Pfalz side of the Rhine and the court became the administrative building of the newly appropriated land. Once Prussian forces retook the German territories (and grabbed more than what they had lost with the conquest of Alsace-Lorraine), the building served as a military headquarters under various commands, mostly uninterrupted until the present. Just in the foreground, there is the elaborate and nine-metre high Fastnachtsbrunnen (the fountain of the so-called fifth season, Carnival) commemorating the yearly proclamation on 11. November at 11:11 of the beginning of the local revelry and abandon lasting forty days until Lent. Long before the fountain was dedicated, another announcement came from the same balcony to the people of Mainz, the declaration of war in 1914. It’s kind of bittersweet that the decree of party-time echoes from the same location and at the same exact time the armistice of the fighting is observed.

7/11 oder verkaufsverbot

Legal augurers, deciding that there is too much creeping in shop opening hours in Bavaria and creative license to skirt the limitations, have reinterpreted the exceptions granted to petrol-stations to expressly apply only to car and truck drivers and not pedestrians who are interested in using the attached convenience stores. Some people are quite disgruntled with the suggestion that the passing shopper would not be allowed to make purchases after eight o’clock in the p.m., the latest hour that retail stores and markets are traditionally allowed to remain open.

There are a few gas stations here in this rather rural area open around the clock (with only a nighttime register) and some fast food establishment whose drive-thru window is in operation twenty-three hours a day, which seems like another assault against people moving under their own power, but before this bit of news, I had not given the idea any thought and took it for granted that in some place, somewhere would be open. Nowadays, I’ve only ever bought the odd pack of cigarettes or cup of coffee from a gas-station, thinking the inflated costs a sign of the unholy alliance between the oil industry and food packagers and the price one pays for not planning ahead—though I know for some, the convenience is a necessity, like for those who work themselves at the stores and restaurants and Tankstelle until late. The mark-up on baby-food, beer and pizza, I suppose, is not so great as the margin on gasoline—nor as variable, but should they lose this other source of income, attendants will lose jobs. Further, people in the tourism industry say enforcing such restrictions will hurt Bavaria’s reputation as a functional and well-situation vacation destination, as holiday-makers will be frustrated with not being able to walk into a shoppette at all hours. I don’t know how legislators will move forward with this proposal and I am not sure what consequences it would have should it come into force but I does seem strange to ration purchases to someone with a motorized means of transport. Maybe it won’t only be underage kids hanging on someone with an ID in the parking lot for a favour but locals too on anyone driving a car.

castle week: hessen

Fulda, near where the states of Bavaria, Thüringen and Hessen come together, has, along with the rest of Hessen, an interesting and rich history of reparation and reinvention as earthly and spiritual powers were concentrated, vetted and vested. The Baroque City Palace (Stadtschloss), which has an impressive ensemble of wings, annexes and ornamentation—including an Orangerie (a hot-house for exotic plants) served as a residence for the prince-bishop electors and later the crown prince, dependent on the amoeboid influences of the time, of course, and faces the magnificent cathedral of Saint Saviour, modeled after the old basilica of Saint Peter in Rome, which houses the relics of Germany’s premiere missionary and patron saint, Boniface. Just south of Wiesbaden along the banks of the Rhine is the splendid residential palace and parks of the princes and dukes of Nassau. Schloss Biebrich sprawls with arcades and rotunda and was supposed designed in deference to Versailles as well but the architectural license does not at all seem derivation. The palace was badly damaged during WWII bombing raids but was salvaged and restored, thanks in large part to film and theatrical institutions, like the German motion picture rating agency, that took up temporary quarters in the intact wings.

The towers and bastion of Schloss Steinau, located in the town Steinau an der Straße on a branch of the Kinzig river, form the best-preserved early-Renaissance castle in Germany. The structure, formerly the home to the counts of Hanau, presides over a fairy-tale historic city-centre that was the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm to catalogue and classify folklore and myths. Just to the north of Frankfurt am Main, the fortification of the Lords of Eppstein projects from a spur of the Taunus mountains. 

The archbishop of Mainz, projecting his authority, deeded this territory to the noble line in the 10th century. This grace-and-favour had significant political and economic effects for the land in the following generations, the family rearing several of the archbishops over the years and whose elevated influence cooled tension between Pope and Emperor.

castle week: mecklenberg-vorpommern

The German Castle Route, the Burgenstraße, cuts a swath, intersected by other scenic routes, like the Romantic, Romanesque and the Half-Timbered Roads and others, from Mannheim on the banks of the Neckar River to Prague. I notice that a lot of our travels swarm around such trails. There are, however, many more hits off these main sequences.

We had a very nice holiday enjoying the Baltic beaches and natural wonders of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with the islands of Rügen and Usedom. The resorts and hotels fronting the shoreline and promenades were very picturesque and inviting whitewashed affairs, but we also had a chance to discover some more inland sites.

Sadly many traditional castles in the region are in sore need of care and have been more or less abandoned—though there has been renewed interest in such real-estate and preservation efforts. Crumbling castles are basically free to a good home. But not all was in disrepair and there were quite a few very nice manor houses and plantation estates, just beyond the sand dunes. Situated next to a grove of thousand year old oak trees (Eiche), the Baroque collection of buildings at Ivenack with castle and cloister. With a commanding view of island and lands beyond, the Granitz Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss) is very impressive site.

A winding cast iron staircase hugs the tower walls and from the vantage point of the roof one is afforded a spectacular and strategic view of the former royal hunting grounds, now protected as a nature reserve. The tower also has a staggering collection of hunting rifles and trophies—contributions from the many guests entertained and hunting parties hosted. The state government invested a lot of funds to rehabilitate this building and turn it into a popular tourist-attraction, and hopefully this act can inspire the public to do more to save the region’s other historic, cultural, and natural wonders.

castle week: baden-württemberg

Writing a little bit on these themes has not only illustrated to me how difficult it must be to pick a representative landmark from such a diverse lot, despite whatever common-thread may connect them, but also shows what I’ve yet to experience first-hand and the sites and associated stories that I’ve only had the chance to touch upon just once and years prior and many places are definitely worth the trip to see again and anew.

The diverse land of Baden-Württemberg with Swabia, the Black Forest, Lake Constance (Bodensee) has a wealth of sites to offer, not the least being the paperweights of politics and trade of its ancient houses. Stuttgart was sometimes seat of the kings of Würrtemberg with its old and new castles located in the city centre and featured spectacles to impress, extravagance and decadence of courtly legend to help forge alliances.

To my mind, the partially restored castle of Heidelberg never constituted a ruin—though it was already regarded and esteemed as such, and a worthy attraction for hundreds of years prior—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Victor Hugo and Mark Twain and others mentioning it in their travel logs. There are actual two ruins—the upper fortification has mostly succumb to the heavily wooded hillside and was destroyed by lightning in 1537 and the lower structures by battles waged in the 30 Years’ War, a conflict with roots in the protestant reformation and the question of succession in France and the Holy Roman Empire (the tensions which courtiers in Stuttgart tried to placate), and another errant lightning bolt.

Surely, there is a lot of romanticism connected with ruins, like the shipwrecks of empire and ambition, and somehow what’s left untouched and in disrepair allows the stories to be more intact. It seems at least that more people had more to say about their impressions of Heidelberg castle than many others. The other sometimes royal residence of Würrtemberg’s rulers was located in the expansive Baroque palace in the Stuttgart suburb of Ludwigsburg, commissioned with the style and proximity to the urban capital as the Palace of Versailles has to Paris. Two other palatial estates are located on the palace grounds but the surrounding parks and gardens are so huge, noble neighbours would never disturb one another.