22 Mar 2009
A Year of Anniversaries
2009 is a year of anniversaries in Germany. The most important one is the Varus Battle / Battle of the Teutoburg Forest which took place 2000 years ago, an event that already gets a lot of media coverage, including a TV 'documentary' that turned Arminius into the German Braveheart. The only positive aspect of that one was that I couldn't detect any stirrups. ;-)
(To the left: The museum building at Kalkriese, modeled after a Roman watchtower. It wouldn't have gotten any architecture prize from me, though.)
There will be exhibitions in Kalkriese (which I've seen in 2006), Detmold (concentrating on the Arminius myth during history) and in Haltern, one of the Roman forts in Germania. I'd love to get a chance and visit that one.
I will continue my series about the Romans in Germany after I've read up on the new publications. I also need to get a better grip on Varus' character (esp. concerning A Land Unconquered) - it's too easy to make him Teh Evul Roman where he probably just failed to understand that the methods which worked in Syria didn't work in Germania.
But there is another anniversary which centers more around Braunschweig: 800 years ago Otto IV, son of Heinrich 'the Lion' of Saxony and Mathilde of England, was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the one and only emperor of the House Welfen, and for a few years Braunschweig became urbs regia, the imperial seat in Germany. Of course, Braunschweig will celebrate this anniversary with an exhibition in late summer and a number of other events. Since Braunschweig is only a bit more than an hours drive from Göttingen, you can expect some Otto IV-related posts and photos in 2009.
The Lion of Braunschweig
(Copyright: Official website of the town)
The statue stands in front of Dankwarderode Castle. I have analog photos of that one and the cathedral, but I'll rather get some new, digital ones for the blog instead of scanning the old pics. ¶ March 22, 2009
2009 is a year of anniversaries in Germany. The most important one is the Varus Battle / Battle of the Teutoburg Forest which took place 2000 years ago, an event that already gets a lot of media coverage, including a TV 'documentary' that turned Arminius into the German Braveheart. The only positive aspect of that one was that I couldn't detect any stirrups. ;-)
(To the left: The museum building at Kalkriese, modeled after a Roman watchtower. It wouldn't have gotten any architecture prize from me, though.)There will be exhibitions in Kalkriese (which I've seen in 2006), Detmold (concentrating on the Arminius myth during history) and in Haltern, one of the Roman forts in Germania. I'd love to get a chance and visit that one.
I will continue my series about the Romans in Germany after I've read up on the new publications. I also need to get a better grip on Varus' character (esp. concerning A Land Unconquered) - it's too easy to make him Teh Evul Roman where he probably just failed to understand that the methods which worked in Syria didn't work in Germania.
But there is another anniversary which centers more around Braunschweig: 800 years ago Otto IV, son of Heinrich 'the Lion' of Saxony and Mathilde of England, was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the one and only emperor of the House Welfen, and for a few years Braunschweig became urbs regia, the imperial seat in Germany. Of course, Braunschweig will celebrate this anniversary with an exhibition in late summer and a number of other events. Since Braunschweig is only a bit more than an hours drive from Göttingen, you can expect some Otto IV-related posts and photos in 2009.
(Copyright: Official website of the town)
The statue stands in front of Dankwarderode Castle. I have analog photos of that one and the cathedral, but I'll rather get some new, digital ones for the blog instead of scanning the old pics. ¶ March 22, 2009
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Hmm. Ok, so the museum is modelled after a Roman tower. A long way after, from the look of it! What an eyesore in such a lovely place!
Yes, that rusty looking metal is plain ugly. No Roman would have put such a piece of horrible architecture there.
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