TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS OF AN ART AND HISTORY LOVER
and my experiences as a teacher in China
UMGEBUNGSENTDECKER
Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel
Describe your image
Describe your image
CONTENTS
- About the Guelph treasure, the most expensive book in the world and a precious library
- Where was Saxony in the past?
- The territory of the Guelphs (Bavaria and Saxony)
- Heinrich the Lion founded Lübeck, Munich and Schwerin
- Guelphs versus Staufer
(Heinrich the Lion vs. Friedrich Barbarossa)
- What was left after the rivalry of hegemony:
The Duchy of Brunswick- Lüneburg
- The Welfenschatz - an exciting story
- Herzog-August-Bibliothek - less known despite its importance
- Wolfenbüttel Castle, a wooden castle
Of the Guelph Treasure,
the world’s most expensive book,
and a priceless library
Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel had piqued my curiosity for quite some time. I had, of course, heard of Henry the Lion—also that he was a Guelph and the founder of important cities like Munich and Lübeck.
Wolfenbüttel, however, was only a name to me. Not much more than that.
My interest was further stirred from an entirely unexpected direction: on a flight to the USA, I struck up a conversation with my seat neighbor, an American who had just completed several months of research on Early Renaissance literature at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. I asked her if she spoke German, and she turned out to be a professor of German studies.
When this American described the library as a kind of national cultural treasure, I felt a bit embarrassed that I had never heard of it before.
The Herzog August Library houses numerous literary treasures. The most important is undoubtedly the Gospel Book of Henry the Lion.
When this book was auctioned at Sotheby’s in 1983 for 32.5 million Deutschmarks, it was considered significant enough to make the evening news on national television. For a long time, Henry the Lion’s Gospel Book held the title of the most expensive book in the world.
The Herzog-August-Library in Wolfenbüttel
The Gospel Book of Heinrich the Lion, Duke August Library, Wolfenbüttel
Equally fascinating is the Guelph Treasure, originally housed in Braunschweig. It is surrounded by a captivating story from recent years: In 2021, it became the subject of a legal dispute between the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and American descendants of German-Jewish art dealers—a case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, with a contested value of no less than 200 million euros—not to mention its immense cultural and political significance. More about that story later.
Two striking glimpses into the cultural heritage of the region—reason enough to travel to the land of the Guelphs, to Lower Saxony. And of course, there was much more to discover.
Where was Saxony in the past?
Gustav Droysen: Holy Roman Empire around 1000, Duchy of Saxony , general
historical hand atlas, 1886, license: public domain
Where was Saxony in the past?
One of the tribal duchies of the Guelphs—and the travel destination presented here—was Old Saxony, located in the north of present-day Germany. It bordered Jutland and had only a very indirect territorial connection to today’s federal state of Saxony in the modern Federal Republic of Germany.
Around the year 1000, the northern border of Saxony ran from the Schlei, once home to the city of Haithabu, through what is now southern Schleswig along the Danewerk, a medieval border fortification, to the River Eider and from there to its mouth in the North Sea. To the east, the border stretched from the Schlei to the Kiel Fjord on the Baltic coast, then left the coastline and headed south along the Limes Saxonicus until it reached the Elbe in the Wendland region. From there, it followed the Elbe to the mouth of the Saale, which formed the southeastern border to Naumburg at the confluence with the Unstrut. The lower course of the Unstrut marked the boundary that continued north of the Thuringian Basin to what is now Hannoversch Münden.
The border then ran north along Hesse. Kassel, the River Eder, and Fritzlar lay slightly south of the former boundary, which then continued into present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, across the Hochsauerland roughly near Schmallenberg and Attendorn, then past what is now Lüdenscheid and Hagen. The Siegerland was not part of Old Saxony. The border never touched the Rhine; instead, it ran to the east, passing east of Arnhem and continuing further north, west of the River Ems to Friesland. The boundary did not reach the North Sea coast until the mouth of the Elbe, as the entire coastline southwest of that point was Frisian territory. From the mouth of the Elbe, the North Sea coastline then formed the border all the way up to the mouth of the Eider.
The Territory of the Guelphs – Bavaria and Saxony
The House of Guelph is one of the oldest noble dynasties in Europe still in existence today, and Henry the Lion can undoubtedly be regarded as its most prominent figure. The dynasty was represented in three regions of the Holy Roman Empire. It all began with the elder line in the 9th century in the Moselle-Frankish area. More significant, however, was the younger line, which rose to prominence in the 11th century with its domains in Saxony and Bavaria. Perhaps the most prominent Guelph ruler was Henry the Lion. He inherited a vast territory, for his great-grandfather had already been Duke of Bavaria, and his grandfather had married into Saxony—an alliance that greatly expanded the realm.
From Droysen / Andrée; Th. Lindner rev. - Inset from plate 26/27 of Professor G. Droysens Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas, published by R. Andrée, 1886, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17094966
Henry the Lion – Founder of Lübeck, Munich, and Schwerin
As Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, Henry founded the cities of Lübeck (1143), Munich (1158), and Schwerin (1164). He transformed Braunschweig into a prestigious ducal residence by commissioning the construction of Dankwarderode Castle and the collegiate church of St. Blasius. In addition, he was responsible for the building of the cathedrals in Ratzeburg, Schwerin, and Lübeck. He was also the patron of the precious Gospel Book mentioned above, which now bears his name.
St. Blasii Cathedral
Brunswick Lion in front of the Ratzeburg Cathedral
Lübeck Cathedral
Guelphs versus Hohenstaufen – Henry the Lion vs. Frederick Barbarossa
In the 12th century, a power struggle erupted within the Holy Roman Empire between the Guelphs and the Hohenstaufen.
The Guelphs’ power had grown alongside the size of their territories, allowing them to rule almost like kings. Their influence was such that they ultimately aspired to the German crown and, with it, the imperial title of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Hohenstaufen, however, also sought the crown. They were closely related to the Salian imperial family, and when the last Salian emperor died, it was the Hohenstaufen’s turn to claim the throne. The two main rivals were Henry the Lion and the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I, known as Barbarossa.
In the struggle for dominance within the empire, not only the Hohenstaufen but also the smaller princes had little interest in the Guelphs becoming too powerful. Because succession in the German lands was determined by election rather than inheritance, such matters were typically decided by politics, calculation, and strategy rather than by law.
In the end, the Hohenstaufen prevailed—not through war or battles, but by having the Guelphs stripped of their imperial fiefs in 1180. Bavaria went to the Wittelsbach family, who ruled the region continuously until 1918, when monarchies in Germany came to an end. Saxony was divided: the western part (Westphalia) went to the Archbishopric of Cologne, while the eastern part later became part of Anhalt and Brandenburg.
Henry the Lion was placed under imperial ban and spent this period in England at the court of his father-in-law, the King of England. He eventually returned and spent the remainder of his life on the remaining Guelph territories inherited through Wulfhild of Saxony—areas around Braunschweig, Lüneburg, and Wolfenbüttel. By then, both the territory and power of the Guelphs had been drastically reduced.
Tribal Duchy of Saxony before it was broken up in 1180 . Orange is the property of Henry the Lion , which in 1235 formed the basis of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
From scanned and slightly edited (superfluous text removed) by commander-pirx - (editor and publisher) Eduard Rothert: Maps in maps and sketches from the development of the larger German states, Volume VI of the & quot; Historischen Kartenwerkes & quot ;, part a) North and Central Germany, Düsseldorf 1902 ,, PD-alt-100, https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6471332
It is almost surprising that Henry the Lion remains so prominent in historical memory, given that he ultimately failed to assert himself and lost a great deal. Yet it is likely that the Guelph–Hohenstaufen power struggle, known as the German throne dispute, as well as Henry’s cultural achievements as a city founder, builder, and patron of the arts, are what secured his place in German history.
What Remained: The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg
The Guelph–Hohenstaufen dispute was finally settled when Otto the Child, a grandson of Henry the Lion, was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1235.
The double name of the duchy originated from the two castles in Brunswick and Lüneburg, along with their associated rights. Under Otto’s sons, Albert and John, the duchy was divided into Lüneburg and Brunswick in 1269. Nevertheless, the Lüneburg branch retained the double name Brunswick-Lüneburg, since Dankwarderode Castle had been assigned to both brothers, and the ducal title was linked to the Brunswick castle.
The subsequent history of the duchy was marked by further divisions and reunifications.
The Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
In the 15th century, the Brunswick line moved its residence from Brunswick to Wolfenbüttel—not voluntarily, but due to growing tensions between the dukes and the city’s citizens. The residence in Brunswick was lost, and the dukes henceforth called themselves Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, named after the new capital. During the Thirty Years’ War, the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel line died out and was continued by Duke Augustus of Lüneburg-Dannenberg, who established a new Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel line. Under him, Wolfenbüttel reached its greatest splendor, and he founded the Herzog August Library, the largest of its kind in Europe at the time.
Since the departure of the Brunswick dukes, the city of Brunswick had been independent. However, in 1671, the Welf rulers managed to reconquer the city with a united army—a major success and long-cherished dream of the Welfs, as the ducal title was tied to the castle, and Brunswick was a key symbol of the dynasty.
Afterwards, the dukes returned to Dankwarderode Castle, which dealt a significant blow to Wolfenbüttel: many residents moved to the new capital, causing the population of Wolfenbüttel to drop from 12,000 to 7,000.
Braunschweig
So far a lot of history and dynastic affairs, but where should one start when exploring the city?
The best place is the Burgplatz, the city’s secular and ecclesiastical center.
The Burgplatz
The Brunswick Lion
In the middle of Burgplatz stands the bronze sculpture of the Brunswick Lion on a pedestal. It bears a certain resemblance to the Capitoline Wolf in Rome’s Capitoline Museums, which nurses Romulus and Remus.
It is assumed that Henry the Lion saw the Roman she-wolf during one of his Italian campaigns with Barbarossa. Lions symbolize power, Rome stands for imperial ambition. Henry most likely chose this animal and had it cast in bronze to demonstrate his own claim to power against the Hohenstaufen emperor Barbarossa.
The lion was created in the second half of the 12th century. It weighs 880 kilograms, is 1.75 meters high and 2.79 meters long. Interestingly, until the 1980s the original 12th-century sculpture still stood in Burgplatz. The only exception was during the Second World War, when it was removed—but not until 1943. Until then, it had remained completely unprotected in a city that, due to its armaments industry, was a prime target for the Allies and suffered more than forty air raids.
Eventually, the lion was dismantled and hidden for the rest of the war in the Rammelsberg mine near Goslar (today a UNESCO World Heritage Site). It was walled up in a remote gallery and survived the war intact. In fact, the plan had been to move it to Silesia for safekeeping. Had that happened, it would have fallen into the hands of the Red Army in 1945 and would almost certainly be standing in Moscow today. The Soviets transferred nearly all the artworks they could seize in Germany to the great museums in Moscow and Leningrad. In the early 1950s, they returned many of these looted treasures to their “socialist brother state,” the GDR—among them the collection of the National Gallery in Berlin, the Dresden Picture Gallery, and the Pergamon Museum. However, treasures from museums located in western German territories, which had been hidden during the war on land later captured by the Soviets—as nearly happened with the Brunswick Lion—remained in Moscow.
This was precisely the fate of other famous treasures, such as the legendary “Treasure of Priam” from ancient Troy and the “Merovingian Treasure,” both formerly part of Berlin’s Museum of Ethnology. These collections had been stored in the flak tower at Berlin Zoo. When the Soviets took Berlin, these treasures were removed to Moscow. Since the Museum of Ethnology ended up on West Berlin territory after the city’s division, the treasures were not returned to the “western enemy” but remained in the Pushkin Museum, where they can still be seen today.
After the war, the Brunswick Lion was brought back from the Harz mine to the city. As the diary entries of Robert Lonsdale Charles, the British officer in charge of art protection at the time, reveal, its return was greeted with great joy by the people of Brunswick. Crowds gathered for the event, stroked the sculpture, and lifted their children so they could see the lion. Charles wrote that he was moved by the scene. Only in the 1980s was the sculpture replaced by a replica. The original now stands next door in Dankwarderode Castle. Incidentally, the lion was not the only piece stored in the Goslar mine during the war—also safeguarded there were the seven-branched candelabrum, the Imervard Cross from the cathedral, and the sarcophagi of Henry and Matilda.
Today, there are numerous replicas of the lion. One stands in front of Ratzeburg Cathedral, others in front of the Imperial Palace in Goslar, Schwerin Cathedral, Lübeck Cathedral, at Harvard University in the United States, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Interestingly, several Brunswick Lions are found in the Anglo-Saxon world, pointing to the historic connection between Saxons and Britons: the Anglo-Saxons, the House of Hanover, and even today the Welf dynasty’s heirs such as Ernst August of Hanover and his son, who are not only German citizens but also Austrian and British.
Dankwarderode Castle
Dankwarderode Castle on Burgplatz
Dankwarderode Castle stands on the eastern side of the square. It looks like a royal palace, and indeed the Imperial Palace of Goslar served as its model—Henry the Lion’s way of expressing his claim to power. (If you want to see what the Imperial Palace in Goslar looks like, click here.)
Today, only the palas of the former castle remains visible on Burgplatz. In the 13th century, the castle was destroyed in a city fire. During the Renaissance it was rebuilt, but in the early 15th century the ducal residence was moved to Wolfenbüttel, and the castle fell into ruin. Parts of it were dismantled, leaving little more than the palas.
It was not until the 19th century—the age of medieval revival—that the castle was reconstructed as a Neo-Romanesque building, based largely on detailed research into Henry the Lion’s original fortress.
St. Blasii Cathedral
On the south side of the Burgplatz is the St. Blasii Cathedral, which Heinrich had built as a burial place for himself and his wife Mathilde of England.
St. Blasii Cathedral
The tomb is located inside the cathedral, where stone effigies of Henry and Matilda can be seen; Henry holds a model of Brunswick Cathedral in his hand. However, the two are not actually buried there—their real sarcophagus lies in the cathedral’s crypt, the burial place of the Brunswick branch of the Welf dynasty.
Tomb of Henry the Lion and his wife Mathilde of England in St. Blasii Cathedral
Between 1936 and 1938, under the National Socialist regime, a new crypt for Henry the Lion and Matilda was constructed. The architects Walter and Johannes Krüger were commissioned with the design. Above the entrance to the crypt, a stylized lion’s head by the sculptor Arno Breker was installed. The two architects were also responsible for designing the Tannenberg Memorial in East Prussia.
Gruft Henrichs und Mathildes, erbaut von 1936-38
The redesign of the Brunswick crypt was part of National Socialist politics of history. The Nazis regarded Henry the Lion as a prototype of the Germanic prince and thus elevated him to the status of an early German national hero. Moreover, Brunswick was a stronghold of the NSDAP, especially under Minister President Dietrich Klagges, who sought to promote the city as a “National Socialist center.” The redesign of the crypt fit neatly into this concept. It was not merely an architectural or restoration project, but a politically motivated act of Nazi historical ideology. The aim was to appropriate Henry the Lion for the National Socialist narrative and to enhance Brunswick’s symbolic importance.
Henry and Matilda’s Sarcophagus in the Crypt. Redesign of the Burial Site in National Socialist Germany, 1936–1938.
Crypt with the Guelph crypt
View of the apse in St. Blasii Cathedral
Apse and choir vault of St. Blasii Cathedral
North aisle St. Blasi i
The Welf Treasure – An Exciting Story
The Welf Treasure, already mentioned above, is one of the most important church treasures of the Middle Ages. Comprising works from the 11th to the 15th centuries, it now consists of 44 pieces from the original 82. The treasure once belonged to the collegiate church of St. Blasii, the representational center of Henry the Lion. The remaining part of the treasure is now valued at around 200 million euros. However, these 44 pieces are no longer in Brunswick—they are now in Berlin.
But let’s start from the beginning:
In 1929, Duke Ernst August of Brunswick-Lüneburg sold the treasure. After the revolution of 1918 and the resulting end of noble privileges in Germany, the Guelph family had lost its sources of income and needed money. Earlier negotiations to sell the collection to museums or the city of Hanover had failed, as finances were equally strained there. It is important to remember that Germany had just lost the First World War, reparations were imposed under the Treaty of Versailles, and economic sanctions made it impossible for anyone to fund such a treasure.
Eventually, the treasure was bought by a consortium of art dealers. They displayed it in Frankfurt, Berlin, and the United States—not as part of a curated exhibition, but with the goal of selling it. About 38 items, roughly half of the collection, were sold. Most of these pieces can now be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio and the Art Institute of Chicago. (A list of all the treasure’s items before 1929 and their current locations can be found here.)
The dealers themselves soon faced financial difficulties due to the global economic crisis. In addition, the increasingly threatening antisemitic climate in Germany compelled them to sell the remaining treasure in 1935 to the still legally existing state of Prussia. For the rulers of the Nazi regime, this acquisition had high symbolic value: after its “wanderings through the New World,” the treasure had now been “saved for the German homeland.”
During the Second World War, the treasure was relocated for safekeeping, later confiscated by American forces, and eventually returned in trust. It came under the care of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which initially displayed it in Dankwarderode Castle in the center of Brunswick. After strong objections from the city of Brunswick and the state of Lower Saxony, the treasure was transferred to Berlin, where it has since been on display in the Museum of Applied Arts.
Seven-armed candlestick and St. Mary's altar with virung and apse in the background
But the story doesn’t end there. The descendants of the Jewish art dealers are seeking the return of the remaining treasure, arguing that the sale had been made under duress. They took their case all the way to the highest American court, the Supreme Court, which on February 3, 2021, unanimously ruled that this matter is not to be decided by an American court, but only by a German court. According to the current state of scholarly research, there was no coercion involved in the sale, and the purchase was conducted properly. It is therefore likely that the treasure will remain in Berlin in the future.
Braunschweig today
The city was heavily affected during the war, as it was an industrial, armaments, and research center, leaving large parts of it destroyed afterward. During the reconstruction, the city pursued the concept of creating so-called “tradition islands”—select, historically inspired urban ensembles intended to give future generations an impression of the former city. This concept was controversial, but ultimately implemented. In hindsight, much else that could have been preserved was destroyed, as the focus was on the tradition islands and the rest was left for demolition. In the surviving areas, one can still get a sense of what Braunschweig once looked like, although some buildings are no longer in their original locations but have been relocated. Critics argued that the city had effectively been turned into an open-air museum.
Braunschweiger Rathaus
Magniviertel
Burgplatz, with Dankwarderode Castle on the left, St. Blasii Cathedral on the right, the Brunswick Lion in the foreground, and the Town Hall tower in the background.
Kohlmarkt
Kohlmarkt
Kohlmarkt
Old Town Market, from left to right: Gewandhaus, Old Rüninger Tollhouse, St. Martin’s Church.
Old Town Market, with the Altstadt Market Fountain in the foreground, the Old Town Hall behind it, and St. Martin’s Church on the left.
Old Town Hall at the Altstadt Market.
At Martinikirche, Eiermarket
Magniviertel
Mutter Habenicht, traditionelles Gasthaus unweit des Burgplatzes
Typische Braunschweiger Spezialität: Kartoffelschnaps mit kleinem Kartoffelpuffer
Residential palace
The castle was so badly damaged during the war that reconstruction was rejected in the 1950s and it was torn down against the resistance of many Braunschweig residents. Behind the castle there was the castle park, which has since disappeared because a shopping center, the castle arcades, was built there. In 2007 the arcades were inaugurated. The facade of the residential palace was reconstructed, but it looks a bit lost today between the rest of the 1960s buildings.
wiederaufgebaute Fassade des Schlosses
Schloss Richmond
Schloss Richmond ist ein elegantes kleines Schloss im Süden von Braunschweig, das zwischen 1768 und 1769 für Prinzessin Augusta von Großbritannien erbaut wurde. Sie war die Schwester von König Georg III. und heiratete Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, den späteren Herzog von Braunschweig. Benannt wurde das Schloss nach ihrer englischen Heimat, dem Richmond Park bei London.
Ihr Bruder Georg III. (geb. 1738 in London, gest. 1820 in Windsor) war König von England, aber auch Kurfürst und ab 1814 (Wiener Kongress) König von Hannover. Das britische Königshaus stammte aus dem Haus Hannover.
(Willst du mehr über die Verbindung von Hannover und England wissen? Klick hier.)
Der umliegende Park wurde ab 1768 nach den Plänen des englischen Landschaftsarchitekten Lancelot "Capability" Brown gestaltet und von Hofgärtner Götze ausgeführt. Er zählt zu den frühesten englischen Landschaftsgärten in Norddeutschland und wurde bewusst als Erinnerung an Augustas Heimat konzipiert.
Wolfenbüttel
There is a lot to see in Wolfenbüttel: On the one hand the castle , which is after all the second largest in Lower Saxony; the dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel resided here. Then you should take a look at the Herzog-August-Bibliothek , which in its time was hailed as the eighth wonder of the world. Incidentally, none other than Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was the head of the library and wrote, among other things, his main work "Nathan the Wise" in Wolfenbüttel. Then there is the picturesque old town, which remained unscathed during the war with hundreds of half-timbered houses and two churches that should be particularly emphasized: The main church Beatae Mariae Virgines , the very first large Protestant building with the crypt of the dukes of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and also the conductor Praetorius is buried in the church. The second church is St. Trinitatis , which is considered to be one of the most important baroque buildings in Germany and from which you can read all the principles of Protestant sacred architecture.
Herzog-August-Bibliothek
Herzog-August Bibliothek
August der Jüngere (1579 - 1666), nach dem die Bibliothek benannt ist, stammte aus der Celler Linie der Welfen und hatte eigentlich überhaupt keine Chance Herrscher eines Fürstentums zu werden. Als aber die braunschweigische Linie nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg ausgestorben war, gab es einen Erbfolgestreit, den August für sich entscheiden konnte.
Schon zuvor, als er noch bescheiden in Hitzacker an der Elbe residierte, sammelte der weitgereiste, gebildete und studierte Mann Bücher. Ganz dem Geiste seiner Zeit entsprechend, sammelte er das Wissen der Welt, vermutlich um aus diesen Kenntnissen den Anspruch seiner Herrschaft abzuleiten, so wie es im Zeitalter der Renaissance alle taten. Die einen sammelten Kuriositäten und naturwissenschaftliche Objekte, Naturalia, Exotica aus den neu entdeckten Erdteilen, die anderen sammelten das enzyklopädische Weltwissen in Büchern. Die Renaissance war das Zeitalter, in dem sich die Leidenschaft für das Wissen über die Welt in exzessiver Sammelleidenschaft ausdrückte. Die wissenschaftliche Durchdringung der Schöpfung und das Verständnis für das Werk Gottes trieben die Fürsten an, denn wer die Schöpfung verstand, war schon fast gottgleich. Aus diesem Sammelbedürfnis entwickelten sich viele großartige Sammlungen unserer heutigen Zeit oder die Sammlungen bildeten die Keimzellen für spätere Museen.
Der alte Bibliothek-Vorgängerbau, die sogenannte Rotunde
Herzog-August Library
August the Younger (1579 - 1666), after whom the library is named, came from the Celle line of the Guelphs and actually had no chance at all to become ruler of a principality. But when the Brunswick line died out after the Thirty Years' War, there was an inheritance dispute that August won.
Even before that, when he lived modestly in Hitzacker on the Elbe, the well-traveled, educated and studied man collected books. In keeping with the spirit of his time, he collected the knowledge of the world, presumably in order to derive the claim to rule as a connoisseur and ruler of this world knowledge, as everyone did in the Renaissance. Some collected curiosities and scientific objects, naturalia, exotica etc. from the newly discovered continents, others collected world knowledge in books. The Renaissance was definitely the age when the passion for knowledge of the world was expressed in excessive collecting. But also the penetration of creation and the understanding of the work of God drove the princes in the Renaissance age. Whoever understands creation is almost godlike. Many great collections of our time have developed from this need to collect, or the collections formed the nucleus for later museums.
At first glance, the library doesn't look as solemn and overwhelming as, for example, the baroque monastery libraries in southern Germany such as St. Gallen or Admont or the Anna Amalia library in Weimar. It also looks quite modern in parts for a library that stores medieval treasures, especially because of its relatively new furniture from the 1970s. Almost all book spines are cream-colored, white, some brown or yellowed. In any case, the dominant tone on all shelves is white. The height of the books on each of the three floors is approximately the same. A dark ceiling rises above it and the books are illuminated indirectly, as if they had an illuminating power that brings light into the dark room.
August had already created a catalog in Hitzacker, a bike with six books that can be viewed in the library today.
Katalog der Bibliothek, angelegt von Herzog August
Heute ist die Bibliothek eine Forschungsstätte von internationalem Rang mit einem Bestand von ca. 1 Million Bänden, davon 350.000 Bücher aus dem 15. - 17. Jahrhundert. In mehreren Räumen wie der Augusteerhalle, der Schatzkammer, dem Globensaal, dem Kabinett und dem Malerbuchsaal sind die Schätze zu betrachten.
Den Höhepunkt bildet zweifelsohne das Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen, das, wie gesagt, 1982 für 32,5 Million Mark in London erstanden wurde. Das Geld für den Kauf des Evangeliars wurde zusammengetragen von den Ländern Niedersachsen und Bayern, der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, den jetzigen Eigentümern des Buches. (Willst du wissen, wo und von wem das Buch hergestellt wurde? Klick hier.)
Weitere Handschriften-Schätze der Bibliothek sind:
Der Codex Guelferbytanus A und Codex Guelferbytanus B, eine griechische Handschrift des Neuen Testaments aus dem 5. Jahrhhundert.
Der Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum, ein Fachbuch für römische Landvermesser aus dem 6. Jahrhhundert.
Die Annales guelferbytani, Reichsannalen des Fränkischen Reichs aus dem 9. Jahrhhundert
Das Capitulare de villis, das einzige Exemplar der Landgüterverordnung, die Karl der Große über die Verwaltung der Krongüter erließ.
Das Bernwardspsalter, eine kostbare liturgische Handschrift aus dem 11. Jahrhhundert
Der Sachsenspiegel als vergoldete Bilderhandschrift aus dem 14. Jahrhundert
usw.
Die Besichtigung der Bibliothek sollte man im Rahmen einer Führung machen.
Lessinghaus
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing verbrachte die letzten elf Jahre seines Lebens (1770–1781) in Wolfenbüttel, wo er als Bibliothekar der Herzog August Bibliothek tätig war. Diese Zeit war geprägt von bedeutenden literarischen Werken, persönlichen Schicksalsschlägen und seinem Engagement für die Aufklärung.
Nach seiner Ankunft in Wolfenbüttel bewohnte Lessing zunächst Räume im leerstehenden Schloss. Dort vollendete er 1772 sein Drama Emilia Galotti.
Nach seiner Hochzeit mit Eva König im Jahr 1776 zog Lessing mit seiner Frau in das Meißnerhaus.
Ab 1777 lebte das Ehepaar im sogenannten Lessinghaus, einem ehemaligen Hofbeamtenhaus. Hier schrieb Lessing sein bekanntestes Werk Nathan der Weise (1779).
Das sogenannte Lessinghaus, ein ehemaliges Hofbeamtenhaus
Lessings Ehe mit Eva König war nur von kurzer Dauer. Am 24. Dezember 1777 wurde ihr gemeinsamer Sohn geboren, der jedoch bereits am nächsten Tag verstarb. Wenige Wochen später, am 10. Januar 1778, erlag Eva Lessing den Folgen des Kindbettfiebers.
Wolfenbüttel Castle
Service "Alt Fürstenberg Rose" der Porzellanmanufaktur Fürstenberg, die 1747 in diesem Schloss gegründet wurde
Main church of Beatae Mariae Virginis
Gesetz-und-Gnade-Bild von Vredeman de Vries, Kirche Beatae Mariae Virginis, Wolfenbüttel
The above painting by Vredemann de Vries corresponds to the law-and-grace genre. This genre was often painted in the Cranach School and interpreted here in his own way by de Vries. It is a Reformation allegory that takes up Luther's idea that the faith of the individual alone leads to salvation.
Law and grace images are built up antithetically.
On the left side the law can be seen, embodied by Moses, who is holding the tablets of the law in his hand. The law determines who will ultimately be driven to hell and who will be redeemed. Asking and begging does not help, so most of the pictures depict sinful people in the Cranach style, as they are driven to hell by the devil and death. This was omitted in this picture, instead Moses holds a sword in his left hand that is used for judging. His gaze is directed at the picture viewer and can be interpreted as a warning, perhaps observing gaze. The sin on the left is represented by Eve, who tasted the apple from the tree of knowledge. She has attributes of the beings of darkness - horns, dragon wings. Her serpentine body winds around the cross.
The cross with Christ crucified divides the picture in half.
Jesus' gaze points to the right half of the picture, because grace is seen on the right. The human being, embodied here by the man kneeling in front of the cross, presumably Adam, although he is clothed, turns to Jesus and thereby experiences grace, no matter what sins he has committed. To the right of him is John the Baptist. He points to Jesus and holds the gospel in his hand.
Welfengruft in der Kirche Beatae Mariae Virginis
St. Trinity Church
St.-Trinitatis-Kirche, Wolfenbüttel
At first glance, the broad front of this church is noticeable, and that brings you to an essential point of Protestant church building.
While in the Middle Ages churches were designed as longitudinal structures, i.e. as basilica, in which one went through the long nave to the liturgical area, i.e. choir, altar, apse and a clear direction was given to the most important (e.g. Cologne Cathedral), is a Protestant church consistently designed differently.
The most important thing in the Roman Catholic Mass is the Eucharist, also known as the Last Supper or Holy Communion. This proclaims the salvation event of life and death and the resurrection of Christ. At the moment of the The Lord's Supper is Christ among the believers. This takes place on altar instead, which thus the Is the center of a Catholic church building. In addition, the Roman Catholic Church is hierarchically structured, which is expressed in the fact that the pastor is the central person in the worship service. His office is tied into an ecclesiastical order in which he stands between the bishop and the congregation. A longitudinal building best reflects a hierarchical order, the further east, the closer to the altar, the closer one is most important.
It is quite different in the Protestant Church the end. At the center of this belief is the Bible, that is, the word. Everything that was added in the course of church history and cannot be substantiated by the Bible is categorically rejected by the Evangelical Church. These include, for example, the saints in the Bible do not occur at all. For evangelicals, the only legitimate reference point is the Bible. The church as an institution is less important than the individual's commitment to his or her faith.
The Gospel of Matthew says, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them." This sentence enables a Protestant to live his faith without a pastor and in any place, for example on a meadow or in a living room. Belief in personal relationship too God is the only thing that matters.
As a result, the office of a pastor is less important than in the Catholic Church.
Because the Protestant Church thereby has a certain democratic Has structures, some free churches go so far that there is no pastor at all, but that every parishioner can go forward on an equal footing during a service to convey his or her thoughts to the parish. Of course, this requires a strong biblical firmness of the parishioners, the members of a free church in the Rule.
In Protestant church architecture, the central meaning of the word and the less hierarchical structure of the congregation is expressed in the fact that the place where the word is spoken is in the center of the church and not at its end. It's the pulpit that is in the evangelical Church is often located above the altar, with the organ above it. The architectural Hierarchy clearly that one has the word over the altar, which is for the Eucharist stands, puts.
With one rather democratic Conception the community is one lengthwise less suitable, therefore Protestant churches are often central buildings (e.g. Frauenkirche in Dresden or Bergkirche in Seiffen) or transverse structures (e.g. Trinitatiskirche in Wolfenbüttel; Petrikirche in Ratzeburg) , as the parish can easily arrange itself around the pastor in order to listen to him. Basically, a plenary hall in a parliament can be compared to an ideal Protestant church.
The same was true of the benches in new buildings after the war arranged that the place where the word is spoken is surrounded by several sides.
Galleries are also a characteristic of the Protestant church, they enable a closeness to the spoken word, in no way do the galleries in a Protestant church have anything to do with you rank to do.
Medieval Churches weren't like that, of course designed because there had been no Reformation at that time. If after the Reformation one When the medieval church became a Protestant church, because the sovereign joined the Protestant faith, it naturally remained a longitudinal building.
Even in the 19th century there were discussions about the conception, after which one orientated itself more towards the Middle Ages, so that some newly built Protestant churches then again resembled a Gothic longitudinal building.
With the Evangelicals, the concept of the community and the concept of the church are little separated. the church as an institution indeed does not play the supporting role as i n the Catholic Church.
After the second World War I showed this in the architecture to the effect that community centers with a room for church services were built. This turned away from the Sunday church towards an everyday church in which parish life also takes place.
In Protestant churches that come from the Middle Ages, for example in Wismar, parish life takes place in the Side chapels instead, for example in the form of handicraft corners for children, etc. In Wismar, films are shown in the church even in the summer, of course none Blockbusters , but classics that are related to the city ("Nosferatu" by Wilhelm Murnau). This temporarily turns the church into a cinema, so to speak. Such sights hurt some Catholics because they naturally lead to a disenchantment of the church's thought.
In general, Protestant churches appear sober, which many - including some Protestants - find less appealing. Naturally There are umpteen different manifestations and not every Protestant church is simple, some churches are irritating because they are so lush , e.g. the Frauenkirche in Dresden, which was built in full baroque style, which does not seem sober, but the building is in his The conception is Protestant through and through. The same applies to the lavishly furnished Berlin Cathedral. As residential cities, Dresden and Berlin needed representative buildings and that's why Simplicity just not suitable.
Was macht eine evangelische Kirche aus?
In vorreformatorischer Zeit waren Kirchen als Längsbauten konzipiert. Die Längsrichtung des Kirchenschiffs wies auf den liturgischen Bereich im Osten, auf den Altar, wo die Eucharistie gefeiert wird, der wichtigste Moment im katholischen Gottesdienst, mit dem das Heilsereignis des Lebens und Sterbens und die Wiederauferstehung Christi gefeiert werden.
Ganz anders sieht es in der evangelischen Kirche aus. Dort steht das Wort, die Bibel im Mittelpunkt. Für evangelische Christen ist dies der einzige Bezugspunkt, auf den sie sich berufen.
In der evangelischen Kirchenarchitektur versucht man der zentralen Bedeutung des Wortes gerecht zu werden, indem man statt Längsbauten Zentralbauten bevorzugt. Die Gemeinde sitzt darin angeordnet wie in einem Plenarsaal und hat dadurch eine größere Nähe zum Wort des Pfarrers. Bekannte Beispiele dafür sind die Frauenkirche in Dresden, die Bergkirche in Seiffen oder die Paulskirche in Frankfurt, die sogar tatsächlich als Plenarsaal für die erste Nationalversammlung diente, die erste Volksvertretung für ganz Deutschland. Es gibt auch Querbauten wie z.B. die Trinitatiskirche in Wolfenbüttel oder die Petrikirche in Ratzeburg, die ebenfalls aus dem Gedanken heraus entstanden, dass ein Längsbau zu viel Distanz zum Wort des Pfarrers auf der Kanzel schafft.
Der Zentralbau wurde erst nach der Reformation richtig populär, auch wenn es bereits Vorbilder im byzantinischen Kirchenbau gab, die vereinzelt im frühen Mittelalter bis nach Ravenna und Aachen ausstrahlten. Im hohen Mittelalter waren Längsbauten angesagt und wenn nach der Reformation eine mittelalterliche Kirche protestantisch wurde, weil sich der Landesherr dem protestantischen Glauben anschloss, blieb sie natürlich ein Längsbau.
St. Trinitatis, Innenansicht
Emporen für Gemeindemitglieder sind ebenfalls ein Merkmal evangelischer Kirchen, auch sie ermöglichen eine größere Nähe zum Pfarrer, keinesfalls haben sie etwas mit einem Rang oder gar der Trennung der Geschlechter zu tun.
Die Kanzel, von der gepredigt wird, befindet sich oft über dem Altar, wodurch die Predigt über die Eucharistie gesetzt wird.
Auch eine Kirche als Gebäude ist bei den Evangelischen generell weniger wichtig als das Bekenntnis des einzelnen zu Gott. Im Matthäusevangelium heißt es: "Denn wo zwei oder drei in meinem Namen versammelt sind, da bin ich mitten unter ihnen." Gottesdienste können auch ohne Pfarrer und auch an jedem beliebigen Ort gefeiert werden, gegebenenfalls in Privaträumen oder auf einer Wiese.
Bei den Evangelischen sind der Gemeindegedanke und der Kirchengedanke wenig getrennt, was sich nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in der Architektur dahingehend zeigte, dass Gemeindezentren mit einem Raum für Gottesdienste errichtet wurden. Damit wandte man sich von der Sonntagskirche ab, hin zu einer Alltagskirche, in der auch das Gemeindeleben stattfindet.
In manchen Freikirchen äußern Gemeindemitglieder während des Gottesdienstes ihre Gedanken gleichberechtigt ohne hierarchische Strukturen, was solide Bibelfestigkeit voraussetzt, die die Mitglieder von Freikirchen in der Regel haben.