Alsfeld

On the return bus ride to Freiburg, the experiences of the cultural trip to Thuringia in Meiningen, Gotha, and Kochberg were still fresh in our minds when our driver announced a lunch break at Alsfeld, Hesse.

In the Middle Ages and early modern times, this small town lay on the trade route between Frankfurt and Leipzig and was therefore wealthy. However, as elsewhere in Germany, the situation changed abruptly with the devastations of the Thirty Years' War.

But here it was neither the Imperial nor the Swedish forces, but the North Hessian brothers who brutally attacked Alsfeld, the town in Hesse-Darmstadt. The Hessian-Kassel troops beleaguered Alsfeld, blew a breach in the medieval wall, and set the town on fire. "Thirty buildings were set alight by grenades thrown into them; all the suburbs were razed to the ground and 200 houses were demolished." Subsequently, Alsfeld degenerated into a farming hamlet.

  

©Otto Rohse/Wikipedia

The old glory of Alsfeld becomes evident in its preserved, half-timbered, and richly decorated stone buildings that even adorn German postage stamps.

Our guide told us the following legend about the origin of the town's name: Around the year 1200, the Landgrave of Hesse-Thuringia was riding across the Vogelsberg. On a hill near the present town, the Homberg, a strong wind blew the count's hat off his head. He remarked, "Als* fells my hat off my head (Als fällt [> Alsfeld] mir der Hut vom Kopp)." Hurray, this pun can be translated.
*"Als" is Upper Hessian for "always."

During our tour, we passed the remains of the Medieval wall, against which the Augustinian monastery nestled. In 1522, the Augustinian monk Tilemann Schnabel, a friend of Martin Luther, preached the Reformation from the top of this wall. 

The courtyard of the former Augustinian monastery.

The ruling Landgrave was not amused and ordered Schnabel to leave town. However, in 1525, the citizens voted for the return of their beloved preacher, and subsequently, the Alsfelders converted to the "new" religion.

Alsfeld is located on the Fairy Tale Road, which runs from Bremen to Hanau in Hesse. Therefore, the town features a fairytale house offering special entertainment for children. The late Vicepresident of the Museumsgesellschaft would have enjoyed the view.

The Minnigerode patrician stone house was built in 1687 in baroque style. Note the rich wood carving.

On our way to Alsfeld's market square, we passed Pius Bucket's butcher shop.

The town hall is Alsfeld's most famous landmark. It is a so-called Rähmbau, i.e., a several-storied construction.

The ground floor was used as a market hall.

The Weinhaus was built in 1538 to store and sell wine. Note the stepped gable decorated with rosettes.

The parish church of Walpurgis. Our guide is in full action.

A Lutheran church.

Christ is my life, and dying is my gain.

An impressive epitaph of 1632 for Senator Justus Stumpf and his wife Susanna Bucking, both names latinized. The couple had ten children, four boys, four girls - one unmarried without the bonnet - and two stillborns. Click to enlarge for the two squaddled babies below their eight siblings.

Due to the small size of the churchyard, older bones had to make way for the new dead. This chapel, built in the late Gothic style in 1386, served as an ossuary to store these bones. Since 1982, the historic building has been used as the town archives.

In the square in front of the chapel is an iron cage where, in the Middle Ages, miscreants were locked up and exposed to public ridicule.

We had lunch on the market square at the Wedding House, built in Renaissance style between 1564 and 1571.

I finished my lunch drinking a Pharisee, i.e., a hot drink made from sweetened coffee, brown rum, and a dollop of whipped cream.

On the way back to the bus, we read that Alsfeld has been a European model town for monument preservation for 50 years.

©Osthessen News

Another postal stamp pays witness.

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Kochberg

The next stop on our cultural tour to Gotha was Kochberg Castle.

On the way to the summer residence of Baronesse von Stein, we passed on smooth roads "flourishing landscapes" that Chancellor Kohl once had promised to the residents of the GDR.

Freifrau von Stein in 1753. Oil painting by A. C. Meuser

There are wild rumors about Goethe's relationship with the married Frau von Stein. But first of all, how did the 26-year-old Frankfurter end up at the Weimar Court?

It was astonishing that the Duchess Anna Amalia of Weimar chose the young Goethe as an educational companion, mentor, and conversation partner for her son Karl August. But she was an educated, enlightened princess who recognized that her small court in Weimar needed to raise its cultural and intellectual profile.

So when the author of "The Sorrows of Werther," famous throughout Europe, arrived in Weimar in 1775, he was just the right man for the job. And Crownprince Karl August, who had just come of age, was delighted, because he was not looking for dry instruction, but an intellectual role model, a comrade with stature.

Anna Amalia trusted that the intensive exchange with a creative mind like Goethe would shape the young prince into a modern, enlightened ruler.

Young Goethe's appeal lay in his blunt, direct, and mostly conventional nature, but this did not go down well at court.

This is where Courtlady Charlotte von Stein, seven years his senior, came into play. This educated, cultured, courtly, and socially adept mature woman encountered the talented, passionate, impetuous, but also somewhat uncouth young Goethe.

A close relationship developed in which Charlotte made Goethe's behavior socially acceptable and, above all, adjusted his relationship between emotion and reason. Not quite as his following poem dedicated to her shows:

Why did you give us those deep insights? To look forebodingly at our future, Our love, our earthly happiness Never daring to hope for bliss? Why did you give us, fate, the feelings To see into each other's hearts, To get through all the unusual bustle To discern our true relationship? Ah, so many thousands of people, Drifting, barely knowing their own hearts, Floating aimlessly back and forth and running Hopelessly in unforseen pain; Re-cheering when an unexpected dawn Breaks on the quick joys. Only we, the two poor lovers Are denied mutual happiness, To love each other without understanding each other, To see in the other what he never was, Always setting out fresh on a dream of happiness And to waver even in the danger of dreams. Happy is he who is occupied by an empty dream! Happy is he whose foreboding is vain! Every moment and every glance confirms Dream and foreboding, alas, even more. Tell me, what does fate have in store for us? Tell me, how did it bind us so purely and precisely? Ah, you were in times long past My sister or my wife. You knew every trait of my character, You peered into the purest nerve, You could read me with a glance, Which mortal eyes can hardly penetrate. You dripped moderation into my hot blood, You steered my wild, errant course, And resting in your angelic arms The broken heart was restored; You held him bound with magical ease And beguiled him for many a day. What bliss was comparable to those hours of delight, When he lay gratefully at your feet, Feeling his heart swell against yours, He felt good in your eyes, All his senses brighten And calmed his rushing blood. And from all this, one memory remains Only around the uncertain heart, Feels the old truth eternally the same within, And the new state becomes painful to him. And we seem only half alive, The brightest day is dim around us. Happy that the fate that torments us Does not know how to change us.

Warum gabst du uns die tiefen Blicke, Unsre Zukunft ahndungsvoll zu schaun, Unsrer Liebe, unsrem Erdenglücke Wähnend selig nimmer hinzutraun? Warum gabst uns, Schicksal, die Gefühle, Uns einander in das Herz zu sehn, Um durch all die seltenen Gewühle Unser wahr Verhältnis auszuspähn? Ach, so viele tausend Menschen kennen, Dumpf sich treibend, kaum ihr eigen Herz, Schweben zwecklos hin und her und rennen Hoffnungslos in unversehnem Schmerz; Jauchzen wieder, wenn der schnellen Freuden Unerwart´te Morgenröte tagt. Nur uns armen liebevollen Beiden Ist das wechselseitge Glück versagt, Uns zu lieben, ohn uns zu verstehen, In dem andern sehn, was er nie war, Immer frisch auf Traumglück auszugehen Und zu schwanken auch in Traumgefahr. Glücklich, den ein leerer Traum beschäftigt! Glücklich, dem die Ahndung eitel wär! Jede Gegenwart und jeder Blick bekräftigt Traum und Ahndung leider uns noch mehr. Sag, was will das Schicksal uns bereiten? Sag, wie band es uns so rein genau? Ach, du warst in abgelebten Zeiten Meine Schwester oder meine Frau. Kanntest jeden Zug in meinem Wesen, Spähtest, wie die reinste Nerve klingt, Konntest mich mit einem Blicke lesen, Den so schwer ein sterblich Aug durchdringt. Tropftest Mäßigung dem heißen Blute, Richtetest den wilden irren Lauf, Und in deinen Engelsarmen ruhte Die zerstörte Brust sich wieder auf; Hieltest zauberleicht ihn angebunden Und vergaukeltest ihm manchen Tag. Welche Seligkeit glich jenen Wonnestunden, Da er dankbar dir zu Füßen lag, Fühlt´ sein Herz an deinem Herzen schwellen, Fühlte sich in deinem Auge gut, Alle seine Sinnen sich erhellen Und beruhigen sein brausend Blut. Und von allem dem schwebt ein Erinnern Nur noch um das ungewisse Herz, Fühlt die alte Wahrheit ewig gleich im Innern, Und der neue Zustand wird ihm Schmerz. Und wir scheinen uns nur halb beseelet, Dämmernd ist um uns der hellste Tag. Glücklich, dass das Schicksal, das uns quälet, Uns doch nicht verändern mag.

Goethe's revelation renders the typical male question, "Did he or didn't he?" void.

However, there are rumors that Goethe wanted to flee Weimar with Charlotte and live "without status or name" in the free world. Despite her deep love for him, Charlotte had to refuse for quite rational reasons. So Goethe is said to have fled alone in 1786 to the land of all Germans' dreams, Italy. After his sudden disappearance, Charlotte was left frustrated, feeling he had abandoned her forever.

In Rome, Faustina, "a merry widow," is said to have "enlightened" the no longer young man, who later sang of sensuality in his Roman Elegies:

And so I sit, loving and beloved, on the lap Of my beloved, with one arm around her neck, I beat time with my finger, and sing the little song She learned from me and really enjoyed it.

Und so sitz’ ich denn, liebend und geliebt, auf dem Schoße Der Geliebten, und ein Arm um den Nacken geschlungen, Geb’ ich den Takt mit dem Finger und singe dazu das Liedchen, Das sie gelernt von mir und das ihr so gefallen.

Although Goethe still struggled for Charlotte's love, dedicating her his travel diary, he resigned himself to a "platonic love affair."

After his return to Weimar, Goethe continued to live out his sensuality outside of marriage with Christiane Vulpius, his Bettschatz (bedmate), which not only upset Frau von Stein, but the entire Weimar court.

It took several years for the two platonic lovers to find their way back to each other, with Goethe saying that Frau von Stein's influence had "educated" and "refined" him. 

Secret Councilor Goethe, 76, as a porcelain figurine

Even at the age of 66, he still learned, loved, and suffered, as the following Christmas greeting to her proves.

That you were born on this day, together with the Holy Christ
And August too, the noble, slender one,
For which I thank God in my heart,
This gives me, in the depths of winter, 
The most welcome opportunity
 To greet you with a little sugar,
To sweeten my absence,
Who, as always, far from the sun,
In silence, love, suffer, learn.

on 25. Dec.1815   Goethe

Kochberg village and castle

Back to Kochberg Castle, the memorial to an unfulfilled love.

 

Kochberg's walls exude the spirit of Goethe ...

... and Frau von Stein.

Schloss Kochberg. Pencil, pen, and ink drawing by Goethe 1777/1779

Goethe visited his love frequently at her summer residence and tried his drawing talent.

When he was absent, he would send her notes ...

... sometimes urgently via messengers.

Before I left the exhibition, I hopped into a canopy swing offered by the Kochberg Museum.

For lunch, Red Baron refreshed himself with a touch of GDR nostalgia, enjoying carrot and apple soup and an LPG* cake.

*Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft (Agricultural Production Cooperative)

After lunch, the vast park of Schloss Kochberg invited our group.

A reminder that everything is temporary.

    

The bathing spot was suitable for feet.

In the early evening, a treat awaited us.

Goethe's comedy "Die Mitschuldigen" (The Accomplices) was performed at Kochberg Castle in the small amateur theater that Charlotte's son Friedrich had built.

Goethe wrote the play in 1769 during his time in Leipzig. The plot is finely woven with witty dialogue, reminiscent of Molière's comedies, such as Tartuffe, with their double standards and hypocrisy. Lessing's bourgeois Enlightenment themes also influenced the young Goethe when he wrote the play.

All members of the family are morally guilty, whether through fraud, blackmail, deception, or self-deception. By showing the spectator that everyone is complicit, Goethe uses theater for the moral self-education of the audience.

Did he anticipate Schiller's maxim from 1784, "The theater is a moral institution"?

The long-lasting applause for the actors was well-deserved.

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Gotha Revisited

Red Baron visited Gotha for the first time in 2020, as I wanted to learn about the place that gave "The Gotha" its name. In 2020, the town was one big construction site. So I retreated to the Ducal Museum during my short visit.

I always enjoy returning to a city for a second time, once I have seen the most important sights. This was the case, and Volker Hollstein, an excellent town and castle guide, embellished my renewed experience.

Our city tour began at a spot where, looking uphill, we had a view of Castle Friedenstein (the stone of peace).

Looking down, we saw the town of Gotha with its red town hall at the foot of the hill.

The Wasserkunst (historical waterworks) obtains its water from an artificial canal built in the 15th century, the Leinakanal, which has been supplying Gotha with water since the Middle Ages, carrying it over 30 km from the Thuringian Forest to the city.

On our walk downhill toward the town hall, we passed a plaque commemorating Willy Brandt.

The city of Gotha has special significance for Germany's Social Democratic Party, as it was founded here in the Tivoli restaurant in 1875.

The museum was closed, so I could only take a photo of the commemorative plaque.

Back to our guided tour, where we stopped on the empty market square behind the town hall.

St. Gothardus bronze statue by the sculptor Rosita vom Hagen

Near the town hall, I noticed the statue of the local saint, St. Gothardus, depicting a stocky build.

A mosaic below the statue emphasizes the importance of St. Gothardus, an import from Hildesheim.

Click photos to enlarge.

Volker provided us with expert information about Gotha's history, including Meyers Konversations-Lexikon and the "The Gotha" business model. For each new entry, the applicant had to purchase three copies of the almanach.

Having reached the bottom, we walked uphill and saw the front of Gotha's longish town hall, which initially served as a market hall with stands on either side of a central passage.

The town hall shows a flood of coats of arms above its entrance. Their origins date back to the frequent divisions of Saxon territories. 

It all started in 1485 with the Leipzig Partition between the brothers Ernest and Albrecht. Ernst received the electoral dignity and the Ernestine lands with Thuringia, while Albrecht's Wettins received the Duchy of Saxony with Dresden and Meissen. 

After the Schmalkaldic Wars, Emperor Charles V decreed that the electoral dignity passed from the defeated Ernestinian John Frederick to the victorious Wettinian Moritz of Saxony, known as the Judas of Meissen.

Statue of Ernst der Fromme below Schloss Friedenstein

After the death of the Ernestine duke, Ernest the Pious, his seven sons divided Thuringia into the following petty states in the 1680 Treaty of Succession: Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Hildburghausen.

Following a lunch break, Red Baron walked uphill and noticed six small sculptures on a balustrade. A plaque explained their significance. Here are the six Gotha Virtues:

 

Fides (faith)

Prudentia (prudence)

Caritas (charity)

Fortitudo (courage)

Fortuna (happiness)

Spes (hope)

With the last statue, sculptor Bernd Göbel made an allusion to the German Democratic Republic, hoping for visa-free travel to Hawaii.

Duchess Luise Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Before reaching the place where our group was supposed to wait for our guide, Mr. Hollstein, for the afternoon tour of Friedenstein Castle, another of Göbel's sculptures caught my eye.

Also, this statue suggests that the sculptor was obsessed with women presenting beautiful breasts. Louise Dorothea's bold display of her bare knee is probably intended to indicate that the duchess was far ahead of her time with her "full spirit and thirst for knowledge." Well, the people of Gotha honor their duchess with an annual two-day baroque festival.

Looking around, I noticed a building covered with painted canvas that has been waiting for the last ten years to become a hotel.

After lunch, Mr. Hollstein gave us a knowledgeable tour of the museum within the Friedenstein Castle.

Friede ernehret, Unfriede verzehret.

The keystone above the entrance to Friedenstein bears the message: Peace nourishes, discord consumes. The goddess of wisdom, Minerva, and the god of arts, Apollo, hug each other.

This is a great place to sit enthroned. Tempi passati!

Of course, the rulers of Gotha also tried everything to emphasize their position by frequently displaying the Order of the Elephant. This order, along with the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Garter, is one of the three great classical European decorations.

An impressive line of sight through a suite of rooms.

This "world machine", a mechanical planetarium of the 18th century, demonstrates the scientific openness of the dukes and duchesses of Gotha.

The ducal house on the world stage. Vicky married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In Coburg: Queen Victoria and German Emperor Wilhelm II at the marriage of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg & Gotha in 1894.

A fantastic view from the castle of the ruled Gotha townscape.

  

And inside the castle, to the baroque Ekhof-Theater in the evening.

 

During the intermission, the left castle tower glowed in the evening light.

Applause, applause for the actors of Molière's Tartuffe.

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