Saturday, July 30, 2016

Gleanings of the Freiburg Vigil

Last November, Red Baron surveyed Freiburg from a shelter mounted on the roof of the municipal theater serving as one of the tower warders (Türmer) in an art project. When we warders had finished our vigil, we were asked to write down our sensations.

In my blog, I wrote, "I sat down and noted my impression on two pages. Are those lost? I posed the pertinent question in a preparatory meeting for the art project. Joanne Leighton and her co-workers had yet to make up their minds.

Last month I was informed about the documentation of the project. It was not a book but a thick pile of sheets in a box, each showing photos of four tower warders and a short text.


When I got my copy, the lady behind the counter said: Don't feel disappointed if your text is not printed. Eventually, I was semi-disappointed because my text had been cut and reproduced but in parts. Here is a copy of the relevant sheet from the box testifying that my vigil had started on November 23, 2015, at 1545 hours.


Here is the translation of my printed text describing my observations in part: To the right are the twin towers of Johannes church, the university tower with the blue-white-blue flag where nobody knows what the combination of colors means. Next is St. Martin's Gate, where you may admire its rise in height at the time of Lord Mayor Otto Winterer. He well knew that a town has steeples and villages roofs. Follow the Münster church, its steeple being an eternal building site, the steeple of the Jesuit church, and the one of the Martin church. Hold on, I forgot to mention the viewing tower on Schlossberg presently with an amputated leg*. Above all, a hazy two-third moon is shining.
*The wooden construction being rotten, needed a metallic prosthesis.

We were not allowed to keep or make a full copy of our handwritten impressions, so the rest of my text is lost in the project, and as I had mentioned in my original blog: We were not allowed to take photos either. Therefore I appreciate the picture on the back of "my" sheet showing the final ramp to the observation shelter in the backlight of the morning sun.

*

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