Gary Kirkpatrick

Artist and travel blogger.

Burg Vischering

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Burg Vischering is home to the Museum of the same name. It is a castle dating from the 13th century. It is one of the most interesting castles we have visited in part due to the excellent written narrative, as well the views afforded by the attractive moat and the good condition of the structure. My remarks mostly come from the information provided on the museum’s plaques.

The first written reference is 1271, when the Bishop of Münster entrusted it to Knight Albert von Wulfheim, who was to defend the castle to assure its availability for the bishop. The primary concern was the ambition of the Hermann and Bernhard von Lüdinghausen, who resided in the nearby castles Lüdinghausen and wanted the bishop’s castle; we visited the latter, exterior only, no entry.

The castle is built on an island in the River Stever. There is a circular wall containing a courtyard with a diameter of 35 meters. The Vischering family occupied the castle starting in the 14th century. There was a major fire in the castle 1521. The subsequent rebuilding of the castle increased the living space. A staircase turret was completed in 1620, a bay window in 1622.

The Münster region is known for its many moated castles. Nordkirchen Castle is the most famous castle in the area, but is much younger, built between 1703 and 1734. There are three castles in tiny Lüdinghausen, including this one.

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Napoleon’s conquest completely transformed Germany. The prince-bishoprics, secular ruler combined with religious leader, were abolished. The Holy Roman Empire and the feudal system went by the wayside as well. You might think that the end of feudalism in Germany was rather late. However In Europe generally the feudal system lived on until 1861 when Russia finally gave it up.

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The Vischering family

During the WWII the mill was destroyed, while the castle sustained considerable damaged. The castle was restored shortly after the war’s end. The castle was occupied by a family until 1968.

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View of the courtyard

The museum’s official website has a 3D presentation that gives you a good sense of what the exterior is like. https://burg-vischering.de/en/the-castle/

Torrents: Book cover ideas

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I recently was asked to do a book cover for a small publisher by the author who is a fan of my Music series of pen and ink drawings. These drawings are done at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia while in the audience. The lights are dimmed and typically we sit in the balcony where the sound is best. It is a fair distance from the musicians. So between the low light and the distance, I can not see the drawing I am making and the musicians are a bit on the fuzzy side, the faces and hand in particular being particularly small. Thus the results, which I do not see until the lights come up, are unpredictable and totally spontaneous. These are circumstances that are hard if not impossible to duplicate without renting the auditorium. In addition the author had a particular figure in mind and probably would not want half of him to be represented by a blind swipe with my water brush and be missing other body parts and the gesture altogether. So I had to mimic my own art under normal lighting and distance circumstances yet maintain major aspects of the figure in the photo she sent. It was a challenge, frustrating at times, but in the end she got a drawing she liked and thought would work well for her.

Here are my first versions, which is similar to the final one but which has far more detail in the background than the latter, which only has 3 shafts of light. I did not realize how stark she wanted it to be. It gives the figure so little context. But it was what she had in wind.

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This figure is a bit fatter than the author wanted
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I like the face on this one a bit better, about as much as the one on the final.

Both of these drawings are available for purchase.  

Pergamon: The Panorma

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Pergamon Museum houses artifacts from Pergamon, an ancient Greek and later Roman city in what is now Turkey.  In the 1880’s a German archaeologist came across workers breaking down marble columns and carvings to use as fuel.  He made arrangements with the Ottomans to excavate the site and share the finds.  The most fabulous find was the Pergamon Altar (180–160 BCE).   It is a frieze depicting the Olympian gods fighting giants.  This and other monumental and daily life aspects of Pergamon are the subject of a 50 meter high 360 ° panorama by Yadegar Asisi.  The panorama can be viewed most dramatically from a five story staircase erected for the purpose.  From the top the ceiling towers above and spreads out to near floor level. 

 

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As you view the various areas the sun moves overhead until night falls and the sun rises again.

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The famous altar is visible but very difficult to photograph well, not that any of it was easy for non-professionals . The relief was vividly painted when first complete. They show it that way.

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The Altar

The altar is a scene of animal sacrifices and burning fires. People congregate for leisure activities or work. A slave market is on-going. The crowd murmurs in the background. Trajan is visiting.

Gary-Bob says check it out-  even if there nothing else to see in Berlin, this alone would make the journey worthwhile.  

Potsdam

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Potsdam, the residence of the Kaiser until 1918, was planned on the ideas of the enlightenment “…through a careful balance of architecture and landscape.” (Wiki) It is indeed a lovely city with some magnificent architecture, including Charlottenburg Palace with its surprisingly attractive decoration, paintings and objects. The city borders what was once called West Berlin.

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On the Havel River

The area has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The city was established by Slavs in the 7th century.  The earliest written reference dates to 972.  It was granted a  town charter in 1345. By the late 1800’s it was a steel producer and for that became a major target of the Allies in WWII.

The surrounding area has many lakes and the views from the river are quite lovely. The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof Palace. Babelsberg is a major film studio and has been an important studio since the fall of the wall, when this region joined Western Germany. The city is home to the University of Potsdam, three colleges and many research institutes. The Glienicke Bridge is also called the Bridge of Spies. It connected Potsdam to West Berlin, where exchanges of spies took place.

Sansoucci Palace is a World Heritage Site, I believe for its magnificent and large gardens.

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Sansouci Palace

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Sansouci Palace gardens
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The Nieuw Tower
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Bridge of Spies
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The Alter Markt (Old Market) contains several magnificent buildings on a large square adjoining the Havel River.

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St. Nicholas’ Church and the New Palace on the Alter Markt

Charlottenburg Palace is far more opulent than I expected. The Prussian kings were comparatively minor in the history of Europe. They managed to filch quite the fortune to build this joint.

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Chapel of the Charlottenburg Palace
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Organ in the Chapel
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The huge crown

Getting around by bike is quite pleasant. There are bike paths most everywhere. We used them to see the Dutch section, with houses in the Dutch style. The parks are peaceful and aplenty. The marina is well located and very near tram lines, which we used to visit the Russian section, where there are a half dozen or so old wooden houses in excellent condition.

There was more to see and much to do than we allocated time for, as we are on to Berlin!

Brandenburg

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Brandenburg on the Havel is the capitol of the region of Brandenburg, southwest of Berlin by about 70 km. It was first settled by the Slavic Slavic tribe Stodoranie. In 929 King Henry the Fowler conquered the town. Its earliest written reference dates to 948. There was a Slavic uprising in 983, and remained under Slavic control for nearly two centuries. Circa 1157 under Albert I it became Germanic.

Probably because of its navigable river and business development it joined the Hnaseatic League in 1314. By the late 19th c it had significant industry. Bicycles became an important product as were toys. Toy trains were exported across Europe and the US until the beginning of WW1. The outbreak of hostilities did not end the demand for toy trains, thus Lionel was born.

This comparatively rosey past end with the Nazis. A concentration camp was established In 1933, one of the first. The old gaol was used for the Brandenburg Euthanasia Center. People with mental disorders were murdered, even children.

The Arado Aircraft Company began producing planes in 1935. This factory attracted heavy bombing. The Allies destroyed about 2/3 of the city. Enough remains to lend considerable charm, however.

The Altstädtisches Rathaus (Old Town Hall) is build in the late Gothic brick style with. Here you see a sandstone statue of Roland dating to 1474. The knight is a common feature in northern German towns, starting in the 12th century, then made of wood. The presence of the statue signified that the settlement has been granted town privileges, a coveted legal status that allowed for tax collection.

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Rathaus with Roland

There are four watchtowers: Steintorturm and Mühlentorturm (in the New Town), and Rathenower Torturm and Plauer Torturm (in the Old Town).

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We drove around on our bikes. Some of the old cobblestone streets make for rough going. The views along the river are very pleasant if not idyllic when the weather cooperates, which mostly it did.

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We biked to Cathedral Island, in the historic center of the town, under an occasional drizzle. There you see the Dom St. Peter und Paul (Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul), the oldest building. Construction began in 1166 in the Romanesque style. It became Gothic in style, however, by the time it was finished in the 14th century. The interior is magnificent. The pulpit is intricately carved. The skillfully painted altar piece is in excellent condition. The altar is on a second level, over a large crypt area. The Wagner organ (1725) towers above the main auditorium but at eye level with the high altar, the chorus one level below the organ.

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The ornate altar piece

I find this piece below fascinating. This is decoration on the seating for the privileged, close to the altar:

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I’d say this would be a neat place to live or at least stay in for a month or two, in summer anyway. It is small, just about 70,000 people, down from 90,000 when the wall fell, when, I figure, residents fled to the west. Although it is small, it is close to Potsdam and Berlin. There seems to be very good public transport.

Bülstringen and Wolfsburg, Germany

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We continued along the Mittelland kanal to Wolfsburg. A large part of the city was built in 1938 to provide housing for workers at the VW plant, where the Beetle was manufactured. The city’s roots, however, date to the 13th century. In 1302, it was first mentioned as the seat of the the Bartensleben family.  There was a residential tower, later fortified and turned into a moated castle . A predecessor was probably the Rothehof tower, built around 1200 .  The Neuhaus Castle was built circa 1372 . 

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The VW plant in Wolfsburg

Today as home to the one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturing plants, it has the highest standard of living in the country. There is a large modern art museum without much art in it when we visited, just two temporary exhibits, both good.

Futher along the canal we came to Bülstringen, a small historic town right on the Mittelland Kanal. It dates from the 1300’s.

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The church dates from the 13c. It has a fine baroque interior but the church was closed when we visited. Also there is a large pulpit. Pen, brush and ink.

The baroque church building was added to a Romanesque tower in 1708.  The baroque church was probably designed by the Braunschweigian master builder Hermann Korb. The interior is octagonal, an uncommon shape for these structures. The rich furnishings, including a large pulpit altar, date from the time of its creation.  There are two bells from the 13th and 14th centuries. The Gothic crucifix is from the 16th century.

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Another unusual feature is the semicircular seating arrangement formed by the two-story octoganal wooden galleries.  The Romanesque west tower and the baptismal font inside (early 13th century) belong to the oldest part of the church. The bright bell dates from the end of the 13th century.

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One of a number of half timber structures in the village.

The village has one hotel and perhaps two or three other businesses. There is a fair amount of traffic passing through but otherwise it’s a sleepy village. You could use for filming scenes of the middle ages.

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