Close Encounters with the Middle Ages
You cannot please children more than by giving them a toy castle with knights on horseback and on foot. Nowadays, though, the castle may well be a virtual one. But the fascination with the chivalrous knight who rides to the rescue of the damsel of the castle continues unabated. So, what comes to mind when you hear “Middle Ages”? Castles, chivalrous knights, holy lady landgraves, not so holy crusaders, monks, bishops, the eternal strife between emperors and popes, swords, axes, knights’ armour, coats of arms, Romanesque churches and Gothic cathedrals, torture chambers, falconry, rules of etiquette so a knight’s manners did not offend at court, jousts.
You may think of Uta von Naumburg, the most beautiful woman in the world according to Umberto Eco, and of course “The Name of the Rose”, also by Eco. And whilst talking of Eco’s book we must not forget Sean Connery starring in the novel’s film version. Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Richard Lion-Heart, Duke Henry the Lion, Friedrich Barbarossa, Walther von der Vogelweide… You realise there is no stopping. More and more things, names, and places come to mind in motley confusion.
There is wealth and poverty, there is craftmanship to be admired when standing in front of church treasures. (In Saxony-Anhalt you will find these latter under the name of “Highlights of the Romanesque Road”.) Two works of art have encapsulated the German ideal of the Middle Ages like no other – whether intentionally or not. There is Albrecht Dürer’s idealistic painting of Charlemagne which you can view in detail on the frontispiece. And there is the monumental mural of “ Emperor Otto III opening the crypt of Charlemagne”.
There are many places in Germany for you to experience the Middle Ages first-hand, getting to know what it is like to stand where Heinrich I was offered the crown – according to legend –standing before the fascinating marble throne of Charlemagne, listening to a concert in one of the imperial palaces, seeing the coronation robe of Otto IV exhibited in Braunschweig or the sculpture of the ideal medieval ruler sitting there on his throne – while the exhibition in Mannheim lasts. These and other important exhibitions are listed in this brochure. Take your family into the Middle Ages and enjoy a journey through time.