Germany - Deutschland

The Union Church ( Unionskirche ) is a protestant parish church in the historic centre of Idstein ( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/47438976 ). The church was built from 1330 to 1350 under Gerlach, count of Nassau, when it was founded as collegiate Church of St. Martin. In 1669, it was transformed into a Lutheran sermon and burial church ( Predigt- und Hofkirche ) for the counts and princes of Nassau. The town church became its current name “Union Church” in 1917, hundred years after the union of Lutheran and Reformed Protestants in the Duchy of Nassau, which was the first in Germany. The exterior of the church is simple, but it has an extraordinary interior. The most prominent decorations in the church are the 38 paintings by the Flemish baroque painter Michael Angelo Immenraedt and his assistant. These canvas oil paintings on the ceiling of the nave and the upper part of the walls show biblical scenes and were made from 1673 to 1678. Opulent use of marble from for the arcades, columns, altar, font, pulpit and tombs is another feature of the church. The altar (1676) portrays the “Last Supper” in form of a painting. The crystal chandeliers - originally used in the Kurhaus of Wiesbaden - were fitted in the church in the 19th century. I have seen many, many churches, but this is for sure one of the most beautiful and fascinating ones. I fully understand that this church is well known throughout Germany.

Idstein is nestled in the soft rolling hills of the Taunus Mountains. The city - granted city and market rights in 1287 by King Rudolph of Habsburg - dates back at least to the year of 1102, when the name first appeared in a court document, involving Udalrich and Konrad von Etichestein. Count Udalrich was succeeded in Idstein by the counts of Laurenburg, relatives of the archbishop of Mainz, who gave Idstein castle to them. From the middle of the 12th century, the Laurenburg family named themselves after the castle of Nassau. During this period the city became attached to Nassau and remained so until 1866. Besides the former castle complex and the beautiful Union Church ( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/47426278 ) Idstein has a mediaeval town centre ( Altstadt ) with about 200 timber framed buildings. The oldest remaining house (Obergasse 2) was originally built around 1410. Many of the houses date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The two main squares - König-Adolf-Platz (PiP 1) and Marktplatz - and nearby streets are lined with numerous timber framed houses (PiP 3 and 4 ). The most magnificent and richly decorated house is the Killingerhaus (PiP 2, the central house ), built in 1615 by town clerk Johann Conrad Killing. Another remarkable building is the Crooked House (main picture). This Schiefes Haus was built in 1725 as a four storey house. Idstein is part of the German Timber-Frame Road ( Deutsche Fachwerkstraße ), connecting towns with timber framed buildings.

The watermill in Lage was first officially mentioned in the year of 1270. It was about 200 years later that King Philip II of Spain, as ruler of the Netherlands*, approved building of a mill on the river Dinkel. It is supposed that this was a reconstruction or expansion of an existing mill. The current mill looks like it is from the late 17th century. A distinguishing feature is the two undershot waterwheels that drive both a flour mill and an oil mill. In the early years of the 20th century, electricity was also generated at the mill to supply the community of Lage. After World War I, the oil mill was shut down. The grist mill kept running until 1957, although the last years by a diesel engine. After the last miller’s death, the mill stood empty. In 1962, when the building was threatening to fall down, the most urgent safety work started. Ten years later, Grafschaft Bentheim brought about a comprehensive restoration on the mill, giving it once more its two waterwheels and restoring the weir to improve flow rates. Nowadays the mill can be run again. The former miller’s dwelling houses a tea parlour (Grafschafter Teestube). *Lage, or officially ‘Herrlichkeit Lage’, refers to the time between the end of the Thirty Years' War and the year of 1803, in which Lage was a self-standing small state with its own jurisdiction. Since the late 19th century large parts of Lage are Dutch-owned, since 1977 by the Dutch ‘Twickel Foundation’.

The charming pilgrimage church Maria Hilf (St. Mary's Help) is dating back to 1694. In that year the son of the local shepherd Johann Prant was suddenly paralyzed. Out of desperation over this stroke of fate, he "became engaged to Our Lady" and promised to erect a Martersäule (scourging pillar) in her honour at Lengenbach, should his child recover again. After the boy recovered he received permission from the diocese of Eichstätt, after examining the recovery of his son, to erect a chapel in honour of the Mother of God in Lengenbach. Because he had often seen a chapel in his dreams, he started building one with his own hands, high and round like a Martersäule . Very soon the pilgrimage to the Mother of God began and increased rapidly. This led to the plan to build a larger chapel. The master bricklayer Leonhard Preindl from nearby Deining created the current building (1757 – 1760). Little by little the church was equipped. In 1768 it became its wonderful ceiling fresco "Assumption of the Virgin Mary"; two years later followed by the ornamented pulpit. Nowadays the interior is blocked by a fence, because in the seventies of the last century twentyfive of the partly very valuable votive pictures were stolen. So I had to take my pictures from behind that fence.

Limburg - developed around a castle from the late 7th century - was first mentioned in documents in the year of 910 as "Lintpurc", when the St. George monastery was founded by Konrad Kurzbold. The town became stone ramparts in the 12th and following centuries. The construction of a new church belonging to St. George monastery started in 1200. Around that time a new castle was built south of the new church. The plague ravaged Limburg in 1344. The town then underwent a steady decline until the early 19th century, when the rise of the Duchy of Nassau (1806-1866) gave a new lease of life to Limburg. In 1827, Limburg became the seat of a diocese and in 1886 it was made district capital. Limburg's old town offers a maze of cobble stoned streets, lined with crooked half-timbered houses some dating back to the 13th century, but most of them are ‘just’ from the 17th or 18th century. The St. George Cathedral is Limburg’s landmark, situated on a little hill, is one of the best examples of late Romanesque architecture in Germany. The church was built between 1200 and 1235, it was elevated to the rank of cathedral in 1827. I took this picture from a parking garage in the city centre with the former town hall in the foreground and the St. Georg Cathedral above the old town in the background.

The ‘Salzspeicher’ (Salt Warehouses) are six gabled brick buildings on the banks of the Obertrave, next to the well known ‘Holstentor’. The warehouses were built between 1579 and 1745 in the style of the Brick Renaissance. Originally, the buildings were used to store the salt that was mined in the Oldesloe saltworks (nearby Lüneburg) and brought to Lübeck over the Stecknitz canal and Trave. From the ‘Salzspeicher’ in Lübeck the salt was transported to Scandinavian and Baltic countries, where it was used for the preservation of fish. This salt trade from the late Middle Ages onward was a major reason for the wealth and power of Lübeck.

Mainau - the flower island - had many owners before it was bought in 1853 by Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden as a personal property. He is considered being the park founder. He not only built a summer residence, but began to create order on the island to redesign it and plant rare exotic trees and plants, which he brought back from his travels. In the 1930, Prince Wilhelm (then the island's owner) turned the administration of Mainau over to his son, the Swedish Prince Lennart Bernadotte II. The prince, who had renounced his Swedish royal lineage after marrying a commoner, devoted the rest of his life to turning the island into a privately-operated park. Mainau is now maintained by a foundation that the prince and his second wife established. The island's manager is their daughter, Countess Bettina Bernadotte and their son, Count Björn Bernadotte, manages the foundation. The Bernadotte family still lives in the castle on the island. Mainau - with 45 hectare the third largest island in Lake Constance - has a kind of micro Mediterranean climate. Nowadays it offers the beauty of impressive and colourful themed gardens ( for instance a Rhododendron slope, Italian Rose garden and Dahlia garden - www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/48516738 ) and a very interesting park-like arboretum with 500 different species. A greenhouse has a tropical climate and houses thousands of butterflies. The flower island is the main attraction of Lake Constance and attracts a lot more than a million visitors each year. Although not the main reason for visiting, parts of the 18th century castle (large PiP ) are open to the public.

Flower island Mainau in Lake Constance is all year/all weather destination. We visited early September and were ‘lucky’ finding the summer flowers and decorations still in bloom. But we were really surprised by the explosion of colours in the Dahlia garden. One slope of the island was full of flowerbeds with blooming dahlias, varying in height and colour. I did read there were about 250 different species with a total number of plants of more than 12.000. Dahlias have originated in Mexiko and Guatemala. In 1790, the director of the botanic garden of Mexico-City, sent dahlias to Madrid. Since then many different sorts of dahlias have spread to gardens in Europe and the rest of the world. Dahlias have come to Europe's gardens not too long ago, but nonetheless, there is a certain tradition in the dahlia blossom on Mainau for about 60 years now. More info/pictures of Mainau: www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/48482522

Timber framed houses along the river Rur in Monschau. The city originated around 1195 and takes its name from the castle situated on a hill above the river Rur (PiP2). It is mentioned for the first time in 1198 as Mons Ioci and then in 1217 as Munioie and as Monjoje in 1226. Monjoye dominated the written form during the Late Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Times. Around 1800, the Montjoie form arose during the French rule in the Rhineland. By official decree, the name was ‘Germanized’ into Monschau in autumn of 1918 as the result of the lost First World War and the ensuing Francophobia.

Neresheim Abbey - officially Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra - was founded in 1095 as a house of (secular) Augustinian Canons, and converted to a Benedictine monastery in 1106. The abbey complex is situated on a hill, overlooking the town of Neresheim. In the 13th century, the abbey owned seven villages and it had an income from a further 71 places in the area. Ten parish churches were incorporated. During wars and conflicts the monastery was destroyed several times. In 1802 the monastery was secularized. In the year of 1810 the abbey was annexed by the Kingdom of Würtemmberg. In 1919 the abbey was resettled by Benedictines from Beuron Archabbey; nowadays the abby is still part of the Benedictine congregation of Beuron. Originally the monastery had a roman basilica, but in 1695 it was transformed to a baroque church. After much internal debate, in 1745, the decision was taken to build a new abbey church. It was built between 1747 and 1792 from plans by the famous architect Balthasar Neumann. After his death (1753) his disciples and followers continued his work. It is considered being a masterpiece of European baroque. The domes were frescoed by Austrian painter Martin Knoller from Austria during six summers (1770-75). They show Jesus Christ in the centre surrounded by scenes from his life. In 1966 the domes had become in danger of collapse and the building had to be closed. During a nine years lasting restoration this wonderful work of faith and art could be saved and conserved. There are still monks loving and working in the monastery. It has also a bookshop and a restaurant for visitors. The monks run a conference centre. If you like a monastic kind of a stay there is also a guesthouse.

Neubrandenburg - founded in the year of 1248 - is famous for its medieval heritage of Brick Gothic. The city centre itself exists of harsh GDR architecture. One of the main features of Neubrandenburg is it largely intact medieval city wall. The wall has a perimeter of 2,3 km and is 7 m high. The four Brick Gothic city gates see PiP’s), dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, gave the city its nick name "Stadt der Vier Tore" (City of Four Gates). Wedged into the stone wall are the 27 half-timbered houses that remain of the original 56 sentry posts. When firearms rendered such defences obsolete in the 16th century, the guardhouses were converted into so called “Wiekhäuser”; homes for the poor, disadvantaged and elderly. Most of the surviving homes have been rebuilt and are now craft shops, galleries and cafes.

Haus Welbergen (Welbergen Castle) is most probably one of the most beautiful hidden gems of Münsterland. Although the moated castle is not as well known as many other castles in Westphalia, it is in no way inferior to them in terms of beauty and charm. A Gräftenhof - a farmhouse surrounded by an articially moat - is already mentioned in 1282, on the spot where now Haus Welbergen stands. The "Herren von Welleberghe" lived on the estate from 1298 to 1330. In the middle of the 16th century it was converted into a moated castle; the moat is fed by the Gauxbach. In the eighteenth century the current size and style has been given shape. Haus Welbergen is built mainly of bricks and has sandstone window frames. After crossing a drawbridge one arrives on the forecourt, which is bordered by the gatehouse, farm buildings and stables on one side and by a wall with round corner turrets and a little chapel on the other side. In the middle of the inner courtyard of the castle is a small but very interesting garden. There have been several changes of ownership over the centuries until the more or less dilapidated castle was bought in 1929 by Dutch banker Jan Jordaan and his wife Bertha Jordaan - van Heek (daughter of well known Dutch textile entrepreneur Gerrit Jan van Heek). After the death of Bertha in 1960, the total possession of Haus Welbergen has been brought in a foundation: the Bertha Jordaan-van Heek stichting , with the purpose to maintain the entire property and the artistic exchange between Germany and the Netherlands. Nowadays Haus Welbergen is used for meetings and gatherings. The house and the art collection can be visited by groups and appointment. Public areas such as the forecourt, gardens and the park are open to the public.

In 1646 Princess Louise Henriëtte van Oranje-Nassau married with Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg. A few weeks after her move from Kleve to Berlin (1650) she visited a hunting lodge in Bötzow. She was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful surroundings and her husband decided to donate the lodge and the town to her. Princess Louise Henriëtte ordered the construction of a new palace at the site of the old hunting lodge, which was done by Dutch craftsmen. They were also helpful in the reconstruction of Bötzow, which was severely damaged during the Thirty Years' War. In 1652/1653 the new palace and the rebuilt city were both named Oranienburg. From 1689 on Louise’s son Elector Friedrich III ordered considerable extensions to the palace and gardens. With the addition of wings on the front and back of the main building Oranienburg Palace became an H-shaped plan. After the death of the Elector in 1713 the castle was no longer permanently inhabited. In 1794 it became the property of the later Prussian Queen Louise, who spent two years in a row her summer holidays in Oranienburg. The palace was sold in 1802 and served as a factory, seminary and - from 1933 to 1937 - as SS barracks. Between 1952 and 1990 it was used for housing the border troops of the GDR. After a major restoration Oranienburg Palace - Brandenburg’s oldest baroque palace - was reopened in 1999 and nowadays houses the town hall of Oranienburg and two museums.

The Dom St. Stephan (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) in Passau is located on the highest point of the old city between the rivers Inn and Danube. Other churches have stood on this place: already around the year 450 a church in the ancient city of Batavis is testified. The bishop's church was first mentioned in a document in 730 and has been the cathedral of the diocese since 739. A previous gothic church building was largely destroyed by a devastating town fire in 1662. The present cathedral has baroque architecture and was built between 1668 and 1698 by the famous Italian architect Carlo Lurago. The elaborate stucco works and wonderful frescos in the interior were done by other Italian artists. The beautifully gilded pulpit dates from 1726 and was made in Vienna. Between 1947 and 1953 a new high altar for the cathedral was created; like the ceiling fresco it depicts the stoning and the vision of St. Stephen. The Cathedral - one of the largest north of the Alps - is 102 meters long and 33.5 meters wide; the dome reaches a height of 69 meters. The octagonal upper parts of the two towers - 68 meters high - date from as far back as 1896. The Dom St. Stephan has one of the largest organs in the world. From 1924 to 1928 a large organ was built, which was rebuilt and extended at the end of the 20th century. The organ currently has 17.974 pipes and 233 registers; the largest organ pipe is 11 meters high and the smallest 6 millimeters.

Schloss Weißenstein (Castle Weissenstein) looks for me more like a palace. This palatial residence is a masterwork of Franconian baroque architecture. It is considered being one of Germany’s most beautiful baroque buildings. In 1710, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop of Mainz, inherited the estate after a local family had died out. He ordered the construction of a palace as a private summer residence. He employed some of the best known architects of that time to construct a building of European importance. The palace was built between 1711 and 1719 from local sandstone material. During the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763) the palace was attacked and damaged by Prussian troops. Minor restoration work was done in the late 19th century. More recently, preservation work has been done in 1975 to 2003. After the death of Lothar Franz in 1729, the palace passed to his nephew Friedrich Karl von Schönborn who had the park expanded. In the early 19th century, the park was converted into an English landscape garden. Weissenstein is still the property of the Schönborn family. Weissenstein Palace has a fully fully furnished interior and a splendid staircase. It has the largest private baroque art collection in Germany with more than 600 pictures, including work of Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck. The castle can only be visited within a guided tour.

The Chinese House (Chinesisches Haus) is a garden pavilion in Sanssouci Park. King Friedrich II had it built between 1755 and 1764, southwest of his summer palace, to adorn his flower and vegetable garden. The pavilion was designed by Johann Gottfried Büring in the then-popular style of Chinoiserie, a mixture of ornamental rococo elements and parts of Chinese architecture. Friedrich der Große modeled the Chinese House on a trefoil-shaped garden pavilion in the palace grounds of Lunéville in France. The central building contains three rooms. Rounded windows and French windows that reach almost to the ground let light into the pavilion's interior. The ceiling is supported by sandstone columns in the shape of gilded palm trees. The pavilion was used for drinking tea and during the summer as dining hall. People from the area stood as models for the eating, tea-sipping and music-playing gilded sandstone figures in front of the pavilion The cupola crowning the roof is surmounted by a gilded Chinese figure with an open parasol.

In 1812 the Prussian army captured 1.000 Russian soldiers. King Friedrich Wilhelm III formed a choir from these men. Later - after a renewed friendship between Prussia and Russia - the choir remained in Potsdam. After the death of the Russian tsar Alexander, Friedrich Wilhelm paid tribute by building a village for the remaining members of the choir. The village of Alexandrowka with its thirteen houses was finished in 1827. Houses (PiP’s) were built in Russian style, fully furnished and came with a large garden and a cow. In honor of the inhabitant's religion, the king decided to add a Russian Orthodox Church to the settlement. It was named after tsar Alexander’s patron saint, Alexander Nevsky. The church was designed by a Russian architect. It is located on the Kapellenberg, north of Alexandrowka. The church has been in service continuously since its dedication in 1829 and is today the oldest existing Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe. The last original inhabitant of Alexandrowka died in 1861. Today the houses have new private owners and most of them have been beautifully restored. Since 1999 the settlement and church are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Seehof Palace ( Schloss Seehof ) was built from 1686 as a summer residence for the Bamberg Prince-Bishops. The palace is often Marquardsburg after its founder called Marquard Sebastian von Schenk von Stauffenberg. This Prince-Bishop loved the rural area around Memmelsdorf , about 5 km’s from Bamberg. He ordered the Franconian builder Antonio Petrini to replace a local estate with a baroque palace. Lothar Franz von Schönborn, elected Prince-Bishop of Bamberg in 1693, designated an area of 21 ha of land with adjacent lakes and forests to be made into gardens. The palace hill was reshaped into precise terraces and the gardens divided into six large sections. During the 18th century, the palace garden was one of the most famous Rococo gardens in Germany After secularization - early 19th century - it fell into disrepair and by the end of the 20th century extensive renovation work was necessary. Among the features reflecting the splendour of the former garden are the restored cascade with its waterworks and some of the original sandstone sculpture. Nowadays most of the building is occupied by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection. But nine restored rooms of the Prince-Bishop’s apartment are open to the public; the spacious gardens and fountains can be visited free of charge.