5th October 2022: Aachen, Germany

Aachen is a big city in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia located on the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. The city was once the centre of the Empire of Charlemagne. The Aachen Cathedral (top picture) was began at that time and became one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978. The Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum (lower left corner) is an art museum founded in 1883.

Thank You very much Marcel!

My Trip to Halle an der Saale

Nearly three months without posts is really too much, but other things prevented me from writing here or actually from doing most things mail-related. As I was already behind with uploading mail, when I last posted, I now have a rather big pile of cards and covers to slowly show you in the coming weeks.

Although it now feels like an eternity away, not even four months ago, on 12th June, I was in Halle an der Saale, the largest city in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. These are the cards I bought during that short day trip.

The start of day and my main reason for visiting Halle was the Halle State Museum of Prehistory, one of the largest archaeological museums in Germany. It was founded in 1819 and moved to its current location in 1918. Home to more than 15million items, its collection includes such highlights as the Hornhausen Rider Stele, but the true star of the museum is the Nebra Sky Disc, the oldest known astronomic depiction of the sky in human history and part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Until January 2022 it is still possible to see the original disc in a big special exhibition, but also the permanent exhibitions are worth the visit.

After some hours of archaeology I went to the Moritzburg, but there I only bought some cards in the shop and did not visit the museum itself. The medieval Moritzburg is home to one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art and general applied art in Germany. It shows for example works by Lyonel Feininger and Gustav Klimt. 

Instead of modern art I preferred to visit the Handel Haus. This is the house where Georg Friederich Händel was born in 1685. It houses a museum about Händel and Halle's musical history and is also home to a large collection of musical instruments.

Like usual during such a trip I also bought some cards of sights I have not seen at all. These two cards show the Hallors and Saline Museum and the Stadtgottesacker, a cemetery.

More interesting however are these two cards I bought at the Halle State Museum of Prehistory about the Goseck Circle. The Goseck Circle is a Neolithic structure that was discovered in 1991 and which is thematised in the museum's special exhibition.

For reason I could see the museum also sold this card of the Baroque Hundisburg Palace.

I definitely enjoyed my day in Halle, but my travel companions on the other hand had no interest in giving the city a chance and immediately drove to Leipzig after they dropped me in front of the museum. To prove that they really left the city they bought me these five cards of Leipzig's Saint Thomas Church.

Germany: Salder House in Salzgitter

On 20th October I got four postcards: three from Germany and one from the USA. 

One of the cards from Germany shows Salder House in Salzgitter. Salzgitter is a big city in the German State of Lower Saxony. By area it is one of the largest cities in Germany, but actually it is more of a conglomeration of several small towns and villages with wide stretches of open country between them and has only slightly more inhabitants than needed for a big city. Salder House, in German known as Schloss Salder, is a stately home in the Renaissance style. It was built in 1608 for the lords of Saldern. Since 1962 it houses the town museum of Salzgitter. 

One of two stamps about a panorama of Bremen was used.

 Thank You very much Marcel!

My Trip to Paderborn

On Wednesday I was in Paderborn. It was the first time that I made a longer journey by train since Covid-19 started here in Germany in March. I spent more than twice as much time in the train on that day than I had in Paderborn, but it is still nice to be on the rail again. 

Paderborn is a big city in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. First mentioned in the late 8th century, it is named after the river Pader, which runs for its whole length of 4km through the city and which is thus the shortest fairly wide river in Germany. Shortly after the first mention a diocese was founded in the city. In 1930 it was promoted to an archdiocese. 

Paderborn Cathedral was my first place to go on my trip. It is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paderborn and dates back to the 13th century, although churches on the the same site have existed since the 8th century. Originally built in the Gothic style, the interior was replaced by Baroque artworks in the 17th century. It was destroyed during World War II, but later it was rebuilt. Already since the 9th century Paderborn is home to the remains of Saint Liborius of Le Mans. 

Located in a cloister's inner courtyard is the Window of Three Hares, which is one of the most famous features of the cathedral and actually even of the whole city of Paderborn. I saw it, but have to say that it is not really impressive.

The Imperial Palace of Paderborn might not be as impressive or famous as the cathedral, but it is actually an important place of European history. It was originally built by Charlemagne and became the site of the first Frankish imperial assembly on Saxonian territory in 777. Destroyed shortly after and quickly rebuilt, the important meeting took place in 799. In that year Charlemagne met Pope Leo III in Paderborn, who had to flee Rome, and here they might or might not have decided upon Charlemagne's imperial coronation one year later. Only the foundation walls of the Carolingian palace survived until this day, but an Ottonian-Salian palace was built later on nearly the same site, which admittedly was destroyed as well, but which was rebuilt in the 1970s. Today the reconstructed palace houses a museum about the site's history, which currently also houses a special exhibition about the Dead Sea's cultural history, a World's first as they say. Unfortunately the museum itself does not sell postcards, but luckily I found this one in a stationery shop. The card shows the reconstruction of the Ottonian-Salian palace and in front of it are parts of the Carolingian foundation walls.

After the imperial palace I also visited the Archiepiscopal Diocesan Museum, which is the oldest diocesan museum in the German-speaking World. It was founded in 1853 and houses one of the largest and most important collections of Christian art in Germany. The museum's building was originally designed by Gottfried Böhm, who got the Pritzker Prize in 1986, and was opened in 1975. However the building was more an artwork than a working museum and brought conservational problems due to climatic fluctuations and too much sun light, hence it was partially altered later on. I actually wanted to visit this museum first, but when I was at the entrance there was a quite long queue. I really did not expect that on a Wednesday afternoon, although it might be understandable, as the museum currently shows one of its big special exhibitions: Peter Paul Rubens and the Baroque in the North. Also when I returned later, the museum was still well-frequented, but there was no queue anymore. The exhibition deals with the Baroque changes of the Paderborn Cathedral and the influence Rubens had on them. Many loans from international museums are shown in the exhibition, which gives a good over view of the Baroque art starting from a Baroque altarpiece from Paderborn destroyed in World War II and recently restored. Surprisingly they even had postcards of artworks in the exhibition. The first one I bought shows the Baroque interior of the Paderborn Cathedral painted by an unknown artist with the Baroque altarpiece in the background. The second card shows a painting by Antonius Willemssens, who together with his brother also created the altarpiece for Paderborn.

The Town Hall of Paderborn is beside the cathedral the most famous sight of the city and a masterpiece of the Weser Renaissance. Back in 2006 it was voted as one of the most popular places of the Germans, during my trip however I only went by on my way from and to the train station.

My Trip to Regensburg and Austria

During my holidays I got ten pieces of mail. Five of them were postcards and five were covers. They were sent by five persons and came from three countries. These I will show in the next days, but let's start with the cards I bought during my holidays. Like usual I spent my holidays in Austria and earlier made a two day stop in a city in Bavaria, Regensburg this year. In total I got 35 cards for my collection during that time, of which just four are from Austria.

Regensburg is a city on the Danube river. It is the fourth largest city of Bavaria, the capital of Upper Palatinate, the seat of a Catholic Bishop and home to three institutions of higher education. Thanks to its very well preserved medieval city centre Regensburg is among the most popular tourist destinations in Germany. Since 2006 is the Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Without doubt the most famous views of Regensburg always include the Stone Bridge, a masterpiece of Medieval architecture and said to be the oldest preserved bridge in Germany, just like on these first four cards.

My main reason to visit Regensburg was the House of the Bavarian History. The House of the Bavarian History was founded as an institution already in 1983 and since than it organises the Bavarian state exhibitions in always changing venues. It was however just in June 2019 that the House of the Bavarian History opened its own museum in Regensburg. While the state exhibitions show specific aspects of Bavarian history, the museum only focuses on the time after 1806 when Bavaria became a kingdom, which is divided in different generations plus some aspects that span the whole time.

The Old Town Hall is one of the most important historic places in Regensburg. Between 1663 and 1806 it was the location of the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg, the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire which earlier convened in different cities around the Empire. It is possible to see the interior of the town hall with guided tours, but due to Covid-19 they are currently a bit different than usual, as some rooms of the building are too small to be shown with enough distance.

The history of Regensburg dates back to Roman times and in fact it is home to the largest Roman remain in Bavaria, the Porta praetoria, one of just two preserved Roman city gates north of the Alps. While it is already on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Old Town of Regensburg, it is also on the Tentative List as part of the transnational Danubian Limes. More Roman remains are on display in the Historic Museum, but unfortunately for some reason they are currently not allowed to sell postcards. Also a Roman wall can be see in the basement of a car park.

EDIT: As of July 2021 the Porta praetoria is now inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Danubian Limes.

Regensburg Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Regensburg and one of the most important Gothic cathedrals in Germany. Built on the location of a Romanesque cathedral that burned down in the late 13th century, the new cathedral with French Gothic architectural themes was completed over the next 200 years, however when it was completed in the 16th century, it did not look like it does today. In the 19th century it underwent a Neo-Gothic renovation and just between 1859 and 1869 the towers were added.

Located next to the Cathedral is the Cathedral Treasure, but I did not visited it and only bought a few cards in the shop. The Cathedral Treasure is just one of three sites of the Diocesan Museums Regensburg.

Another special feature of Regensburg are the Noble Towers. Noble Towers as found in Italian communes are mainly built for the represantation of a noble family, but in Regensburg they additionally were also used in other ways like for example as warehouses. The most famous of these towers in Regensburg is the Golden Tower.

The Regensburg Sausage Kitchen is located near the Stone Bridge. It is presented as oldest continuously open public restaurant in the World.

The Goliathhaus was once owned by one of Regensburg's noble families. It is especially known for the large painting of David and Goliath, which can be easily seen after you cross the Stone Bridge.

The Neupfarrkirche is a testimony of a dark chapter in Regensburg's history. It was built on the remains of the Jewish quarter. Originally the Jews of Regensburg were under the protection of the Emperor, who wanted a large sum of money from the city if they would want to get rid of them, which the city did not have. However when Emperor Maximilian I died in 1519, the city took the chance, expelled the Jews and constructed the Neupfarrkirche on the site to make the act irreversible.

The Thurn and Taxis Palace was the residence of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis and still belongs to the family today. It was originally the Benedictine Saint Emmeram's Abbey.

Last but not least from Regensburg I also got a set of three ad cards. I especially like the one reminding us of social distancing.

Although I spent my time in Austria in Tyrol, I also made a day trip to Salzburg, where I first visited the Hangar-7. Hangar-7 is an interesting architectural building that is shaped like an airfoil. It is owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and houses a collection of historical planes, helicopters and racing cars as well as a Michelin-starred restaurant.

After the Hangar-7 I also visited the Salzburg Museum once again, which is definitely more interesting to me. This year they show a state exhibition of the Salzburg Festival. Unfortunately like usual they do not have cards for the exhibition, so I bought this card of a Roman wall. Although this was already my third visit to this museum, this wall was never on display when I was there.

In Kitzbühel I bought a card of the Farmhouse Museum for my museum collection, although I did not visited the museum itself. The Farmhouse Museum is allegedly the oldest museum of this type in Tyrol.