in early september i headed home for a family gathering. my great-cousin started school and it's a big deal in the area i grew up in. people have family parties to celebrate a new phase in their little one's lives. the party took place on a saturday - on the next day - sunday - we decided to check out memleben abbey & the nebra sky disk. these two sights are located in saxony-anhalt - our neighbor federal state in the north. it was a wonderful gloomy day - the first day of autumn. you could smell the leaves starting their decay process and the wind was strong. i love autumn the most of all the seasons - the prospect of walking around in golden light or stormy weather, then bundling up in the warmth with a nice hot tea in hands - that's what i love. finally i have an excuse when i feel the urge to retreat into my snail shell and not getting in touch with the outside world.
the last brambles of 2013. they were delicious.
a poor carpenter bee squished behind an information plate.
the abbey memleben was once part of the royal palace memleben - one of the most important domains of the ottonian kings.
the ruins of the abbey church were quite charming. they constructed a small garden in and around the ruins.
this was once the main entry to the abbey. all what's left of an enormous tower.
we took a small walk around the abbey to enjoy the 'golden shires' of the region. the river unstrut is one of the biggest rivers in these countries.
elder trees. we sneekily stole some of the berries to make jam out of them. i'm still enjoying my elder jam my mother gave to me a few weeks later. delicious.
abbey grounds.
the sceneries behind the abbey were really idyllic.
a glimpse of the golden shires.
fat monk drinking wine.
this building is a museum about the nebra sky disk that was found only a few kilometres away from memleben. it's a bronze disk that show one of the earliest depictions of the nightsky with the pleiades, sun/moon & stars. it's not only important for history but also it's a piece of art that captivates you immediately. as a lover of all things celestial i felt totally overwhelmed by this object.
this disk was there to show how heavy the original object is. it weighed maybe 2 kilograms.
the original sky disk can be found in the state museum of prehistory in halle.
the exhibition was very modern and really surprising. they had a cinema room constructed only for the purpose of showing you the sky disk. it was built like you were laying under a huge night sky and it was really charming.
they also showed small humorous movies like this one - a funny guy who wonders about the purpose of the sky disk. there was another movie shown in the exhibit that told the story about the discovery of the disc. quite an adventure.
the building was one of a kind, too. there was another building that's also a part of the museum on the area the disk was found, but we didn't manage to visit it anymore. maybe next time :)
and a last picture of the golden shires.
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