christmassy market square with city hall.
in mid-december me and my friend l. travelled to schweinfurt - with mainly one goal in mind, to visit museum georg schäfer for a big egon schiele exhibition. along the way we also checked out the christmas market, a little bit of the old town and two really beautiful churches! it was a most splendid day, one of those experiences that stay in your memory for a long, long time!
2018 was the death anniversary of egon schiele ( my absolute favourite artist ), so his art was everywhere. museums showed several exhibitions all over germany and one of the biggest ones was taking place in schweinfurt's very own museum georg schäfer - a museum that focusses on german art from the 1870ies to 1930ies. i had considered to visit the museum together with my ex boyfriend before, but consequently it never happened. so after i had gone through a bit of a rough time in november i asked my friend l. if he wanted to come with me ( we are known to be partners in crime when it comes to field trips and interesting travel destinations ❤ ) and he zealously supported that idea, so it was decided! we were going to lower franconia in the state of bavaria! i think it was also the first time ever for me in that state - except driving through it whenever we made our way to hungary for vacations in the past. i hope that i will eventually get to see more of bavaria in the future, it is one of those states that i rarely step foot into, as i have no personal ties down there. strangely, i have seen tidbits of all german states already, but bavaria always manages to slip out of my periphery.
before we headed for a first walk through the city, we stopped for a minute to marvel at this beautiful sheep. it was art itself!
i mean, look at that wool! abstract art made by nature ;)
the city hall's courtyard. the big perron has a very interesting balustrade, at first glance it reminded me of the yin and yang symbol. but let me tell you, it has nothing to do with it! in fact it is depicting the letter S - the first letter in 'schweinfurt'. the staircase is a later addition to the old city hall ( 1570 ), it was built after the 2nd world war. the yellow building on the right is the new city hall, erected from 1954 to 1958 by fred angerer. it's also a listed building, an important piece of post-war architecture.
a closer look at the balustrade. even the german eagle is eternalized on it!
this gem is the heiliggeistkirche ( church of the holy spirit ) - built by anton leipold between 1897 and 1902. it's neo-romanesque facade lures you into a dream of 1960/1970 interior design - most of it created by sculptor heinrich söller.
the tympanum of the main portal depicts mary and the disciples and also king david.
inside mary's chapel - mary holding jesus in her arms. loved how she and her son shined golden in a dark niche of the church.
i think the face of mary is remarkable here, full of grief and sadness - and an emptiness that only the death of a loved one will open up in you.
the choir with the big crucifix at the top. that crucifix is a work of heinrich söller as well. i really liked how everything was tinged in gold and how elegant it all looked, despite the strange chunky altars. just shows how well you can mix various styles, from modern to futuristic and back to historic elements.
that cross really did it for me, the figure of christ not so much. it all reminded me so much of art deco design, you know from way back in the 1920ies. many elements in this church were created by the clean and minimalistic school of post-war design, but i deeply feel that those people creating from the 50ies onwards to the 70ies found a well of inspiration in the architecture of the 20ies, were new styles laid the groundwork for modern architecture.
little modern organ with contemporary sculpture of an angel. the organs inside heiliggeistkirche are made by the company steinmeyer, and are from 1967. the angel was created by björn hauschild. it looks very much like a falling angel to me.
more contemporary art and religious interior. the bowl object in the middle is the baptistery. the painting on the wall is another piece by björn hauschild.
when romantic religion meets purism.
the choir with its absolutely gorgeous golden dome. i really dig the grey/gold combo.
a very abstract mary & child sculpture. i couldn't find any infos on this one.
circles and straight lines, squares and cylinders.
outside again, now viewing the west wall with another portal.
from the side the church looks really massive and definitely like it should be standing in some narrow italian street rather than in a orderly german one, lol.
needless to say, we didn't want to stay all day long at this church, so we ventured out into the city again, over the street to a former cemetery, now turned public park. the old cemetery once was a garden that belonged to a carmelite monastery. around 1560 it was first mentioned as an official burying ground and it was used for a long time. it is even said that they still buried the dead until shortly before the second world war broke out. anyway, there's not much left of the old cemetery today, only very few ( and very old) wall gravestones can be found and some memorials on the burial ground itself. like this one, a cenotaph for world war 2 victims. it was created in 1961 by the already mentioned heinrich söller ( who was responsible for a lot of urbanistic elements in the city - like a few church equipments - as seen in the heiliggeistkirche ).
basically right next to the old cemetery are some train tracks and the main river! peek my friend l. taking some analogue photos.
we marched onwards to the museum and passed by some residential building with interesting facades.
and finally, an egon schiele self portrait greeted us with his characteristic hand sign ❤
what i love most about egon schiele's art is his expressionistic display of the human mind through the human body which is very close to my heart. his objects and the people he painted seem frail and fragile, even though they are executed in a harsh and blatant way, very raw and vulnerable. i love his use of colour, lots of earthy tones with intermixture of pastel and soft washed out tints. it is very rich in contrast, which i feel very strongly about, with my personality showcasing the same characteristics all the time. egon schiele as a person also fascinates me, especially since he was coming from a time where an atmosphere of departure was shaping the world - the future was palpable, new concepts and inventions were conceived which would ultimately change the world and would create today's reality, constitutive on that special time. it was exciting, although very heartbreaking as well, with the first world war being a big looming monster above anything and big epidemics extinguishing young and promising lives. in this time egon developed his own distinct style, toppling over the traditional art scene together with his comrades such as gustav klimt, oskar kokoschka or albert paris gütersloh.
what is most tragic for me still is the fact that he died so young. he was 28 years old when he died, the spanish flu raged through europe at that time and it caught him, too. while he left a big legacy to the successive art world, i cannot wrap my mind around what could've been if he lived longer! all the unpainted work, all the experiments that could've ensued if he had the chance to try himself at it. the way he painted and the way he saw the world around him, it was unparalleled... and i think it still is to this day.
the museum georg schäfer is of national importance as it houses one of the biggest private collections of 19th century art in germany. it was opened in 2000 and was built by the architect volker staab, who is a specialist in museum architecture world-wide. though it is made out of concrete mostly ( which many people associate with ugliness ) it definitely doesn't appear bone-crushing and cheerless. instead the facades light up friendly when the sun hits them and create an airy structure! we approached the museum from the back, which you wouldn't guess by looking at it... it is designed to be equally open and welcoming as the official entrance towards the inner city. inside the exhibition halls are also very aerial, providing illumination through skylights.
before we step inside, let's have a look at the surrounding area. right next to the museum we have another modern building which is in stark ( but awesome ) contrast to a really old one. the futuristic looking one is home to the main customs office ( hauptzollamt ) of schweinfurt and the old one is the time-honoured ebracher hof, a former monastery granary from the 15th century. both can be looked at as an united ensemble, because the old building mirrors itself in the big windows of the hauptzollamt, creating a double vision. what they also have in common is the architecture company who basically coordinated the whole project ( bfm - bruno fioretti marquez ). the ebracher hof was renovated completely while on the opposite site of it construction of the hauptzollamt began. the whole project started in 2004 and ended in 2007. these days the city's library is situated inside the ebracher hof.
ya know the drill, here's the line i always say, when juxtapositions become apparent: i am so into it!
but let's go back to museum georg schäfer, shall we? this was the back entrance into it.
more of the back entrance situation.
inside the staircase foyer immediately catches your eye. together with the wooden cladding it created such an interesting contrast again.
the quality of the next pictures isn't very high, i stored away my actual camera and used my mobile phone for the rest of the stay. the staircases in the foyer lead to the two other levels of the museum where the changing and the permanent exhibitions are situated. on the left you can see the entrance to the egon schiele exhibition, and on the upper right you can enter the permanent exhibitions.
the symmetries were quite delicious 😋
i loved the lines of sight throughout the museum, offering interesting perspectives. doesn't it look like the room on the other side is floating?
there's also a cafe inside the museum ( which we didn't try out, though museum cafes always do tempt me a little - they often seem to me like the icing on the cake, i don't know why 😅 maybe it's the atmosphere ).
i didn't quite dare to take photos of the egon schiele exhibition, i always had the nagging feeling someone would scold me for it. so i restrained myself from capturing every single painting inside it. because i would've if i wasn't so self-conscious lol. the exhibition was absolutely worth the travel to schweinfurt, seeing so many schiele paintings for real and up close - it was a dream come true! and to learn more about the master himself helped greatly in understanding his art better and appreciating it. i think i will create a post on him and his art ( and my favourite pieces of his paintings ) soon, some of them having been part of the exhibition. so stay tuned for that, if you are interested in that sorta thing!
i have snapped one tiny picture though, albeit it wasn't of a schiele painting. it was this one, 'the holy hour from 1907 by ferdinand hodler.
we also took a look at the permanent exhibitions and while being mostly underwhelmed by the many romantic biedermeier art there, i was attracted to the small art nouveau/expressionism/impressionism part of the museum. there was some lovis corinth & max beckmann thrown in, but my favourite discovery was the art of ferdinand hodler! he's mostly known for being an art nouveau artist, using heavy symbolism, but i see something else in his paintings, something that caught me off guard! i think it's the way how he merged impressionism with realism in a most unique way, something that wasn't even on the plate in the art world back then. to me, he seems like a harbinger, a precursor on the art movement that was about to happen around the 1910s and 1920s. his art is also very bright and colourful, something that wasn't really the case with art nouveau things, which often used more coordinated and dimmed colours. since seeing this painting for the first time i'm now officially on the lookout for more hodler art, and the stuff i've seen until now made me a fan!
we left the museum from the side where the main entrance is situated. there you have a big perron leading up to it.
you could also use a more barrier-free path to make your way into the museum. this side of the building is designed a bit more welcoming than the other side, but still retains the same make-up.
for something built 20 years ago ( which of course is nothing against other historical buildings still existing today like castles or temples ), the museum georg schäfer looked like it was just built yesterday! i really loved the timelessness of the design!
when we left the museum it had gotten quite dark outside, so we decided to check out the christmas market to grab a bite and then snooped around adjacent streets some more.
the market square in twilight.
when you cross the market square you will be able to see another church: st. johannis. this sacral building wins you over with a facade that reminds you of french churches from the gothic era ( 12th - 15th century ). well, turns out, it dates back to that time ( officially mentioned as a church in 1325 )! construction began way earlier though, around 1200, some say it even started in the 11th century. first it was a catholic church, but after the reformation in 1542 it was used as a protestant church and to this day it stayed protestant. the most prominent facade of the church is the southern facade with the late romanesque 'brautportal' ( bride portal ) and the two beautiful oculus windows. you can see quite clearly that the church consists of two naves. the portal is guarded by two sculptures, both of them depicting the apostle john and the evangelist john ( hence the name johanniskirche ). between, how strange is it that there are so many john figures in christianity who basically are one person, but then again aren't? 😂
when you go around johanniskirche your eyes will catch sight of this historic building, altes gymnasium ( old grammar school ). it's a terrific renaissance jewel from 1582. it was usually used as the city's history museum, but is currently under construction and therefore not open to the public. it's probably not gonna be open again until 2022, but not as a museum, instead they decided to create some sort of community center.
we decided to check out the inside of st. johannis, and let me tell you, it was quite enchanting. the church was completely empty of humans ( except us two ) and the fact that it was twilight outside contributed to the mystic atmosphere inside. the church was only lit very sparsely, creating isles of light and shadow throughout the interior.
the pulpit up close. it's one of the older relicts inside the church, dating to 1694.
view towards the southern church walls with the distinct oculus windows. can you see the eerie face that they are part of? looking like a scared ghost somehow.
the baptistry was quite dark, but oh so deliciously moody!
view towards the main choir with high altar. the altar is also really old, from 1783, built by materno bossi, an italian stuccoworker who was very active in the region around würzburg ( and consequentially schweinfurt, which is not far away ).
and a view back towards the nave and the main entry.
the light of the street lamps outside was shining beautifully through the glass windows, creating a mood that was very solemn and magical.
chairs in the same light. i love these pictures, they seem kind of ornate and artistic ❤
it was close to closure time, so we made our way back outside. when we emerged the facades were illuminated quite as beautiful as some parts of the interior before.
when you turned around you had the market square in front of you again. immediately you are confronted with modern architecture and sculptures. the building on the right with the cinema sign indicates a 60ies to 70ies origin and the statue in the front is a contemporary ( 2000 ) one. it's called 'lichtzeichen' ( light sign ) and is a creation by franz baumberger.
one last image of the market square with city hall and christmas market. the moon in the sky with a corona around it is such a perfect addition to the picture 😍
i hope you liked the little excursion through schweinfurt! i am aware that this city has a lot more to offer, we only saw a tiny part of the city after all. one thing is for sure, though, revisiting the city might land on my to-do-list again, for example, who knows whose art is on display next at the georg-schäfer-museum? i would travel back to this city just for a revisit at the museum alone! and one can always combine that with another stroll through schweinfurt.
Comments