Visiting Aachen, Germany (Aixe-la-Chapelle, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Aachen, Germany (Aixe-la-Chapelle, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


I first saw Aachen Cathedral as a college student at the University of Chicago in my year-long “Art of the West” art history course.  The black-and-white photograph of the octagonal Carolingian Chapel was the only image of the cathedral in H.W. Janson’s History of Art, yet I wanted to see Aachen Cathedral the minute I saw it.

Now almost thirty years later, my husband Laurent and I have made an art pilgrimage to Aachen, Germany known as Aix-la-Chapelle in French.  Aachen lies close to the Belgian border and houses the remains of Charlemagne (742 – 814), who ruled over modern-day France and Germany as a united kingdom.  Division of these two lands came after his death as his various sons inherited different parts of his kingdom.

Charlemagne had Aachen Cathedral built to resemble the octagonal, sixth-century church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.  Ravenna was part of the Byzantine Empire.  By modeling his cathedral on San Vitale, Charlemagne assumed the stature of a Byzantine monarch, who was just as much a temporal ruler as a theocrat.

Another element of Aachen Cathedral that is modeled after San Vitale is the use of mosaics in the cupola and decoration of the church.  The actual mosaics do not date from the time of Charlemagne.  However, they reflect the high esteem and care that the parishioners of Aachen Cathedral feel for their place of worship. Green marble covers the walls and patterned marble covers the floor.  The cathedral is luxurious yet inviting at the same time.

Charlemagne’s throne is visible on the second floor of the cathedral from the altar.  Monarchs often sat on the second floor of churches to worship unobserved.  Thirty German kings and twelve German queens have been anointed and crowned on Charlemagne's throne according to the Concise Guide to Aachen Cathedral, which is available for purchase in the cathedral entryway.

As we left Aachen Cathedral, I thought of my art history classes and how they have guided and informed my travel itineraries for the last thirty years; they were worth the entire tuition at the 
University of Chicago.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

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Visiting Bamberg, Germany's Cathedral in Bavaria with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Bamberg, Germany's Cathedral in Bavaria with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

The tomb of Pope Clement II (1005 – 1047) in Bamberg’s Saint Pierre and Saint George Cathedral has made it a pilgrimage site for Germans and tourists of many countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Russia as one can see from tourist guides available in these languages in the cathedral.

Unlike most popes, who are buried in Rome, Clement II made it his express desire to be buried in Bamberg, which he described as “…my friend, my sister, my bride, my dove” according to Bamberg for old and new friends: A guide through the town by Karin Dengler-Schreiber (ISBN: 978-3-89889-182-0).  Today it is possible to view Clement II’s effigy as you enter the cathedral while his tomb is in the west choir of the cathedral.  (It is not possible to visit the area around the tomb.)

To the left of the altar, you can walk down to the crypt to view tombs under the floor.  A towering black Madonna sculpture sits in the corner.  Her eyes are slits.  Her angular face offers no comfort as you would normally expect from a Madonna, who usually intercedes on man's behalf before Heaven.

The black Madonna's responsibility is judgment on earth.  Her color is black not from aging, but from selection to reflect soil.  The black Madonna deals with death, and Christian burial is in soil. The black Madonna's role is one of judgment upon death. 

Despite the prevalence of black Madonnas in Catholic Churches in Europe, the only other ones I have seen in Europe are at Chartres Cathedral in France.  The black Madonna in the crypt there functions like the one in Bamberg.

Upstairs the black Madonna glass window and the black Madonna sculpture both have infant Jesus on the knees.  Their black color presages Christ's death. Women pray around the black Madonna sculpture, but this probably comes more from the fact that the shawl of Mary is with her more from worship of a graven image.

Both Mary as the intercessor of man before heaven and the black Madonna as judge of life lived on earth are accepted by the Catholic Church for believers.  

However, Bamberg cathedral’s most famous artwork, the Bamberg Rider (after 1225), is on view overhead by the cathedral entryway.  The light streaming in through the window to the left of the equestrian statue makes the sculpture appear to emerge from the pillar it rests on.  No one knows the identity of the Bamberg Rider, but all agree he is the epitome of a feudal knight. The Bamberg Rider is a famous symbol of the city, but Bamberg is important to German culture for more than its art alone.

According to Dengler-Schreiber, Bamberg became the school of the Empire, which focused on classical and Christian literature.  This approach to education was not business-oriented, yet Bamberg’s most popular saint, Otto 1 (1102- 1139), was masterful at organization and finance.  Six black plaques on the entry wall to the Alte Hofhaltung (Old Residence) next to the cathedral recount Otto’s life.

Directly across from the Alte Hofhaltung is the majestic Neue Residenz (New Palace) whose rose garden allows one to look out over red rooftops in the town and take pictures of Saint Michael’s Church on a neighboring hill with vineyards running up to its chapel.

At the bottom of Cathedral Hill, the bourgeois town developed steadily in the 13^th and 14^th centuries.  The new town citizens wanted to be part of the intellectual and cultural life of the town along with the bishops.  According to Dengler – Schreiber, Hugo von Trimberg wrote The Runner in 1300 and told his readers that only a reader who can “compose poetry in Latin and German, as well as read and write both, is a real man.”

Trimberg’s opinion of 1300 predates Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) who is usually credited with holding up German as equal to Latin by translating the Bible into German.  Bamberg invites speculations such as this one.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Home of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Home of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



On a sunny albeit cold day, my husband Laurent and I walked around downtown Strasbourg admiring the fashionably dressed denizens of a provincial French city that proclaims itself a European capital.

The European Parliament of elected deputies has its headquarters in Strasbourg while the majority of European civil servants who carry out European Union policies are located in Brussels, Belgium.  Strasbourg is also the site of France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), which has traditionally been France’s training ground for presidential hopefuls and high-level government employees whatever their political orientation.

ENA is located opposite the city’s canals off the Rhine River, the natural border with Germany, in an area called La Petite France.  The canals make the air damp and cold in winter.  However, in spring and summer flowers decorate the bridges over the canals, adding great picturesque charm to the half-timbered houses in the area.

At the rue de la mercerie, or street of the haberdashery (stores for buttons and threads), you can look down and see the entryway of Saint Laurent to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral was begun in 1015 in the stark Romanesque style, but was finished in the detailed and elaborate Gothic style, featuring much sculpture and pointed arches over the entries to the cathedral.  The cathedral tower and entryways rise steeply, but as often happens when you look at Gothic cathedrals, you stop looking up as your eyes focus on the sculpture.

The sculpture on the Saint Laurent doorway, which is carved in the gray rose stone from the Vosges Mountains that the cathedral is made of, depicts the martyrdom of Saint Laurent.  Saint Laurent died in 258 and served the Pope Sixtus II.  The gridiron is his usual symbol, but he is also known for almsgiving and is often shown with a purse of money, too.

Saint Laurent’s feast day is August 10^th and like many people with the name Laurent, my husband celebrates the Saint Laurent feast day with a nice meal and usually receives cards and gifts.

August 10^th was far from our thoughts on our walk, though.  The cold chased us from Strasbourg’s impeccably clean, downtown streets. We will return in spring and share our walk with tourists from around the world who want to see what a European capital with a long history looks like.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

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Visiting Wurzburg, Germany (Famous for its Tiepolo Ceilings) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Wurzburg, Germany (Famous for its Tiepolo Ceilings) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770) decorated Balthasar Neumann’s (1687 – 1753) Baroque Residenz Palace in Würzburg with frescoes meant to elicit awe.  Man was not the measure of things in Baroque art; Heaven was, and the representative of heaven on earth was the Catholic Church.

The Residenz Palace, whose construction Neumann oversaw from 1720 to 1744, was built for the Prince-Bishop Johan Philipp Franz von Schönborn (1673 - 1724).  The interior decoration was finished by 1780 with Tiepolo working a total of three years on the project. 

Tiepolo painted a grandiose fresco of the four continents over the monumental stairway by Neumann, but it is the Kaisersaal with its fresco of the ceiling opening to the sky that draws the eyes and spirit upward.  Figures appear to float aloft by being wider at the bottom than at the top.  Atmospheric perspective plays a part in this illusion as well with blues in the sky becoming fainter towards the center of the oval ceiling.

A series of guest rooms and antechambers is open to the public without having to take a tour.  Tapestries, tall faience stoves, and beds with curtains all served to heat the guests.  One room called The Green Room shimmered from having green paint coated over silver backing.   Wood mosaics in a circular, floral design covered the floor in this room.

Outside these rooms were before-and-after photographs of the March 16, 1945 bombing of Würzburg.  The furnishings and paneling of the palace rooms had been removed prior to the bombing, but after just 22 minutes, the Residenz frescoes and moldings had become rubble along with most of the town.

Rebuilding after such a loss is long and arduous, but it illustrates why the beauty of Europe endures.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting France's Rococo City of Nancy, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting France's Rococo City of Nancy, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

Nancy’s Place Stanislas preserves sixteenth century gilt ironwork gates and fountains along with five pavilions in the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site for its citizens and visitors alike.

The Polish king Stanislas Leszczynski (1677 – 1766) was the father-in-law of French King Louis XV (1710 – 1774), whose title Louis Quinze is what the French refer to as the swirling Rococo style.  King Stanislas had lost his kingdom and set about embellishing his new home, making Nancy always amenable to the new and beautiful.

Place Stanislas today is a pedestrian-only area and host several restaurants in its historic pavilions.  My husband Laurent and I ate at Les Césars, which occupies a corner on one of the pavilions.Nancy, a main city in the Lorraine region of France, is famous for its cuisine.  We began our meal with a quiche Lorraine before eating rump roast cooked medium-rare.  We ended our meal with yellow mirabelle plum tarts that prompted me to purchase Gastronomie en Lorraine: Historie, terroir, et traditions for a modest 7.90 Euros published by Est Republicain (www.estrepublicain.fr) at a newspaper shop.

It was difficult to leave the Les Césars restaurant, which is just as beautiful inside as it is outside.  When we left the restaurant, we immediately found ourselves in the old town by the Ducal Palace built in the thirteenth century.  An equestrian statue is built into the façade of the Palace and makes one think of festive dining when dukes and knights would come and go.

At the end of the street where the Ducal Palace stands is the Porte de la Craffe built in the thirteenth century as well.  Across the street from this gateway was Nancy’s Math and Physics High School built in the undulating art nouveau style.  The swirling curves of the Place Stanislas may have made Nancy a natural home for accepting the nineteenth century Art Nouveau style.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

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Visiting Augsburg, Germany - home of the Fugger Bankers in Augsburg, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Home of the Fugger Bankers in Augsburg (Germany) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Once tourists discover the Bavarian city of Augsburg outside Munich they often come back to visit again as my husband Laurent and I have done on several occasions.  Augsburg’s architecture is Renaissance with an imposing town hall (Rathaus) and Perlachturm bell tower.

Augsburg was the financial center of Europe at the end of the fifteenth century when the Fugger family in the person of Jakob Fugger the Rich (1459 – 1529) was banker to Carlos V (1500 – 1558) of the Hapsburg Empire.  The Fuggers first became wealthy in the woolens industry and then set up banks to finance their businesses.

These banks gradually extended their businesses to lending operations outside the family. The Fuggers were much like the Florentine de Medici family, who started in woolens and ended up as the bankers of Europe as well.

The Fuggers also set up the Fuggerei, which is a low income housing complex for Catholics.  In return for living quarters, the Catholics in the home pray for the Fuggerei’s founders to this day as part of their lodging agreement according to the Guide Michelin.

The speed of life in Augsburg is fast.  Even on weekends during summer, pedestrians rush to outdoor cafes in throngs on the streets.  Germans like to congregate outside, talk, and laugh it seems.  After cold, wet, and dark winters, this love of the sun is understandable.

Children appear to be happy in Augsburg.  The town boasts a puppetry museum and puppet theatre.  One day when we visited, a concert was taking place in the town hall.  At the end, we saw one of the young musicians rush out with a cello attached to her back.  She ran smiling to her parents full of creative adrenalin no doubt.  That is the image I will forever hold of Augsburg in my mind.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Nuremberg, Germany's Christmas Market with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Nuremberg, Germany's Christmas Market with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt first appears in historical records in 1628 when an oval box decorated with flowers mentions it. The box contained skeins of silk to be sold at the market. 

 

The box is now housed at the German National Museum in Nuremberg according to the website www.christkindlesmarkt.de , which details the world’s most famous Christmas market.

Today the Christmas market features 180 wood stalls that sell traditional wood crafts, food, and drinks. In the children’s area, there are small train rides and a merry-go-round.  

 

The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt hosts two million visitors every year where the good-natured crowd treads cobble stone streets and is just as much part of the scene as the wood carved decorations on the booths and Christmas trim.

While walking around the main square where the market is held, my husband Laurent and I discovered the Korn and Berg Bookstore.  Korn and Berg was founded in 1531 and is Germany’s oldest bookstore.  The scent of new paper greeted us when we entered the ship.  I purchased a blank book with a flower-patterned cover that shimmers in the light for my alchemical musings brought on by our visit to this German town full of medieval buildings.

On our next trip to Nuremberg, we plan to visit the German National Museum which houses paintings by Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528), Hans Holbein (1497 – 1543), and Lucas Cranach (1472 – 1553) among other art objects.  

Art was often my entryway to understanding French culture when I was younger.   I hope to use art again to understand German culture in addition to studying the German language.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie