Music and Culture in Salzburg (Austria)

The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire, which comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg. The Diocese of Salzburg was already founded on Bavarian territory in the 8th century, but it needed until the 13th century to gain political autonomy. Around 1600 Salzburg was one of the richest German States. Its autonomy Salzburg was able to maintain until the chaotic times at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1803 Salzburg was secularised and became an electorate under the former Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1805 it became a part of Austria and in 1809 it became a part of Bavaria, before it ultimately lost its autonomy after the Congress of Vienna. Since then is Salzburg a part of Austria. Today it forms one of the nine states of Austria.

Especially the City of Salzburg, as capital of the Prince-Archbishopric, became an important cultural centre under the archbishops. It was the point where the Italian and German cultures met and which played a crucial role in the exchanges between these two cultures. In 1996 the Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg was one of the first two Austrian sites to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg. One of the most famous Austrians was thus not a real Austrian but a Salzburgian. Together with his older sister Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart he got music lessons from their father very early and soon he was considered to be a musical child genius, who later went on to become one of the most influential composers of the Classical era. In his childhood he made many voyages in Europa, but used to live in Salzburg. A patron and employer of Mozart was Hieronymus von Colloredo, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Annoyed with Mozart's frequent absences he later dismissed him and in 1781 Mozart moved from Salzburg to Vienna, where he worked as freelance composer and where he also died impoverished in 1791.

When Salzburg had already lost its autonomy, another exceptional musical history began in the Salzburgian town of Oberndorf. On 24th December 1818 Franz Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr performed the Christmas carol Silent Night for the first time in the local Saint Nicholas' Church. Mohr had written its text already in 1816 and Gruber composed the melody shortly before Christmas 1818. Soon after its first performance it began to be spread around the World and until today it was translated into more than 300 languages.

In 2011 Silent Night became an Intangible Heritage of the Austrian UNESCO and it was also proposed for the European Heritage Label.
A special memorial for the carol is the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf. It was built at the site of the former Saint Nicholas' Church, which had to be demolished after it was damaged during the floodings of the Salzach in the late 19th century. The Silent Night Chapel was built between 1924 and 1936 and is today a popular tourist destination.
Of the original autographs of Gruber and Mohr only a few survived until today, but one of them is kept in Salzburg.

Genoa's seafaring past (Italy, Turkey)

Genoa was in the Middle Ages the capital of the Republic of Genoa, a powerful maritime republic and colonial power. In 1451 Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa. The Republic of Genoa was an independent state until it was replaced by the Ligurian Republic in 1797, when it became a client state of the Napoleonic France. 

Via Garibaldi (Strade Nuove) and the Palazzo Doria-Tursi

Palazzo Doria Tursi - Palazzo Reale -
 Palazzo Pantaleo Spinola - Palazzo Rosso

In the middle of 13th century the Republic of Genoa was actively trading all over the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was one of the most important trading nations in the Middle Ages and made its fortunes by maritime trade. The Treaty of Nymphaeum, signed with the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261, helped the Genoese to virtually monopolize the trade in the Black Sea. 

The communities of Genoese merchants were located at key points of trade and communication in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. One of their trading posts was the Galata Tower in Istanbul, their main hub in Anatolia. The Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea are currently on Turkey's Tentative List, as they are considered to be exceptional structures which reflect trading and international relationships of the medieval era.

20.05.2016

The Iberian Peninsula between Christianity and Islam (Spain)

The Umayyad Caliphate had conquered the Iberian peninsula in 8th century, but already in 718 the Reconquista started and the Christians began to establish new kingdoms to foster the power of Christianity on the peninsula. The first kingdom, that was founded by the Christians, was the Kingdom of Asturias in 718. First it was just a small state, but soon started its expansion.

One of the churches built in the Kingdom of Asturias was San Miguel de Lillo in the kingdom's capital Oviedo. The Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias are since 1985 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Cordoba had its period of greatest glory after it had been conquered by the Moorish armies in 711. In 766 it became the capital of the Emirate of al-Andalus and also remained the capital after the emirate became the Caliphate of Cordoba under the Umayyad dynasty in 929. It was an important centre of education and had a big library. In 1236 Cordoba was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile.

The Great Mosque was built between 784 and 987. After Cordoba had been captured by the Christians, it was turned into a Catholic church.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba is since 1984 on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1994 the rest of the city's historic centre was added.

The Alhambra was first built in the 9th century. In the 13th century it was largely renovated by the Moorish Emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of Granada and in 1333 it was converted into a royal palace by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. 

In 1492 the Reconquista ended when the Emirate of Granada surrendered to the Christian monarchs after the Granada War. 

Afterwards the Alhambra became the Royal Court of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. There Christopher Columbus received the royal endorsement for his expedition. 

The Alhambra is today the best example of Islamic architecture in Spain and also one of the country's most visited sights. Since 1984 is the Alhambra on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

26.11.2016

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and the Herzog August Library (Germany)

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic. He was one of the most important persons of the Enlightenment era in Germany and had an important impact on German literature. His most important works include Nathan the Wise, Emilia Galotti and Minna of Barnhelm. He died in 1781 in Braunschweig.

Lessing stamp from the
series Great Germans (issued 28-06-1961)

 In 1770 Lessing became librarian at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel.

The Herzog August Library was founded by Duke Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1572. It houses a large collection of manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period and is one of the oldest libraries in the World which have never suffered loss to its collection. Today it is a major international research centre for Medieval and Early Modern culture. Some of the documents from its collection are part of the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO.

The Lessinghaus was built next to the library in 1733 as residence for court officials. In 1777 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing moved to the house. There he lived until his death in 1781 and wrote his play Nathan the Wise. Today it is owned by the Herzog August Library and houses a museum about Lessing's life and work.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the last Polymath (Germany)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in 1646 in Leipzig. He is said to have been the last polymath and contributed to mathematics, physics, technology, philosophy, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics and computer science. 

His parents aroused his interest in juridical and philosophic problems very early and autodidactically he learned Greek and Latin in his father's library. In 1661 he matriculated at the Leipzig University. Aged twenty he wanted to take his doctoral degree in jurisprudence, but the professors refused as they thought he was too young, so he moved to the University of Altdorf. In 1672/73 he finished his calculating machine and became a foreign member of the Royal Society. In 1676 he moved to Hanover. In 1700 he promoted the foundation of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz died in 1716. 

The house in which Leibniz lived in Hanover was destroyed during
World War II, but it was later rebuilt.

Leibniz was a good friend of Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (upper left corner),
 the wife of King Frederick I of Prussia,
and often visited her at the Lietzenburg, modern day Charlottenburg Palace.

Between 1691 and 1716 Leibniz was the librarian of the famous
Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel.

Leibniz in buried in the Church of the New Town in Hanover.

Albrecht von Wallenstein in Prague and Güstrow (Czech Republic, Germany)

Albrecht von Wallenstein, born in 1583, was a Bohemian military leader and politician. During the Thirty Years' War he fought alongside the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and became the supreme commander of the armies of the Habsburg Monarchy. He later fell in disgrace and was assassinated in Eger in 1634 with the emperor's approval. After the death he was immortalised by various plays and pieces of literature including Friedrich Schiller's trilogy of plays "Wallenstein".

Wallenstein commissioned the construction of the Wallenstein Palace. It is the first monumental secular Baroque building in Prague and remained in the Wallenstein family until 1945. After World War II the palace became Czechoslovak state property and now houses the Czech Senate.

14.10.2016

In compensation for Wallenstein's help and money he gained as a reward from the Emperor the Duchies of Mecklenburg, whose hereditary dukes suffered expulsion for having helped the Danish king. This awarding of a major territory to someone of the lower nobility shocked the high-born rulers of many other German states. Güstrow Palace became the residence of Wallenstein between 1628 and 1630.

950 years Minsk (Belarus)

Minsk was first mentioned in 1067 and in 1499 it got town privileges. Under Russian rule in the 19th century the city became a railway and manufacturing hub. In 1919 it became the capital of the Belorussian SSR, one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. Since 1991 is Minsk the capital of Belarus and the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 

In 2014 it hosted the IIHF World Championship and in 2019 it will host the European Games. In 2017 Minsk celebrates the 950th anniversary of its first written reference.

Charles IV, Czechia's Pater Patriae (Czech Republic, Germany)

Charles IV was born in 1316. In 1347 he became King of Bohemia and in 1349 he was crowned King of the Romans. In 1355 he became King of Italy and the first King of Bohemia to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. When he was crowned as King of Burgundy in 1365 he became the personal ruler of all the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in 1378. In the Czech Republic he is still today considered as Pater Patriae.

Charles IV was a patron of arts and culture and Prague became his capital. There he established the New Town and commissioned famous buildings like the Charles Bridge or the Saint Vitus Cathedral. Also in Prague he founded in 1348 the first university of Central Europe, the Charles University. Due to this efforts Prague soon became the cultural and intellectual centre of Central Europe.

Karlštejn Castle was founded in 1348 by Charles IV and was used to house the Imperial Regalia, the Bohemian crown jewels, holy relics and other royal treasures.

In 1356 he promulgated the Golden Bull, which fixed important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire like the election of the king.

Henry the Lion, his cities and his tomb (Germany)

Henry the Lion was a member of the House of Welf born in 1129. In 1142 he became Duke of Saxony. In 1152 he had a big influence on the coronation of his cousin Frederick I Barbarossa as German King. For his part the thankful cousin helped Henry to become Duke of Bavaria in 1156. In the following years he established a king-like position in Northern Germany, which was viewed with mistrust by the other Saxon leaders. Henry also supported Frederick during his first Italian campaigns, but their relation worsened when Henry denied help in 1176. Frederick was defeated and Henry had to go to exile in England. Henry the Lion died in 1195.

Henry the Lion Fountain in Braunschweig

In the city of Braunschweig Henry the Lion built a centre of ducal representation. Important buildings of the period are the Brunswick Cathedral, the Dankwarderode Castle and the Brunswick Lion.

Also the city of Lübeck was supported by Henry the Lion. Actually there was a conflict with the city, but when it was destroyed by fire in 1158 Henry helped to rebuilt the city and fostered its overseas trade.

The Nazi Regime considered Henry the Lion as pioneer of the German eastward expansion and the Brunswick Cathedral became a destination of the völkisch pilgrimage. Henry's tomb was thus desecrated in 1935.

Charlemagne and Widukind (Austria, Germany)

Charlemagne was born in 742. He became King of the Franks in 768 and lead the Frankish Kingdom to its biggest expansion. He operated as protector of the papacy, removed the Lombards from power in northern Italy and fought against the Muslims in Spain. His rule also spurred the Carolingian Renaissance. In 774 he became King of Italy. In 800 he was crowned by Pope Leo III the first Holy Roman Emperor since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During his reign he united big parts of Western Europe and is today known as Pater Europae. Charlemagne died in 814.

Albrecht Dürer's Charlemagne from the collection of the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Around 796 Charlemagne started the construction of a chapel for his palace in Aachen. The church, which later became the Aachen Cathedral, is one of the most important Carlolingian monuments and was constantly enlarged over the centuries. In 814 Charlemagne was buried in the church and between 936 and 1531 thirty German Kings were coronated in the cathedral. In 1978 the Aachen Cathedral was one of the first twelve sites to be listed as World Heritage of the UNESCO.

In 772 Charlemagne started the first attempt to conquer Saxony. These Saxon Wars ended after 32 years and eighteen battles in 804, when the last rebellion of disaffected tribesmen was crushed. Afterwards Saxony was incorporated into the Frankish realm and the Saxons were forcible converted to Catholicism.

Widukind was a leader of the Saxons and Charlemagne's chief opponent during the Saxon Wars. In 785 he surrendered to Charlemagne and was baptised. Later many legends developed around Widukind's life.