Good news and Magdeburg pic spam
May. 8th, 2015 06:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI'm on the road again and at a conference for the next few days, hence no Elementary review yet. However, when I just had a look at the news I spotted something to brighten up my morning - Agent Carter got renewed for a second season! I'm chuffed to bits and extremely happy at the prospect of more Peggy (and Jarvis!) in my life.
Yes, the place of conference has to offer some visual attractions as well, these ladies included. Check out the rest beneath the cut.
As German cities go, Magdeburg is a really old one - as a diocese, it was founded in 968 AD by Otto I. (Otto the Great) (who supposedly had been born here), after whom as much is named here as there is after Genghis Khan in Mongolia. If you're wondering what's so great about Otto: aside from doing the usual conquering (and marrying) territories and ruling the Empire bit, he founded a dynasty where mostly women ruled. This was because his second wife, Adelheid, was an extremely tough old bird, and his daughter-in-law, Teophanu, was a princess from Byzantium who became the only Empress to be referred to as "Empress" - Imperatrix - in the documents, not as "consort of the Emperor". See, Otto's son, Otto II., who was married to Teophanu, died young, and his son, Otto III., was just a toddler. Now Adelheid and Teophanu weren't keen on each other, to put it mildly, so a couple of greedy nobles and one in particular thought they could play them out against each other, and make a play for the Imperial throne. Tough luck. The ladies put their dislike aside and teamed up against the grabber. The net result was that the guy got banished, and Teophanu ruled. Unfortunately she died relatively young, with Otto III. still a minor, so then Adelheid ruled.
Back to Magdeburg. As I said, really old, but unfortunately it got sacked and completely destroyed no less than five times, the last time during WWII. Which means most of the buildings are new, a few (partially reconstructed) churches aside. But have another look at the skyline from across the Elbe:
The most memorable modern building, the Hundertwasser-Haus:
City Hall, with St. John's in the background:
St. John's, where Luther preached. (Supposedly the church was packed so much that people climbed on ladders put to the windows from outside to listen.) Magdeburg became one of the first German cities to turn Protestant. Unfortunately, this also indirectly led to yet another round of destruction - it got sacked during the Thirty-Years-War a century later. Today, it's used for conferences.
Inside:
Monastery of St. Catherine's and our lady's:
The main cathedral, from various sides:
Heinrich the Bickerer (the wannabe emperor mentioned above) as a gargoyle. Okay, not really, but I like to think that:
The church today is mostly Gothic (see also: repeated sackings and rebuildings), but when it was originally build it was in the Romanic style, and some of the statues from that time still survive:
This is St. Maurice (one of the city patrons), aka the earliest depiction of a black man in a Christian church:
Moving on to the Gothic, here's the Paradise Portal with the wise and the foolish virgins from the parable depicted:
The wise virgins:
The foolish virgins:
Details. Mourning the British election results:
Or the current train strike situation in Germany:
Or the latest twist in the ongoing (in Germany, if nowhere else) NSA scandal:
Meanwhile, Agent Carter!
Have another look from the outside, i.e. from the other side of the Elbe, at the cathedral:
And off I go to breakfast!
Yes, the place of conference has to offer some visual attractions as well, these ladies included. Check out the rest beneath the cut.
As German cities go, Magdeburg is a really old one - as a diocese, it was founded in 968 AD by Otto I. (Otto the Great) (who supposedly had been born here), after whom as much is named here as there is after Genghis Khan in Mongolia. If you're wondering what's so great about Otto: aside from doing the usual conquering (and marrying) territories and ruling the Empire bit, he founded a dynasty where mostly women ruled. This was because his second wife, Adelheid, was an extremely tough old bird, and his daughter-in-law, Teophanu, was a princess from Byzantium who became the only Empress to be referred to as "Empress" - Imperatrix - in the documents, not as "consort of the Emperor". See, Otto's son, Otto II., who was married to Teophanu, died young, and his son, Otto III., was just a toddler. Now Adelheid and Teophanu weren't keen on each other, to put it mildly, so a couple of greedy nobles and one in particular thought they could play them out against each other, and make a play for the Imperial throne. Tough luck. The ladies put their dislike aside and teamed up against the grabber. The net result was that the guy got banished, and Teophanu ruled. Unfortunately she died relatively young, with Otto III. still a minor, so then Adelheid ruled.
Back to Magdeburg. As I said, really old, but unfortunately it got sacked and completely destroyed no less than five times, the last time during WWII. Which means most of the buildings are new, a few (partially reconstructed) churches aside. But have another look at the skyline from across the Elbe:
The most memorable modern building, the Hundertwasser-Haus:
City Hall, with St. John's in the background:
St. John's, where Luther preached. (Supposedly the church was packed so much that people climbed on ladders put to the windows from outside to listen.) Magdeburg became one of the first German cities to turn Protestant. Unfortunately, this also indirectly led to yet another round of destruction - it got sacked during the Thirty-Years-War a century later. Today, it's used for conferences.
Inside:
Monastery of St. Catherine's and our lady's:
The main cathedral, from various sides:
Heinrich the Bickerer (the wannabe emperor mentioned above) as a gargoyle. Okay, not really, but I like to think that:
The church today is mostly Gothic (see also: repeated sackings and rebuildings), but when it was originally build it was in the Romanic style, and some of the statues from that time still survive:
This is St. Maurice (one of the city patrons), aka the earliest depiction of a black man in a Christian church:
Moving on to the Gothic, here's the Paradise Portal with the wise and the foolish virgins from the parable depicted:
The wise virgins:
The foolish virgins:
Details. Mourning the British election results:
Or the current train strike situation in Germany:
Or the latest twist in the ongoing (in Germany, if nowhere else) NSA scandal:
Meanwhile, Agent Carter!
Have another look from the outside, i.e. from the other side of the Elbe, at the cathedral:
And off I go to breakfast!
no subject
Date: 2015-05-09 01:46 am (UTC)I seriously, seriously had not allowed myself to hope. I'M SO HAPPY
no subject
Date: 2015-05-09 05:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-08 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 11:46 am (UTC)