Another adventure day for the Walters and another History lesson for those of you reading this blog. At the end of the 2nd century Darussus, a Roman General, established a legionary camp for 16,000 soldiers on a hill above where the Rhine River meets the Main River to control the water ways. The inhabitants were mixed Celtic and Germanic stock. Frankisches settlements and the Mervingian Kings had their beginnings in this area. Mainz was the medieval capitol of the German empire. It was called the golden leader of cities in the 11th century and was a land bridge for Napoleon and the French Revolution. Mainz has been the State capital of Rhineland-Palalinate since 1950. In 1995 while excavating in Mainz, they found the remains of a Temple To Isis which is Egyptian. It is built on another civilization which holds true for all cultures if you think about it.
The town is beautifully laid out and we parked right in the middle of it. The pinkish building with the crest on top is the Dalberg Court (1718). It served as the Palace of Justice and then the headquarters of the Mainz police. In the basement from 1933-1945 were places of suffering for numerous political prisoners, Jews, Sinti and foreign forced laborers. Today it is the Conservatory of Music. The rounded building front with glass windows above is the theater. Designed by George Moller in a Classic Neo-Romanesque style (1829-1833). The tall white tower with orange outline is the Iron Tower built(1220) The large pinkish building is the Roman Emperor's house (1653). Goethe, Mozart and Voltaire stayed here. You will see the Markt Plaza where everyone brings their food to sell. We found a fresh fish markt that had every kind of fish imaginable and they would cook it any way you want. One lady got baby octupus (or is that octupi) to eat uncooked. They gave us 4 gigantic pieces of fish and we ate it all. I have to tell you a secret about Germany. You know all the quaint little tables with umbrellas in front of the stores just waiting for you to sit in and relax? Well don't do it, the seats are only for customers, so we ate our fish sitting on a big tree stump. NO WHINING just a fact.
After lunch we saw a whole row of houses designed by Hans Zum Bodram, 14th century originals. Two had murals painted on the front. Each one had its own name like The Lion House, The Elephant house and the Wine house. That's how you knew which house you were looking for until the number system came into being. We saw a beautiful fountain and sat for a while in the cool of the trees and listened to the sound of water, so relaxing. Then we saw a young German boy playing his trumpet. He was pretty good too for just a 12 year old. His brother was holding his music. What a way to make extra money. I love it and the culture it brings to the youth. I gave him a euro and gave him a thumbs up while he played on. We saw a statue made of iron that had a different hat sculpted on each side. One was the Pope's hat, the King's hat, the Joker's hat and the Knight's hat. I am not sure what they meant but I have a good idea. What do you think the importance was?
We spotted the Guttenberg Museum and headed for that treasure. Gene was very excited to see one of the original Bibles that he printed. You were not allowed to take pictures (and I didn't make that mistake again), so I bought an in depth brochure of the articles housed there, and took pictures of that. I have to tell you, that guy got a bum deal. He had all the ideas plus money from his inheritance and went into business with a Mr. Fust who put up half the money. He let Guttenberg get it almost completed with printed books and all before he decided to call in the loan which in that time period was imprisonment if not paid. So Guttenberg had to sell all the equipment and the books that were already printed, in order to pay off the debt. He did take him to court for his part of the profits when the books sold, but he lost, never again to work as a printer. But he did invent the first reuseable printing machine for Europe. He was born in Mainz about 1400 and opened at least two printing shops there. He produced a Turkish Calendar but most significant the 42-line Bible or B42. There were other printing presses but not like his. The first picture is his portrait, the original B42 Bible and the original Mainz Psalter, by Fust his old partner. The rest of the printed material are done in various ways. Some works you will be familiar with, others you will not. "Natural History of Frogs" 1758 by Rosel Von Rosenhof, The Columbia Press 1824, A Marcus Behmer illustration 1920 of the Pope, an Alfons Maria Mucha poster "Bieres de la Meuse" 1896, a mid 19th century bookbinder's workshop, Arthur Rackeham's "Cinderella" 1919 book illustration and a copper engraving from Diderot and D'Alembert 1751. The bible was in a vaulted room, temperature controlled and behind thick glass, just a little fact you might want to know. I hope you can figure all these pictures out. We loved it but we were unable to hear the tour in English so we will go back when the girls come to see us next year. On our way out we saw a demonstration of paper making. That takes hard of work, but I know a lot of ladies have perfected that technique today. I might like to try that when I get home.
The last stop was to see the St Martins Cathedral (DOM) It was here that several Kings (one being Friedrich II in 1212) were anointed and crowned King of Germany. If you were anointed by the Primate of the "Second Rome", then you were legally Emperors with the right to call upon the Grace of God. Among the impressive interior sites we saw was a huge painting of Christ crucifixtion done in background colors of red and yellow, the original colors used in the 12th century Staufer Dynasty. There was one marble statue of the figures of Aaron and Melchezedek done by Burkard Zamels in 1725. I wonder if they ever got the connection of these two men having the lower and higher Priesthoods? Thank goodness for the knowledge our church gives us. We saw a Gothic font of 1328. Most of the monuments are tombs for the arch bishops that served there. I took lots of pictures as you can see. Hope you enjoyed them all. Our day ended with an eis and we were home by 11:00. Tschuss
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