Category Archives: German art

Museumsdorf Bayerischer Wald, pt. III: Faith of Our Fathers

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Clare Dunkle

Bavaria has been overwhelmingly Roman Catholic for centuries. Even today, Bavaria contains the highest percentage of Catholics of any state in Germany, as the following map from the German Bishops’ Conference (Deutsche Bischofskonferenz) shows. This faith helped define the identities … Continue reading →

Posted in Churches and religion, Europe, Folk traditions, German art, German history, German house decoration, Public art, Tourist destinations, Village life | 1 Comment

Museumsdorf Bayerischer Wald: History in the Open Air

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Clare Dunkle

This wonderful open-air museum lies in the village of Tittling, twenty minutes north of Passau, in southeastern Germany. The large, grassy park contains a hundred and fifty buildings that, according to the website, date from 1580 to 1850–a nice bit … Continue reading →

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Black Forest Pantheon

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Clare Dunkle

In February, Joe and I visited the small, elegant town of St. Blasien, in Germany’s Schwarzwald, or Black Forest—an appropriate visit to make since February 3rd is St. Blaise’s feast day. There we encountered an unusually magnificent gem of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Churches and religion, Folk traditions, German art, German history | 2 Comments

Reminiscent Only of Itself

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

If this blog seems cathedral-heavy, that’s because I love cathedrals. Stunningly beautiful even in our day, cathedrals represented heroic effort and almost miraculous achievement in their day. Each one is unique. They’re not just buildings; they’re audacity and imagination in … Continue reading →

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Lüftlmalerei in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

Cynical tourists visiting Bavaria might be tempted to think that the bright murals on the sides of houses there have been painted for their benefit. This isn’t true. The tradition of Lüftlmalerei, or Bavarian mural painting, has flourished since at … Continue reading →

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An Afternoon Walk around Rodenbach

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

The town I live in is like Grandma’s cookie jar: I never know what I’ll find when I shut my front door and walk outside, but I can be pretty sure I’m going to love it. There are lots of … Continue reading →

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My Last Garden, continued

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

Joe and I found the example graves at the Koblenz National Garden Show completely fascinating. They were so unlike anything we’d seen. Some were as elaborate and elegant as a Japanese flower arrangement. Others were just downright different. Joe’s favorite … Continue reading →

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My Last Garden

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

Graves. Headstones. Birth and death dates. Are we in a cemetery? No, we’re back at the Koblenz National Garden Show, where the program assures us, “a romantic woodland glade is the perfect setting for cemetery landscapers and stonemasons to demonstrate … Continue reading →

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A Circular Reference in Stone

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

Around the corner from the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz is a church that has stood, more or less (in spite of being renovated, bombed, and shot at) for the last twelve hundred years. This is the beautiful Kastorkirche, the Basilica … Continue reading →

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A Monument from a Bygone Age … the 1990s

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Clare Dunkle

This enormous bronze equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I towers over the crowds at the Deutsches Eck, the spit of land in downtown Koblenz where the Mosel flows into the Rhine. Standing almost fifty feet high (14 meters) from plumed … Continue reading →

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