Marktkirche Uber Lieben Frauen - Halle, Germany

This is where I was "this" morning (at least according to my body-clock!).  For clarity, it was the morning of Saturday, May 14, 2016, and it was quite windy!  (By the way, California this isn't!  Nobody is protecting anybody from their own stupidity up here!)  The Halle "Dom" (cathedral) can be seen in white in the far left of the picture above.

 I'd been looking at pictures online of this of this beautiful kirche for a year and a half prior to my trip - really wanting to get up there at this unique location - found the tower closed on other days during my visit this week - so was super happy to find it open this morning so I could fulfill that dream!

It was quite a hike up!

Looking down over the marktplatz from the towers - and other views from the top -

Quite a view from these patios I would imagine!

Close up of tower - see the bells?

After my climb this morning I entered the church for a quick "good-bye" and found an organist practicing, and this really is a practice session and not polished - but neither is the videography! - but I want it for my memories, and since the organist is neither pictured nor named I think it's all OK!

  

I saw many beautiful churches on this lengthy trip through many European cities and countries, but this one particularly drew me.  It's beautiful, though not necessarily the very prettiest that I saw (which is not to say it's not gorgeous - it is gorgeous!).  It is certainly nowhere near the largest that I saw - nor is it the oldest.  Somehow this one just stood out, perhaps because of its history (including Luther and Handel) and because of its unique style.  I took as many opportunities as I could to visit it while I was in the city.  It was one of my first stops (Tuesday), then I wandered down Wednesday evening and happened upon on organ concert already in progress, then I went to an organ concert at noon on Thursday, then was here again Saturday to climb the tower.  

As I think about it, part of the draw may have been that it was both so accessible and also so "real," not as much a tourist attraction as such places as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and Notre Dame, all of which charged an admission fee, which meant I didn't just wander in and out of them as here, and in all of which there were crowds during "opening hours."  Here are some other pictures of this church taken earlier in the week.

The Pulpit

The choir practicing up front was AMAZING.  I get chills every time I listen.  To hear a clip, click here, and scroll down a bit.

This is the baptismal font at which Georg Friedrich Handel was baptized.

The church also has on permanent display Martin Luther's death mask and casts of his hands and face:

This display is just inside the western door, a small room on the left dedicated to Luther-related items.  It also contains a pulpit from Luther's time that it is nearly certain that he preached from.  (The white-gilded one you see in the photos above is more recent than his time.)

Halle is known at the city of the five towers because of the four towers of the the Marktkirche and the Red Tower (Der Rote Turm) which stands in front.

Good-bye, Halle!  I miss you!

Hallo Heidelberg!

Initially I intended to begin with a beautiful picture of Heidelberg Castle, but I was so taken by Heidelberg University's motto that I decided to go with that.  This display of it is in the building that houses the universitatsmuseum.

"Semper Apertus" means "always open," and it is a reminder to the students to always be curious, to always be open to new ideas, and to remember that "always" means not only in the classroom but all around!  Always keep the curiosity, always keep the openness, always keep looking, always keep listening!  The book of learning is always open!

OK, now for a picture of the castle:

Though I've been drawn to posting about touristy stuff and rather neglecting writing about my mathematicians of late, each city I visit is on my itinerary because of its mathematical connections.  There are many such connections in Heidelberg, and the person I'm most focused on here is Sonya Kovalevsky - another story of struggle and triumph by a female mathematician before the 20th century.  I had opportunity to access manuscripts in the archives of Heidelberg University from the years she was here in order to seek out correspondence between her and professors she was auditing courses with, as she was not allowed to officially enroll, being a woman - four THICK volumes of documents in handwritten German from the 19th century, now THAT was a challenge! Anyway, more about her in a post dedicated to her.

I did have personal reasons for coming to Heideberg as well - some perhaps silly, others less so.  Because my name is Heidi, my father-in-law nicknamed me "Heidelberg" and generally called me that.  My father was in the printing business and used Heidelberg presses, so it was a name I saw a lot growing up.  One of the confessions of my denomination is the Heidelberg Catechism, which was written here, and this leads me to the most important personal reason for coming here, and that is that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Wibbo Hommens, attended Heidelberg University beginning in 1593.  When he enrolled he changed his name to Homerus Wigboldus - latinised because he was a scholar I imagine.

The catechism was written in 1563 and when it was translated into Dutch, Grandpa Wibbo's father read it.  He was so convinced of its truth that he decided his son needed to study at Heidelberg University where it had been written.  This was at a time when the part of the Netherlands in which they were living was under Catholic Spanish rule - hence dangerous to be Protestant, and yet they pursued this route.

Sadly, none of the university buildings from the 1590s remain.  The oldest university building existing today is from 1712.  Heidelberg was hit hard in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).  Even the Alte Brucke (the "Old Bridge") wasn't here in his time - that came in 1788, nearly 200 years later!

But, he was surrounded by the hills I've been surrounded by while here, and the Neckar River flowed through the region then as it does now, and parts of the current (ruined) castle were present, though it probably had a rather different form than it does now.  But, the university motto was then what it is now, as it was chosen in 1386:  Semper Apertus!

He studied theology, which was considered the most important of the four disciplines, the others being law, medicine, and philosophy (under which mathematics was classified).  In the "old"/current/1712 school hall, the ceiling is painted with images of the four disciplines - most important to least important - theology coming first, philosophy/mathematics coming last - hmm  .  .  .

Also near the ceiling are the names of professors, these having authored the catechism.  Homerus Wigboldus went on to become a minister in the Reformed tradition and took part in the Synod of Dordrecht and helped to ratify the Canons of Dort - another confession of our denomination.

OK, a little heavy on the church history and family history there, but it was kind of a big deal for me to visit here.  Moving on to miscellaneous pictures of Heidelberg.

This church looks rather different from those I saw in England or France!

 Ooh!  Look!   MORE pipes in the back!

 Chocolate?!  Yes, please!!

 It was BEAUTIFUL wherever I looked!  I think this place wins the prize (so far) for most beautiful city I've seen.  It's running neck-and-neck with Edinburgh - different types of beauty, though.

The climb to the castle was steep!

Hmm  .  .  .  probably shouldn't say anything about this  .  .  .

 I do like the seminar they have going on!

 Looking back at the town from the Philosophenweg ("Philosopher's Way")

While I was up walking along Philosopher's Way the 6:00 hour hit, and the church bells in town went NUTS and rang for like 15 minutes!  It was very audible from where I was.  I'm afraid it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped in the video, but listen for the bells - and the birds chiming in.  (After the first 20 seconds or so you might want to just listen rather than watch, because it gets pretty shaky.)

Heiliggeistkirche:

More serendipity - I happened upon an organist practicing at Heiliggeistkirche -