Burghausen in Upper Bavaria

17 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Rolf Kranz/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Rolf Kranz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Burghausen is the largest town in the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria in Germany. It is situated on the Salzach river, near the border with Austria. Burghausen Castle rests along a ridgeline, and is the longest castle in the world (1,043 m).   read more…

The European Union: European Sky Shield Initiative

12 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flag_of_Europe European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a project to build a ground-based integrated European air defense system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. As of July 2023, nineteen European states participate in the initiative. ESSI is part of the Common Security and Defense Policy and as such is designed to complement and relieve the burden on NATO.   read more…

Museum Koenig Bonn

4 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Ursula Jünger/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Ursula Jünger/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum (German: Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, abbreviated ZFMK) is a natural history museum and zoological research institution in Bonn, Germany. The museum is named after Alexander Koenig, who donated his collection of specimens to the institution. The museum was opened in 1934 and is affiliated with the Leibniz Association. On 1 September 1948 the museum saw the opening of the Parlamentarischer Rat, the organ to create the German constitution. The actual proceedings happened in the nearby Pädagogische Akademie, the later Bundeshaus.   read more…

Chocolate Museum in Cologne

14 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Hans Peter Schaefer - www.reserv-a-rt.de/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Hans Peter Schaefer – www.reserv-a-rt.de/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Schokoladenmuseum Köln was opened by Hans Imhoff on 31 October 1993. It is situated in the Cologne quarter of Altstadt-Süd on the Rheinauhafen peninsula. The exhibits show the entire history of chocolate, from its beginnings with the Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs to contemporary products and production methods. The exhibition building houses a permanent exhibition on modern chocolate production.   read more…

Naumburg Cathedral in Saxony-Anhalt

1 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Wolkenkratzer/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Wolkenkratzer/cc-by-sa-4.0

Naumburg Cathedral (German: Naumburger Dom St. Peter und St. Paul), located in Naumburg, Germany, is the former cathedral of the Bishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz. The church building, most of which dates back to the 13th century, is a renowned landmark of the German late Romanesque and was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. The west choir with the famous donor portrait statues of the twelve cathedral founders (Stifterfiguren) and the Lettner, works of the Naumburg Master, is one of the most significant early Gothic monuments.   read more…

Sonneberg, the world toy city in Thuringia

18 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  14 minutes

German Toy Museum © Störfix/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

German Toy Museum © Störfix/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the “world toy city”, and is home to the German Toy Museum and the Sonneberg observatory, founded in 1925. The Thuringian Slate Mountains border the city, with the Franconian Forest to the east.   read more…

Schöneberg in Berlin

11 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  16 minutes

Metro station Nollendorfplatz, the gate to the traditional LGBTQ/Rainbow neighborhood © Babewyn/cc-by-sa-4.0

Metro station Nollendorfplatz, the gate to the traditional LGBTQ/Rainbow neighborhood © Babewyn/cc-by-sa-4.0

Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin’s 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The locality of Schöneberg includes the neighborhoods (Stadtquartiere) of Bayerisches Viertel (English: “Bavarian Quarter”), an affluent residential area with streets named after Bavarian towns) and the Rote Insel (English: “Red Island”) as well as Lindenhof and the large natural park area Südgelände (English: “south grounds”) on the outside of the Ringbahn railway circle line.   read more…

Portrait: Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer and musician

21 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  8 minutes

Johann Sebastian Bach in 1746 by Elias Gottlob Haussmann © jsbach.net

Johann Sebastian Bach in 1746 by Elias Gottlob Haussmann © jsbach.net

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.   read more…

Portrait: Max Planck, originator of quantum theory

24 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Max Planck, c. 1930 © library.si.edu - Transocean Berlin

Max Planck, c. 1930 © library.si.edu – Transocean Berlin

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck ForMemRS was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.   read more…

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