The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished people, famous personalities in German history – politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the “German tongue“. The hall is housed in a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg, in Bavaria. The Walhalla is named for Valhalla of Norse mythology. It was conceived in 1807 by Crown Prince Ludwig, who built it upon ascending the throne of Bavaria as King Ludwig I. Construction took place between 1830 and 1842, under the supervision of architect Leo von Klenze. The memorial displays some 65 plaques and 130 busts of persons, covering 2,000 years of history – the earliest person honored is Arminius, victor at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD).
Ludwig intended his Walhalla not only for warriors but also for scientists, writers, and clerics, and specifically included both men and women. Decades before the foundation of the modern German state in 1871, “German” was understood as “Germanic“. Included were Gothic, Langobardic, Anglo-Saxon, Austrian, Dutch and Swiss German figures, as well as persons who had gained fame mainly in other countries or while serving non-German governments. As successor to the King, the government of Bavaria decides on additions. Anyone may propose a name, but candidates must have died at least 20 years before becoming eligible (doubled in 1912). Only 31 busts have been added since its opening, on an irregular basis, for a total of 191, twelve of them female.
Plaques were made for people (or acts) of which no portraits or descriptions were available to model sculptures after. The timeline spans from Arminius a.k.a. Hermann der Cherusker (born 17 BC) to watchmaker Peter Henlein, who died in 1542. In 2003 a plaque was added to commemorate well-known and unknown German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany.
In Munich, King Ludwig I established an additional Hall of Fame for Bavarians in 1853 – the Ruhmeshalle München. Nine of the Bavarian enshrinees have since become Walhalla enshrinees. Thus, their busts in the Ruhmeshalle, which were destroyed in 1944 during World War II, have not been recreated. Instead, a plaque with their names tells of their transfer to Walhalla. Additionally, King Ludwig I, who commissioned the Befreiungshalle and other monuments, is enshrined both at Walhalla and in the Ruhmeshalle.
[caption id="attachment_207939" align="aligncenter" width="463"] Frankfurter Judengasse in 1868[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main is the oldest independent Jewish Museum in Germany. It was opened by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on 9 November 1988, the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
The Jewish Museum collects, preserves and communicates the nine-hundred-year-old Jewish history and culture of the City of Frankfurt from a European perspective. It has a permanent exhibition at two venues: th...