Dr. Stefan Christmann

January 14, 2024January 21, 2024

Glück auf

Getting to the Ruhrgebiet is always a good opportunity to learn about mining history in Germany. For hundreds of years coal and ore have been gathered here from the ground, driving industrialization and creating a special culture with its own traditions. If you’re interested in modern mining technologies you should visit the Deutsches Bergbaumuseum at Bochum. It is a combination of a classic museum, a research institution and a demonstration site: by elevator you can go down and explore modern mining machinery within a mine.

January 6, 2024January 10, 2024

Vierordtbad

The oldest bathhouse of Karlsruhe can be found close to the congress center and the Zoologischer Stadtgarten in a historic building made of red bricks. It dates back to the year 1873 and was realised with money donated by the banker Heinrich Vierordt. When he died he inherited 60,000 Gulden to the city which were planned to errect a market hall – but the sellers on the market of Karlsruhe protested against.

January 6, 2024January 10, 2024

ZKM

Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (ZKM), Karlsruhe

At the city quarter Südweststadt of Karlsruhe you can find a vast industrial building that was used as an ammunition factory in the past. Since 1989 it is the home of the ZKM, the Zentrum für Kunst und Medien; a fantastic place that is hard to define: it is a museum, an exhibition hall, a scientific institution, an event location – or an indoor playground for people interested in art and media. It shows contemporary art and it preserves digital art. You can play computer games, discover modern art and explore technology.

January 6, 2024January 10, 2024

Turmbergbahn

The Turmberg is an only 257 meters high mountain in the city quarter Durlach of Karlsruhe. People get there for hiking, for dining in the restaurant on top or for having a picnic with nice views on the city from the terrace next to the tower. The tower is in fact the last remaining part of the former fortification Burg Hohenberg from the 11th century; it is today used as a viewpoint.

January 6, 2024January 10, 2024

Schloss Karlsruhe

The city layout of Karlsruhe is special: when looking at a map you can see a giant circle in the city center. In its middle you’ll find the castle with the castle tower. From there 32 streets radiate out giving the city the nickname of the ‘fan city‘, the Fächerstadt. The city was founded in 1715 and in that year also the construction works of the Baroque-style castle started. It served as the seat of margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach and was a residence until the year 1918 when the Grand Duchy of Baden was abolished.

December 17, 2023February 7, 2024

Buchenwald

German fascism created an extensive network of concentration camps, extinction camps and forced labor sites. Jewish citizens, political opponents, prisoners of war, homosexuals, disabled persons, Sinti and Romani people suffered and died because of the ideology of the German Nazi party supported by the German people. The three major concentration camps on German soil are Dachau (close to München), Sachsenhausen (close to Berlin) and Buchenwald on the Ettersberg mountain close to Weimar.

December 3, 2023December 17, 2023

Abstraction

The Kunsthalle of Bielefeld is a surprisingly large exhibition hall with a special style: it was built in 1968 in International Style (a modernist architecture style developed in the 1920/30s) by architect Philip Johnson from the United States. It is the only building in Europe designed by him. The Kunsthalle is an art exhibition hall with changing exhibitions, but it also owns an art collection from the 20th century.

December 3, 2023December 17, 2023

Sparrenburg

A high tower, strong fortification walls and casemates cut deep into the 180 meters high Sparrenberg mountain: the Sparrenburg is the most important and most visited sight of Bielefeld. It was built until the year 1250 CE to protect the passage through the Teutoburg Forest in which the city of Bielefeld is located in. The castle was continuously altered over time and adopted to technology changes in warfare.

November 18, 2023November 19, 2023

Bürgergrotte

Gottfried August Bürger was a German poet who first studied law at the university of Göttingen. There his attention turned away fast from jurisprudence to literature and he became a writer. His most famous work is called Lenore and received attention even beyond German borders. Today the large street around the city center of Göttingen is named Bürgerstraße after him and a bust of him is standing next to. Probably most inhabitants believe that the street is named after themselves (Bürger means citizen in German).

October 8, 2023December 22, 2023

Place of warmth

It was 4 am when the lights of თბილისი appeared at the windows of the plane taking me to Georgia. A driver picked me up and drove me through the capital city that was still completely asleep. I dropped my bag at the hotel and sat in front in the dark, surrounded by stray dogs. A quick look at the watch: 5 pm, time for a coffee from one of the 24/7 shops and a walk through the empty streets to enjoy sunrise over the Mtkwari river.