Cultural Heart of Germany

Newsletter Edition 03/2009
Cultural Heart
of Germany
Welcome
The passion of porcelain
The federal states of Saxony, SaxonyAnhalt and Thuringia are the centerpieces of German history and culture
– the ‘Cultural Heart of Germany’.
Take kaolin clay, feldspar and quartz, mix
them together and send them through
fire. Porcelain is the result of a wondrous
transformation that was first successfully achieved in China in the 11th century.
Saxony’s Elector August the Strong was
obsessed by the idea and set up a porcelain manufactory in Meißen in 1710. So
the world-famous State Porcelain Manufactory in Meißen will be celebrating the
300th anniversary of its foundation in
2010. For three centuries, the “Crossed
Swords”, one of the leading German luxury trademarks worldwide, have stood for
high-quality craftsmanship and unique
creations in the fields of fine living &
home art, fine dining, fine jewellery and
accessories.
The tricentenary is being marked by exhibitions, festive celebrations, culinary
events and limited anniversary editions.
Berlin
Potsdam
Stendal
SAXONY-ANHALT
Magdeburg
Lutherstadt-Wittenberg
Wernigerode
Dessau
Quedlinburg
Nordhausen
SAXONY
Halle
Q
Torgau
Leipzig
Mühlhausen
Naumburg
Eisenach
Q
Weimar
Jena
Erfurt
Suhl
Meiningen
Q
Meissen
Colditz
Altenburg
Gera
Saalfeld
Dresden
Bautzen
Q
Görlitz
Pirna
Freiberg
Seiffen
Chemnitz
Zwickau
THURINGIA
Events and exhibitions around porcelain
Ω 08.05. – 31.10.2010
The legend of „White Gold” at the place
where it all began!
www.der-stein-der-weissen.de
Ω 28.03. – 05.09.2010
“An awful lot of cups (…)” – Gotha porcelain
of the 19th century; Friedenstein Castle,
www.stiftungfriedenstein.de
Gotha
Ω 09.05. – 29.08.2010
Triumph of the Blue Swords
Meissen porcelain for nobility and bourgeoisie at the Japanese Palais in Dresden
www.voelkerkunde-dresden.de
Ω16.04. – 01.08.2010
The Porcelain Manufactory Burgau a. d.
Saale Ferdinand Selle
Products from Art Nouveau to Art Deco
at the Jena Town Museum
www.stadtmuseum.jena.de
Ω01.05. – 04.07.2010
Weimar Porcelain at the Weimar Town
www.weimar.de
Museum Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Saxony
Saxony-Anhalt
Thuringia
For the special exhibition “THE WHITE
GOLD”, selected items of early Meißen
porcelain are returning to their place of
origin and transforming Albrechtsburg
Castle in Meißen into a palace of porcelain. In parallel, the Japanese Palais in
Dresden will be exhibiting the show from
the porcelain collection “Triumph of the
Blue Swords – Meißen Porcelain for Nobility and Bourgeoisie 1710 – 1815”. To
the traditional products have been added
high-quality jewellery and accessories.
www.meissen.de
250 years of fragile beauties in Thuringia
Porcelain was successfully produced for
the first time here in 1760 and by as early
as 1800, Thuringia had become the centre
of porcelain production in Europe. Then as
now, porcelain from this region is much
sought after by collectors all over the world.
The production locations have recently got
together to form the “Thuringian Porcelain Route”. To mark the 250th anniversary
of porcelain, 16 Thuringian museums will
be showing their major collections from
18th April until 31st October. For the first
time, an insight will be possible into the remarkable variety of Thuringian porcelain,
its high quality, incredible quantity and the
consequences of production. Tableware,
porcelain figures, ornaments, reliefs and
biscuit porcelain will
be on show, together
with
engineering
ceramics and even
dolls with porcelain
heads. Along the
“Porcelain Route”, production plants and
manufactories are offering guided tours
and an insight into production. In addition, items will be available for purchase
at factory sales outlets, such as KAHLA/
Thüringen Porzellan, Weimar Porzellan,
Sitzendorf and the manufactories in Rudolstadt. www.thuringia-tourism.com
A nnaburg Porzellan M anufaktur near Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Porcelain cannot only be bought but also
seen in production in Saxony-Anhalt too,
at Annaburg Porzellan GmbH, not far
from the UNESCO World Heritage town
of Lutherstadt Wittenberg. The “White
Gold” has been produced here since 1874
without interruption for a great variety of
purposes. The wide range of products extends from hotel porcelain through fondue
sets, fireproof items and tea sets to gift
articles and children’s china, irrespective
of whether elegant, rustic or traditional is
required. Visitors can find out about the history of Annaburg Porzellan GmbH in the
museum, learn the great art of painting
on porcelain in the atelier, experience the
impressive ongoing production process
from raw material through to packaging
during a factory tour and then relax in the
www.annaburg-porzellan.de
café.
Porcelain, pottery and Piranesi
Small groups of art lovers can use the
Ryanair flight connection to Altenburg
from London-Stansted. This delightful
town, where the local Duke formerly resided, is an excellent base for exploring the
home of German porcelain manufacture
and itself offers a quite unusual type of
fragile earthenware. Stroll through the
old town up to the 1000-year old castle with its impressive collection of East
Asian and Meissen porcelain as well as
a lovely Baroque porcelain cabinet. Walk
through the castle park to the Lindenau
Museum which houses a comprehensive collection of antique Greek pottery.
A private guided tour will give you an
insight into the antique lifestyle and you
will be allowed to leaf carefully through
precious volumes showing vases and
Piranesi sketches in the amazing art library. Enjoy the end of your day with a
sumptuous 5-course menu in the graceful setting of an historical mansion.
Highlights in 2010
Price for 2 persons:
195.- Euro p.p. (parties on request)
(including 2 nights in a **** town hotel, guided city tour, admission charges,
tour with audio guide in the castle and
private tour in the
Lindenau Museum, menu without beverages).
Transportation: Taxi
from the Airport
into Altenburg:
18 Euro. Hourly
trains to Weimar
and Leipzig.
Ω 03.06. – 13.06.2010
Handel Festival
Largest music festival in Saxony-Anhalt,
with international audiences
www.haendelfestspiele.halle.de
Ω 22.05. – 24.05.2010
Quedlinburg “Kaiserfrühling”
- Emperor’s Spring Pageants presenting early medieval stories,
UNESCO World Heritage Site
www.kaiserfruehling-quedlinburg.de
Ω May – September 2010
Gartenreich Sommer
- Summer in the Garden Linking of the unique architecture of the
Dessau-Wörlitz UNESCO World Heritage
Site with classical music and culinary delights.
www.gartenreichsommer.de
Contact:
Christine Büring,
Director Altenburg Tourismus GmbH,
buering@altenburg-tourismus.de
phone: 0049. 151. 11320082.
www.altenburg-tourismus.de
Culinary Highlights Culinary Highlights Culinary Highlights
Thuringian Dumplings
Mix a quantity of raw grated potatoes
with a quantity of boiled and mashed
potatoes and fill the mixture with
croutons.
Shape the mixture into balls and simmer them in water for 20 minutes. The
result is a delicious accompaniment to
every kind of roast.
There are even seminars in Weimar and
Erfurt which teach the participants how to
create the perfect Thuringian dumpling.
The seminars are available at any time by
the Thuringian Tourist Board.
service@thueringen-tourismus.de
www.thuringia-tourism.com
Wine
Insiders’ tips for wine connoisseurs
are the wine-growing areas of Saxony
and Saale-Unstrut.
The latter is one of the oldest in Germany, the northernmost in Europe,
and has been producing wine for over
a thousand years. On the slopes of the
Elbe River around Dresden, wine has
tel.
The Dresden Music Festival is an official institution of the State Capital City of Dresden and is
subsidized by the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Fine Arts.
+49
(0)351
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been grown for 800 years. Here in one of
the smallest winegrowing areas in Germany,
the vineyards are mostly tended by hand.
Numerous vineyards along the wine routes
offer visitors the chance to taste their wine,
and the traditional Rotkäppchen sparkling
wine can be enjoyed in Freyburg/Unstrut.
www.culturalheartofgermany.de
486
66
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www.musikfestspiele.com
Imprint Publisher: Tourism Marketing Company of Saxony, Investment and Marketing Corporation of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia Tourist Board; Photo credits: Meissen,
Saxon Elbland, Wittenberg, A. Liebich/ Thuringian Tourist Board, factum/ A. Weise; Design & Layout: Manuela Vock, Dresden; Translation: Macklin GmbH