What a glorious Sunday this was! I love our weekend getaways. I've actually visited Hardenburg castle many times before. When Phil was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and the kids were in school, I would come here by myself and walk the trails and have picnic lunches and take little naps and just think and dream...
Hardenburg Castle, near the spa town of Bad Dürkheim, is one of the largest castle ruins in the region. From the time of its foundation at the beginning of the 13th century until its destruction in 1794 during the French Revolutionary wars, the castle served as the residence of counts and princes. It's magnificent here: the lovely, formal garden, the cannon balls embedded in the thick stone walls, the dungeon, the small church, the spiral staircase leading to the turrets...
Inside, it's dank and dark. More of a fortress than a castle. In medieval times, there would have been hay and herbs insulating dirt floors, animals would have often lived in the building with people, to provide heat and sustenance, and inhabitants would live in constant fear of attack from the many neighboring villages. Not exactly the stuff of fairy tales (at least not the Americanized versions).
I often think of Grimm's Fairy Tales when I visit places like this (the brothers lived not too far from here, along the Romantic Road, where they collected their stories from old-timers). Earlier incarnations of the fairy tales were being circulated orally about the same time this old castle was lived in. Amazing!
Pages from the Gutenberg BibleBefore this old fortress was built, Gutenberg was already revolutionizing the printing process (and arguably changing the course of history) just 45 minutes away in Mainz! The dukes and princes who lived within these walls might have owned a Gutenberg book or two.
Speaking of old books, I love the idea of early medieval libraries (before Gutenberg came along). They chained books to the shelves for fear of thieves. Books were painstakingly handmade, every page an individual work of art. Most people were illiterate at the time, but even those who could read could rarely afford to own a book of their own.
Feast your eyes on these exquisite examples of medieval book arts:
I just want to crack these lovely books apart and breathe the smell of dust, glue, leather, and ink. I want to run my hands along the pronounced vertebra of their age-worn spines. Reading them would come later, after I had completely explored their bodies. No wonder they were fastened to chains!
Speaking of medieval books, check this out...reproduction medieval books for doll houses...oh my goodness...as a lover of books, miniatures, and especially since I often create my own miniature books, I am just delighted by these:
