The Lawspeaker
05-26-2009, 05:18 PM
Glourious Görlitz (http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/3591-glourious-goerlitz)
Published on May 22 2009 | Frankfurter Rundschau (http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/source-information/556-frankfurter-rundschau)
http://www.presseurop.eu/files/images/article/gorliz-490x225.jpg?1242988437
Görlitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6rlitz) is Germany's easternmost city. Rich in historical monuments, it plays up its retro side while looking towards the future with Zgorzelec, its Polish twin across the river.
The clocks are right on time in Görlitz. The 15th meridian runs straight through this Saxon town, so local time here corresponds exactly to Central European Time. But seeing as that is not the case anywhere else in Germany, one could also say the clocks run differently in Görlitz.
And that comes a lot closer to describing the way visitors feel in this town, which has yet to put itself on the German map either as a motorway exit or as a “place of manufacture” on any mass-produced merchandise.
Between fabulously restored Renaissance and Baroque edifices, Jugendstil buildings and entire streets lined with 19th century Gründerzeit dwellings, you feel as though you’re browsing through a Manufactum catalogue of German history (“The good old days still exist!” (1)) and wondering whether here at least, in a town unscathed by World War II, it might be possible to lead the “right kind” of life. In the sense of a clear-cut pre-modern society of manageable proportions. A wistful and ahistorical notion, to be sure. But can nearly 4,000 listed buildings be lying?
At the very least, this is a good backdrop for performing. The jewellery shop at the eastern end of the Untermarkt (Lower Market) is called “Handwerkerey” [archaic spelling of Handwerkerei: a craftsman’s workshop/business] and, alongside the usual wristwatches and wedding rings, it offers hand-wrought articles. Sundial pendants, bangles adorned with Celtic patterns. At the back of the live-in shop you can see potters at work in historical garb on wooden benches warmed by animal hides.
The international Dream Machine has already spotted this readymade retro location. Quentin Tarantino used the historical Untermarkt for a shootout scene in Inglourious Basterds: Görlitz with its 58,000 inhabitants as Nazi-occupied Paris.
Görlitz is actually on the Neisse River and has two bridges to its twin town Zgorzelec in Poland, which used to be just one of the newer districts of Görlitz before 1945. Europe happens rights at home here, so to speak. Görlitz is the easternmost town in Germany, and the Czech border lies just a few miles to the south. Its peripheral location is, of course, one reason for the pervasive sense of timelessness. The fact that it’s a long way here from just about anywhere.
Görlitz is out of the way even for people from Dresden, and to get here from Berlin the train crawls to Cottbus first. Then the Eastern German Railway chugs on towards the southeast and right through the Muskau Heath, which wolves have recently reclaimed as their hunting grounds. First the wilderness, in other words, then Görlitz. In the late Middle Ages, the town was situated on the most important East-West European trade route, the Via Regia between Santiago de Compostela and Kiev, hence its affluence. Cloth-makers dwelt here.
A few years ago, Görlitz teamed up with Zgorzelec to put in a bid for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2010. Besides tourism, culture is the principal industry of the future for this region : in the midst of all this beautiful architectural history, the local economy is not doing very well at all. Unemployment is currently over 22 per cent, and Görlitz ranks among the German towns with the highest percentage of child poverty.
In his capacity as “Burgomaster of Cultural and Social Affairs”, Michael Wieler isin charge of both: i.e. the flashy and the smouldering sides of Görlitz.
Some locals go into near raptures when they talk about the time of the Capital of Culture bid. The spirit of optimism back then did the town good. “When I got here, I was euphoric about the possibilities presented by the existence of the Polish twin town. But I had to learn the hard way that things you can describe historically from the outside have to be processed emotionally by the people concerned in a very different way."
Meaning Görlitzers don’t just amble over to Zgorzelec. Not even after Poland’s EU accession and the opening of both bridges to the “other side” in 2004.
When Görlitz was debating the construction of a new swimming pool and Wieler procured figures showing how underused the pool in Zgorzelec was and recommended sharing it, one reader wrote a letter to the editor blasting the “delusions of an uprooted West German”.
But Michael Wieler believes in the power of culture. To keep the projects envisaged in the Capital of Culture bid from simply seeping away into the Neisse, he started up Initiative Kultur2020. The future of Görlitz/Zgorzelec, self-proclaimed a “European town” since 1998, lies in pooling their fortunes, he is quite sure about that. Even if it’s not all that noticeable yet in day-to-day life.
(1) Manufactum is a German mail order company for choice-quality old-fashioned (and usually high-priced!) products. Its slogan is “Es gibt die noch, die guten Dinge” (“The good things in life still exist”).
Lawspeakers' edit in the article: link to wikipedia provided by me.
Published on May 22 2009 | Frankfurter Rundschau (http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/source-information/556-frankfurter-rundschau)
http://www.presseurop.eu/files/images/article/gorliz-490x225.jpg?1242988437
Görlitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6rlitz) is Germany's easternmost city. Rich in historical monuments, it plays up its retro side while looking towards the future with Zgorzelec, its Polish twin across the river.
The clocks are right on time in Görlitz. The 15th meridian runs straight through this Saxon town, so local time here corresponds exactly to Central European Time. But seeing as that is not the case anywhere else in Germany, one could also say the clocks run differently in Görlitz.
And that comes a lot closer to describing the way visitors feel in this town, which has yet to put itself on the German map either as a motorway exit or as a “place of manufacture” on any mass-produced merchandise.
Between fabulously restored Renaissance and Baroque edifices, Jugendstil buildings and entire streets lined with 19th century Gründerzeit dwellings, you feel as though you’re browsing through a Manufactum catalogue of German history (“The good old days still exist!” (1)) and wondering whether here at least, in a town unscathed by World War II, it might be possible to lead the “right kind” of life. In the sense of a clear-cut pre-modern society of manageable proportions. A wistful and ahistorical notion, to be sure. But can nearly 4,000 listed buildings be lying?
At the very least, this is a good backdrop for performing. The jewellery shop at the eastern end of the Untermarkt (Lower Market) is called “Handwerkerey” [archaic spelling of Handwerkerei: a craftsman’s workshop/business] and, alongside the usual wristwatches and wedding rings, it offers hand-wrought articles. Sundial pendants, bangles adorned with Celtic patterns. At the back of the live-in shop you can see potters at work in historical garb on wooden benches warmed by animal hides.
The international Dream Machine has already spotted this readymade retro location. Quentin Tarantino used the historical Untermarkt for a shootout scene in Inglourious Basterds: Görlitz with its 58,000 inhabitants as Nazi-occupied Paris.
Görlitz is actually on the Neisse River and has two bridges to its twin town Zgorzelec in Poland, which used to be just one of the newer districts of Görlitz before 1945. Europe happens rights at home here, so to speak. Görlitz is the easternmost town in Germany, and the Czech border lies just a few miles to the south. Its peripheral location is, of course, one reason for the pervasive sense of timelessness. The fact that it’s a long way here from just about anywhere.
Görlitz is out of the way even for people from Dresden, and to get here from Berlin the train crawls to Cottbus first. Then the Eastern German Railway chugs on towards the southeast and right through the Muskau Heath, which wolves have recently reclaimed as their hunting grounds. First the wilderness, in other words, then Görlitz. In the late Middle Ages, the town was situated on the most important East-West European trade route, the Via Regia between Santiago de Compostela and Kiev, hence its affluence. Cloth-makers dwelt here.
A few years ago, Görlitz teamed up with Zgorzelec to put in a bid for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2010. Besides tourism, culture is the principal industry of the future for this region : in the midst of all this beautiful architectural history, the local economy is not doing very well at all. Unemployment is currently over 22 per cent, and Görlitz ranks among the German towns with the highest percentage of child poverty.
In his capacity as “Burgomaster of Cultural and Social Affairs”, Michael Wieler isin charge of both: i.e. the flashy and the smouldering sides of Görlitz.
Some locals go into near raptures when they talk about the time of the Capital of Culture bid. The spirit of optimism back then did the town good. “When I got here, I was euphoric about the possibilities presented by the existence of the Polish twin town. But I had to learn the hard way that things you can describe historically from the outside have to be processed emotionally by the people concerned in a very different way."
Meaning Görlitzers don’t just amble over to Zgorzelec. Not even after Poland’s EU accession and the opening of both bridges to the “other side” in 2004.
When Görlitz was debating the construction of a new swimming pool and Wieler procured figures showing how underused the pool in Zgorzelec was and recommended sharing it, one reader wrote a letter to the editor blasting the “delusions of an uprooted West German”.
But Michael Wieler believes in the power of culture. To keep the projects envisaged in the Capital of Culture bid from simply seeping away into the Neisse, he started up Initiative Kultur2020. The future of Görlitz/Zgorzelec, self-proclaimed a “European town” since 1998, lies in pooling their fortunes, he is quite sure about that. Even if it’s not all that noticeable yet in day-to-day life.
(1) Manufactum is a German mail order company for choice-quality old-fashioned (and usually high-priced!) products. Its slogan is “Es gibt die noch, die guten Dinge” (“The good things in life still exist”).
Lawspeakers' edit in the article: link to wikipedia provided by me.