Borderlands Through the Ages…from Strasbourg to Trier

Our last stop in France was Strasbourg, a city that, like the rest of Alsace has passed back and forth between France and Germany numerous times. Today it is the seat of the European Parliament, one part of the complex system of governance that rules the European Union. It seems like a fitting place for such an institution, along the border between France and Germany, two of the most powerful countries in the EU, a place where most people are already multilingual, and a gorgeous and vibrant old town to boot. We stayed here for a little over three days, wandering the streets when it wasn’t raining and popping into a few museums and such along the way.

In no particular order, here’s some of the highlights of Strasbourg…

(1) Strasbourg. Yep. As usual, our favorite activity was just walking around and enjoying the surroundings. We loved the mix of buildings from different eras, from highly modern to medieval and everything in between. Even the gleaming European Parliament building was in a neighborhood of generic-looking homes. (We couldn’t go in because Parliament was in session.) But, in general, the streets of the old town were lovely and largely car-free. There were great old, ramshackly, medieval buildings with 3, 4, or even 5 levels of dormers at the top. And the area known as “Petite France” was incredibly cute with its homes built right along the canals. We even ran across a tiny parking lot surrounded by gorgeous moss-covered buildings. Overall, a lovely city.

(2) Cathedral. There have been so many gorgeous cathedrals, but Strasbourg’s really was one of the most magnificent. It has an amazing skeletal tower at the front, gorgeous stonework around it (check out the pattern variation on the windows, for instance), and lovely stained glass (both old and new) throughout.

(3) Medieval Art and History. Across the plaza from the cathedral is the Musée de l’Œuvre-Notre-Dame, a museum of medieval art, with particular attention to the art of the cathedral. This building was a major workshop during the construction of the cathedral, so the audio tour included both interesting information about the art displayed–much of which was recovered from the cathedral when it was replaced or updated–as well as describing the construction and use of the building that housed the museum. I’ve included here a few of the things that caught my eye the most:

• An amazing pair of statues representing the church and the synagogue. They are gorgeous, but clearly antisemitic, as the represent the synagogue as defeated and blindfolded.
• A terrifying gargoyle.
• A statue of a man with clearly African features. This stood out as unusual. I’ve never seen a statue in a European cathedral that didn’t look white.
• Just one example of medieval painting. I love that people clearly on the same plane can be such different sizes. And the gold halo is nice. Helps me know who’s important.
• One of the most interesting things in the museum was a set of “books” made of silver where all of the official silver- and gold-smiths had to etch their names and any identifying marks so that it could be used to check whether works produced in the city were from a guild-licensed artisan.
• And, lastly, the book (Comedies, 1503) is from another museum we visited that gave a rundown of the history of Strasbourg itself. It was a fascinating museum, detailing all the backs and forths between different countries’ control. This was from a section on the early printing presses in the city. Gutenberg had worked here, but took his knowledge to Mainz where he completed his first real press.

• Speaking of Gutenberg, it turns out he’s a big supporter of breast cancer research (There was a series of walks and runs to support breast cancer research in Strasbourg that weekend.)

• The other completely goofy, but also kinda cool exhibit in the museum was a Virtual Reality tour of the spire of the cathedral. It included poorly-acted recreations of debates about how to construct it as control passed from one architect to another over the ages. Here you can watch Jess with her goggles on and see the center of her field of vision, though you can’t hear the audio of it and don’t get the full 360-degree feel. It was both fun and silly at the same time…

(4) Newer Art. We also spent a rainy afternoon at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg. Outside, we were greeted giant comicbook style art on the walls of the museum. Inside, there were a bunch of great exhibits from local and international artists. There was a cool recreation of a music room designed by Kandinsky for an architectural expo and a composition of dismantled guitars titled “Homage to Cubism” which made Jess and I laugh. You can also see that Jessica and I each got to make an art. 5 points to whoever can guess which one belongs to each of us.

I should also take just a moment, before we leave France to mention just how critical Jessica is. (To be clear, she’s absolutely wonderful as travel companion, but she can be a bit merciless at times! Fair, but unsparing.) We both studied French in high school, but have barely used it since. Our French has also been buried under layers of Spanish study, so we’re both quite rusty. Nevertheless, there was a fair amount we could read, and Jess, with her better ear for language, understood a few spoken things. But I was pretty hopeless at speaking and worse at listening. Over the two weeks we were in France, not a day went by when she didn’t point out that I was saying things in English that she knew I knew in French. Her favorite target was when I would point to a pastry and ask for “a croissant” or something rather than “un croissant.” She’s right. I should be able to pull that one off. But, sometimes, in the moment, my brain fails me. I still managed to get the right pastry every time, so I’m not too concerned. And, of course, there were also a few occasions where I remembered something in French that she didn’t and moments where she turned to English when she could have spoken French. Maybe next time we’re back I’ll do better. (Probably not.)

One other quick shout out to France before we move on: I love the orange juice! I know, such an odd thing to care about. But I absolutely love that most French grocery stores have fresh squeezed orange juice in the stores. It’s so delicious! You get to watch a machine squeeze it right in front of your eyes like this…

OK. Enough of France. We eventually departed Strasbourg and crossed the border into Germany. For the end of our time in Europe, we’re headed to western Germany to visit friends, to go to the most significant annual board game convention, and for Jess to meet with some more key folks for her research–all of which just happen to be in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. But before any of that, we made one last completely touristy stop in Trier, which is often considered the first city in Germany.

Trier was once-upon-a-time a major Roman settlement. It was a capital at times, on the border along the Rhine, separating the Empire from the “uncivilized” Germanic tribes on the far side. It was also the town where Constantine came to power. If you don’t know, he is the Emperor who decriminalized Christianity, leading to a massive shift in the historical development of the religion.

We had less than 24 hours in Trier, so didn’t get to see everything, but we packed in quite a bit. While dodging the rain we went to a few of the ancient sites in town as well as the fabulous Rheinisches Landesmuseum. At the museum…

• We were wowed as always by the gorgeous and enormous mosaic-work of 2000 years ago. I even had a Sistine Chapel moment with one of the mosaics.
• There was an enormous exhibit of Roman graves from the area.
• Two giant pillars from a nearby road marked the distances to town as well as the reigns of the Emperors Hadrian and Anoninus Pius.
• An amazing map of the entire Roman Empire that was made for merchants and other travelers. It was about 40 feet long and had little resemblance to reality. There is no scale. It shows the major road routes between settlements. Each little turn on a road symbolizes a place where accomodations can be found after a day’s journey. The section shown here has Greece in the lower half, but I think the upper half may already be well into the mideast (not sure).
• At the end, there was an exhibit praising latrines. Evidently people throw all sorts of things in them and because of the lack of oxygen, they preserve everything from human hair to glass bottles and even a little trumpet.

Walking around the town itself was also quite pleasant when it wasn’t raining. The central area is relatively car-free for a good kilometer or more stretch of shops and restaurants.

Of course, at the northern end of this strip sits the famous Porta Nigra. [Sadly, Porta Nigra is a board game I haven’t had the chance to play yet, but I hear it’s great.] The “Black Gate” is called that because of the accumulated soot on it. It is one of the best preserved Roman gatehouses, partly because it spent several hundred years being used as a church. After St. Simeon holed himself up in the tower as a hermit, the pope ordered it converted into a church. The Roman gatehouse served as the center of the church, but more was built around it. It was only converted back to its original form when Napoleon ordered the church part dismantled. In particular, I continue to be amazed by the fact that ancient buildings like this are just an everyday sight in cities across Europe (and other parts of the world), whereas in the US we’re stunned by buildings from just 100 or so years ago. You can see from the window here that it’s right in the heart of Trier.

We also visited the Kaiserthermen, one of the major bath complexes in town. To be clear, it actually started as a bath complex, was converted to a reception hall by a later emperor, and later was built into a little castle by a wealthy Trier family. The archaeologists there have worked to display a bit of all of these uses, though with more emphasis on the baths. The amazing complex of underground tunnels for controlling and heating the baths was particualrly fun.

Of course, Trier isn’t just famous for its time on the Roman border, it is also the birthplace of a man famous for crossing intellectual and national borders, Karl Marx.

Given the reputation of “Marxism” in the US, it was quite funny to see him celebrated to such a degree in Trier. The sign next to his statue describes him this way:

Karl Marx is the most famous son of the city of Trier. Like no other, he analyzed the unprecedented dynamics of his own time and criticized growing inequality and exploitation. The “Manifesto of the Communist Party” and “The Capital” are today part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. The recognition of his lifes work beyond legends and ideological appropriation is of great concern to the city of Trier. His ideas were abused in the 20th century for the establishment and justification of dictatorships. His cause for thought can still serve today to refine our vision of the problems of modern times.

The tourist info office even had their own little Karl Marx statue and sold souvenir Marx euros. (The commodification of Marx must have him rolling in his grave.)

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Our last stop was a visit to the house where he was born. It has been purchased by the SPD (Social Democrats) and turned into a museum about his life and work. (They even describe fighting the German Communist Party for control of the space, and the displays, while largely fair, definitely side with a slightly more moderate interpretation of Marx than hardcore big-C Communists would probably prefer.) There were lots of interesting exhibits in there about the political influence of his work throughout history. There were also objects from his life, including the chair he supposedly died in. I liked the hourglasses representing the time he spent living in various places (Trier, Paris, London, etc.). Of course, there were also original copies of his famous works too. And a shop selling yet more Marx chachki. Overall, the museum was actually quite well done, with a lot of avenues explored, but of course painting an incomplete picture.

The best part was actually outside the house. Across the street in Karl Marx Platz, a small square, several of his famous quotes and events from his life are inscribed in the ground, such as this one telling us to “doubt everything.”

And on the other side of the street were the funniest walk/don’t walk signals ever.

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We walked…and then got on the train to Bonn to see some old friends. More on Germany next time…